Ebbs and flows

My hiking friends have teased me about my compact camera for the last few years. One of them, who used to be a photographer, reminded me that the camera was discontinued in 2016. I mocked him that I had made a very good decision to buy it in early 2015 then. Another one remarked that nobody would use such a ‘historical’ camera anymore and suggested I get an iPhone or the new HUAWEI, as they produced images better than the real thing. I chuckled and told her that I could not convince myself to spend that kind of money on a mobile phone.

In October 2023, during a hike, the shutter button of the camera occasionally failed to respond. I was embarrassed because my friends had to hold their poses whenever it misbehaved, and I had to restart the camera. I finally announced that it was going to retire soon. This camera had served me well, beyond my expectations, and it was about time to get a new one.

The Last Photograph

Finally, I got a WhatsApp message from a Miss Chan from the funeral parlour this afternoon. It came at the right time, and I was grateful for that.

This morning, I thought I had done something really stupid when I looked at a photo on the computer and was thinking about deleting it for good. Miss Chan was asking for a photo. It is the photo of Uncle Nine, the only photo I took for him when I visited him at an elderly home.

Last lotus of summer

Procrastination is my hallmark. I heard people talking about a special lotus festival with an exhibition of more than 8,000 pots of lotus at Po Lin Monastery starting from 22 June and saw some beautiful lotus flower photographs taken in the exhibition in some other blogs. Though the exhibition reviews were not particularly positive, I thought it might be an unusual day out. Yet, I had not gone there when it closed on 2 July.  

The Survivors

When I was much younger, people always said this city was a concrete jungle. Not anymore now, as many high-rise blocks are built of steel and glass. These days, caged homes, butchered rooms, and shrunken flats are the fashionable local terms in the media to describe the living space of many. Something should have been done for that, but I feel despondent, and hopeless about the whole situation. Hopefully, this is only my pessimism.

Worse than the concrete gridlock of dwellings is a rigid belief in inevitability and unchangeability. Some people, having a nomadic mindset of following whatever sustains their survival rather than waiting for the return of the rain, may suffer less from such a belief system. For others, to survive such a sense of unchangeability seems futile; living each day becomes forced labour, and the future becomes today.

Last Monday, after staring at the ceiling for over 30 minutes, I decided to go hiking in the nearby reservoir. I took the easy catchment trail because it rained the night before and the dirt paths might be hard to walk on. The fact was that I feared I wasn’t up to that after a long period of laziness, and the catchment trail was flat and well-paved with cement and asphalt.

Not A Revenge Travel

 Revenge Travel was a trendy term in 2023 after all COVID-19 social and travel restrictions were lifted at the start of the year. Unfortunately, I’m not quite infected by this post-pandemic condition and don’t have much desire to fly expensively to places where you don’t feel like being abroad-people yelling in the same language, bargaining in the same manners, abusing food in the same greed, and taking photos in the same pose. I did travel to two places, but the journeys were more like spiritual pilgrimages, with few delicacies to fill the belly and lots of walking but plenty of time to mull over things.

Pieces of Memories

I recently returned from a 19-day journey to a ‘developing’ area in the northwest of the Country. Most places I went to were much better than my expectations, and it might be because of the swift tourist industry development in the whole province. Along the main roads, restaurant foods were tasty, and the cooked rice grains were all in full shape without sand and husks. The shops were abundantly stocked with goods and produce from all parts of the Country. I could even find several brands of ‘moon-cake’ from the city I live in. Of course, most owners of the restaurants and shops spoke the Language with a non-local accent.

Spring meets Winter

 Had been terribly busy in December and the weeks before Lunar New Year, unfortunately on something trivial from hindsight. Just feel I owe an apology to those I care and love.

Building up a healthy lifestyle was one of my resolutions last year and I failed to achieve it with the rest as usual. Hope that I can do better this year. Well, the bottom line is so low, so I remain positive about achieving it this year.

Finally, I got a free day for myself on the second day of the Lunar New Year, so I went for a solo hiking in a country trail after having a late breakfast at 10am. It was not a beautiful trail, but the cool air and serenity along the path was rejuvenating, even the dogs were on holiday – not a single bark!

Standing at the start of the trail, I was amused by its name – matching the time well – 送虎迎兔！At the end, I realized that spring was at the door step already! Leave this photo collection here to remind myself of such a brief and transient encounter, and to hold on to things I treasure while they still exist.