On 19 April we had a 240 MM rainstorm, and yesterday that record fell to a new rainstorm. 307 MM in one day and this time most of it fell in early morning hours.

There was a landslide in Tung Chung cutting of Hong Kong’s only highway to the airport - and subsequently bringing the aiport bound traffic to a chaos. I’ve always wondered why there’s no other road to the airport as this one highway does not seem to offer a fail-safe solution.

Here’s the link to my previous post and here’s the link to the weather report from Hong Kong observatory.

Check out this article on Shanghai daily if you want to read more.

It’s been raining practically the whole day yesterday.

I just looked at the Hong Kong observatory station and in just one day, there was close to 240 MM of rainfall.

To put this into perspective: 240 MM of rain is just one third of the total annual rainfall in Holland dropping down in just one day! Even compared to the some of the wettest days in Hollands twice as much water fell down here in Hong Kong yesterday.

The 10 “wettest days” in Dutch history (since 1951): http://www.knmi.nl/VinkCMS/explained_subject_detail.jsp?id=26900

Yesterday in Hong Kong: http://www.hko.gov.hk/cgi-bin/hko/yes.pl?year=2008&month=04&day=19&language=english&B1=Confirm

The garden outside our house turned into a lake resembling the Amazon delta…

And Matthijs enjoyed walking about in his raincoat…

If I’m not mistaken this is frost on the roofs of the houses across from me.

That would be the first time I see frost here in Discovery Bay, Hong Kong.

The picture was taken yesterday morning, about 8am. It was about 7 to 8 degrees - possibly a little colder at the rooftops due to the wind that sweeps past it.

It sure is mighty cold these last few days - but if we start to get ice here it’s time to “move south”!

It’s a cracking day today. I hiked up the 500 m behind the house and had a brilliant 360 view of Hong Kong.
Including the Airport, Tuen Mun, Central, Lamma Island, Cheng Chau and lots of islands beyond that which i don’t even have the names of.

Unfortunately I didn’t not bring anything with a lens so I just grabbed this webcam image from HK tourism board website.

I love October in Hong Kong.

The heat and humidity of the summer is gone, and the weather is dry and cloudless at a nice 25 to 28 degrees. If we’re lucky this pleasant weather lasts all the way till January which is often the case - we’re in for the best time of the year!

This time of the year Hong Kong is just great and I feel happy to live here and in Discovery Bay. It may be the most un-Hong Kong like place in this little city-territory, but its relaxed atmosphere, green environment and the fact that everything you need is just here makes it one of the most comfortable places to live. It probably helps that this secluded community seems to be oblivious of poverty or low incomes, since everybody here is in a relatively good financial position. I’m not saying that it’s the place where Hong Kong’s wealth lives (i.e. like the Peak, South Island) but certainly people are well off financially.

As I’m writing this I’m sitting in my living room with the sliding windows wide open and a gentle breeze flowing through the air. A glass of cool Chardonnay is nearbye and I’m listening to some funky lounge CD (don’t even know the title and I’m too comfy on the coach to get up and check it). Life’s good!

On a different topic - here below are some pictures of yesterday. Matthijs wanted to go to the beach instead of the pool so we’ve sat there on DB beach for a few hours. He ventured farther and farther into the sea untill he went for a full swim and realized he wasn’t wearing his floaters. Let’s say he now understands that the ocean tastes salty!

I came back after work this evening and noticed an even bigger mess around the plaza.

This morning only one tree had been blown over, but this evening I counted another three trees lying horizontally - an unhealthy thing for trees.

I haven’t seen it this bad since I’ve been in Hong Kong, and the “Number 8 Signal” wasn’t even hoisted.

I guess the gusts have been unexpectedly strong here in the DB plaza.

In addition, all Cathay Pacific inbound and outbound flights have been canceled till 9am tomorrow! That means my wifey Nadine will be stuck in LA a little longer and come home a bit later. Another friend of mine was diverted to Manila as his plane couldn’t land in Hong Kong.

What a mess.

A typhoon is moving from the Philippines to South China. It won’t hit Hong Kong directly but it will pass to the South West of us. Nonetheless the winds are pretty strong with heavy gusts.
One tree got uprooted in the plaza.

Always hard to go to work on a day like this. It’s beautiful and hot. I fancy a hike rather than work… On the picture, left of the center, you can see the trail that leeds to the top.

Another clear day today - low pollution levels. Hong Kong used to look like this every day 10 years ago. Economic success often comes with environmental destruction, and that is quite obvious in this region.

Awareness of the need for ‘cleaner’ means of production and sources of energy has increased in the last 18 months. Next step is to see this progress into some clear action plans for improvement - not just in Hong Kong, but across the whole region.