香港郵政 Hongkong Post 2016
3/28-29
We're on our way back to Hong Kong. We hardly need a reason,
Hong Kong is so fantastic!
But, we do recall the fun of
our 2003 Christmas trip with the boys, and the amazement
of entering the harbor on the container ship in 2008. It's time to return. We've rented a high
rise apartment, which is about the only option. So, while we're in the air, check out this curated set
of
photos of one of the worlds most interesting cities.
香港郵政 Hongkong Post 2016
3/30
Moving in is quick with only 2 bags. We're settled into a 17th floor corner studio in
a building one block from Man Mo Temple in the gallery district, an old neighborhood of Hong Kong. The city's
population density is 16,444 /mi^2, one of the world's highest, and obvious
from
our
bedroom
window. While gazing at our neighborhood, we spotted the
King's College Old
Boys' Association Primary School No. 2. Do you find it? Grads are expert in networking.
香港郵政 Hongkong Post 2016
3/31
Find the 7-story white building
(left middle) here.
We appear to be level with its top. It's 3 blocks away; we're on the
17th floor. So, in 3 blocks the land rises 10 stories. Hong Kong, built
on a
mountainside, has steep streets like Ladder Street and many
others with
stairs.
For relief an escalator, rises from the
coast to the "mid levels" (of the mountain)
carrying more than 85,000 passengers a day. Longest in the world, it's 800m (2600')
long
and elevates passengers 135m (443'). It's fun!
香港郵政 Hongkong Post 2016
4/1
The prof & his English teacher honey go on holiday ... to HKU. As you can guess, it's 3-D; straight up
higher ed. And
lovely. This is what we learned: Elsewhere,
we see signs of Chinese government repression.
On campus we saw art challenging that force. Shame
installed to remind
students of Tiananmen Square. Also Chen Xi's paintings, Memories,
depict important Chinese events as if shown on TV - some
neutral
(Britain returns HK), others
repressed (Living with SARS).
香港郵政 Hongkong Post 2016
4/2
An advantage of a longer term stay is visiting sights which are utterly pointless. Today we attended
the Noon Day Gun firing, a daily event since the 1860s.
Jardine Matheson, an original HK trading company (or hong), maintains the
tradition, whose purpose is obscure, but maybe it's punishment.
Noel Coward
mentions the Noon Day Gun in "Mad Dogs And
Englishmen." For a HK $33,000 charitable donation, you can pull the
trigger. It makes a really big BOOM.
香港郵政 Hongkong Post 2016
4/3
The Nan Lian Garden of Kowloon's Cai Lin
Nunnery is gorgeous.
This classic Tang Dynasty [AD 618-907] design
is based on the blueprint of a Tang update to a garden built by Sui Dynasty Emperor Wen Di in 596!
Rock is significant.
Long
views are common
with beautiful structure. Buddhist pines (Podocarpus macrophyllus) dominate;
black pines and boxwood are common; myrtle is an accent. The garden is only
10 years old! It's free. And it has no maples!
Hongkong Post 香港郵政 2016
4/4
It's the holiday Grave Sweeping Day. HKers get out & about. We went to Tai O, a
fishing village on Lantau Island. Tiny Tai O is pre-development HK, isolated by mountains,
accessible by a steep (10% grade) serpentine road. Living first on sampans,
now in stilt houses, their
livelihood is basic.
With the throngs we wandered, sampling orange
cuttlefish
and BBQ pork. Yum! Clouds are lowering; it's time to leave. Wow! A kilometer long
line for the bus!
Curiously, a tropical downpour
got the crowd chatting and joking.
Hongkong Post 香港郵政 2016
4/5
Since creation of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank Co. (HSBC) in 1880s,
banking and finance have dominated HK. Dozens of bank headquarters crowd
midtown. Bank buildings
are "... the tallest in HK when it was built."
Statue Square, once home to bronze Victoria and other British brass, today has
only a bank manager.
Ferraris, RRs, Maseratis fill street parking. Cartier is as
common as coffee shops in Seattle. And public art reminds us,
"When anticipating a bull market, emphasize liquidity."
Hongkong Post 香港郵政 2016
4/6
Hong Kong is an island.
Central (sky- scrapers) is N;
Stanley (former pirate lair) is S;
mountains are in between.
Murray House was officers' barracks in Central; then
Bank of China wanted the land. It was moved block by block to Stanley. Blake's
Pier of Central had this lovely iron canopy. Then it was torn down, the canopy was set up in
Kowloon. When Blake Pier of Stanley was built, it came here. Stanley: HK's Closet or
Recycling Center? Stanley kids recycle plastic beach debris into fish art for an
environment lesson!
Hongkong Post 香港郵政 2016
4/7
The British in HK had long hours to while away in the far colony.
They built a race track
on the island's only flat ground: Happy Valley.
Horse racing is still very big. Stepping out of our comfort zone, we went. It's $1.25 to sit
in the stands; food's
good and cheap. HKers were betting and cheering!!! Except
there were no horses. The track was dark. Everyone watched a big screen
TV of
horses running somewhere else. Huh? The horses ran at the sister track Sha Tin.
Weird but extremely fun.
Hongkong Post 香港郵政 2016
4/8
Hong Kong is super modern, yet some old ways survive. Traditional
medicine is one, bamboo scaffolding is another. Long bamboo poles, 3-4" in
diameter, are lashed together with strands of black plastic, mostly in a grid. Bamboo
is the choice when working on
skyscrapers or updating
store fronts.
The small fraternity of erectors (~250 in HK) wear safety equipment; they just
don't use it.
Hongkong Post 香港郵政 2016
4/9
Trams, "ding dings," cross HK. We rode the full length,
seeing snapshots of Hong Kong life: Lanterns on Lee Tung Avenue
[history]; Macau
Turbojet ferry passing Stonecutters
Bridge and container port; highway ramp
feng shui; quick
lunch; an upscale
restaurant; a restaurant with Michelin
rating; a
pharmacy
among veggie stands;
shops;
deliveries piled
on the curb;
chaos; a
market street;
signs;
evening descends.
Hongkong Post 香港郵政 2016
4/10
As flower children married in the '60s in L's parents' garden, we were drawn
to these museum photos [1960s] of HK's indigenous Hakka: "The matron of honor
carried the bride,
whose head was heavily draped to avoid inauspicious sights, to a
sedan chair, also draped. As she's
carried
in the chair to the groom's house grains are scattered to distract evil.
Arriving, she's greeted with explosions of firecrackers, steps across a basin of fire
(so no evil follows), and enters the house." Can we have a do-over??
Hongkong Post 香港郵政 2016
4/11
再見, 香港
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