Trio Beach

One of the glories of Hong Kong is its beaches, and the start of April marks the re-opening of the public beaches after the winter break.

I was keen to take advantage of a short patch of fine mild weather forecast for Saturday and try-out the nearest beaches.   We don't have a 'local' beach close-by so we decided to try Trio Beach which is one of the closest although it requires a 40min taxi-ride round MaOnShan to Sai Kung and Pak Sha Wan (aka 'Hebe Haven'), and then a short  Kaido (water taxi) ride.

Hebe Haven from the Kaido with Ma On Shan in the right back-ground.  Shatin Valley is on the other side of the hills.

Trio beach from the Kaido.  It is a small beach but has life-guards, shark nets, swim rafts and changing facilities and a pleasant shop where we hired an umbrella and bought ice creams.

BBQ pits with the inevitable group of Aunties.   They really know how to enjoy themselves on a budget.

Apart from the Aunties and the life-guards, the beach was virtually deserted.

But there was a lot of sailing going on out in the bay.

It was about 25 degrees and 20 in the water temperature which was perfect for me.  Hannah enjoyed playing in the sand and we enjoyed swimming in the sea out to the rafts moored off the beach.

Hannah wanted to take a large load of rocks home to paint.  We limited her to a dozen.

"Kai-do, kai-chariot, coming for to carry me home...."

Dinner at 'Thai Thai 2 'restaurant at the Hebe Haven pier.   The reviews on 'Openrice.com' warned of extremely slow service.   We arrived at 4:30pm when the restaurant was deserted, but they forgot our food-order and we eventually rolled-out at 8:00pm having drunk far too much wine!

A lovely day out, and good planning by Papa since Sunday was washed-out with more rain and fog.

Black Rainstorm

Mar 29-30 was Hong Kong Rugby Sevens weekend.   Of course I ignored it.  I had a life-time dose of rugby in NZ by the age of 17 and not even the Hong Kong connection could spark any interest.

Nevertheless this photo is a good illustration of the heavy rain that hit us on Sunday night which led to the first (All) 'Black Rainstorm' warning since 2010.  All Black Rainstorm warning means 'stay at home and lock-up your daughters & sheep'.

We enjoyed dramatic thunderstorms on Sunday night and Monday morning.   From our apartment in the clouds on the 47th floor we saw near-constant lightening flashes for several hours, although oddly not much thunder, and some hail and snow.    The HK observatory counted 2,000 lightening strikes and I think we had at least one direct hit on our complex.

Rain was very heavy in Kowloon with Kowloon Tong hit by giant hailstones and 70mm rain in under an hour.   This is flooding at Kowloon Tong station which I pass through on my way to work (see this SCMP link for more details).

The Festival Walk Mall at Kowloon Tong was flooded as the volume of water overwhelmed their storm-water drains and broke pipes, which shows that downpour was exceptional even by HK standards.

Social Climbing

On Sunday afternoon we went to TST for a family 'social climbing' event at the YMCA.

Hannah is very good at climbing even though she hasn't developed her skills much as she has excellent upper body strength.

Video:  Hannah climbing

Hannah Papa didn't do to badly either as he spent his youth climbing trees, and from recent swimming has regained just enough strength to hoist-up his beer-gut (but still needed  2 instructors on the other end of the rope).