Back on blog - and in Hong Kong

So, after a ten month silence, I am back on blog. You don't need a reason for silence, do you?

Just woke to the early morning sunrise in Hong Kong. Big red orb over Tolo Harbour, cool morning air, high mountains rising to the north, south and west.

Yesterday, I went to the Fanling Market for morning shopping with Esther, Patrick and Mavis. A humble marketplace with small traders of all kinds - selling tiny first laid eggs of their hens, making sun hats for wearing in the garden, or crocheted shawls for babies and grannies. Different to the other markets in the handmade and homey nature of their work. The scent of the market was tangy with mandarine as people peeled the green skins off fruit and strung the skins to dry. Small food stalls prepared delicious noodle soups.

After this excursion, we took off for a ride to the border area where Hong Kong meets mainland China. The little villages are nestled in to lush vegetation and facing the sea. Thousands of white cranes live there, and the waters, trees and marshlands are the stage for the wading, flying and preening. Stunning sight.