Woke up this morning, I was wondering whether I should be making my morning hike as there were some thunder storms during the night.
The treks will be soggy and maybe even slippery.
We have the wettest April in 60 years and I have not been able to hike for worrying that the paths are too slippery.
The sun has come out and I decided to take a chance.
Half an hour into the walk, I noticed these white flowers fallen on the trek; they are still fresh and not trampled over. They look like a painting.
Continuing on, I was somewhat surprised by what I saw.
A little red crab was blocking my way. I was quite puzzled as I have never seen them before at this hillside location.
OK, the crab maybe 20 meters away from a mountain stream. I gather these crabs are amphibious. He was looking quite angry at me with his little bright eyes.
Then continuing on, deeper into the forest was this tree which still has some red maple leaves at this time of the year.
All I had was a smartphone. The tree is a bit out of focus, but never mind, I know my readers will forgive me with the somewhat blur picture.
Then I stumbled on some fungi or mushrooms on a tree stump. I know some of them are poisonous.
Towards the end of my hike, I found another tree stump.
It looks rather abstract, with some fungi attaching to it.
I was thinking of the theme for this week’s Photo Challenge – Abstract – does it look abstract.
I wish I had taken a proper camera with me.
Anyway, please enjoy the pictures – as much as I have enjoyed my early morning walk.
retireediary 
Great photos and an interesting post. May I just suggest that you comment on what is in the photo ‘before’ the photo rather than after. This would help lead us to see what you are focusing on in the photo. Kind regards.
A good suggestion – I will try to do that.
What I don’t like is to end up with just one or two sentences between two big photos – I want more space but a bit too lazy to write in between.
Don’t be lazy! Your posts are interesting and there is so much detail you could share with us, of the amazing things you experience and see. think of your 5 senses and write about how you experience each, in these amazing places. Thanks for replying.
I am not lazy when you come to think of preparing 7 posts a week; I am lazy when writing each post though.
I just can’t say in each post that all my senses were filled.
Your advice is taken!
🙂 The amount of travelling you do, suggests no sign of laziness at all, in fact. Thanks for Blogging, it’s a great Blog.
I am travelling a lot less in recent years.
That is a shame. Your photography skills are very good. Did you train in photography?
I have never been trained in photography; I have started off this blog, writing to myself and not photography!
thanks for sharing your nature walk!
Thank you and nice to hear from you, Velia!
Hi Michael, thank you for taking us through your stroll and showing us what you discovered on the way — your home would always have a different vibe for me, since i am only able to be in the concrete jungle whenever able to visit. would love to explore farther on when God allows us another trip to your home. have a blessed day, Michael 🙂
Hope you will swing by HK soon.
Best wishes to you and your family!
Great pictures! I’ve never seen a crab so bright! Then again, I haven’t seen many crabs in real life. The flowers are beautiful, thank you for sharing.
The crab wasn’t tiny, it is small. I have seen some near the marshes, but never so high up in the hill!
what a beautiful walk!! and yes its definately abstract!
I know you would like it, Trees!
Great post!! Happy to read
Glad that you like it, Gregory!
i always love adventures….
Amazing Post Michael…
Thanks…
In fact, I have hiked that trails dozen scores of time, only yesterday I have these delightful discoveries.
Thanks for stopping by my blog!
This must be somewhere in the New Territories…….it is a pleasure walking around as it is so unlike preconceived idea of Hong Kong
Hi, it is just the country park near to where I live. Hope all’s well with you!
yes…doing great …in Delhi these days
Glad to learn this. Regards, Michael
It’s interesting to hear that you are having a record wet April, because we are the opposite. We’re having the hottest driest Autumn ever. Some clothing shops are going broke because no one’s buying winter clothing.
Yes, it looks we are both experiencing extreme weather which we have not experienced before!
Love that little crab!
Love that too！
Yes it does look abstract and I’m glad you managed your morning walk. Imagine finding a crab!? Thos white flowers are so pretty ~ I guess the wind and rain blew them off the tree just like our Magnolia trees in UK. It is such a shame that they are on the tree flowering for such a short time.
Your photos look fine to me ~ phone or not! Its a joy to share your walk.
I guess that the red crabs have become land based, like those at Christmas Island.
See description from Wikipedia:
Like most land crabs, red crabs use gills to breathe and must take great care to conserve body moisture. Although red crabs are diurnal, they usually avoid direct sunlight so as not to dry out. Despite lower temperatures and higher humidity, red crabs are almost completely inactive at night. Red crabs also dig burrows to shelter themselves from the sun and will usually stay in the same burrow through the year. During the dry season, they will cover the entrance to their burrows with a loose wad of leaves to maintain high humidity in their burrow and will virtually disappear for 3 months until the start of the wet season. Apart from their breeding season, Red crabs are solitary animals and will defend their burrow from intruders
Where were you hiking? I’ve never come across a CRAB on a hike! Too cool.
This is what Wiki says about red crab ( at Christmas Island):
Like most land crabs, red crabs use gills to breathe and must take great care to conserve body moisture. Although red crabs are diurnal, they usually avoid direct sunlight so as not to dry out. Despite lower temperatures and higher humidity, red crabs are almost completely inactive at night.[5] Red crabs also dig burrows to shelter themselves from the sun and will usually stay in the same burrow through the year.[5] During the dry season, they will cover the entrance to their burrows with a loose wad of leaves to maintain high humidity in their burrow and will virtually disappear for 3 months until the start of the wet season. Apart from their breeding season, Red crabs are solitary animals and will defend their burrow from intruders
Thanks for sharing Michael that it is a different view of Hong Kong.
Yes, it is close to where I live. Tourists usually visit HK for a short time, they normally do not have time to explore the country side.
We all travel too fast don’t we?
The common constraint is time and budget. Unfortunately, we do not have unlimited supply of these!
I enjoyed your commentary & these photos very much — especially the carpet of fresh white flower blossoms. The ecosystem reminds me a lot of a walk I took in rainforest up Seymour Mountain in North Vancouver, so I wonder if the climate (perhaps because of altitude?) is somewhat similar.
We are having a subtropical climate, I guess North Vancouver would be more temperate; but similar sceneries could still happen, I suppose.
A nice walk Michael. My morning walk, though 7kms round-trip implies dodging cars, crossing streets at the perils of one’s life. And no red crabs along the way. 😉
Hi, I walk approximately 7km too. There are two routes, one up the hills which gives me fresh air and next to trees, flora and fauna etc but the path can be quite wet after the rain. The other is a costal route – down the village, underneath the railway until I reach the coast, then along the coast until it hits the town.
Sounds lovely. maybe you could take us by both routes step by step so to speak? Since you post a photo a day? Do route 1 first one photo at a time, then the other?
Good suggestion. The coastal route is not that scenic.
It might “solve” temporarily your concern about finding material to post. take care my friend.
I have been doing that. Some of the foggy coastal shots I showed recently belong to this category. This may temporary solve the problem.
Beautiful
Thank you, Athena!
Reblogged this on Journal Edge.
Thanks for reblogging this on!
Namaste, My pleasure 🙂 have a great day, good luck
Have a lovely day to you too 🙂