More flea marketing

I was so excited about the Discovery Bay flea market today that I woke up at 7am to check the weather report. Sad but true, I live a very unexciting life.

But I still maintain that the flea market is worth getting excited about. So many things, so little time... just check out the photos.

There are loads of clothes, of course, and plenty of ornaments, toys and books.

I was glad to see the charities had a nice marquee-d location for themselves. PALS was doing a roaring trade in accessories.

Poor Buffalo Wilbur was dragged from stall to stall without grumbling and got a good meal at Il Bel Paese for good behaviour.

Then it was back to shopping till we dropped.

And here's something to look forward to: The next flea market is on Oct 9. So there's plenty of time to start collecting stuff for PALS.

Getting the message across

Have you noticed the colourful congratulatory signboards around Mui Wo recently.

These traditional flower plaques (fa pai) are hard to miss them as they tower over everything, shutting off the view of the seafood restaurant at the roundabout.

I like how much effort has been put into them – the shiny paper rosettes are my favourite.

A friend of mine who did some research into these congratulatory plaques say elaborate ones such as these can take up to two weeks to create.

Pity I can only read about one character in five. But at least I know the top bit says Mui Wo (pats self on back).

I asked my friend to translate and basically, it celebrates the Mui Wo rural committee inauguration - spot Rainbow's name right smack in the middle?

Clear out time

The Discovery Bay flea market is here again and PALS needs your fleas... er, stuff, I mean.

You know the drill: Chuck everything including the kitchen sink into a box and give Jacqui a call on 9197-4371.

The DBay management doesn't do a good job of publicising vital information - time, date and venue - of its very popular flea market so I'd be guided by the information given by the more reliable Lantau Link if I were you.

This is what I have gleaned.

The market will be held on Sunday from noon to 3/5pm depending on the weather. Also dependent on the weather is the venue: the usual spot is the Piazza but if it is raining, then the market will move to DB International School.

See you there!

Typhoon Haima

The trouble with being classified "essential staff" and living in Mui Wo is that I have to monitor typhoon warnings very conscientiously. T1 and T3 are fine but I have a headache if it's T8 as the ferries stop running.

Some of my colleagues, who live on the islands, are forced to sleep under their desks if they can't get home that day.

Fingers crossed, it won't have to come to that for me as Mui Wo does have a land link. It's getting kamikaze taxi drivers willing to brave the winding South Lantau Road in high winds that is a pain.

The Met Office has said "the chance of issuing a higher tropical cyclone warning signal is not high during the day today" so phew...

I'm happy there will be ferries running even though the ride home might be as bumpy as the one to office this morning.
And here's what I woke up to the morning after a very windy night:

Meeting danger

The recent thunderstorms caused a small landslide along our usual hiking path. But the trail fairies have already been there, making sure nothing untoward happened to us hikers.

We had not met danger before so we decided to go forward to meet danger.

Ah, so this is where danger lives. Pity there was no one home.

Thunderstorm at sea

Was on the ferry to work when it started pissing down. Everything suddenly went all apocalyptic.

It had everything – thunder, lightning, lashing rain. Mother nature unleashing her fury was such a magnificent sight that I even forgot to nap, as I always do on ferries.

Who are Polar, Izzy, Aesop and company?

Mui Wo has talent. This cute graffiti-ed wall at the helipad would make a great backdrop for a fashion shoot.

But who are the faces featured? Members of the Air Cadet Corps (which uses the helipad)? People in Mui Wo?

Whoever they are, they have some cool names.

Would the artist care to enlighten me? Anonymity guaranteed.

Outlet shopping

We don't have malls in Mui Wo but one great consolation is that the nearest, Citygate in Tung Chung, also happens to be an outlet mall.

So on the rare occasions we need something slightly more upmarket, at least we are still getting it at a hefty discount.

Buffalo Wilbur needed running shoes (his last one lost its sole during an amber rainstorm) so, seeing as the weather is still too crap for outdoor activities, we hopped on the 3M.

We haven't stepped into a mall for months and I'd forgotten what fun it is to wander around, aimlessly sucking up the aircon.

