Blogs from Sha Tin, Hong Kong, Asia - page 2

Sunday morning, the 15th of November and this first of the Cathay Pacific sponsored Race Days at Sha Tin Racecourse. The first of 10 races would comence at 13:00 and I left home a little before 11:00, and arrived a little after 12:00. On race days the MTR open the "Racecourse" station, which leads via a footbrigde straight onto the concourse of the track. I was home ;o) As many of my firends know I like a bet, I'm not a gamble-a-holic, I don't have a problem I can stop any time I want, I just don't want to... plus, I'm not a quitter! ha... So, I made my way outside to check the track, and agreed with the course clark/steward that today the going was good, and standard on the All Weather - looking good ... read more

For the last leg of our journey through Hong Kong, Julie and I went to the 10,000 Buddhas Temple. It's neatly tucked away behind IKEA and some other buildings. If Julie hadn't known where it was we most likely never would have found it. Yet, somehow, some loud French tourists did. As we walked down the hidden path it was like we were entering the woods. Tall trees surrounded us, there were a few birds, but mostly it was quiet. The walk to the temple is all stairs. I don't know how many there are but I've been told over 200. There are golden Buddhas all the way up the stairs, at first just on one side, then on both sides, as though they're welcoming you to the temple. Some look serene, some silly, some screaming, ... read more

Tuesday (27.01.09) Lantau Island and the Tian Tan Bhudda I had decided that this would be my day to explore Lantau Island. There is a cable car ride up to Ngong Ping Village, nearby to which is the Po Lin Monastery and the Tian Tan Buddha which is, let me get this right, the world's largest seated outdoor bronze buddha. There are also some small villages dotted around the island that I had hoped to visit. The weather seemed fine when I set out, a little cold, but nothing too bad - on arriving at the cable car terminus there was a huge queue, but that was fine - I got in line. What I hadn't realised while I was in the queue (which was snaking back and forth) was that the mist had descended over ... read more

Craig and I chose to get tickets for just one of the disciplines for the 3-day event - the cross country. It was a fabulous day out, and the first Olympic event of our trip. After finding out how to get there via public transport, the whole process worked excessively smoothly. The cross country course was around a golf course at the Beas River Country Club, north of Hong Kong. We were on the first train of the morning, caught one of the many double-decker shuttle buses to the country club, breezed through security and were delighted in receiving our free plastic ponchos! Neither Craig nor myself had paid any attention to the weather forecast which was for showers all morning. Well, it is fair to say that the plastic ponchos were as much of a ... read more

Busy weekend covering the horses in the dressage. The early morning (6am) starts were livened up with the addition of a couple of protests during Saturday's first day of equestrian action. First, a girl was thrown out for attempting to unveil a Tibetan flag but having her dress removed, accidentally, in the process. Secondly, rather unfairly, some protesters chose to voice their views when a decent young fella raised in Britain but representing China came out for his dressage. I can see where protesters are coming from but, as with anything, there is a time and a place and when a teenage lad is making his debut for his country, its unfair to spoil that for him no matter how gallant your initial motives may be. After starting at 6am on Saturday I didn't get finished ... read more