'I wake up about 7 o'clock, shower, and then have breakfast with my wife and son before driving to work. I work at Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden in Tai Po, so it takes me about 45 minutes to get there from Clear Water Bay. I drop off my wife and son en route; my wife works as a nurse and my son attends kindergarten.
I make myself a cup of coffee when I start work, otherwise I wouldn't be fully functional. Then I read my e-mails, which are mostly from colleagues, but I also get a lot from environmental and professional groups. Depending on the day, I either have a few meetings or I might work on a report or a paper. Occasionally, I'll go outside the office. This morning, we had a python that ate a chicken in our hen house, so I was called in to give them a hand catching the python.
I am a herpetologist by training - which means I study amphibians and reptiles - and they are my main professional interests. As a member of the World Conservation Union Species Survival Commission's specialist group on turtles, I provide voluntary expert advice on turtle conservation. I am also a member of the Global Amphibian Specialist Group and I have contributed towards the strategic action plan for global amphibian conservation.
At Kadoorie, I work on the China programme. We have a small team of people carrying out a wide range of projects in the mainland. Although I wouldn't be fully involved in one particular project because I oversee the whole programme, I like to brainstorm ideas with the team members and visit the site with them. The focus of the programme is conservation and sustainability. Basically, we look at the forest, the bio-diversity, plants, animals and human activities.
I go to the mainland about once a month. My wife obviously prefers me to spend more time with the family, especially since our son was born in 2001. However, she is also interested in nature and understands the importance of my work. I hope when our son is old enough, I can show him some of my work in the mainland.
I like travelling with my job because it gives meaning to the less exciting administrative tasks. Spending time in the wilderness once in a while helps me stay connected to nature. Meetings with the project partners and villagers, and sharing experiences with the team, often lead to inspiration and ideas. We have also found quite a few amphibians or reptiles that haven't been recorded in the mainland before and we have also come across species that are new to science.
Our work in the mainland often leads to unexpected events. Once we were doing a survey in north Guangxi, in a nature reserve called Mulun. We had just finished the survey and the directors took us on a shortcut. It was remote and, as there were no roads, it was a long distance to get back to our car. The shortcut was through a railway tunnel and, as our guide was the director of the reserve, we assumed he'd know the schedule of the trains. So, we were walking through the tunnel and about midway through, we heard the sound of an approaching train. There wasn't enough time to rush to the exit so we laid ourselves flat against the wall as the train came through. We eventually got back in one piece.