Super tree house?

Work in progress on a huge rain tree in Shap Long.

If my wonky Cantonese is reliable, the workmen said they are building a treehouse.

I guess that's one solution to Hong Kong's rising home prices. Can't wait to see it!

How can you lose something this colour?

Found at Shap Long sitting area.

How could anyone have lost a hot pink comb? We spotted it metres away!

Pun choi feast in Shap Long

We met a lovely man on our walk today who said he was on his way to the pun choi (big basin) feast in Shap Long. So that explained the yards of tarpaulin stretched across the beach area.

When we got there, it was still early afternoon so we got a preview of the feast.

Outdoor cooking. Do you see how huge the woks are?

As we hung around, a half-hearted lion dance came along to bring in luck to the celebrations.

It was followed by quite a delicious looking suckling pig.

The atmosphere was great and if we'd stayed longer I've no doubt we'd have been invited to dinner. But it was still only lunch time so we proceeded onwards to our usual lunch at Pui O Delicious.

Hiking, Korean style

We have been seeing more and more hikers on our favourite Mui Wo-Pui O trail now that the weather is perfect for hitting the trails.

Most of us are well-equipped with walking sticks, proper hiking boots and fleeces but the Korean hikers beat us all flat.

On our walk today, we spotted a group that also brought along a portable stove. They set up camp at the Shap Long sitting-out area and promptly began to get the stove going to make den jang jjigae.

Then, from the other backpacks, other goodies started emerging: apples, sandwiches, kimbap, dok and even a container full of homemade radish kimchi.

They saw us casting envious looks and generously offered to share their food with us. So, with the sun on our faces and the sea breeze helping us work up an appetite, we took part in one of the best picnics we've ever known.

To the lovely folks who made our routine hike so much more special: 감사합니다!

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.

Is this dumping in Shap Long legal?

Is this a typical developer's dirty trick: dump, degrade the area, then apply for permit to build houses on the grounds that the place is not a nature reserve any more?

The poor buffaloes. This has been their field for decades, now they have been forced to forage along the strip of land between the Shap Long beach and the mountains.

No parking... that means you!

It's not as if this guy couldn't find a parking space – he was in Shap Long, for goodness' sake. But he still decided that the Shap Long sitting-out area was the only place for his precious Mercedes.

I know the traffic police can't be everywhere so maybe they should give some responsible residents blank traffic summons slips to place under the windscreens of these drivers. The residents don't even have to go to court if the fine is contested – in these days of digital photography, all it takes is one picture to paint a thousand words.

Enter the dragon

The Dragon Boat Festival starts on June 6 this year but already we can hear the rhythmic drums of the dragon boaters practising, some well into the night.

I've always wondered who makes these boats: Are they made in Hong Kong or bought ready-made from across the border as we do most of our stuff?

Today, on our walk, I got my answer. They make them in Shap Long... or at least, they are lacquered there.

This guy was puzzled as to why I was so excited about seeing him paint a boat but he gamely agreed to the photos.

Property porn

We first saw this cluster of houses in Shap Long about three years ago on our usual Mui O-Pui O walk and fell in love with them.

Despite the financial crisis then, there was no way we could afford them. And of course, there is absolutely no way we can afford one now.

I saw a listing for what looks like a corner house in luxury realtor Sotheby's website recently: HK$12 million.

Definitely suck-on-your-teeth prices for Lantau but, considering the prices in Midlevels these days, quite reasonable for something like this.

For us, though, the only way we would be able to view this is by perve-ing the realtor photos.

Shap Long

Isn't it such a beautiful view? To get here, you can hike, bike, drive or grab a cab. But it's really worth it because it's such a peaceful scene.

Buffaloes!

Walk to Pui O. The buffaloes are everywhere and are especially plentiful around Shap Long, where there are wide open plains for them to graze.

They look quite intimidating to city dwellers like us (those horns look lethal) but they're harmless. We walked past this bullock and it didn't even blink.

I was wondering why you see them mainly around Pui O and Shap Long. Then I found out from Hong Kong Outdoors (www.hkoutdoors.com) that they used to be very popular in Pui O as four-legged tractors for rice cultivation.

They're really restful to watch as they graze on the grass and most Lantau folks have a soft spot for them. Each spring, you see a few cute brown calves following their mothers on shaky legs and trying to suckle. They definitely give the place character.

Sadly, the government doesn't seem to like them very much and the buffaloes get killed ("culled" in political legalese) every so often to keep the population down. Some get into accidents crossing the South Lantau Road, which is very close to their favourite stomping ground.

Then there are the townies (the ones who scream if a chihuahua so much as sniffs their toes) who call up to complain about the buffaloes munching on precious plants. As if buffaloes can tell the difference between common grass and some exotic carpet variety.

Poor water buffaloes. There are so many obstacles they need to overcome just to survive. No wonder there are only 60-odd left now.