It'll be Nice When It's Finished.

Waterfall in Lohas Park.

The extremely bad weather felt like it was dragging on forever. Every day I stayed in instead of heading out exploring, because this must be the day I could finally take Peter down the pool, but it never happened, as the thunderstorm warning was always raised and thus the outdoor pool was always closed. To be honest even if I had abandoned Peter and gone out, the weather would have ruined it. It wasn't just wet, it was dark and thundery and miserable.

The only cheerful thing I saw on the rainy days were these flowers.

In addition to this, our blocks are being renovated and last week was the week of ripping out the tiles in the lobby of each of the nineteen floors in our building. Well this can be summed up by the words: noise, dust, and hell. Plus, because of the weather, there was no escape. Peter has noise reduction headphones and put these on. I was a bit lower tech. I had a toilet roll and stuck some of it in my ears, but it was still absolute hell. Each new day we thought it would get better, but it didn't.

Eventually after days of enduring this torture, it was Friday 16th June when I had been invited out to my friend Linda's house for dinner. I felt guilty about leaving Peter, who like me, was sick of being stuck in, but I just had to get out. It was still pouring down when I got to Shau Kei Wan where Linda lives. She has recently moved back into the house she owns after having it renovated. She's certainly well located, as she lives above a supermarket and an MTR station.

My friends Lai, Yang, Sarah and Maggie were all invited to dinner. Linda is a superb cook. She made spinach dip with nachos as a starter, followed by pork chop, salmon, mashed potato and the tastiest salad I have ever had. We were stuffed senseless after all of that, but there was still homemade apple pie with macadamia ice-cream to follow.

In Linda's newly renovated home.

In Linda's newly renovated home.

Spinach dip.

Pork chops.

Salmon.

Salad.

Homemade biscuits.

Apple pie.

Full menu courtesy of Sarah's phone.

We all had a good gossip and a lot of laughs. Sarah had an app on her phone that could turn people into cartoons. We had fun with this. After a week of going stir crazy this was just what I needed.

The real us.

A cartoon version of us.

Finally by Monday, I managed to get Peter down the pool and out for dinner. It was so long since he'd been out, I feared he'd probably developed agrophobia, but somehow he coped, even managing to walk across the bumpy, tileless lobby outside our flat without falling down.

After our swim we headed to the Bounty Bar. We used to get on really well with the staff here, but they keep changing. This time we were served by a young boy who we'd never seen before. He was extremely pleasant and spoke excellent English. We sat outside and at one point there was a downpour that soaked everything. We retreated to the only sheltered area of the table and refused to move inside even with the rain pounding down all around us. It was all quite funny. It actually doesn't matter if you get soaked here in summer, as it is so hot. The only problem is if you have to go on air-conditioned transport for a long time, then you really are freezing.

Peter in the Bounty Bar.

Next day I took Peter swimming again. The weather was a bit more stable and we followed our swim with afternoon tea in the sports club. Peter doesn't want or need to go out every day, but if he's stuck in constantly, unsurprisingly it gets him down.

Peter in the club restaurant.

Wednesday the 21st June, Peter wanted a restful day in, so I got to go out. I have been trying to find short hikes that can be completed in summer without dying from the heat. Today I certainly managed that.

I decided to go to Lohas Park. This is a residential area and it's not entirely finished yet. There's still a lot of construction work going on here. Lohas Park is one of the end of line stations I had yet to investigate and it's about as far from where I live as possible. To be honest, as it is an end of line station, I would have been happy to go there anyway, but I had read that there was a lovely waterfall here and a pleasant waterfront promenade, so I decided to take a look.

When I arrived at Lohas Park Station, I went through exit C1, then went left for a few steps until I reached a place to cross the road. On the other side of the road, I went left again and after a few minutes entered a building called The Capitol. I went down the escalator on the left hand side shortly after the entrance. This took me onto the main road and then I headed left again and descended into a subway to cross the main road. When I came out of the subway, I was facing Shrewsbury International School. I took the very narrow path on the left hand side of the school. I then crossed over a bridge and took the path on the left. I had watched videos of this walk and knew all the directions up to this point. (To be honest all I had to remember was left, then left, followed by left.) Then the videos all seemed to jump straight to the falls. I suddenly realised why. I was there at the falls about one minute after setting off down that path, making my entire 'hike' about five minutes long. I don't think you can get an easier summer hike than that.

Exit C1.

The Capitol.

Shrewsbury International School.

Path at side of Shrewsbury International School.

Bridge.

Picnic area.

Picnic area.

This waterfall is very popular with Filipino maids on their Sundays off, but as I was there on a Wednesday. I had the entire place to myself. It's possible to swim here and there are a couple of tables for picnics. The water looked lovely and clean, but I didn't go in. It was really peaceful here and the sound of the water was very calming.

