Kadoorie Farm animals

Kadoorie Farm is a gem. They have been around for 70 years, making very valuable contributions to agriculture and conservation in Hong Kong. They are halfway between Tai Po and Yuen Long. From Kowloon, it takes some time to get there—and more time to explore. But it is time well spent.

A few days ago, my wife and I spent half a day there, mostly looking at the animals. Almost immediately after getting off the bus, we had an encounter with a very curious chameleon. It came to the glass to stare at us—or more precisely, at my camera/phone. It probably mistook the lens on my phone for the eyes of some animal and followed it around for quite some time, allowing us to study it in detail. We were fascinated by its two-toed hands, individually swiveling eyes, deliberately slow gait, and colorful costume. That was an encouraging start to the exploration.

The crested myna 八哥 stood very close to, and behind, the wire mesh, eyeing us suspiciously. But it didn’t move away for a long time. It seemed to do that for all visitors. What did it see in us?

The muntjac (barking deer) 赤麂 sat quietly. They are the only native deer in Hong Kong, rarely seen in the wild these days.

The flamingos were picturesque and so graceful-looking. Yet I could not help thinking about the reason why they don’t try to fly away: the big feathers on their wings are clipped.

Big turtles and the crocodile seemed to sit peacefully together. Why doesn’t the crocodile eat the turtles? Because it is fed sumptuously? Or perhaps the turtle’s shell is too hard to digest?

The yellow-crested cockatoo 小葵花鳳頭鸚鵡 was really fun. It would listen to you, say hello, and stick its claw out of the fence to try to grab anything that came close.

The eagles are majestic. The black-eared kite 麻鷹 is quite common in Hong Kong. We often see them cruising in circles near the tall high-rises, diving into the water for fish, and even standing on window ledges looking inside.

Then there was this curious masked palm civet 果子貍 which came to the wire mesh to stare at us. Perhaps it was trying to decide whether we were food? Perhaps it was studying us just as we studied it? What did it think of us?

The little catfish was not very interactive. But it is a native of Hong Kong, just as we are.

All in all, a very satisfying excursion. 

There is a lot more to the farm, but that is enough typing for now.

Contrasts and duels

Rectangles and triangles.  Straight lines and curves. Slants next to each, even in opposition.  

Ovals at right angles.  Shadows crossing each other. 

Encounters versus being alone.  

#SChanPalmArt

Modern Dim Sum

Went to a “different” dim sum place recently.  

Wagyu beef pastry.

Lobster pastry.  

Fried Rice with foie gras. 

Pan fried fish maw.

Spicy steamed black cod.

Deep fried spicy egg plant.  

…

All very tasty.  

Morning in Hung Hom

Early morning is a good time to walk or run around the neighbourhood.  Some people are going to church.

Others are going to the temple. 

Fruit stores are setting up the colourful produce.  

Stores are throwing out yesterday’s cardboard boxes, while today’s goods are being delivered. Which will, in turn, become tomorrow’s discarded cardboard boxes.  

Noodles are being delivered to restaurants. 

Housewives are at the wet market, buying groceries for today’s meals.  

Many people are having their breakfast, typically eggs, toasts, and noodles, washed down with Hong Kong-style milk tea, or coffee with evaporated milk.  

Or congee with all kinds of fried dough. 

Nearby, a work gang is distributing tasks among members.  You, do this.  You, go there. 

Street sweepers are on the streets and sidewalks.  We should thanks them for keeping the streets clean. But we don’t.  

Some people are distributing free rice and other foods for the needy, mostly elderly people. 

IN the mean time, expensive-looking fish maw being dried on the side walk, right next to passing cars. 

Old ladies pushing heavy carts, laden with flattened cardboard boxes, to be taken to recycling shops, for a few dollars.  Perhaps more than a few.  

On the same streets, buses loudly display advertisement for jewellery, being worn by beautiful young brides.  What a contrast of fortunes.  What have they done to deserve their fate?

At least, at the beginning of the day, things look hopeful. Relatively speaking.

Mongolia Old and Young

Mongolia is old, and young, at the same time.  It is old, because it has been a distinctive people with a glorious history for more than 2,000 years. From Chinese history books, we learned that by the 3rd century BC, a confederation of tribes called the Xiongnu (匈奴) lived in the land to the north of China, roughly where the present day Mongolia is.  The Xiongnu fought the Chinese for many hundreds of years, sometimes winning and sometimes losing.  At one point, the Han Dynasty Emperor sent a famous general 霍去病 to chase the Xiongnu all the way to a sacred mountain, the famous Langjuxu  Mountain (狼居胥山), where he offered sacrifices to Heaven after a major victory.  Scholars believe that this is the present day Khentii Mountains, to the east of Ulaanbaatar. The story was told from the Chinese perspective.  I am still trying to find the Mongolese version. 

