Weekend Trails in Hong Kong

View from Tai Mo Shan, Hong Kong

 Getting more and more into trails rather than roads after coming back from Mongolia. Fresher air, tougher terrain... definitely more fun!

Hong Kong is an amazing place for hikers/trail runners given its abundant options of routes and high accessibility. You can reach a hiking trail by public transport easily, have a few hours of hideaway from the crowded highways, and soon you can hit back to the main road and take a nap at home.

Among all long routes, the 100-KM MacLehose Trail is propably the most classic one in town. Streching from the eastern to the western side of New Terriorities, the trail is frequently visited by local and overseas hikers, especially from late summer until the end of November as the annual Oxfam Trailwalker race nears.

Started to do a 3 to 5-hour trail-hike every weekend. And today we went to the Stage 6-8 of MacLehose, a 20-KM climb that passes through Tai Mo Shan, the highest peak in Hong Kong where you can oversee the cityscape.

Lovely weather, lovely view and a lovely day.

Cherry Blossom Photos Uploaded

I have uploaded some of the photos I took during the cherry blossom festival in Tokyo here, enjoy and hope you share my support towards Japan!

Thanks so much for everyone who helped me posting the photos at the University of Hong Kong today, particularly Dr. Yoshiko Nakano from the Department of Japanese Studies and Luci Cheng from the School of Modern Languages and Cultures.

Stay tune for more fund raising efforts! 

Joy and Meditation - Words from Mingyur Rinpoche

Rinpoche speaking on stress relief. Taken on April 16, 2011.This morning I volunteered to be the photographer for a lecture by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist known for his down-to-earth and humorous teaching on meditation. The talk was mainly for psychiatrists working at public hospitals in Hong Kong, so the content was not really about Buddhism but more related to daily life handling of stress.

He suggested a very simple meditation method towards the end of the one-hour sharing session. He called it "breathing meditation" or "sound meditation". The steps are simple and only take as short as a minute:

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Rinpoche has an influential smile. Taken on April 16, 2011.Step 1: Close your eyes and feel your breathe. Most people are not aware that they are breathing. This step help you to focus on your self.

Step 2: Now you should be able to listen your body. Move your attention to all the surrounding sounds you can hear, focus on your ears and make them sensitive... can you now here the sounds from your computer? Car engines on the street? Noise from your heater/ air conditioner, etc.?

Step 3: Your mind may run to somewhere else during the process. Don't oppress it. Let go of the grip and let your thoughts wander freely - but don't let it overwhelms you for more than a few seconds, refocus on listening to the sound and appreciate the rhythm of it.

One minute passes ...

Step 4: Open your eyes.

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That's it. You can practice it when you are traveling in the train, taking break in the office, etc. I can't explain why but it works very well for me. I feel tranquility from within and very relaxed. Give it a try and let me know your verdict!

If you want to know more about Mingyur Rinpoche, you can visit his the website of his meditation center and also read his book, "Joy of Living, Unlocking the Secret adn Science of Happiness".

A very good way to start my weekend indeed.

Start From Here - My 2nd Half-Marathon

Woke up at 4 a.m. this morning to run my second half-marathon at the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon 2011. The sky was still dark during the first 10km, with occasional drizzle.

Weather started getting better after crossing the Western Harbor Tunnel, encouraged me to run faster and break my own record. Continuously finding targets to chase over and keep my pace at around 5 minutes per kilometer. That yielded me a 1:48:04 timeoff when crossing the finishing line, a 13-minute jump from my November result.

A round of applause to every runner today.

My next stop - full marathon at Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, on May 1. More running sharings to come.

Start from here - Patterns of Hong Kong Homes

This morning I ran on the western side of Hong Kong Island, part of my preparations for the marathons in months ahead.

While I totally understood a steady running tempo is crucial to my distance training today, I couldn't help stopping and took picture of these weird-looking structure at Cyperport - a Silicon Valley-wannabe that turns out to be another luxurious housing estate in town. The buildings, known as "Bel-Air on the Peak", feature a "mouth" in the middle. Can any one tell me if there is any practical reasons for this or is it just... a piece of comtemporary art that I don't understand?

Bel-Air on the Peak at Cyberport, Hong Kong

Ten-minute (running distance) away, I came across Wah Fu Estate, a public housing estate built in the 1960s. Street-facing yellow doors, gridline pattern of the open facades, elderly people walking on the corridors... the over-40-year-old building in fact looks more lively and realistic than its ２００３－born Cyberport neighbor.

Wah Fu Estate at Aberdeen, Hong Kong.

Today's 16 km running journey was not only a physical training for me, but also a lesson of how different Hong Kong properties could be in 40-year of time.

在較大的地圖上查看Kennedy Town - Cyberport run