A Walk In The Park
It’s been a long week, and the weekend came just in time. I was fading fast. Weather has improved, but the smog is brutal. This morning was grey, but the sun came out by 9:00 and the day is beautiful. Unfortunately, the sun could not burn off the haze covering the city.

I say unfortunately, because I went for another nature walk today, into the Tai Tam Country Park, around the Tai Tam reservoir system in the centre of the island. Not my idea of a walk in the park. I took the Tai Tam Country Trail up to Violet Hill and returned via the Wilson Trail. Not my idea of trails. I climbed 10,000 steps up through the woods to the top of Violet Hill (elev. 460 m.) and another 10,000 down. The birds were singing and it was quiet on the way up. Either I was early or I must have taken the reverse route, because I saw dozens of people climbing as I was descending. I think they agreed with my assessment of “not a walk in the park”. Not one smiling face among the lot. During the walk there were a number of open spaces where one could get a view of the surrounding area. Unfortunately, the haze tended to cover much of the view. I took a few pictures with my phone. If you are looking at them now it’s because Dale enhanced them or decided they were clear enough to be seen.

Christmas
It’s getting to look a lot like Christmas in Hong Kong. All the stores have their decorations up and the malls have north poles and Santas. I even walked by a storefront where they had just trimmed a few fir trees for a display. The smell was wonderful. Everywhere you go, you hear Christmas songs. I still haven’t heard Feliz Navidad, so it’s not official. I have been told that things are so bad in the US that they were advertising for Christmas before Thanksgiving. Is nothing sacred?

Given the crowds in the stores at normal times, I’m afraid to venture a guess as to what Christmas shopping crowds look like here.

A Classy Joint
Attention all potential visitors/guests. A notice in my lobby advised that some occupants had taken to leaving shoes by their apartment front door, and some had even set up shoe racks. This is against apartment by-laws and generally in poor taste. All have been given a week to remove them. That means that certain of you will not be welcome during the summer if you have to bring your shoes or sandals into the apartment. You know who you are, and you have been forewarned.

The Best Place To Live
A recent poll by CNN found that Hong Kong was the best city in the world to live. See for yourself: http://www.cnngo.com/hong-kong/none/worlds-greatest-city-hong-kong-576599 . I have also attached a link to some panoramic pictures of Hong Kong. The view from our apartment is very much like the third on the web page.http://www.diserio.com/hongkongskyline.html

Observations and Musings:
• They now sell baked potato flavour potato chips here – potato chips artificially enhanced to taste like potatoes. Am I missing something? What did they taste like before the addition of potato flavouring? Somebody please explain it to me.

• They have a tradition here that attracts all the tourists. At noon every day they shoot off a cannon at the harbour, near the Excelsior Hotel. I can hear it from my office. It sets off my lunch hunger pangs.

• Interesting follow-on from my comments about work hours. In Toronto I used to go to lunch at noon. Here I go between 12:30 and 1:00, and I’m early. Mind you, I eat breakfast at 7:00 before most of white collar HK is up.

• One more thing that will make Dale happy here – diagonal intersection crossings. She loved them in Pasadena.

• This week’s sign: Political Correctness in not always practiced in Hong Kong. I came across a high-end furniture/home furnishings store called The Homephiles. Don’t think you’d get away with that in the World Class City.