White, Green in HK
On this Wednesday night of March 17th, there is no reason for not celebrating St-Patrick's day!
So with some Carlsbergs in hands for the bus ride, I left with my roomate Helen and our friend Emily for Wan Chai to party in white and green.
We had to dress for the occasion, but the green top I had was too yellow for St-Patty's day... although the intention was there.
The bar in Wan Chai was on an upper floor with a narrow and long balcony. We could see the action in the streets in front of the other bars celebrating the occasion.
One of the Irish student at PolyU. I'm sure he's not only "tattooed" on his wrists but certainly also on his heart.
Proud English student celebrating St-Patrick's day
As usual, we take the cab back to the halls passing through the cross harbor tunnel.
Back for a good night sleep after a good party.Wetlands
The next day, Yen got the great idea to go to visit the Wetland park of HK. So, we took the MTR and went nearly to the end of the West Rail Line, to Tin Shui Wai station. Then, we had to take the light rail line to the Wetlands Park entrance.
Built after 1998, the buildings have interesting features incorporating natural wetlands elements and sculptures of animals part of that ecosystem.
One of the surprising element of the park, is the condo towers in the background. A little reminder that the city is not too far.
Another pavilion in the middle of the park for kids education. Yen was ready for the next session...
In an aquarium, this tiny orange mud crab is obviously wandering what the hell I'm doing in front of it. We will have the chance to see them in their environment, under the mangroves.
There is a couple of fancy observation sheds here and there along the path. This Wetland Park actually made me think of the Centre d'interprétation de la nature du Lac Boivin at Granby. I used to go there as a kid with my parents.
Per the Wetland Park site, the Mangroves are special plants inhabiting in sheltered shores in tropical and subtropical region. We took this floating platform to go through the mangroves and discover this habitat.
Yes, it is a real Swarovski!
Some of the fishes in that pond were in the deeper sludge part between the plants.
Some of the things I would not want to bring back home: large insects like this one.
Going back to the entrance/exit, we passed by the Mangroves again. This area might look like a boring place but is in fact bristling with life.
Mudskippers and fiddler crabs always in action.
The architecture of the building was quite nice; the concrete parts and the simplicity of the building is not competing with the calm and fragile look of the wetland.The view from the only restaurant was great, but the food was normal and many choices were missing.
Overall, the visit was interesting but would be more appropriate for families and kids.
Getting off the light rail line at Tin Shui Wai, we took a path that was leading to a temple not far from the station.
Seems to be the new way to build multistorey houses; missing flavor...
I really like these entrances leading to little aisles without roof and doors beyond which people lives.
Old condemned village water well with little red fish inside.
The cabs in the New Territories are green when they are read on Hong Kong island and in Kowloon.
When getting to a small park, there was this van with Mobile Library written on it. Inside, good selection of books to borrow. They were stopping there for a couple of hours every Tuesday or something. What a great concept to bring literature closer to people!
Common looking street in the town.
After getting back to Tin Shui Wai station, we took back the MTR to the end of the line: Tuen Mun. There, we took a bus all the way to this beach a little off the town center. This gold sand beach is the first artificial beach in Hong Kong simply called the Golden Beach. Because of the low season nearly everything was closed beside that Italian restaurant. We sat down on their terrace to have dinner. Nothing impressive but at least we were there on time to see the sunset.
Real sunset on artificial beach.
After dinner, we went back to the Student Halls. It had been a nice day, going around in the New Territories!Next update: Easter holidays in Palawan, Philippines
