Hair-Raising

Can you believe I finished reading Christopher McDougall's book (okay, second half of the book) at Ocean Park?

I did so today.

I spent two hours standing because the queue for roller coaster ride was incorrigibly long in the theme park. But, as my daughter puts it, our time spent queuing is worth it. Two of us had front-row seat, thrill-charged experience of Hong Kong's fastest roller coaster Hair Raiser.

Being truly honest, I am not a big fan of thrill rides.

This time, though, was different. I knew this is the first time my daughter is tall enough (more than 140 cm) to scream her heart out at the floorless roller coaster. I knew that she had looked forward to the experience. You never know. Nobody can tell when his daughter is going to choose her twist-and-dive trip with another alpha male. So, hold on tight, I told myself, and enjoy as much as I can.

Improvise

A year after travel restriction in place around the globe, the unprecedented threat to the emotional toll of boredom remains difficult to beat. But it's worth saying that improvisational travel adventures may still be the ticket to globe-trotter's pleasures.

Small as it might be, Hong Kong can offer us quite a number of captivating countryside paths to explore.

The farther we explore into the countryside, the more we love the hidden green places. With flight trips off the agenda for now, countryside walk has become our family’s pastime.

No two hikers agree on the best local hiking route, but a good starting point would be those falling off the radar of the public. Be aware that popular hiking trails could be too crowded to give us a leisurely weekend break.

Often, even without highly revered attraction (think sweet gum trees in autumn, bell-shaped Chinese New Year flower in spring, or cherry blossom in Japan, for that matter), a dash of imagination is good enough to help our family capture the best of nature. There’s nothing quite like being far from the madding crowd, our creative minds running wild. In this I owe much to the ingenuity of my wife and daughter, who always make their own games, a state of mind as quick-witted as Julia Donaldson. Today, we spent an afternoon putting leaves on the zigzagging downstream water along a pretty stream near Luk Keng, the way Englishmen enjoy punting in Cambridge. Such an unbelievable way of having fun.

Birder

It is no secret that birds have a way of getting people hooked. So fascinating is bird-watching experience that it is more than grateful for me to find out the BioNTech vaccine station is within a stone's throw of a wetland in the north-west New Territories.

The sheer wonder of getting an excuse to take a relaxing afternoon off to have a jab, away from everyday chores, and then follow birds through the camera viewfinder!

The rewards from opening up to the world of birds are simply endless. The soothing green of the vegetable fields where birds flock. The whoosh of wagtails flying overhead. The blur of motion froze by each click of the shutter.

And now, I must say, I look forward to my second BioNTech shot three weeks later.

Burning

If I am stuck with finding fiction books to read, the first and most sensible way is crowdsourcing. A pretty good source is looking up the book recommendation from The New York Times. That's how I come to hear about Megha Majumdar.

No single word better expresses the essence of what makes her debut novel a powerful one than "Burning." No less important is the way Majumdar entitles the book A Burning.

One of the main characters, Jivan, was accused of sedition in the aftermath of a terrorist attack at a railway station. A few nights after she posted a careless comment on Facebook, she was dragged up in her nightie by the police. The next morning, at the courthouse, Jivan was told by the judge the list of charges against her.

"Crime against the nation," he said. "Sedition." (Call me a coward if you will; I dare not cite Jivan’s anti-government Facebook post here.)

No more than a few hours after Jivan was arrested, she was transported from temporary lockup to the prison. I could imagine the scene she cried, my own eyes dry and throat burning. Of course, you'd read more burning stories behind bars. Take Americandi, her cellmate. She pushed a man who was trying to snatch her necklace but then fell, struck his head on the pavement and became comatose. That's how Americandi ended up in jail.

As I read on, I heard and saw more burning of scapegoats, or maybe I imagined it. Maybe.

Soul

On the day public libraries reopened, I went there to borrow dozens of books a fortnight ago. Before the calculation of overdue book fines is to be resumed tomorrow, I finished Brit Bennett's novel The Vanishing Half today.

At the same time, I realized the chance to watch Pixar's production Soul is long overdue, after closure of cinemas in the fourth wave of pandemic in the city. Ultimately, our family have the chance this afternoon.

The stories of Vignes twin sisters separating, and that of jazz pianist Joe Gardner bumping into a delinquent soul named 22, are both prime examples of how intertwining the fates can be. In different cities, across different skin colours and different generations, and even different zones from unborn to afterlife.

It cannot be said too often: all life is one.

Plumage

Hands up if you know the reason for the plumage of the adult male birds to be more vibrant and ornamented than that of female?

Natural selection, I hear you say. The more beautiful male birds have been thought to be for the sake of courtship, offering an advantage whereby the feathers attract females.

Is this simply for natural selection favoring handsome males to attract their mates?

My recent reading on the subject is more positive. And less sexist than the old-fashioned male chauvinism theory. At times, it is better to look at the upper hand of drab female birds. I rather like the idea of female birds preferring a drab plumage for their own advantage. Ah, think about the usual role of female birds to raise the young, and conspicuous plumage at a nest can make both the female and the nestlings more vulnerable to predators.

In other words, females need a camouflage or dull attire to stay safe.

Tulips

Almost four hundred years ago, a mania for tulips swept the Netherlands, when a single bulb of the legendary Semper augustus fetched the equivalent of more than 10 years' wages for their average workers.

No arguing with that. No understanding it either.

I still remember vividly visiting Keukenhof with my tulip lover wife during the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome. The Dutch people were friendly, until they realized we were from Hong Kong. Mention the term "Hongkongers" and everyone became apprehensive back in 2003.

Now that we aren't able to make a pilgrimage to the country with the famous beloved bulb, we find the local garden with tulips. We were so fascinated when we visited a tulip field during our hike to Sai Kung this afternoon.

Oh, thank goodness - "tulipmania" didn't vanish with the virus; it blooms perfectly.