Clear Water Bay Country Park (清水灣郊野公園)

For many, the first day of 2013 was a day marked by conflict: a conflict between two groups, one for and the other against the continuance in office of our CE in a society now deeply divided between the rich and the poor with tendencies for the progressive impoverishment of an increasing number of petty bourgeoisie. I sought solace not from the hope that our politicians can do anything meaningful for us but from Nature. I went hiking at the Clear Water Bay Country Park. Whilst rival groups shout and chant their frustrations and their demands in the busy streets of Causeway, Wanchai to Central, Nature carries on, the way it has done for millions of years, speaking only the language of the wind and the waves.

 

Creepers continue to wind its slender branch around stronger ones in search of sunlight.

Green leaves continue to take in what they need from the sun

New shoots continue unfold from the centre of the shield of protection formed by older leaves

Others have stepped ahead a little sooner

whilst others are turning red not as part of the process of growth but of their decline

bamboo leaves continue to wave its soft paper blade like leaves under the sun in the winter breeze.

Reeds continue to spread its tiny seeds through the air with the help of its fluffy hairs.



Flowers continue to bloom in accordance of the rhythm of the seasons.

and in great profusion too

When I started the journey, the sky was full of clouds and the air was shrouded by a film of haze

Gradually, the clouds began to merge

Two streams of cloud met

They seem headed in the same direction.

and several streams became one

Then they began to spit again but this time in a different way

Whilst on the western side of the mountain, clouds were gathering

On the eastern side, the clouds were clearing

In the meantime, the sky in the west appear to be clearing up too

But they were soon joined by the clouds from the east

The clouds from the east appeared to have taken over the west as well

They appeared to have split the sky into tiny patches like those one finds on the the back of a tortoise

The Kwo Chau Islands which appeared as tiny dots  in the east when my trek began now appeared much bigger

In the distance, I could see the peak of Nam She Tsim, below which I first started the hike.

I was nearing the end of the journey. Two speed boats were heading out to sea in the evening

I was quite close to sea level now and could see some of the rocks of the coast

The sky was much clearer now.

The mountain path downhill

Apparently, I still got a long way to go

But the gradient of the path became gentler and gentler

To my left I could see the clusters of buildings  in Sai Kung Peninsula

In the distance I could see all the mountains surrounding the inland sea..

Kwo Chau Islands became small once more

The sky has now become almost cloudless

Another speed was making the return journey

In the meantime, the two speed boats I saw earlier were now heading for the open sea

I took the chance to admire the reeds standing so freely in the breeze

The sea and the sky have become almost indistinguishable

A police boat was patrolling the area

I could see some sea caves in the island opposite to me

Below me now stood one of the kite flying spots of the LCSD with a show jumping riding school behind it.

By the time I reached the bottom and walked on the stretch of Road from Lobster Bay back to where I started, it was sunset. Clouds come and go. The sun rises and sets. Trees and plants continue to grow, wither and die. Everything changes. Everything remains the same. Politics means nothing to Nature. They are irrelevant.