Hike from Forch to Meilen

Forch War Memorial

This hike was from Forch to Meilen which is 11km, to get there we went via the Pfannenstiel, the highest point is 853m.

A lovely winter sunny day we took the train to Forch once we arrived I found the hiking signs for our destination and off we went!

In the distance we saw the Forch War Memorial which honors all the soldiers that died in the World War I & II. From here it was through the forest until we reached an area full of people sledging, cross country skiing and walking. Back through the forest until we reached the Pfannenstiel tower which is here since 1992 and 30m high with great views of Lake Zurich and further afield.

We didn`t climb it but stopped in the restaurant Hochwacht for some refreshment, then carried on our journey which took us to Toggwil. From there we walked through the Meilen ravine which was amazing to see, full of large icicles, winding paths, lots of bridges and waterfalls.

We reached the Friedburg ruins, there is hardly anything left of it to be honest, possibly from around 1200. Then we walked down into Meilen, from there we caught the ferry over to Horgen and back home.

It was a lovely hike on such a sunny, look forward to more hikes when the Spring weather finally arrives and stays.

Y is for Yellow

Spring is in the air at last! After a mixture of warmth, cold and snow, hopefully now it will start to become warmer. Well at least no snow, please!

Y is for yellow, it seems a good word to choose, spring colour! The first photo is in Wan Chai area in HK, there was also a blue and orange building. It was a very interesting street to walk along and explore, the mini was also found in that area.

The third photo was taken on Lake Zug back in mid February, the fourth and fifth photos are from the walk Alessio and I did from Forch to Meilen. The last is quite obvious, my favorite flowers, Tulips.

Enjoy the weekend!

A Day In Macau

St Dominic`s Church

Ruin of St Paul

View from Macau Museum

Na Tcha Temple

Protestant Church

Going to Macau it not just a matter of hopping onto a boat, as we found out, you have to bring along your passport and it gets stamped as we left Hong Kong and a stamp as we entered Macau. It takes about one hour on the fast hydro-foil boats, we day we visited it was grey and overcast.

Macau was once a Portuguese colony from mid-16th century to 1999, it was the last European colony in China, as Hong Kong had already been handed back to China. Like Hong Kong, it is a SAR, Special Administrative Region of China.

So once we arrived we caught a bus into the centre and started walking around, it was quite busy with lots of tourists. You either come to gamble (which we did not) or to walk around the UNESCO World Heritage old town (which we did). I am not sure what I expected but I was a bit let down by what I saw, sure there were some interesting building to see and the ruins of St Paul was quite amazing as only the facade remains.

To be honest we did not see all of the town and am sure we missed out on lots of sights. I also think as it was overcast and grey that did not help matters. We wanted to see the Guia fortress and lighthouse but by the end of the day we were quite exhausted with all the walking, we did see it from afar though.

We climbed up Mount Fortress and walked around and saw the views, when you have seen views like in Hong Kong, it was not the same. But in saying that if you are visiting Hong Kong and have enough time I would come and visit just to see the old centre.

Photo of the Week - Din Sum!

One evening we went to the restaurant Din Tai Fung which luckily was near to our hotel around Times Square in Causeway Bay. The recommendation was from Mariette who had eaten there and said it was good. As Arlene and myself had no clue we decided to go there and it was a good choice, we got there around 6.30pm and got seated. Then we looked at the menu for a while and decided to go for dim sum with chicken and with shrimp. For dessert we tried dim sum with red bean paste and black sesame seeds, I liked the red bean paste that was delicious.

Dim sum are small sized portions brought in a steam basket, you make a hole to let the water out otherwise you burn your mouth, then dip it into the soy sauce. I did manage to eat with chopsticks, we also ordered rice and noodles. As we left you can see all the chefs busy are work making the different parts to the dim sums, such as rolling out the pastry, filling it and cooking it, it was really interesting to see. The queues to get into this restaurant were huge so we made a good decision to come here early.

Temples in Hong Kong

Man Mo Temple

Tin Hau Temple

Wong Tai Sin Temple

Hung Shing Temple

There are many, many things to do in Hong Kong and one of them is to visit the different temples. They are dotted around all of Hong Kong and there are many to see and explore, we only visited 4 of them.

Man Mo Temple on HK Island, it was quite busy so I did not go in to look around. As with all the temples everyone was waving incense around and the smell was quite powerful at times. This temple is dedicated to Man, the god of literature and civil servants and Mo, the god of war.

Tin Hau Temple in Kowloon, is in the district of Yau Ma Tei,  but was closed when we finally got to the temple. This temple is dedicated to 3 different deities,Tin Hau the sea goddnes, Shing Wong the city god and To Tei the earth god.

Wong Tai Sin Temple situated in Eastern Kowloon is one of the largest and busiest temples, and the amount of people who were there to worship was immense. It is mainly dedicated to the god Wong Tai Sin, but it also has Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian deities.

Finally Hung Shing Temple in Wan Chi, I came across it quite by accident, just walking along the street and there it was in between the shops. I did not go in as it looked quite small, but it was just as nice to peer inside.

It was certainly interesting to see all these temples, the architecture, statues and the people worshipping their gods.