Both Helen and I had a large number of
Cathay points that were going to expire so booking a trip to Hong
Kong seemed like an obvious thing to do. Turns out there
were very few trips available with two seats so we wound up
booking a trip at the end of April and start of May. I've
always been in Hong Kong in the November to February time frame so
May (which is a warm month) was going to be a new experience.
Fruit Market
Helen's Grandparents live only a few
blocks from the Fruit Market and the jet lag flying from Canada
means we are usually up early in the morning but falling asleep by
later afternoon. Do you think we have ever been to the
fruit market during peak hours? No. This time we
decided to make a go of it.
The market is a bit of an anomaly in Hong Kong. It's only
two stories high when everything else is 10 stories or higher and
it blocks off much of the road way around. Hong Kong is
flush with small entrepreneur fruit merchants and I believe this
is where they buy their fruit before they start the day.
Nobody looks like they are getting rich selling things here - I
suspect this is a good example of hard capitalism at work.
You can come to the fruit market for two
reasons - one is to take pictures of fruit and the other is
practice street photography. Lots of people are busy doing
work and as long as you stay out of the way people don't seem to
care you are there. May is a warm month so be prepared for a
lot of sweaty workers.
When I visited in November, I was impressed by the selection of
apples - Washington state seemed to own the place. Being
early summer, tropical fruit was dominating the mix of products
available. I'm always on the look out for fruit I don't
recognize.
There is a hierarchy of fruit stands in Hong Kong. The fruit
vendors near the grandparents house have only basic fruit at
reasonable prices. In some of the further markets (such as
Ladies street) you can find vendors with a wider selection of
fruit. At the Fruit Market you can see a little bit of
everything - sadly, you can't easily purchase single items.
Tai O Fishing Village
I went to Tai O on my first trip to
Hong Kong and got really good light as well as some nice
bird photos. Being November, the outside temperature was quite
nice so it was easy to dwell for hours. On this trip we
arrived earlier in the day in a warmer season - everything was
laying low to avoid the heat. Nara was at two naps a day so
we couldn't just stick around for nicer light. That said,
it's nice to revisit a favorite place with a new person.
Shek O Beach
Another favorite place of mine, Shek O has
a light sand beach. In November this beach is heaven for a
Canadian - very swimmable temperature and an almost empty
beach. In May the sand is so hot (by 11am) that you can't
walk on it in bare feet. The water is still a lovely
temperature but the walk across the beach makes you wish you had
brought beach shoes.
We had lunch at one of the outdoor seafood restaurants. It
was a great meal but the warm weather was hard on Nara - she
napped really well.
Hong Kong With a One Year Old
