August
3 August
I meet Jemima outside Palm Tree House at 5 pm. Since the hot
weather has arrived, it’s a much better time to go for a run. It’s still
hot and humid but the sun has already moved down behind Lin Fa
Shan and that makes such a difference. Even late afternoon
sunshine is intensely hot.
We stop at the waterfall where we splash ourselves with refreshing mountain water to cool our skin. As we run along we hear a dog barking. I wonder if it’s a hiker out for a walk but soon we see a dog with no collar and looking wary. We stoop down to pick up a large stick. Some of the island dogs can become aggressive and the sight of a stick is a deterrent. The dog quickly runs into the woods and we see another three dogs and come across the source of their interest. There’s a partially eaten small barking deer on the path. We run past it, holding our breath, the smell is terrible. The dogs run ahead of us until they find a place to head off
the path peacefully.
As we start the ascent towards Ngong Ping, we hear thunder rolling
and I stop to check the radar. I can see a storm passing to the north
of Lantau Island, it’s moving east and won’t be a problem.
As we run, dusk sets in, we can see that not many people have come on this path today, there are large spiderwebs suspended over the path. We frequently run into them until we pick up a stick and take turns to run with it in front of us to break the webs. It’s getting dark now so we put our headlamps on and keep running. It starts to rain and then pour. It’s a deluge of rain and turns the path into a waterfall. But the rain is refreshing and I relish being out in it though my eyes are feeling waterlogged.
Halfway up Jemima and I stop to look over the valleys and hills to the lights of the new highway linking Hong Kong to Macau. A long line of light snakes across the black of the ocean. We can see the lights of Macau from here and I notice the flash of fireworks near the bright lights of the casino area. There’s a band of ethereal cloud cloaking the hills and valleys below but the wind coming from the west blows it away and we can see the Giant Buddha dark against the hills. Hiking in the dark can be disorientating. I don't always know where we are in the ascent up Lantau Peak, though the path is clear and I know we won’t wander off it, it’s surprising when we reach the top. It’s exhilarating to be at the top of a mountain at night. We stop to watch the bright lights of Hong Kong airport.
We can hear an animal, at first I think it’s a loud night bird but then realise that it’s a barking deer calling out. All the way down Lantau Peak, we can hear the deer barking. I’ve never heard a deer making so much noise, I wonder if it’s calling to the deer that we found on the path earlier.
On the way down I can see the lights of Jono, Salomon and Scotty on their way up Lantau Peak. We fly by, fist bumping and calling out and disappearing into the darkness with laughter.
As we neared the road, there was movement on the side of the path, all sharp bristles and long legs, the most fierce looking centipede I have ever seen, complete with brown polka dots along its body. It’s a house centipede, though I hope never to see one inside.
6 August
The buffalo walked by, on their way to the beach with three long-legged, gangly calves being safely guarded by their mothers.They make sweet little barking and bleating noises.
11 August
It’s a rainy day, Tara and I walk down to the shops to get a drink. We stroll back along the village path. The stream that runs next to the path is flowing strongly with clear water and the water plants, which had been trimmed back severely have all grown beautiful heart shaped leaves again. Drops of rain collect on their large surfaces like shining jewels.
The papaya fruit are growing bigger on the trees, their lower leaves look like a dramatic bouquet, a spray of leaves spreading out on long stalks.
The purple wildflowers are blooming across the road. Their pretty flower-heads graduate in colour from pale lilac to purple. The flowers open at the base first and then flower upwards gradually.
​
12 August
There is something wonderfully comforting about watching the Lantau buffalo wallowing in the flowing stream at Shap Long.These calm, quiet fields get thoroughly soaked when the rains come and the river flows down its meandering path to the sea. Every now and then the buffalo splashes the water with her head, oh, the absolute joy of being immersed in the cooling flow.
13 August
Today I walked out onto my rooftop early in the morning to lie in my hammock to watch the dawn. I was greeted with a heady scent, the air was saturated with the perfume of the flowering tree in Lene’s garden. The Michelia Alba tree has grown above the height of our roof and it’s near enough for me to pick one flower. I lie in the hammock watching the birds wing by on their morning flight and breathe in the gorgeous magnolia scent deeply. The flower is a work of art, finely crafted with large bracts of palest yellow, surrounding the center which reminds me of an ornate Turkish lamp.
