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Public Zone 公開區 => General Topics 綜合題目 => Topic started by: chin on 26 February 2009, 05:43:21
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I have been living in Hong Kong since 1980, and lived through the booms and busts and changes of the city.
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Parade
These pictures were actually taken in April 2002 during the grand parade of the annual Bun Festival in Cheung Chow. (Bun Festival is probably a name for tourists only. I don't quite understand the real name of the festival.)
The parade was led by 'lions' of different color - red, white, black, etc...
The core of the parade consisted of kids dress-up in different roles, and were affixed (on the feet and lower legs) on high stands. Kind of like pretending to be a doll???
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Kowloon Park
A flemingo in the Kowloon Park in the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui.
This picture looks unreal because it was processed with an effect called "Gothic Glow".
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Mingle
A scene in Tsim Sha Tsui on Saturday 22-Jan-05.
The girls, who are apparently Indonesian domestic helpers, are dancing and enjoying themselves while an old guy trying to mingle with them.
Hong Kong has more than 200,000 maids, or domestic helpers, from the Phillippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and other nearby countries. Back in 1998 after PSINet brought my first company, I took their M&A guy for a walk in Central on a Sunday. He was very puzzled and asked me why there were so many young girls hanging out there.
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Victoria Harbour
The famous harbour viewed from the Peak. (17-Dec-2004)
This image was two pictures stitched together by software.
(http://chinman.com/uploads/CityScape/HarbourNight_20041217_pan.jpg)
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Golden Moment
Photographers trying to capture the golden moment of sun set on the Peak.
(http://chinman.com/uploads/CityScape/GoldenMoment.jpg)
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Victoria Harbour
In the evening (17-Dec-2004), and at night (13-Dec-2004.)
(http://chinman.com/uploads/CityScape/HongKongEvening20041217-big.jpg)
(http://chinman.com/uploads/CityScape/HarbourView20041213-big.jpg)
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Victoria Harbour
Day view from the Peak.
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Wu Kai Sha
All pictures here were taken near the Wu Kai Sha village in the Ma On Shan district.
My first visit to Wu Kai Sha was in 1985. In those days Ma On Shan was literally just a "Shan" (Mountain in Cantonese) and Wu Kai Sha was a fishing village at the foot of the mountain, accessible only by boat. The only reason we came was for the YMCA Youth Camp.
In 1990s, thousands of people settled in Ma On Shan area. Now the area is full of tall buildings from government subsidaried housing to deluxe water front apartments. There are still new constructions from railway to new apartments.
I am not sure how many Wu Kai Sha villagers still fish for a living. Many of them lease out their village houses to people who wants to escape the city or renting out row boats (in the 1st picture.)
The 2nd picture is a new apartment complex testing their electrical systems before releasing the flats to owners. It was the only time in that building's life that can be seen like this.
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Wu Kai Sha
The YMCA Youth Camp, in the foreground of the 1st picture, is still around, and surrounded by tall buildings now.
The red buildings on the right is Villa Athena - used to be the most expensive apartment in Ma On Shan. In the peak of the property speculation of 1997, the asking price for Villa Athena is almost HK$10,000 (US$1300) per square foot, and only about 75% of the area you paid for are exclusive for you private use. Crazy, huh?
At those times, too many had abandoned their 'normal' job to play in the property game. I read story that young property agents earned so much easy money that they would spent >HK$1000 on a Gucci key chain.
A mere metal and leather key chain, for Christ sake.
And politicians would be leading people on the street protesting high property price.
In 5 years time, the same politicians would be in another protest complaining the government had crashed the property price.
The 2nd picture is the same view at the night of mid-Autumn.
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A Day On The Beach 1/3
A few snap shots in the Wu Kai Sha beach.
The beach is not exactly sandy and quite small. Almost all visitors are 'locals'.
Ma On Shan is a new town that has grown with a tried-and-true formula.
The government would first build subsidized housing, thus moving a large and general low income population to the new town. After a few years, the area would have enough shops, roads, schools, playgrounds, and other supporting facilities. Then the governement would start to auction off the prime waterfront sites at high price for private development.
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A Day On The Beach 2/3
The beach is at the head of a bicycle trail, so lots of visiters came by bikes.
Some kids mounted loud speakers and amplifiers to their bike, which bacame a moving boombox.
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A Day On The Beach 3/3
The pier that used to be the only access to Wu Kai Sha is under renovation.
The wages in Hong Kong are getting so high that local Chinese are no longer interested in construction jobs. Lots of the construction workers are either local South Asian minorities or imported from mainland China.
