Fear Itself

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." - FDR

In case you've ever wanted to see what it looks like for someone to stare fear in the face, treat yourself to the pictures below. 

My wife has a fear of heights, but that didn't stop her from doing a technical climb at over 12,000 feet with me earlier this week. At times we were walking on a ridge less than 1 foot wide, with sheer drop-offs of hundreds of feet on either side.

Oh, what's that? A cliff face, a 3-foot wide trail, and
a 125-foot drop?

Another trail, another cliff face. And I'll be honest, the overwhelming brown tone of the landscape really doesn't do
a justice to just how extreme this climb was. Wisely, Stacy opted not to face out while traversing.

Fear? Please. Stacy came to party.

Cheung Chau Island, Hong Kong

Hong Kong is a weird entity - it is considered a city, or a "special administrative region" by the Chinese government, but it is actually composed of one main island (Hong Kong Island), a peninsula on the Chinese mainland, and a number of outlying islands. One of those outlying islands is called Cheung Chau, and is home to a small fishing village and not much else (a completely different feel than the teeming crowds on the peninsula and HK island). We took a day trip to check it out.

On the "gangway" (?)

Waiting for the ferry

As I said, it's primarily a fishing island.

A traditional fishing boat

The harbor had a boat or two in it...

The main thoroughfare in the village

The island is too small for cars
and trucks, so everyone rides these
tricycles or small motorcycle carts

Hong Kong the Bustling

We just spent the last two weeks in Hong Kong, which, I must say, was fantastic. There are so many good restaurants and so much fun stuff to do there, plus the city has a really interesting cultural feel to it. There's a strong British/colonial feel going on but that has not in any way diminished the intensely Chinese character of the city, either.

On top of all that, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated area in the world, which made for a lot of crowds and commotion, though in typical Hong Kong fashion, they all move efficiently and in an orderly manner.

The MTR (subway) cars are almost always packed out.

As are the subway stations:

So are the streets, walkways, and public areas:

There are still places to get away from the madness. Stacy and I found those, too.

Hiking on Hong Kong island