Lek Yuen Bridge

Hello My Dear Great Ones,

Lek Yuen Bridge is a lovely pedestrian footbridge spanning the Shing Mun canal that cuts through Shatin.  It is an easy bike ride from my place.  One evening, I was feeling rather artsy, so I hung around the bridge and took pictures on it, near it and at various times during that evening.  It was decorated with lights due to Chinese New Years.  I will let you decide whether you think it is gaudy or not.  Nevertheless it's a tranquil and nice little bridge.

Have a great week.

Love adios and ping on!

Ditk 

Lek Yuen Bridge

This lantern hung in the pagoda on one side of the bridge.

 On the bridge.

 The lights come on at dusk.

 Underneath the pagoda is a bike path.

 Inside the pagoda.

 Views from the bridge.

 View from the pagoda.

 Lek Yuen is behind the bridge in front.

Culture Day

Dear Most Excellent Ones,

One of the greatest features about my school (CAIS) is its international population.  Pretty well every continent is represented.  Once a year we have culture day where you get to dress up in your native costume.  The costumes range from mundane to crazy to beautiful.   The culture day assembly, where all the kids assemble and show off their costumes, is amazing.  Teachers get in the act as well.  This year we had seven teachers stand up in front of the students and say the same phrases in their own language.  So for example good day was said in English, Irish dialect, Cantonese, Mandarin, Hindi, French, Nigerian, and German.  Guess who got to say the phrases in German?  Now I don't consider German a very funny language. It is pretty serious and gruff I would say, but the kids, when they heard me speak German roared in laughter.  Maybe it was my facial expressions that they thought were funny.  Anyway it was a lot of fun and I think the kids very clearly show that we can all get along no matter where we are from.  

Have a great week. 

Love adios and ping on!

Dirk

Japanese

 Chinese

 New Zealand   and    Canadian (Saskatchewan)  I think Saskatchewan should be considered a distinct ethnic group in Canada.

 Lining up for costume parade.

 Korea

 Korea

 Korea

 Culture day activities.

 Chinese snacks.

 Chinese writing time.

 Some teachers looked great in ethnic costumes...

…whereas others not so much.

Skiing in Korea

Hello My Dear Great Ones, This past week I had the great privilege of skiing/snowboarding in Korea.  I never thought I would ever do this in Korea, let alone Asia.  Until I got to Hong Kong I didn't even know there was skiing in Korea.  Yet after a four year hiatus from the sport I ventured up to (South) Korea and spent four days skiing and snowboarding at High 1 Ski Resort.  Here is a little copied description of where and what the resort is about.

Located in Jeongseon, Gangwon Province,( three hours east of Seoul) the High 1 Ski Resort is a great vacation spot for families as well as a top resort for advanced skiiers. Several beginner slopes are located right next to the intermediate and advanced slopes, letting skiiers of varying levels ski together. The High 1 Ski Resort is Korea’s most environmentally friendly resort and many of the native trees have been well-preserved. Resort planners hope to develop an all-season ecological tourist attraction, showcasing the region’s beautiful wild flowers throughout spring, summer and fall. In addition to a topnotch skiing experience, visitors to the High1 Resort can enjoy a truly unique dining experience. Located 1,340 meters above sea level is a revolving restaurant, which offers an incredible panoramic view of no less than three different mountain ranges. The restaurant goes through one full rotation every hour, giving diners a complete view of the beautiful scenery of the region. The restaurant goes through a full turn every hour. Other leisure facilities at the resort include a casino, golf course, sledding slopes, leisure sport facilities, and much more. The resort also holds a BBQ festival every year in summer. BBQ festival?  Sign me up!  Anyway I have decided after this trip that I need to have a "real" winter ski vacation every year.  I just love skiing and snowboarding.  The speed of the sports, being outside in a spectacular setting, the challenge of getting down a variety of hills, the air, its all grand and exhilarating.  Its fun.  Simple as that.  Its also very reasonable to ski in Korea as compared to Canada, and even though it was Chinese New Year's High 1 was pretty quiet in terms of crowds.  It was pretty well ski down, go up right away.  Great stuff.  Anyway I will let the pictures tell their 1000 words. Till next week.  Have a good one! Love adios and ping on! Dirk

 A view of downtown Seoul, Korea from the bus.

 Being in Hong Kong with the highest concentration of high rises in the World, I hate to say it, but  the Seoul skyline is not that impressive.  The bus ride to the ski hill took three hours.  It was through the mountains and very scenic.

At the High 1 Ski Resort.  Korean writing is unreadable to me.  Not sure what this says, hope nothing too important, maybe it says: "Have a great day!"

 Snow was pretty good.  They had snowmakers running non stop.  Weather was minus 5 to minus 1.  Great stuff but humid cold and the wind made it feel colder.  Also, I think I am getting a little soft due to being in the tropics.   Runs were long and fun.  Views were great.  But again after spending years in the Canadian Rockies Korean mountains are simply not as a grand.   Rather brown and small like the hills by the Crowsnest Pass. 

 My shadow was quite long around 3 in the afternoon.

My shadow getting some attention from a girl shadow.  Lucky shadow.

 Revolving restaurant at the top of the ski mountain.  Many of the people eating there were non skiers who got a ride up via a gondola.

 A well photographed heart was at the top of the hill as well.

 Some views of  High 1.  It was pretty good.  Very fun.  During one of my gazing times from the top of the mountain a fighter jet roared over head.  That was so unexpected and random that my heart nearly jumped out of my chest.  Crazy North Korea is not that far away so obviously a show of force is needed at times.

 Seriously great cruising runs at High 1.

A conveyor belt for beginners.  Pretty fancy way of getting up the hill.

 A massive cordon bleu wienerschnitzel for lunch.  Almost like Austria. but the rice soup,  sticky rice ball, veggies and fruit kind of threw the experience off.  This meal needed a few potato dumplings, red cabbage, and a half liter of really good beer to be true.  Still ok though.

 High 1 had a mascot.  Hi Hou.  Not sure what it is, a dog? a rabbit, or an amalgamation of both.  Weird!  According to the advert Hi Hou offers the following:  "You provide me with joy and love.  You are my best friend."  Hmmm.  I have heard pastors talk about Jesus like that. 

 Here's my best friend snowboarding.  Not sure what he/she/it is saying.  Probably :  " I provide you great joy and love on my snowboard.  You are my best friend dude."

 With my best friend.  

 They had these smoking areas throughout the resort.  They were like corrals with a little shelter for those deciding to increase the risk of cancer.  Hi Hou was not found in any of these places.  What kind of best friend is that?   Otherwise smoking was verboten on any other part of the ski resort and the Koreans dutifully obeyed.

 Another shot of a slope and the view.  Great.  Love it.

 They also had night skiing.  So one day I skied in the morning, and afternoon, and snowboarded at night.  I was on the slopes from 9 to 9.  Awesome!

 I bet that little snowman will disagree with Hi Hou's claim that he provides great joy, love and is his best friend after he gets run over and squashed by Hi Hou's snowboard.

 View from a chairlift.

 Happy to be bundled up and at High 1.