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Published: March 21st 2011
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After Christmas in the UK, I had one month of work before the next holiday! The joys of being a teacher! A lot can be squeezed into a month however!
We got lucky with some sunny weather so decided to make the most of the opportunity in this usually cold time, and went hiking. This was one of our more epic hikes, and a memorable one. Two friends and I went up to the new territories, close to China and where I currently live. From there we took a cab to the country park and began hiking the wilson trail stage nine after a scenic picnic lunch. At one of the villages there were some very old fashioned letterboxes, which I have included a photo of - the village letterboxes in one central booth. The first part was pretty much uphill, but the surrounding mountains and reservoir made it enjoyable. It was a good six hour hike, and at one point thanks to google maps, we realised we could see mainland China (Shenzhen) on our right and hong kong (Tai Po) on our right. The walk ended with eight peaks that took us along a beautiful ridge surrounded by fauna.
We took a rest spot in amongst some comfy looking plants and when we walked further round, realised we were on the edge of a rock face! Then the final descent was perfectly timed with the sunset making a pretty end to the day and to a great hike. We rewarded ourselves with some good food at a chinese restaurant next to Tai Mei Tuk reservoir.
The month in the run up to Chinese new year saw a lot of activity and it's always a busy time. For one thing, the supermarkets become completely overcrowded with boxes of chocolates and biscuits. This is because everytime someone visits your house at Chinese new year, you have to have a box of goodies to offer them. The aisles of supermarkets became incredibly narrow and it was like a gameshow trying to get through without knocking anything over with my handbag! Even a staple food like bread got shoved to the back corner of the supermarket to make way for more biscuits!
At Chinese new year it is also very difficult to get a haircut as the salons become so busy - it is traditional to get your hair cut before
Chinese new year, and in a city of xxx million people, you can see why there might be difficulties getting an appointment!
At school, the children in my class were all very excited to come in on the last day of the term wearing their traditional Chinese clothes and they all looked great. They sang special songs and did a performance together in the playground.
For me, Chinese new year is another excellent opportunity to get away on holiday and it is one of the longest school holidays because it is their biggest annual celebration.... Hence, next stop Sri Lanka!
J x
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