05.06.13 - Bright Sky at Night (364 nights of the year)

I have had this photo in reserve for a while for a night when I could find an excuse to wheel it out. A long exposure job that I took sometime in the first week after our arrival…you will find better versions on HK postcards, but I have to admit I’m quite pleased with it.

I decided at last to use it, because I passed quite close to where I took it from on my Weds evening hash run. A belter this evening, a 9km sweat-drenched work out in the summer humidity and heat.

And here’s where shots like this make runs near Central HK all the more worth the effort.

You have spent 20 minutes or so toiling up hill, huffing, puffing, staring in your head-torch light at your feet  – when suddenly you hit a clearing in the trees lining the trails and the light of the city makes you look up . And suddenly, you go from grubbing for light squinting for chalk or flour marks amongst the shadows of a trail that seems to be in the depths of a forest, to staring out at the blazing lights of one of the world’s most densely populated places. And the expanse of overpowering artificial light takes your breath away.

Thanks to sights like this one, I have variously run accidentally into piles of mud; through streams; unsuspecting frogs; and large rocks.

The dazzling light shown here also reminded me of Earth Hour in late March. I will not discuss the merits of the idea here…but when it is applied in a place like this, it really is quite impressive purely as a spectacle. Take a look at this link from across the harbour, facing the other way from where my picture is taken: http://www.earthhour.org/page/around-world-stories/28-million-people

Only trouble with Earth Hour this year was that we had our first visitors with us that night. At 8pm every night usually, HK’s skyline throws out a coordinated light show from the many iconic buildings of Central (which looks very strange from behind, if you find yourself still running at 8pm in the trails behind it on a particularly tough Weds night run). The sight you see in this link is what we triumphantly dragged our guests by ferry to see…when we had expected the exact opposite.

Em. Barra. Sing.

Sorry guys. You know who you were.