As Pretty As A Picture.

View over fishponds from Kai Shan.

This has not been a very active week for me. There was a typhoon on Monday and Tuesday. It only became a typhoon number three, but the weather was still pretty naff. I actually went out during it on the Tuesday, because I was going crazy being constantly in, but I didn't have a particularly great time. I decided an indoor trip would be a good idea since it was cold and pouring, so I went to Tsuen Wan to revisit The Mills. I loved this place on my first visit, but this visit was nothing special. It was supposed to be having a marine themed inflatables exhibition, but it turned out most of the exhibits had been outdoors on the roof and in the garden and they had all been deflated due to the typhoon. The museum area of The Mills was shut as it was a Tuesday. The most exciting part of my visit was finding a dog ice-cream dispenser. I mean, I don't have a dog, but I just didn't know such things existed. After perusing the flavours, I feel it should really be a cat ice-cream dispenser. The only other thing of interest was having a look at some cotton plants which were growing in the garden and some others which made up a display inside.

The Mills, it's nicely done and worth a visit, but I found it a bit flat second time around.

Cotton plants surrounding the mill workers.

Scene from inside the cotton mills.

Playing Cats Cradle.

A display about the cotton plant.

A display about weaving.

Cotton flower.

Cotton plants in the garden.

Aubergines growing in the garden.

Ice-cream for dogs.

Looks a bit fishy to me.

There was supposed to be a big display with inflatable sea creatures, but this was largely it. Yawn! Yawn! The rest had been taken down due to the typhoon.

There were some signs of getting ready for Halloween.

There were some signs of getting ready for Halloween.

Artwork outside the fire station next to the mills.

I tried to redeem the day by struggling through the rain to the Jockey Club Tak Wah Park. I've been here before, but it was worth a revisit as it's lovely, even in the rain. I then went shopping, got overcharged, got in a fight, got my money back, but I went home even more annoyed than when I had set out. Not a very good day.

Main entrance Jockey Club Tak Wah Park.

Like most Chinese style parks there are a variety of different shaped doors here.

This building was being restored on my last visit.

Fish-filled stream.

There are decorative stone lanterns all around.

Old village houses.

And another old house.

Walkway and sitting out area.

Walkway and sitting out area.

A single rose.

I think this is an entry for the best gardens' competition.

I think this is an entry for the best gardens' competition.

On Wednesday we went out for a very pleasant meal with a friend. Well, the company was pleasant, but the food wasn't and I got mild food poisoning, so I was in too much pain to do anything on Thursday. I had promised Peter I'd take him swimming, but I couldn't even do that. On Friday I finally had a good day.

I decided I was going to do a short walk up and over Kai Shan Hill. To get there I took the MTR to Tin Shui Wai and exited through Exit D onto Tin Fuk Road. I walked along this road following signs for Ha Mei San Tsuen. Shortly after passing under an overhead roadway, I headed left into Ha Mei San Tsuen. The start of my trail was just across from the public toilet. It's just a small path leading up through the shrubbery. There is no sign to tell you it is a trail, you have to know in advance.

The trail quickly led into a cemetery filled with lots of the local village graves. Beyond the cemetery, I headed left. I could see Kai Shan in front of me.

Cemetery at the start of the walk.

Cemetery at the start of the walk.

Looking towards Kai Shan.

Looking towards Kai Shan.

There are several paths heading towards and up Kai Shan. I had read that it was best to keep taking those on the left. I came to a relatively flat area with lots of flowers and a bench. There was some shade here, while much of the rest of the walk was in the sun. People are friendly in this area. There was a woman here who wanted to say hello to me, I think, though she got her English mixed up and kept saying: "Goodbye." She said it with a big smile, so I didn't feel she was trying to get rid of me.

Flowers near the resting place with the bench.

After the bench, the walk became steeper, but it wasn't too hard as it was pretty short. Even after climbing just a short way, there were beautiful views back the way.

Looking back on the climb up.

Views on the way up.

Views on the way up.

There was another shaded seating area before I reached the summit of Kai Shan which is marked with a triangulation station. I spent a bit of time here enjoying the views. It's possible to see in every direction, though my favourite view was the view across the fish ponds and the Sham Chun River looking towards Shenzhen.

Trigonometric station.

Selfie at the trigonometric station.

Views over the fishponds.

Looking over the fishponds.

Selfie with fishponds.

Shenzhen skyline.

Shenzhen skyline.

After the triangulation station I made my way down on the path behind the station. This was quite steep. I eventually ended up on a grassy knoll with lots of lovely deep red flowers.

On the grassy knoll there was a little garden.

Lovely deep red flowers.

Lovely deep red flowers.

Also in this area I found several paintings that had been painted onto the rocks forming a wonderful sort of miniature outdoor art gallery. Most of the paintings were in very good condition though a couple had faded. I am not sure who created these works of arts, probably they are the work of a talented villager. The thing that made them so special was that the artist had incorporated part of the rock's natural structure into the design, making the pictures very 3-d.

Beautiful landscape painting on the rocks.

Painting of a person deep in thought.

Another gorgeous landscape.

Beautiful horse riding painting on the rocks.

Landscape with waterfall.

Two beautiful paintings on the rocks together.

This one had faded leaving only traces of the picture that was once here.

There were fantastic views from this area. After enjoying them, I began my decent. It was very very steep and would have been very easy to fall or twist an ankle, so I went down very slowly.

Fellow walker.

It was very steep coming back down.

At one point there were beautiful views, but an incredibly vile smell. I wondered if a small animal had died nearby. At this point a bird of prey kept circling. It was too hard to focus on to get a good shot, then it flew straight into my picture.

Views over fishponds.

Bird of prey flies into shot.

Looking down over Shing Uk Tsuen.

Views on the way down.

View on the way down.

Eventually I came to another cemetery. This one belonged to the village of Shing UK Tsuen where the walk ended. I entered the village right next to a large pylon which marks the beginning of the walk if you are coming the other way.

Cemetery above Shing Uk Tsuen.

Graves, Shing Uk Tsuen.

This pylon marks the start of the walk if you are coming from Shing Uk Tsuen.

At the foot of Kai Shan I headed right towards the minibus stop, but before taking one, I wandered off to the left hand side to get a closer look at the fishponds. I did not spend as long as on my last fish pond walk, as I had already been in the sun for a long time. This area was also very beautiful, but the part I was in did not have too many old houses on stilts.

Fish ponds.

Fish ponds.

Such peaceful colours.

Looking back at Tin Shui Wai.

In the distance is Kai Shan, the hill I had just climbed.

Kai Shan.

Little house on the fish ponds.

However, I did get to see some water hyacinths. There wasn't a huge purple profusion of them like I have seen in other people's photos, but there were a few scattered around and I took a few pictures with my camera zoom.

Water hyacinths.

Water hyacinths.

Water hyacinths.

Water hyacinths.

The village of Shing Uk Tsuen was established by the Shing Clan, who came here from the nearby area of Ping Shan in 1466. It has quite a few old houses. Some are in good condition and some are crumbling. It was quite interesting to take a stroll around here.

Village office, Shing Uk Tsuen.

Old buildings, Shing Uk Tsuen.

Old houses, Shing Uk Tsuen.

Doorway, Shing Uk Tsuen

Old entry to walled village.

Shrine in entrance to walled village.

Past the entrance way the houses are modern.

Flowers, Shing Uk Tsuen.

Flowers, Shing Uk Tsuen.

Flowers Shing Uk Tsuen.

When I was done with looking around, I jumped on a number 74 minibus. This goes all the way to Yuen Long, but I got off at Long Ping MTR station and caught a train from there. It had been a very enjoyable walk.