現代人思想演變，對不同性取向和自我性別的界定，已採取較包容的態度，香港則沒有走得這麼前。十多年前，Hong Kong Magazine是不少熱愛西方文化的香港讀物，雜誌每星期出版一次，轉載了Dan Savage的情愛專欄。這欄目於不少國家也十分知名，內容吸引，作者也十分幽默。我精讀了許多年頭，對他給予同性或異性情侶關係和性需求的疑問可謂大開眼界。其實許多年前不少人要有多一點愛的需要，但不懂得如何探索。紀錄片訪問了Dan Savage 對單一愛情觀的看法。
After a three-year lockdown, several international art events are finally back in Hong Kong, namely Art Central and Art Basel. I am so grateful to be able to see European paintings in an art museum without much fuss. No vaccination passes, no QR codes.
The debut of our “comeback” featured artist is Spanish painter, sculptor, and ceramicist Joan Miro. He chose art over business at a young age. His works are playful with the frequent use of symbols, shapes, and colours.
He always used black to create shapes or core subjects. Yellow, blue, and red are some of his favourite colours. The combination of these vibrant colours is so Spanish. My friend considered him sad when looking at his paintings. Specifically, she described his paintings as having gray or dark backgrounds and black strokes.
What caught my attention the most was the use of cardboard and knitted strings as his canvas. I just thought these media were always dark in colour. He even picked up paintings and incorporated his wild imagination of shapes and symbols and letter-like creations on top.
I do not find black strokes indicative of low mood as people always use black pens or paint. To my surprise, Miro experienced nervous breakdowns at age 18. He also had several depressive episodes throughout his life. Some paintings place curved lines, objects, faces, and symbols chaotically. His paintings often featured ladders as symbols of his struggle with mental state and escaping from chaos.
While some people write to channel their emotions, Miro felt calm when painting. Like Picasso, he lived a long life, survived the Spanish political movement and World War I and II, and died at 90.
In his paintings, he associated blue with calmness, serenity, and spirituality.
Red represents passion, energy, and vitality and may be associated with violence or danger in some of his works.
Miro’s yellow is the colour of celebration, joy, and movement. Black creates depth and darkness within a composition, or even death or mourning. Green was occasionally used in his works to represent nature, growth, and renewal.
It is said that creativity may be related to depression. No matter what, do not undermine your creativity in the arts, writing, or any other form of creation. History shows that mental state does not hinder us from excelling at what we do best.
There is a small path close to Sha Tin subway station leading up to the hiking track to Tao Fong Shan. Starting with narrow steps in a village, my brother and I were already surrounded by trees overlooking the city and the railway.
This track is suitable for a novice hiker as all the steps are cemented.
After 20 minutes’ walk, there was a roundabout and a sign for Tao Fong Shan Road. On our left were a few residential building blocks that look upper middle class. Despite being a weekday, we saw a few hikers. We soon reached a group of low white houses belonging to Tao Fong Shan Christian Centre. More and more worshippers arrived by chartered transport.
Situated in the high mountains, the Christian Centre offers a diverse range of workshops and spiritual activities.
The temple is in Chinese architectural style with Christian symbols. The labyrinth is constructed in a corner with a fun design. It is ideal for taking group photos or spending a solo moment in this tranquil environment.
A very large cross is located at the far end among these white houses, standing tall on top of a bare mountain, exposed in a wide space. Backlights will be switched on to ensure that people from the city can see the cross from a distance at night time.
For Christian believers, it surely gives them spiritual support when spending time at home during COVID. For non-believers, they won’t feel that isolated seeing some lights on the mountains.
Tao Fong Shan is also accessible from Shing Mun Reservoir or Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery where it takes 2 to 3 hours to complete.
Our trip took 1 and a half hours, and was refreshing in the morning before heading to lunch.
I never found the Netflix movie touching, but when the song Only You played in an Italian movie “Ora era” (Still time), tears came to my eyes.”
It tells the story of a workaholic who is always on the go for work and chores in life. After his 40-year-old birthday celebration, he lost a whole year when he woke up the next day. It was his 41st birthday, and he was shocked.
His days leapt forward so fast that he missed the birth of his daughter, the first time she called her daddy. Every time he woke up the next day, a year passed. One day, he was devastated to learn about his best friend having cancer. He was afraid to lose this friend the next time he woke up. That was a hurtful feeling. Like one day he spent time talking to his dad, but the next moment, he found himself in an empty house. His father was gone. Luckily, his best friend was still around.
His relationship was a disaster, but he hated no longer living with his girlfriend and his daughter. He missed them so much.
This special version of “Only You” carries all the sadness of losing the one you really love. Work can take up energy and jeopardize a relationship.