​
15 August
Clio, Jono and I walk to the waterfall, it’s Clio’s birthday. The waterfall is flowing strongly, the water is crisply cool. There’s a beautifully spiked Creatonotos transiens caterpillar enjoying a sweet treat of a longan berry.On the way home we notice a dragonfly, absolutely exquisite with dramatic lime green and black markings with a pale turquoise face.
​
18 August
I have a small lemon tree in my garden. Every summer it gets stripped of all its leaves by voracious caterpillars. The lemon tree doesn’t seem to mind very much. It just sprouts new fresh leaves and gets on with growing.Today I noticed that it was almost completely bare of leaves again so I stopped to find the culprit. It was a little snake. Or rather, it was putting on a brilliant impersonation of being a snake. A Common Mormon caterpillar, Papilio polytes, as soon as it sensed my presence, it retracted its beige head and swelled its body to make itself look like a venomous,green snake, complete with authentic snaky eyes.
​
19 August
Today I had time to run up Sunset Peak before taking a birthday lunch to Joel at the sports shop where he was working for the day.
It’s a beautiful overcast day. As I ran, I decided that I would work hard on the way up and then take it slow on the way down because there were so many beautiful plants in flower.
A stunning jewel of a Japanese Beetle, Popillia Japonica, perched on a flowering yellow grassy plant. Yellow orchids peered out from the side of the path. So many different types of ferns were growing happily on the shaded moist section of the mountain.
One of my favourite places on this trail is a wooded area, rocky and mossy. There is one large boulder next to the path,covered with moss and ferns and a perfect garden of Begonia palmata, pale pink flowers with dew drops glistening on their shining petals. The seeds look like streamlined bicycle helmets, tinged with brighter pink.
I pass onto Butterfly Alley, a section of the trail that is full of the flutterings of butterflies. They are drawn here by a flowering plant which they obviously love. The small unobtrusive white flowers must hold delicious nectar. The butterflies are large and have the most vibrant deep royal blue wings, speckled with white, they are the Blue-spotted Crow, Euploea midamus.
A little pale yellow spider sits in the doorway of her pink flower house. Further down, a Habenaria linguella orchid has a bunch of flowers which look like little yellow and black wasps, complete with wings and long legs. A stunning white and purple Arundina graminifolia, Bamboo orchid, grows near a trickling stream.
Half way down, I glance at my watch, I’m shocked to see how late it is and hightail it down to meet Joel with his birthday lunch.
​
30 August
It's a steely grey afternoon. The weather seems to have settled into one thunder storm after another. I run along the coast towards Shap Long. As I near the bay a waft of ocean fills my senses. There’s a refreshing breeze coming straight off the sea. There’s a luminous quality to the water. Black rocks on the shore are submerged by a silver sea merging to a vivid emerald. A Black kite soars above, wheeling on the sea breeze. The Eupatorium is flowering now, vivid purple flowers appear among the cluster of buds.
My attention is caught by a large shrub with reaching branches which is full of restless rust-red butterflies. I stop to try to get a good photo of them, some of them are obligingly sitting on the bright green leaves with their wings spread open. But those long branches are hindering my approach and I can’t get near enough.
​
I tentatively take a step closer and feel a sharp pain on my shin, the branches are covered in barbs, I try to take a step backwards but the barbs dig in and hold me fast. A momentary panic ensues until logic kicks in and I unhook myself carefully. Three spots of blood are all I have to show for my photo shoot and I decide it’s time to move on, hoping that the bush doesn’t have another weapon in its arsenal of giving me an allergic reaction.
Moving on to Shap Long, I run past the buffalo fields. I start the ascent up to Radio Hill. Red sandstone steps rise steeply ahead of me. There is a small mushroom, pastel yellow, growing brightly out of the stones. As I run along a short level part, I'm joined by a pale, lemon yellow butterfly, a Lime Swallowtail, Papilio demoleus. I stop and give chase with my camera, it flies up and down the path, in and out of the leaves, moving too quickly for me to get a good picture. It alights on a particular bush time and time again and so I wait, patiently, ready for it to settle for the moment I need, and it does. It returns to it's favourite bush and settles and I take photos and then just watch it, taking in the colours and patterns on its wings. Further along the trail, I have to step over a large locust, it's sitting deliberately on the middle of the trail.
I look up as the sky starts to darken with the coming dusk and see a large Golden Orb spider silhouetted against the deepening blue.
​
