A Hint of Things to Come...

So, I've had a bit of a taster of real HK weather today... it has been incredibly hot and humid - heavy rain overnight with moisture still hanging in the air, no sun but very warm... Thank goodness for air conditioners! Just about every single window in the shops is steamed up with condensation, and when I came out of the supermarket late this afternoon, my glasses immediately steamed up!!
Ah well, only 6 and a half weeks to go, so hopefully I'll get out before it gets too bad!

Rugby Sevens

A Night at the Races

I finally got round to going to Happy Valley races last week. There are two racecourses in Hong Kong - one in Sha Tin in the New Territories and the other in Happy Valley where I live. Sha Tin races are every Saturday afternoon, and Happy Valley every Wednesday evening. Hopefully you can see from the pictures how busy it is, and how many people the place can hold - the stands go way up about 4 or 5 tiers!
It was good fun - clearly a lot of ex-pats are only there for the booze which is cheaper than in the bars outside! All the betting slips are really strange little tickets where you have to tick boxes and make no sense at all - they even have people to help you fill them in... not surprisingly the locals
don't need any help, just us foreigners!
First race my nag came in at 6-1 so that paid for the night... especially as it only cost £1 to get in!!

Stanley Bay

Stanley is a lovely little resort on the south side of Hong Kong island. Also famous for its street market, it has a nice coastline and feels very much like a holiday destination, with street cafes and bars along the shore.

Bamboo Scaffolding...

I always think this looks strange, but apparently bamboo has a higher tensile strength than steel...

Only Mad Dogs & Englishmen...

... go out in the midday sun! This is the "noon-day gun" referred to in the Noel Coward song. It's still fired at noon every day in Causeway Bay by Jardine Mathesons. The story goes is that back in the 19th century it was fired by a Jardine employee which annoyed the HK Governor sufficiently (as he was the only one who was supposed to have that privilege) that he demanded the gun be fired at noon every day as punishment. Recently, the charge used in the gun was reduced due to complaints from the local residents about the noise...

Boat People "Housing" in Causeway Bay