The song brought out emotion in me. Maybe I feel sad about losing people I love – my parents, and the people I love.
I know this song by Alison Moyet has qualities that have captivated me for a long time, and because of this remastered version, I feel the lyrics more.
Songs sometimes help us express our feelings that are hard to express in words.
Looking from a window above, it’s like a story of love Can you hear me Came back only yesterday I’m moving further away Want you near me All I needed was the love you gave All I needed for another day And all I ever knew Only you
Sometimes when I think of her name When it’s only a game And I need you Listen to the words that you say It’s getting harder to stay When I see you
All I needed was the love you gave All I needed for another day And all I ever knew Only you
All I needed was the love you gave All I needed for another day And all I ever knew Only you
This is going to take a long time And I wonder what’s mine Can’t take no more
Wonder if you’ll understand It’s just the touch of your hand Behind a closed door All I needed was the love you gave All I needed for another day And all I ever knew Only you
I recalled the day I got the news about a doctor I admire passing away. Many of us anticipated this day would come but I was more shocked to hear the news when I was on a bus.
The day before I read the news about a famous Chinese novelist who gave up treatment and died. I totally respected his decision as he said he no longer enjoyed food taste. And he’s over 85 and didn’t want chemotherapy. He’s actually an optimist and I always loved his openness on his talk show. He talked about love, poetry, history, movies and even sex more than a decade ago in this city. People were relatively conservative at the time.
I let my tears run down and grieved, part of it, for the loss. I grieved, part of it, for my luck working with this doctor and being enlightened by his passion, innovative thoughts, and intelligence.
No matter how stressful I was the rest of the day, I had to prepare all kinds of communication documents in a short time frame. But because of him, I pushed myself to complete the tasks. I learned to say no and get help when only I was asked to draft all documents. I am not a superwoman.
When you live to the fullest, life can be filled with glory. His life is so meaningful and has inspired many to fulfill purpose. The purpose of my life is to explore little things with less stress and lead a balanced life.
Celebrate moments when you feel happy, and cry out when you feel sad. Have a sense of curiosity and a little humour about the world. Don’t keep the emotion deep inside you and build it up till the balloon explodes.
Observe what your body tells you. Have a sweet dream and a happy day. Every day is a new day.
A superb movie directed by Almodovar, Broken Embraces examines the relationship between an incredibly wealthy scriptwriter and a mistress-turned-actress.
Have you been a fan of someone or something you indulged in? It can drive you to do anything to hold onto it and it’s hard to let it go.
If it’s a harmless obsession, we call it love, focus, and passion. If it has become a hurtful relationship or illegal, we call it an addiction, harassment, and an offensive act.
There is a lot of speechless moment when I was watching this film. Not a logical way for a Hollywood movie, but a Spanish Almodovar way. Penelope Cruz is still the star of many of his movies. And I still find her an absolute beauty.
For my love to her, it’s not an obsession, it’s an admiration for her sparkling characters in those movies.
Did an egg tart make you think? For Hongkongers, it represented the mind of a man who offended two powerful countries to try to give us free hands to do more.
In a recent interview, he told a renowned journalist based in Hong Kong for decades that he felt deeply sorry for what had happened here. Someone reminded him he was being photographed holding a yellow umbrella. Is that a sin? Is that awkward?
Even though he is known as a famous sinner for a thousand years, he never loses his passion for Cantonese dim sum and delicacies.
He told inspiring stories of two Hongkongers having made a fresh start in the UK – the first was a young doctor from a Hong Kong family; and the second was an excellent Hong Kong chemistry teacher who joined his old school.
It is sad to let go of a place you have lived in for so long and reluctantly. His book and many of the memories are vivid in his head. You could feel the sadness on his face when he expressed his regret about not being able to return to Hong Kong in the future.
He does not seem to be a governor or a politician, just an old man with many stories to tell. Some of them are about his encounters with diplomats and officials, some relate to people he met in Hong Kong and the UK.
Time dilutes strong emotions. His love of Hong Kong egg tarts, for instance, can always touch our hearts.
A 10% service charge is usually added to my bill when eating in a restaurant in Hong Kong. We expect to pay more for tipping. Fast food outlets and Hong Kong-style cafes are exceptions. In general, it is not too difficult to figure out the real price of my meal. My friends and I can sit down, eat our meals, and talk freely.
Dining in New Zealand and Japan is simple because I don’t have to figure out taxes, service fees, or tipping. What I see on the menu is what I will pay for. I like this practice as travelling on a tight budget may add stress when spending too much on meals. I prefer focusing on travel experiences such as enjoying the wonderful scenery, checking out an awkward rock formation, or visiting lovely penguins.
