Pui O and Lantau Island in general must be something of a thorn in the eye – literally – for our many struggling, underpaid deskbound bureaucrats. There is so much … green! So much unruly stuff. Stuff that can’t be squared and primped and primed and painted pink and covered in concrete.
But one can try. Actually, there is a lot that can be covered in concrete, and don’t those boys know how to find it? Take this quiet country road in Ham Tin for example. Here it is how it looked before. Troublesome as we can see; a rock face covered in trees with roots and all sorts. Who knows what could lurk beneath the thicket?
Enter the government bureaucrats. Here they can kill two trees and one stone: By creating a visually more stimulating environment while also creating jobs for boys. Surely that’s the way it must have happened, not that a local triad decided his construction company was in need of some cash, then told his local government official buddy over dinner to create a suitable project post-haste.
No, mustn’t be uncharitable. This is how it must have happened: Local government official buddy was trawling Lantau on one of his many fact-finding missions; on foot of course to save taxpayers’ money. He saw this slope which showed an imminent danger of falling all over the road once it has fought off the rock face and roots holding it in place in 30 000 years’ time. He took action immediately, inviting his local triad buddy for dinner …
… and the result is this!
Doesn’t it look much more … engineer-y like this? It’s a beautiful example of how the HK government strives always to improve nature: It’s clean and orderly with only one tightly controlled, unthreatening  tree. Nothing can live there -no nasty anarchic growth can spring from there and take over the world. Walkers along the Chi Ma Wan road are safe once again, to say nothing of the cars. Another victory for our plucky bureaucrats and the world’s manufacturers of concrete!