In the mean time the tribes continue to splinter, merge, and evolve continuously, making it difficult to trace exactly who becomes who.   By the 12th century, some 1,500 years later, the Mongols emerged among the descendants.  Genghis Khan unified some of the tribes and conquered others. His sons and grandsons continued and vastly expanded on his work, creating a gigantic empire stretching from Korea in the east, to eastern Europe in the west.  It is believed that Genghis Khan also came from the Kentii Mountains, and was buried there somewhere, even though no one seems to know the exact site.  A gigantic stainless steel statue of Genghis Khan mounted on a horse stands on the main road to the south of those mountains.  

Subsequently, the Empire, like others before and after, splintered and faded away.  In the 1600s, the Manchu, a small, related tribe to the east, rose rapidly from the forests of Manchuria in northeast China to conquer Ming Dynasty China, drafting in the Mongols as a junior partner, as the Manchus created the Qing Dynasty.  In the waning days of the Qing Dynasty in the 1900s Mongolia came under the dominance of Russia and subsequently, the Soviet Union.  

It was only when the Soviet Union collapsed on its own in 1991, that Mongolia became independent.   Hence it is quite young as a modern, independent state.  

The Mogols have been nomadic herders for thousands of years.  They live in distinctive, circular tents called gers, which can be moved from time to time as the herds move.  Their lives center around the horses and cattle.  They have no permanent houses, palaces, and cities. They had little use for academic knowledge other than those related to their cattle, horses, weapons and war.  They had no written script for a long long tim, until around 400 years ago.  

Now the majority of the population live in cities.  Although many still live in gers scattered around the perimeters of the city.  Many young people still do not feel a great urgency to acquire an advanced education.  Even though they are just as eager as youths elsewhere to get their hands on mobile phones and associated technology.  The capital, Ulaanbaatar, has no elevated highways, nor underground railways.  Even though the roads are in permanent traffic jams.  Many people do not ride horses or engage in heavy physical activities, yet their diet continue to be mostly meat and potatoes.  Land continues to be valuable, for mining and houses, in addition to cattle raising.  Everything is in flux.  Everybody is adapting.  

It is quite a fascinating country, where history is in motion, being fast forwarded.  

From Rwanda to Mongolia

Two teams are returning from Mongolia after completing eventful but ultimately successful projects.  These two teams had in fact been preparing for a year to carry out their projects in Rwanda in July this year (2026) - installation of solar panels and running STEM workshops (including AI) for children. Then Ebola broke out in May in D. R. Congo, on the west side of Rwanda.  Rwanda took serious precautions quickly and the disease has not spread to Rwanda so far.  But people are worried.  We had to scramble to move the teams to other sites. 

Earlier, and separately, our team had made an explorative excursion to Mongolia in March, initially hoping to set up some new projects there onwards from 2027, in collaboration with a big international NGO over there.   With the Rwanda projects now at risk from the Ebola threat, we sent another small team to Mongolia in early June, to see whether we can move some of the Rwanda teams there.   Things turned quickly.  It turned out that the big international NGO wasn’t a good match for us in Mongolia.  

However, a quick but short visit in March to Don Bosco Technical School in Ulaanbaatar, run by the Salesian Brothers, began to look much more promising.  While the exploratory team  was still in Mongolia in early June, we made the decision to move the two Rwanda teams to Mongolia, with the projects scheduled to take place in July.  We have less than a month to work out the details of the project, purchase the needed solar panels, controllers and batteries, other materials and tools, book hotel accommodation, buy the airplane tickets, … 

The workshop teams, in particular, have to make a lot of changes to the material, changing the language from Kinyarwanda to Mongolia, etc., and making appropriate changes to the curricula to suit the new site.   

 

The Salesians are really great.  They put a lot of effort in helping us solve all these problems, recruit the children for the workshops, …, to make the projects happen.  We also happened to have two students from Mongolia in the team that was going to Rwanda!  They turned out to be invaluable now.  

The upshot is that the solar panel team installed 20,000 watts worth of solar panels on the roof of the gymnasium, providing lighting for several classrooms.  The system saves the school quite a bit of money.  It also provides an object lesson for the organizatio, particularly the electrical engineering students in their school, and a prototype with much room for expansion, and application in other sites.  The team also installed a much better WiFi network for the school.  

The STEM/AI workshops were fun for the children. AI proves to be very popular, not only with the children, but for the Salesian Brothers and Sisters.  In the future, we may aim more at empowering their teachers, and strengthening some of the technical courses with AI. With a successful first collaboration, we are looking forward towards the coming year.  PolyU actually has also been sending teams of students in rehabilitation sciences to Mongolia for several years, on challenging projects in remote areas.  

All in all, a very satisfying summer in Mongolia.