Surprisingly, my friend told me that Kiwi restaurants may add a surcharge to the bill during public holidays, such as Christmas Day or Easter Sunday. This is 10% to 15% more to cover the higher manpower costs and operational costs of running a restaurant on a public holiday. A surcharge at the weekend is not common, but restaurants can do so.
Luckily, I didn’t come across this when visiting New Zealand. I was at the Agricultural Show and enjoyed good snacks outdoors. Prices were reasonable, and the tastes were fantastic.
Having to calculate the service charge and tip myself made me nervous about dining out in Canada and the USA. I felt embarrassed if I paid too little, and then I felt ripped off when I paid too much. I once ordered a coffee in a vineyard. When the waitress looked at me, I realized I had overpaid for the drink. I should calculate the service charge based on the pre-tax price. Well, I just smiled at her and wished her a good day.
I am delighted to discuss travel with many others again on the Clubhouse platform. We’re not trying to compete with each other over where we’ve been; we’re sharing what we’ve enjoyed on our travels.
Thailand seems to be a popular destination for Americans in Asia, as it’s got a lot to offer, beaches, tasty food, islands, and inexpensive shopping.
Some people got the luck to travel as part of their business trips, so they were able to save a lot of money on their flights. Some live in a vast country where the West coast or Mid-West could be a lot different from where they live.
In your 30s, Thailand was your favourite place, and Paris will be your favourite place when you are older. I disagree. I could imagine people having different reasons to travel to certain places. I travelled to Canada a few times because of meeting people and music. The flight is not that pleasant unless you are in business class. Then I came to Japan at different ages and each time, the experience was totally different.
The first time I went to Europe, I was broke and had a limited budget. My friends and I survived on pieces of bread or food samples. We stayed in hostels, or even on night trains or on a beach. It’s such an experience that could hardly be replicated at my age now.
Overall, I can see that new experiences, connections with nature, and friends are what make travel the most exciting for me. I could still remember the travel guide in Sri Lanka. He could only speak a little English but he did a great job driving us around and trying to arrange everything according to the itinerary.
I could recall how excited I was seeing sheep in the Netherlands, Niagara Falls in Canada, and bathing on a high floor in a hotel in Shanghai. Definitely, the list could be expanded in the future.
The planning process can be tedious but it can be fun and enjoyable as well, giving me some sense of uncertainty and great expectations as well.
Hello, Europe. Hello, Japan. I’ll come to explore your heritage, your food, and your culture soon.
Located in the New Territories and surrounded by beautiful nature and scenery, Shing Mun Reservoir has numerous trails that are suitable for people of all ages and fitness levels.
A circular route around the reservoir requires about 1.5 – 2 hours to complete. However, it takes longer to hike along the reservoir, although people with basic fitness levels can manage it. My friends and I spent 4 hours completing the circular route. Half of it was pavement, half of it was a hiking trail. Many trails are under the shade of trees, suitable for hiking in sunny weather, but the reservoir views are mostly hidden by tall trees and branches.
Hikers usually take the minibus 82 from Tsuen Wan to the starting point. Getting off any buses passing through Lei Muk Shue is another option as getting up to the starting point takes only around 20 minutes only. I walked along the road to the reservoir with an old lady who made it all the way from Shek Yam. She walks up to the reservoir almost every day and is a regular hiker to the reservoir.
My friends and I started walking up the stairs from the left. We passed through Pineapple Dam, then the entrance to the Butterfly Garden Nature Trail after 20 minutes, followed by the Waterside paperbarks. The distinctive papery barks from the tall trees on the sides offer a picturesque setting for photo-taking. They are not particularly spectacular on a cloudy day but make the path cool and pleasant to walk along.
After around 1.5 hours, we reached the Tai Shing stream surrounded by lush forests. We then turned to the shaded hiking path which seemed endless. After another 2.5 hours, we reached the Gorge Dam of Shing Mun Reservoir. This tallest dam is 84m tall and was built by the British Empire. A beautiful spot to take a selfie.
As we walked towards Lei Muk Shue, we added another 30 minutes to our trip. The bus stop provides a few more bus options than the starting point of the reservoir. By the time we arrived at Tsuen Wan, we were starving and we only wanted to sit down and eat.
Try the inexpensive curry rice at Bentoya on the ground floor of The Mills which is now a shopping complex revitalized from a textile factory in Tsuen Wan. The Taiwanese eatery Cha Fan at 8 ½ in Tsuen Wan has a variety of bubble teas and fruit teas that instantly quench our thirst and satisfy our palate.
Learning to grow vegetables on a small farm improves mental health and well-being. The joy of harvesting vegetables is beyond buying something that I like in a shop.
Today and yesterday, I took home a few potatoes from the community farm. Some were tiny, some were regular. All are organic and no pesticides are used. The skins are particularly tender and thin, so it is easy to rub them out for cooking.
