Summer days

This whole week skies have been sunny and blue, and Scotland has been experiencing record temperatures.  Marc and I enjoyed the weekend with friends at a barbecue, and by wandering around Straiton Park Nature Reserve.  The reserve is all reclaimed land, with a nice hiking trial, lots of wildflowers, and a pond.  This time of year the pond is chalk full of tadpoles, stages 3-4. 

End of a wonderful trip!

 Marc and I had a wonderful trip to Hong Kong, but now we are in the airport, waiting to go home.  I spent most of our last day in the conference.  My talk went well, and was happily well attended (I was a bit worried since it was the last talk before lunch on the last day, but had no need everyone stayed!)

After the conference we attended the International Art Fair which by lucky coincidence was also occuring within the conference center.  For the most part it was pretenitious (someone had the nerve to put up blank canvasses...I have no patience with that).  However there were a few pieces that were simply astounding. Yi Hwan-Kwon displayed a series of metal statues that are stretched vertically, which creates a strange perception illusion.  They look surreal in person, and are difficult to look at.  They feel alive, as if they move.  There is a picture of the leather clad woman passerby below,  but it doesn't do it justice:

 A heartwrenching exhibit was on display by Shen Shaomin called I sleep on top of myself.  Salt was layed over the ground in hills, looking like snow.  Throughout the snow, starved fur-less animals are curled up.  Sleeping? And breathing.  They are made out of silicon, and have a mechanical respiratory system that makes them look alive.  Unbelievably realistic and very powerful.

Big Buddha

While I was enjoying the conference today, Marc went off to enjoy Lantau island to see the Buddhist monastery.  The view from the cable car up is unbelievable! And the giant buddha/shrine is very nice as well.

The view from the peak

 Beautiful views of victoria harbor, Hong Kong, and Kowloon from the peak.

Hong Kong pt 2

Fun in Hong Kong continued today with a walk down the Avenue of the Stars, up to Hong Kongs Science museum.  The museum is delightful, lots of wonderful hands on exhibits great for all ages.  And a perk was that Lyuba, the best preserved mammoth specimen found to date was also on display.  She is approximately 1 month old, and is thought to have sufficated after inhaling dirt/mud/other debris.

 A lovely exhibit used strobe lights to give the effect of water floating, very cool!

We then wandered around a few of the open air markets, which was very bizarre and haggling intimidating! But we did manage to find some neat gifts for everyone at great prices.  We also found some wonderful food during our wanderings.  I was worried coming to Hong Kong about finding veggie food (it is considered insulting to ask for something to be made vegetarian, my standby).  However with the large Buddhist population, there are several purely veggie restaurants and street vendors.  And they are unbelievable! Today Marc and I enjoyed veggie friendly shark fin soup, seafood noodle platters, squid sago root, and pork dim sum.  All quorn based, loaded with fake meaty goodness.  The veggie products here are unbelievably amazing!

Hong Kong: Gardens, zoos, parks oh my!

Fortunately, the conference sessions are organized such that I am spending about half a day at talks, and the other half is free to explore Hong Kong.

This morning Marc and I took a lovely stroll through Chater Park, the zoo and botanical gardens, and Hong Kong Park.  The zoo is combined with the Botanic gardens, and though small had some fantastic exhibits.  The buff checked gibbons and siamangs both were very loud; they sang quite loudly for us!  I have a video of them singing, but am having trouble loading it.  Might be the hotels' wifi can't handle such a large file.  Will post it separately later.

We were also very fortunate to catch the keepers walking the newly born orangutan twins.  They have a first time mom who isn't sure how to properly care for them, so the keepers have stepped in to raise the babies.

 The aviary in Hong Kong Park is also amazing; the minah birds were very friendly and came right up to pose for the camera.

 Later, Marc and I took the ferry to see the Symphony of Lights, a music/light show along the coast.   They play dramatic music that represents the spirit of Hong Kong, matched by lights lining skyscrapers.  It has gotten great reviews, but we were not impressed.  It is very uncoordinated, and hard to follow as only a few buildings separated by large distances agreed to participate.  However, it is a great idea that should be further pursued. But the ferry ride over there was gorgeous; and it gave me a great view of the conference center:

Arrival in Hong Kong

Marc and I arrived safe and sound (though very tired!) into Hong Kong this morning.  Flying Air France is great; highly recommend it.  The Paris CDG flight out was next to a great lounge with a lovely view of the clouds where we caught a few zzz's before continuing our journey.

 Some of the islands off of Hong Kong as we landed:

 And the lovely view from our hotel room.  I have never stayed in such a high up room!