A Walk in My Backyard

My Dear Great Ones,

It is normal, almost a given, that most middle class Canadians live in a house with a yard, and a vehicle or two in the garage.  Well in Hong Kong to have a house with a backyard, plus a few cars, one must be very rich indeed.  Middle class in HK means you get a housing allowance so you can afford to rent a @ 500 hundred sq Flat (apartment) for about $2500 Canadian a month.  It means you can afford to ride a taxi (about 5-10 dollars Canadian a trip) or ride the MTR (subway system) for about 1 dollar Canadian.  The savings on a car is then used to travel on the cheap (compared to Canada) on one of the highly competitive airlines that fight hard for every cent here, to exotic places all over south-east Asia.

Yet, I honestly miss at times having a backyard.  I have a rooftop now which is like a patio/deck, but nope I do not have a backyard to maintain.  So since I live right next to the Shing Mun Country Park I pretend that the park is my backyard.  A 44 square kilometer backyard that is.  So let me introduce to you a part of my backyard:

Just outside of our home there are a few roses.  Beauty.

My lovely wife on Shing Mun Rd leading up to my backyard.  Note the cemented in hill side to prevent flash floods from causing landslides.

My backyard has several pets including this monkey.

The tacky "gate," to my backyard.  I will have to talk to someone about this.

A small concession stand that is never passed by when Celia is with me.  

This man is playing a guzheng a traditional Chinese instrument.  Not bad.  Music is actually quite good.

Up a hill to great views and a great variety of plants.

My backyard is very tranquil and the path makes it easy to get around.

A lovely little creek meanders through a portion of the yard.

There is also a large reservoir in the middle of the yard.

A rare sight.  Yellow leaves.

Gnarly.

A bench to rest your tired bones.

The reservoir dam is actually a classic beauty.

A few of my pets feeding.

A guy feeding feral monkeys.  Not a good idea.

Heading home after a nice meander through the backyard.

Have a great week everyone.  Next week I will be in Jakarta with Celia and Elsie!

Love adios and ping on!

Dirk