Highlight of the day? Getting Buffalo Wilbur's shoes for close to 75 percent off because it was the last pair in stock.

Cool acts

The staff at the China Bear are always so friendly and fun. We got a special ice sculpture with our drink today.

Meanwhile, some daytrippers create some cool art at Park N Shop. I managed to catch it before it melted away. Sometimes, art is ephemeral.

Short back and sides

If you walk around Mui Wo, you're sure to see guys sporting what I call the Tony haircut – shorter than the usual but longer than a buzz cut.

It's a nice wearable style that Tony the hairdresser has perfected. Buffalo Wilbur swears that it's almost as good as that from the five-star Mandarin Barber.

As Typhoon Sarika was making landfall today, causing uncertain weather, we decided to forgo our usual walk for a hair cut instead. So it was off to Tony's Salon (Tel: 2984-0990) for our usual.

What I like about Tony is how quietly he works – none of that loud techno music that many hairdressers in Central seem to go for.

He's not a talker either so you don't have to listen to non-stop drivel for the duration it takes to have your hair done.

The clincher? He's got a wall of books to keep you entertained. At a mere HK$30 a pop, they're great for that after-haircut treat.

Hot hot hot

We try to live without air-conditioning to cut down on energy bills and save the planet. So whenever there's a very hot weather warning, this is what I feel like doing: Tsit on ice.

I think that penguin is taunting me.

Picture this

After nearly a year of moving in, we finally get round to putting up some pictures. We tried convincing ourselves that blank white walls are the in thing but that didn't quite work.

So, four silk embroidered pictures down, dozens more to go. It'll take a bunch of weekends before we transfer the stuff from our floor to the walls, I imagine.

The artwork is from Gu's Embroidery on 69, Hollywood Road, by the way. They're supposed to depict life in a Chinese village so we thought they would be appropriate for Mui Wo.

But we haven't come across any kids – or adults for that matter – in Luk Tei Tong or Tai Tei Tong conducting their village life quite so picturesquely.

Sunday brunch

Buffalo Wilbur and I have a Sunday routine now: Get out of bed before noon, dash to China Bear in time for their breakfast.

There's something relaxing about sitting in the restaurant watching the world go by and knowing you have the whole day in front of you to laze around at home or, for a change of scenery, at the beach.

The only stress is choosing what to have: bacon ciabatta, omelette, French toast, bagel with eggs... decisions, decisions...

Who needs a vacation when every weekend is a holiday in Mui Wo?

Piece of heaven

There's one part of the Mui Wo-Pui O walk that we find absolutely magical. It's a bridge over a stream with the beach on one side anda water meadow filled with daisies on the other.

"Wouldn't it be lovely to build a house here?" I would often ask Buffalo Wilbur, who kept pointing out that the place was probably in the green belt and wouldn't be open to development.

On our last walk, however, we did find a house exactly on the spot where I said it'd be ideal to build one. It wasn't much of a house – the roof had caved in and it was surrounded by rusting gas canisters and rubbish everywhere.

But if you're prepared to look beyond that, you can see its potential. Lovely views, good fungshui, a private beach...

Pity we're not the only ones to spot its potential.

I do hope they develop it into something worthy of its setting and not another columbarium or something because that will really break my heart.

More eats coming our way

Things are progressing in Mui Wo. The restaurant beside BEA now has a name – Casa Brasil – while the Italian one on the ground floor of Scenic Crest has a bar and is painted a nautical blue.

Looks like they're aiming to open in time to catch the summer crowd.

Can't wait. Hopefully, we will be tucking in to churrascaria and pizza soon.

Blooming great show

I love flame of the forest trees. They really put their heart into it when they bloom. The ones at Pui O are especially pretty this time of the year.


But the heritage tree by the McDonald's isn't doing too badly, either. The clusters of red berries are too pretty for words.

Pity they fall on barren concrete and are ground underfoot. I feel so bad for the tree that I am tempted to gather a few and disseminate them along the mountain trails. Hmmm, maybe I will do that before our hike this weekend.