Waterfall.

Waterfall.

Selfie with Waterfall.

Instead of going back the same way as I had come, I walked back to where the paths split after the bridge and took the other path. It was very grassy in this area. At one point I saw a wild boar in front of me. I'm not scared of these, but all the same it's not a good idea to get too close to them. This one never seemed to move, which I thought was strange. They usually don't move if they are lying down asleep, but if they are awake, they are normally foraging for food. I realised there was something not quite right about this wild boar. I approached it cautiously, only to discover it was a statue!!! No idea why it's there or where it came from.

Path through the grassy area.

Wild boar.

Wild boar.

Once safely past that statue, I found a bridge across a little nullah and came out at a residential block called The Beaumont on the other side of Shrewsbury International School. I noticed it had a glass fronted infinity style pool. There's probably a good sea view from up there.

Nullah.

Path back.

The Beaumont.

The Beaumont, you can just see its infinity pool through the sculpture.

I then headed back the way I had come, but decided to go the other way inside The Capitol just to see where I'd end up. Since this is Hong Kong, naturally I ended up in a shopping mall. This one had an ice-rink.

I tried to get to ground level from here, but couldn't. I took a couple of waterfront views.

Ice-skating Rink.

View from outside the mall.

I then decided to find the Waterfront Promenade. To get there I returned towards the MTR and found Exit B. Instead of heading into the shopping centre, I followed a sign for the Cross Bay Bridge and took an escalator down to the bus station, then headed out towards the waterfront.

I discovered that if I went left I could actually walk across the Cross Bay Bridge and if I went right I could follow the Waterside Promenade. I went right as I wanted to see the bridge from the walkway, but not cross it. There were lots of walkers, joggers and cyclists on the walkway.

Map of Lohas Park and Tseung Kwan O Walkways.

Walkway.

I have seen the Cross Bay Bridge several times while I have been out hiking. It is one kilometre long. It crosses Junk Bay connecting Lohas Park to Tseung Kwan O. The bridge has a roadway, a cycle track and a pedestrian walkway. The most noticeable feature of the bridge is its two hundred metre high double arch. This is known as the Eternity Arch and consists of two outward leaning steel structures which are supposed to look like the infinity symbol (∞).

This area is not finished yet and my walk began by wandering through a building site. Eventually, I actually made it to some water, but I'd say the best views of the Cross Bay Bridge are probably from the areas it's not possible to access yet. The bridge looks different from different angles. Apparently it is lit up at night.

Cross Bay Bridge across the greenery.

Cross Bay Bridge in the distance.

Cross Bay Bridge a bit closer.

Close up of Cross Bay Bridge.

I noticed a few lovely plants and a tiny Japanese Zen style garden.

Flowering tree.

Japanese garden.

The sky was darkening as I walked and I kept expecting it to pour with rain, but it didn't. There were a few boats sailing up and down the bay. I could see another pretty bridge across the bay and thought I would walk across that one until I realized it wasn't actually finished or open to the public yet. Well, I did say this place might be nice when it's finished. I later learnt this bridge is the Tseung Kwan O Southern Footbridge and it is supposed to be ready around Dragon Boat Day i.e. the day after my visit.

Passing boat.

The unfinished pedestrian bridge.

The unfinished pedestrian bridge.

I continued onwards and came to a bridge that was usable. There were lot of small boats moored here. It was very pretty in this area.

The bridge I could cross.

Looking at the boats near this bridge.

Bridge and boats.

Dragon boats.

I stopped to look at the view as I crossed this bridge. In one direction I could see the two arched bridges; in the other I could see a long line of boats

Looking back at both bridges.

A long line of boats.

A long line of boats.

I decided to walk along the Tseung Kwan O Promenade on this side in the direction of Tiu Keng Leng. Things seemed more finished on this side. There was a walkway and a cycle track. There were lots of restaurants lining the walkways. Of course there were good views back across the bay towards Lohas Park.

Tseung Kwan O Promenade.

Looking back at Lohas Park.

View across Junk Bay.

Junk Bay.

Couple relaxing by the waterfront.

Flowers and bridge.

At one point I came across lots of models of cartoon characters. They seemed to be advertising the Don Don Donki Shop. I also found some models of butterflies.

Don Don Donki Model.

Don Don Donki Model and restaurants.

Don Don Donki Model and restaurants.

Butterflies.

I continued walking until Tiu Keng Leng and the end of the Waterfront Promenade then headed for the MTR back home. I noticed the Hong Kong Design Institute near the station. I've never been in here. Apparently it does courses and hosts art exhibitions.

Looming blocks of flats in Tiu Keng Leng.

Hong Kong Design Institute.