Chek Lap Kok

Last update 7:38 AM 21 September

Today I woke up extremely early and decided to walk up the mountain behind our house.

How nice to walk up the track when there are still no other hikers about - and most of the town still pretty much sleeping.

Since it was misty and still so quiet I could hear the sounds of the fog horns from the ships in the harbour as I moved up.

A nice and extremely tiring walk up the hill - 550 mtr in 1 hour.

On top it was still dusky and misty - see pic.

Marcus

Hi all,

Its weekend again and we filled it with the usual mandatory exercise in the pool and in the gym, as well as watching “Pirates of the Caribbean”. Good film with good acting by Johnny Depp as Ct Jack Sparrow.

The Typhoon Dujuan has passed by and has not been too destructive on Hong Kong. However, the next day (after my previous post) there were plenty of uprooted and broken trees along the roads in Discovery Bay. Five days later (it’s now Sunday) they’re still clearing up the debris. One window fell out of a neighboring apartment building and that was it - no casualties fortunately.

Till later,

Marcus

Well today the tropical cyclone warning signal went up to no. 3, then to 8, and just earlier this evening to no. 9. So after a short morning session in the office I was on my way back home around 1.30 pm.

Usually people would have been happy with an afternoon off, back at home, nothing to do, watch TV, rent some DVDs, basically enjoy a weekend feeling.

However - enter the Internet Age: You can just continue working from home thanks to email, broadband internet, and web based solutions.

So my afternoon was spend with the usual email and odd phone call.

It’s now evening time 9 pm and this storm is getting very strong indeed. The signal went up to number 9 about an hour ago and I can surely notice this. Winds are now hurling around the building and howling noises come from all windows and the aircons. It’s so loud that we have to put up the TV volume quite loud to hear the news announcements.

That’s all for now - let’s hope I won’t be gone with the wind

Marcus

It’s the middle of the typhoon season in Hong Kong and that means plenty of storms come and go on our horizons. The next one - named Dujuan - is currently over the South China Sea and seems to be on a straight collision course with Hong Kong.

A Tropical Storm signal no. 1 was hoisted at 10.15pm tonite and that means a typhoon is within a 800 Km radius of Hong Kong. If it comes closer the signal will go to no. 3 and if it is really about to hit the SAR, the no. 8 signal will be hoisted.

This no. 8 signal basically means a standstill in public and economic life: public transport stops operating, shops close, offices and schools close, and everybody basically locks themselves up in their house.

However - the general mood among the Hong Kongers is that they’re not worried at all; most of them just look forward to an extra day off.

As for me, should it go up to no. 8, then you can find me near the beach in Discovery Bay to check out the rough seas. I’ll try and make some pictures if that happens. On my day off

Cheers,

Marcus

(picture is courtesy of the Hong Kong Observatory)