It's too damn hot .

Sky Garden Metroplaza.

It's not so pleasant to go out in Hong Kong at the moment. Yes, the skies are clear and blue and the views are beautiful, but the high temperatures are just energy sapping. Even walking to the shops has exhausted me and we have been infrequent with our swimming, as the water in our swimming pool is like a bath. To be honest it is difficult to motivate ourselves to go there.

On one of the few days I have done anything, I went to Kwai Chung. Kwai Chung is in the Tsuen Wan District and is made up of Kwai Fong, Kwai Hing, Lai King and Tai Wo Hau.

Kwai Chung was once the name of a stream that emptied into Gin Drinkers' Bay. In fact this area gave its name to nearby second world war defences known as the Gin Drinkers' Line. These were quickly overwhelmed by the Japanese during World War II. The area now probably bears little resemblance to its wartime counterpart due to extensive land reclamation.

This area is also the site of the huge Kwai Chung Container Port, where many goods are loaded and unloaded each day. To get here I took the MTR to Kwai Fong Station. I looked at the artwork outside the station. I believe it is meant to represent piles of containers on top of each other, but it is also a time capsule. Things were buried here by the urban council in 2015 and are due to be dug up again in 2025.

Art based on the container terminal.

Art based on container terminal viewed from above.

Information about the time capsule.

More art near the time capsule.

Across the road from the MTR is Kwai Tsing Theatre. We have been here to watch a play based on the life of Lady Macbeth. We enjoyed the play and were impressed by the theatre. I noticed some sculptures and a giant board game outside the theatre.

Kwai Tsing Theatre.

Giant board game outside the theatre.

Board game.

Next to the theatre is the Metroplaza Shopping Center. I am no fan of shopping, but I was attracted by the fact that this shopping centre claims to have a sky garden, i.e. a farm on its rooftop, so I went to take a look. I expected the farm to be filled with vegetables and it did have some, but the main crop here was the sunflower. These were beautiful, though some were past their best. I was still glad I had made the effort to go and have a look.

Metroplaza.

Inside Metroplaza.

Sign for the sky garden.

To reach the Sky Garden you can climb the stairs up past the flower garden.

Detail of the flower garden.

Metroplaza Lawn.

The sky garden has giant plastic models of the things that are grown there, such as tomatoes.

Sweetcorn.

Carrots.

Strawberries.

Sunflower.

Sunflower and wasp.

Sunflowers.

Sunflower.

Sunflower.

Colourful shelter in the sky garden.

Opposite the sky garden and still on the roof there was a children's playground. This was vegetable themed in keeping with its surroundings.

Even the children's play area is plant themed.

Even the children's play area is plant themed.

Even the children's play area is plant themed.

It was all going very smoothly till that point, but I thought since I am here, I may as well go to Kwai Chung Park. According to Google maps, it was a twenty minute walk away. On route I passed Kwai Chung Sports Ground which I thought was rather impressive.

Kwai Chung Sports Ground.

Kwai Chung Sports Ground.

Kwai Chung Sports Ground.

From that point everything went downhill. My route took me past warehouses, where I was nearly mown down by huge reversing lorries. I walked for much longer than twenty minutes and there was still no sign of the park. Frustratingly I was walking past a huge green area but it had keep out warning signs all round it and displayed information that it was a landfill and no-one was to smoke there due to risk of explosion.

Eventually I came to a large cemetery and that is when I knew where I was. The cemetery is Tsuen Wan Permanent Cemetery and I pass it all the time on the MTR when crossing the Rambler Channel between Lai King and Tsing Yi. It looks beautiful from the train as do the boats moored nearby. When you are right next to it, believe me, it is not so beautiful. The boats are in a fenced off area filled with lots of lorries. You cannot get anywhere near them and the whole area is pretty dangerous for pedestrians. It was so unpleasant the way I had come that, although I had given up hope of ever finding the park, I kept going. I knew I would end up at Tsuen Wan West Waterfront Promenade and I could get on the MTR from there. This turned out to be a long walk and it was much to hot to have done it. Thank God I had a large bottle of water with me.

The walk along Tsuen Wan West Waterfront Promenade is pleasant, but by then I was too tired to do it full justice.

Tsuen Wan West Waterfront Promenade.

Tsuen Wan West Waterfront Promenade.

Tsuen Wan West Waterfront Promenade.

I could have just gone home from here, but there was something I wanted to buy from a shop above Tsuen Wan MTR, so I walked all the way across Tsuen Wan, where possible, I walked through shopping malls to keep out of the sun.

Shopping mall, Tsuen Wan.

When I got back home, I had a good moan to Peter about how rubbish Google maps were. I got no sympathy, he kept saying: " You'll have done something wrong." Just to prove him wrong, I checked it all again and discovered I had googled Kwai Chung Park which is apparently a hard to get to cricket field on top of a landfill in an area surrounded by warehouses and docks. What I should have googled was Kwai Chung Central Park ten minutes walk from Metroplaza in the other direction. Ahhhh!!! Well such is life. Next time I will go to the correct park. I just might wait till it has cooled down a bit.