Hong Kong misses Gor Gor Leslie Cheung – 10th Anniversary

6:41pm, April Fool’s Day – Today marks the 10th Anniversary of Leslie Cheung’s death. 10 years on, Hong Kong pays tribute to the one of its most talented and greatest stars. At Causeway Bay, Times Square Hong Kong hosts a memorial exhibition “Miss You Much Leslie” (29 March – 1st May) to commemorate the late legend.  Leslie’s ex-lover, Daffy Tong unveiled a 5.5m tall statue of Leslie Cheung. Fans around the world created a new Guinness World Record for the largest display of origami cranes – 1,900,119 of hand-folded paper cranes are housed in a giant red transparent acrylic cube. The exhibition also showcases many Leslie’s collections – trophies, awards and some of the costumes he wore in the movies and concerts.

Over at Central (right outside Mandarin Oriental Hotel where Leslie fell 10 years ago), thousands of fans from all around the world poured in with flowers wreaths and photo-placards. Emotions were high and many came to pay tribute to Hong Kong’s favourite “Gor Gor”. Leslie may have departed this world but he lives forever in the hearts and minds of many. Truly a legend and a day well remembered. Rest in peace, Leslie. (Enjoy the music video below)

Jardine’s Lookout Hike

We surprised many friends when we announced our first hike at this time of the season. It is almost the end of spring and we have just started our hiking activity. For the past 16 weekends, Harshad, Tracy and I were lazing around at shopping malls, cafes and movie theaters  Even the cab driver who took us to Jardine’s Lookout voiced out his concerns. “Hiking at 3:30pm? At Jardine’s Lookout? Are you late for hiking? It is late afternoon wor! Are you sure you can make it?”, he asked. “And you guys don’t even carry water with you? It is a long hike, you know.”

“Er…is it?… Well, it is heavy to carry water bottles. We decided to go light…” we answered. The cab driver was smiling in disbelief. He knew we were amateurs. Honestly, we have no idea how long or how difficult the hike at Jardine’s Lookout is. We saw the photos on the hiker’s guide book. It was a new trail that we haven’t explored. It is just a hike, how bad can that be, I thought. The cab driver counter-proposed other easier hikes but we rejected his offers. In the end, he drove us up the hill and dropped us at the entrance of the Wilson Trail. “Take this route, it is the shortest way to Jardine’s Lookout”, he said.

The cab driver is right. It isn’t a gentle hike but it is a very rewarding one. For 3.5 hours, we hiked 6km up to an altitude of 310m (elevation: Up 765m / down 1006m).

The view at Jardine’s Lookway offers an amazing panaroma of Hong Kong and Kowloon. Encircled by green mountains, we were at the midpoint between 2 jungles – concrete and nature. Facing north, we saw the buzzing skyline of Hong Kong (Central, Wan Chai and Causeway Bay) and Kowloon (Tsim Sha Tsui and Hung Hom). Overlooking south, we saw the calm scenic forests, streams and reservoirs  From orange to green, the different shades of the vegetations revealed the changing of the seasons.

The hike took us to a cross road where one leads to Quarry Bay and the other leads to Tai Tam Tuk Reservoir. It was almost 6:30pm, the sun was setting and I thought we had hit the main road where we can take a cab home. Goodness, we were 3km away from the nearest public road! As I haven’t been hiking for the past 6 months, the steps uphill took a bad toll on my knees. Worst of all, I wasn’t even wearing the right footwear for this hike. I was in my sandals. By the time I reached the peak of Mount Butler, my knees were wobbling. Without any drinks or energy bars, I endured the aching knees and hiked down over 600 steps to Quarry Bay. (We ended up at a familiar trail that we didn’t complete the last time with Felicia and Elkan back in 2011!)

Despite the aching body, it was an awesome hike! In fact, I have never felt this good and fit! The hike was strenuous but it was very rewarding for both mind and body. (Yes, we also successfully tested our new toys – 5D Mark III!) Best of all, I received so many “likes” on Facebook and many friends requested to join us in our next Hong Kong hike.

Jojorazzi at Hong Kong Park

This afternoon, Harshad, Tracy and I went to Hong Kong Park to test our new toys. Tracy’s dad and I just bought our new gadgets – Canon 5D Mark III. It took me 4 years to upgrade from my first D-SLR Canon 50D to the current collection. Thanks to my faithful and very supportive friends (Selena, Danielle, Wenxu, Joanne, Tracy and Echo) who shared the loads off my previous cameras and lens. I managed to upgrade and grow the collection slowly and steadily over the years. Looking at all past posts on my blog, I see big improvements to the photographs taken. This is one convincing “valid” excuse I am going to justify to my wife about my constant mindless splurges on these expensive heavy gadgets. (Almost there… just left with 2 more prime lens!)

There were lots of shutterbugs at the park. Hong Kongers are very passionate and crazy into photography. There were lots of professional hardwares (top gears) here. I can see Tracy starting to get hooked into it too! She totally immersed herself in the shoots. For once, she was so serious – other than playing “Candy Crush”. I told Harshad she might not pass the new toy to her dad. It is a great toy respectable hobby afterall!

And guess who we bumped into? We saw our colleague Stephanie and her friends at the park. She tried to run and hide her face from my lens. Sorry, it was a paparazzi lens and gotcha even at 20m away, Stef!  Hahaha…you can run but you can’t hide! (Oops, Stephanie was still awake at 1:30am when I posted this! Stef…I did offered you a nice portrait shot, you denied me hor!)

Will you marry me?

Photo taken: Harbour City Pier, Tsim Sha Tsui – Last Friday night, I was out with my ex-architectural classmate Shuying and her mum (143rd & 144th HK Visitors) when we witnessed a marriage proposal. A man dressed as a mascot (小叮当）was posing with strangers at Harbor City Pier. A group of girls came along and posed with him. Out of the blue, the mascot turned around, held a bouquet of roses, kneeled down and proposed to one of the girls “嫁给我吧!”. A light-hearted stunt that took the girl by surprise. The on-lookers cheered for the man. Of course, she says “yes”. A very bold and creative wedding proposal. (I was about to get my friend to pose with the mascot. Good thing we didn’t disrupt his plans.) Below are some of the best wedding proposals on youtube. Enjoy.