If you cannot tell, I am just a bit taken with something as ordinary as a reservoir. So much so that I wanted my last morning here to be spent walking to Tai Tam Reservoir(s) for the third day in a row.

Last morning looking up at the Mount Parker Observatory

A view from the walk down from Mount Butler towards the reservoirs

There are a few reasons for why I think I am so enamored. It is a place that I was driven across all the time I was living in Hong Kong (I was not old enough for a drivers license then), but never actually walked to and experienced; it is something literally in my back yard that feels like a newly discovered treasure; engineering is cool; and I am so so grateful and appreciative that through many factors, including mostly my own efforts, I can do the couple of hours walk over.

The Upper Reservoir was the first phase of the project, and built between 1883 to 1888. The square structure is the Valve House.

Engineering is cool.

Circa 1880s.

I can’t try to set running speed records anymore, but I think I can still experience the place like most people. Each of the three times I have done this walk have felt very different. Being a week day morning, I pretty much had the place to myself.

The part of the reservoir visible from the road, that I grew up seeing.

This sign marks the “end” of my walk

The rest of my day was spent in the side of Hong Kong that more people are familiar with, or at least associate with the city: negotiating suits, skyscrapers, shopping malls, stinky wet markets, designer shops, and crowds. I love that all this can co-exist in this really special place called Hong Kong. I hope it will not be long before I return.

And now, I am off to the frigid Northeast United States, where temperatures of -20 degC await me. It will be a hectic few days while I prepare for a weekend of skiing, and then an approximately 1.5 month long skiing and ice-climbing road trip.

My life is certainly one of contrasts.