Tseung Kwan O Short Cuts

It used to be 20 kilometres running from my home in Hung Hom to Loha’s Park in Tseung Kwan O, at the eastern end of the MTR line.  Today it only took me 17 kilometres.  Thanks to two short cuts newly available.  One is the new road cutting through the old Kaitak Airport.  The other is the new TKO bridge.  Together they allow me to cut 3 kilometres from the run.  

Along the way, there were many interesting sights. Some of them are fun and pleasing sights. But others can be sad and maddening.  

There was this epic fight between a human and a big crab, on the waterfront near the Kowloon City Pier.  

Then there were these squatters’ huts on a pier in Kwun Tong.  The government is trying to remove them.  But the squatters are not giving up without a fight.  Where are they going to go when they are evicted? 

There are also Cha Gwo Ling Village, where the houses are said to be facing demolition.  What is going to happen to the houses and the people living in them. They are demanding resettlement at the site.  Will that happen?  How?

Just outside the village, people are setting up to celebrate the Festival of the Queen of Heaven at her temple.  What will happen when the village is demolished? 

Running half way up Devil’s Peak, on the way through the TKO Cemetery, there are beautiful views of the Victoria Harbour from an unusual angle, from the east looking towards the west. The running up the hill is very hard.  But the sights are worth it.  

Many people were walking or driving up to the cemetery.  I shudder to think what was going to happen to them later when the rainstorm hit. 

From the cemetery looking west, one can see the new TKO bridge, and the many landfills, old and new.  It is said they are going to be full soon.  What will happen to our garbage then?

Running in Hong Kong can be enjoyable as well as thought provoking.