Growing potatoes is very easy. Seed potatoes are handy when the “eyes” grow bigger and wider over a week or so. Simply put the seed potatoes in the soil with the eyes facing up. In January, when the sun was scarce, my brother planted around 6 seed potatoes. Surprisingly, they grew fast.
I was told that each seed potato produces 4 to 8 potatoes. So far, I have harvested 7 potatoes. They are quality produce, organic, and enough for 3 meals.
It is quite a lazy plant as some of my farm mates just leave them there on their farms. I could see potatoes near the root of the plants.
It took less than three months for me to harvest the first crop. The skin of some potatoes is exposed to the soil when they come close to the surface. I simply added some soil on top till they turned from green to yellow.
Basically, when the leaves turn yellow, it is a sign that they are almost ready.
Since last summer, I have felt the power of horticultural therapy. Gardening, such as loosening the soil or planting sprouts individually, makes me feel mindful.
Learning what produce is cultivated on a farm is fun; growing from seed to harvest is surely a sense of achievement. I had beans and okra for two months in summer and now have potatoes in spring. Mints and herbs are usually grown in any season here.
Want to learn more about farming? Farm mates and an instructor taught me how to manage the farm and grow some vegetables. Many YouTube videos can help as well.
My friend’s New Zealand trip just began. She followed my advice to explore the small French Akaroa town south of Christchurch.
The Giant’s House is one of the key attractions in this picturesque town by the harbour. I missed visiting this special garden last year, and I can only blame the rain for that decision. After all, the joyous garden should be a place for taking pictures. Going there in the rain is no fun.
My friend shared this Giant’s House with me, which was built by artist and horticulturalist Josie Martin. The house was built in 1880 by a bank manager who came from England. When Josie bought the place over 25 years ago, the house needed serious repair and had no garden.
Josie has always enjoyed gardening and is passionate about art and sculpture. She has a dream of sharing her art with the community in a playful and magical environment. Her house in Akaroa therefore has become a blank canvas for her creative work.
She turned fragments of lovely old china buried in the ground into mosaics for the floor of the conservatory and steps. The idea worked well. With the help of local craftsmen, her installations evolved and grew.
One of the best things to do when spending ME time is to get engaged with people around the world with interesting conversations.
Dating and living with someone can be very romantic, and living by yourself can equally be romantic.
I feel lucky when I could just lie on a sun bed, welcoming the heat touching my body and seeing the clouds drifting in the sky.
When I watch an inspiring movie or read a good book, I feel “wow”, how people can be that creative or talented to do so. A book called Grit tells me that talents may not be as important as passion and perseverance. If you have the intention to do certain things and intent to put them into practice, you can be an expert in that area.
The world has unlimited possibilities and adventures that I would like to create with friends and share.
I spent the weekend visiting the elderly, I saw the sparkles in their eyes and how happy they were when a stranger came to visit them. An 84-year-old man told me that he felt so scared by the protest during the social movement and the pandemic. He dared not to go out unless necessary, but somehow let us (three volunteers) whom he didn’t know to meet him in person, talking for half an hour. He told us how happy he could talk about his feeling and he didn’t quite want us to go. When comparing the fear of the COVID virus and a lack of social connection, actually the latter is far scarier.
Much of the research proved that social connection and support are one of the secrets of longevity and happiness as well. I definitely believe so. Modern life can put us under a lot of stress and unconscious comparisons. I always appreciate connecting with nature and new people. Their stories intrigue me and we all have moments we would like to celebrate.
Enjoy Me time and enjoy time with old friends and new friends.
Can a romantic relationship turn into a platonic friendship?
Unfortunately, the chances are less than 10% based on my experience. Specifically, it refers to the success rate of turning my significant others into friends after a breakup.
No matter where people are, I enjoy exploring friendships. Somehow, a few turn out to be more than just friends. It takes two to make a romantic relationship work. Imagination enhances such development, especially for those who love someone distantly.
One of the best things I tried was text chatting with someone without knowing what they looked like for over a month. It’s quite a fun game if you are willing to invest your time and bet on furthering a relationship.
Distance relationships are more common nowadays, and disregardless of any stigmas, online dating can be fun. Why not try express feelings in various ways – a surprise parcel, a warm voice message, or a cute song transformed by an app? All these contribute to a new fond experience. The wild fantasy simply makes online dating a lot more interesting and engaging.
Waiting for someone you fancy to respond can be anxious. I tried to delay revealing the moment of truth for almost two months. It was all good with the everyday chats and the closeness that I felt through the conversations. I felt connected. I felt loved. I did not want the bubbles to be gone in a second when the gift box was opened.
Luckily, the moment of truth just brought us joy and enriched our feelings.
experience today 