Snakes alive - This time a Burmese Python

Amazing, utterly amazing. We must have now seen nearly all species of snakes there are to see in Hong Kong and all within 50 yards fo our front door steps.

On Friday a 2m plus python was discovered in the neighbour's chicken coop. The snake had somehow slithered in and helped itself to a plump chicken. Photos coming when extracted from the mobile phone. How do we know how long it was? Read on. ..

Sadly though, the snake's appearance was less than welcome by our neighbour and before we had a chance to intervene and rescue the snake, the neighbors stepped in and smacked the ppor creature on the back of its head with a very large and rather sharp garden hoe. Suffice to say, the blow killed the snake and the chicken had been well and truly choked.

Campaign for Mui Wo Secondary School to be re-opened

Mui Wo Secondary school closed back in 2007 or so, mostly due to a lack of local support and a lack of population. The school was apparently poorly managed with some 18 head teachers in nearly as many years. With insufficient students to fulfill the quota the school was mothballed and has remained unused ever since.

Since then there have been a few attempts by various private enterprises to obtain the use of the school and make it into a going concern. All so far have fallen on deaf ears but recently a local drug rehabilitation centre has come close to obtaining governmental permission to use the school as an educational / rehabilitation centre / boarding school.

Local opposition has been loud and at times rather unruly which naturally has attracted adverse publicity for thos opposing the proposal and conversely attracting positive publicity for the applicant. Opposition has been in some cases through fear of the centre being the catalyst to some huge local crime epidemic but mostly due to the fact that the government are seemingly looking favourably on this application yet have no plans afoot to address the local secondary educational needs. The nearest secondary schools are either on Hong Kong Island or an hour's bus journey to Tung Chung. Should the centre application succeed there is strong belief that any chances of a secondary school will be gone for ever.

Anyhow to cut a long story short, local desire to re-open the school as a school (for which it is and remains a purpose built establishment) has been spurred on by the fear that the drug centre application may succeed. In fact there is a growing local population and the need for a school is real and actual. As part of the drive to promote the forthcoming application to re-open the school the primary school students and local art classes were enlisted to draw up posters asking for the school to be re-opened and their finished art has now been hung up outside the main ferry terminal so that all passangers can see their work. Here is Arthur proudly pointing to his poster.

Aye Aye Captain

Arthur had his first taste of life on the ocean waves today. Well in actuality he only got to climb aboard a yacht that was firmly tied to a large mooring buoy but tells me it was one of the best day's of his life so far and for a lad who regularly throws up in taxis, buses and on board ferries that takes some recognising. Oddly too he suffered no ill effects what so ever and was happy to roam about below in the cabin where it was pretty stuffy considering the outside temperature and the lack of any breeze. No matter he enjoyed the experience and that is all that matters. many thanks to Kieren for the day and get well soon chum! (He will understand). Now was I supposed to leave that stop cock open or closed?

The kitchen gets ready for the delivery of the fittings

Nuch, ably assisted by site forewoman "Pa Tum" is now just about ready for the eventual installation of the cupboards, work surfaces etc. You can see what an amazing job has been done to transform the kitchen area by comparing the two photos below.

Before & after

Humpback whale in Hong Kong - And not in a restaurant!

After writing about the HK dolphin watch and the pink dolphins of Hong Kong I remembered that earlier this year a humpback whale was spotted in Hong Kong, the first time one has ever been seen here. These pictures are from the HK Standard newspaper and were taken in the Lamma Channel., one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. Noone knows why the whale appeared as normally they travel in groups. This one was over thrity feet long. It was here for two or three days then simply vanished. On the Google earth map I have marked up in yellow the shipping lane in which the whale was seen. If you look up this location on Google Earth and zoom in you will see how much shipping is moving around that area. According to the Marine Department, one maor container ship enters the Lamma Channel every fifteen minutes.

Tropical Storm (Typhoon) Molave

http://www.hko.gov.hk/wxinfo/currwx/tc_pos.htm

It seems my amateur weather forecasting predcitions are coming true! Yesteray's tropical depression is now today's tropical storm Molave and if you follow the link above you will see it has its sights firmly towards Hong Kong and is timings its arrival for Sunday! Thanks.

Hong Kong's PINK Dolphins

How many people knew that Hong Kong had its own unique breed of pink dolphins? There are about 100 or so (that's all) of these odd looking mammals that all live in the sea off the Northern shores of Lantau island.

The video here is courtesy of the HK Dolphinwatch limited who will arrange day trips for sight seers to go and see these endangered and dwindling dolphins.

Hong Kong Dolphinwatch Ltd.
1528A Star House, Tsimshatsui, Kowloon,
Hong Kong SAR, China PRC [Map]
Tel: (852) 2984-1414 Fax: (852) 2984-7799
Web: http://www.hkdolphinwatch.com/
e-mail: info@hkdolphinwatch.com; booking@hkdolphinwatch.com

Matthew's Birthday

On 4th July Matthew turned 4. However, as Nuch's brother was leaving to return to Thailand that same day we were unable to have a party. Instead we all had pizza. Here's Matthew smiling as ever. Despite his smiles, all was not ideal for the little thinker though. As there was no party on that day for him he annonced he would eat the pizza, open his "monster truck" present and eat any cake but have another birthday the next weekend when we were having a beach barbeque and here would be more people there. Not to be out-done, Arthur seized the opportunity to and promptly pulled out his first and admittedly very woobly front tooth.

Disney Graduation Day

As part of the end of Kindergarten celebrations Arthur and his classmates were taken to meet Mickey Mouse, be presented with a Disney Graduation certificate and be part of the Disneyland parade. Here he is looking most unimpreseed in a car at teh head of the parade.

Arthur's Kindergarten Graduation - "The Oscars"

Last Saturday there was a graduation ceremony for the children leaving the Kindergarten for Primary School. God bless 'em. All the children had to entertain the teachers and parents and Arthur was given the job of standing up and thanking the teachers - in Cantonese! He did it though, after spending a week learning the three minue speech so he could say it without stopping , (encouraged no doubt by the promise of a new bicycle if he succeeded). We were very proud of him and actually very impressed with the achievements of all the children. The girl standing next to Arthur in the photo spoke for three minutes in Mandarin.

Look What's Due to Spoil our Weekend

A baby typhoon in the making, still only a tropical depression and will not get a name unitl it grows into a typhoon but ......... It is forecast to sail right over the top of Hong Kong on Sunday. Quite often as a storm gets sucked between the Southern tip of Taiwan and the Northern tip of the Philippines (through the Luzon Straits) it will gather speed an grow into a typhoon. Let's see. It's really hot here today with a temperature of well over 33 degrees. This will heat up the land far more quickly than the sea, which will make the hot air rise and draw in cooler air from the sea - a sea breeze, which may also help to pull the depression towards land.