Episode 184 - Morning Fish Market

"There are many pet shops at the Prince Edward District, selling goldfish, tropical fish, coral fish, and aquarium products. ...........

"Apart from the shops, fish hawkers gather together in a nearby area in the form of a flea market, with locally bred goldfish and tropical fish offering for sale at a very competitive price. These hawkers arrive at the vicinity in the early morning. They leave early as well." - Episode 54 - Tiger Head



I and Chiu Yin visited the morning fish market today. We got up at 6 a.m. and took a cross harbour bus to Kowloon. We got off the bus at a stop near Prince Edward. After a 10 minutes' walk, we arrived at the fish market at Boundary Street.

The market starts at around 5:00 a.m. everyday. It is not a licenced market but the government has closed one of its eyes on this for many years. The sellers are self-disciplined and will leave before 8:00 a.m.

As you can see from the photos taken by Chiu Yin above, there were many fish sellers doing business along the street this morning and there were a lot of choices. Apart from common tropical fishes and goldfishes there were many strange fishes which we had never seen before (not even in books!). We also saw various kinds of tortoises and hermit crabs.

The prices of the "goods" were very attractive and there were a large number of buyers as well. The fishes were packed and sold in plastic bags.

You can get a good price if you purchase a large bag with over 20 tails of goldfishes or 100 tails of neon tetras or guppies.

Episode 183 - Rope Way to the Big Buddha

We had no specific plan yesterday but to do some shopping and had our lunch outside as a normal Sunday family activity. The Citygate shopping centre at Tung Chung is one of our favorites as there are a number of factory outlets selling garments and foot wears at very reasonable prices.

After lunch and some shopping, we took a walk at the concourse outside the shopping arcade. It was around 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon. Next to the concourse is the Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car Terminal. In the past, the terminal was always packed with people and we did not have any incentive to try the cable car. We were surprised to find that there were only a small number of visitors there, so we decided to have a go this time.

As there were not many visitors, my family was directed to occupy one cable car ourselves.

The Ngong Ping 360 is a 5.7 km bi-cable rope way, linking Tung Chung with the Ngong Ping Mountain. Looking out through the window of the cable car, I was impressed by the beauty of the Lantau Island Country Parks.

It took about 20 minutes to reach the top of the Ngong Ping mountain. As the last cable car to Tung Chung would leave the station at 6:30 p.m., we had about 2 hours' visiting time - which was more than sufficient for us to visit both the Tian Tan Buddha Statue and the Po Lin Monastery.

Shopping has always been an unwelcoming activity for the kids. They were happy to have an extra journey this time.

Episode 182 - Electronic Pet

This photo was taken at the Science Museum in Shanghai.

The "dog" was equipped with an artificial intelligence computer and could respond to the instructions of the visitors.

The kids always wish to keep a dog or a cat at home. Considering the work involved in taking care of an animal, various proposals were rejected. With the development in artificial intelligence, it may not be a bad idea to keep an electronic pet at home.

Perhaps I can even have an electronic martial art training partner some day.