In the last two years when the economy was at a very low point, some politicians talked about trying to bring back manufacturing and construction jobs back to Hong Kong people.
Unfortunately I think the times has long gone for manufacturing in Hong Kong. The clock cannot be turned back.
Hong Kong people not only need to adapted to the structural changes in the economy, equally important they need to accept the new yet very old identity.
In my opinion, it was the confusion of identity that is the core problem in Hong Kong.
In good times, the problem is masked and everyone is happy. But when the bad time comes, the problem surfaced and manifest in a thousand new faces.
How can you embrace changes and appeciate what you have, if you don't know who you are and with whom your fate is tied.
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C171 Red Fireball
On my last trip to the Sha Tin Race Course (see Cathay Pacific International Races 國泰航空香港國際賽 (http://chinman.com/index.php?topic=37.0),) I saw up close the power and excitment of horse racing. So I decided to visit the track in the morning to check out the horse work out.
The track work starts at 5am. Some horses will just trot while others gallop.
This horse was playing with its tongue with slowly gallopping. Perhaps a tongue tie is needed.
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Jockeys
Every Tuesday and Friday morning there are barrier trials on dirt. And Twice a month the Jockey Club will have barrier trials on turf. And today is one of the two days for the month. Lucky me.
The jockeys and their horses are moving toward the barrier gate.
Delpech wasn't very happy that I was getting so close on the rail to take pictures.
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Barrier Trials
15-Mar-05.
Taking good pictures of horses running in the morning is difficult. The light is low and they move fast.
When the horse raced pass me, I can heard many jockeys are yelling - I am not sure they are yelling to their horses or each other.
In the bottom picture, the horse farest from me, with red hat and white dots, is named Can Opener. It was the most expensive horse in this years horse auction held by the Jockey Club. It went for HK$6.5 million, if I rememebr correctly.
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Trotting Ring Actions
19-Apr-05.
Today I decided to check out the actions in the trotting ring - where the horses were mounted and dismounted before and after trackwork.
In the first picture, jockey Shane Dye was chatting with trainer C.S. Shum lively after working horse "Winning Kevin".
In the second picture, the horse was very unsettled and jumpy. The rider actually slapped the horse on the neck, then a little kick to "tame" the horse.
Both pictures were processed with a special effect called Gothic Glow.
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Waiting
The Ma Foo (stable staff) were waiting for the return of their horse, while the jockey was perhaps waiting for the next ride?
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Turf Actions
19-Apr-05.
After each run on the turf, workers would go on to the turf to fix and patch up the turf surface. This track worker was playing with the leader horse.
In the second picture are the authorized photographers. They have the best position for the finishing photo. I tried taking pictures from that position but was kicked out by the security guard. I was told that I must be an authorized photographer or a horse owner to be in that spot.
Maybe I should own a horse so that I can have the better photo spot.
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Turf Barrier Trial
19-Apr-05.
Barrier Trial 4, with Fradd riding Romantic Winner leading in the front.
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從天而降! (19-Sep-2005)
One day, this guy just pop up (more like pop down from the sky) in front of my windows. How could I miss the chance to take a pic.
In a minute or so, he landed on the beach in front of my home.
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Then came his friend, who was gliding even closer to us. 2nd picture is a 100% crop from the first.
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Did he landed on the water?!
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Beach Fun?! (16-May-2005)
Having a beach right in front of your home some times brings different kinds of fun. Besides the gliders above, sometime we would see photographers hiring models to take pictures on the beach. Like the one group in these pictures.
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Beach Fun 2?! (23-10-2005)
And once I was walking on the beach, then see this group of guys and this girl. How could I resist taking a picture or two.
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Beach Fun 2?! (23-10-2005)
More pic.
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Beach Fun 2?! (23-10-2005)
But very soon, this guy was coming after me. Telling me that I have to pay to take pictures. (The group of guys chipped in to hire the models.)
This file was corrupted thus the funny effect. The guy in black wasn't very happy.
The girls, on the other hand, would smile to any and all cameras.
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Birdwoman (8-Jan-2006)
We had a day trip to Macau and saw this in the then newly opened Fishmen Wharf.
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澳門鉅記 (8-Jan-2006)
We went around the Macau touist spots, and I found this a bit strange - for some reason, this chain of snack shop 鉅記 would always have lots of customers inside, while the shops selling essentially the same snacks on the side would be almost empty.
Herd psychology? Good promotions? Or their snacks are really better than the others?
I visited Macao recently and their still seem to have a dominate position in the market.
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Kowloon Park (21-3-2009)
We have not been to the Kowloon Park for many years. Today we decided to have a little walk there. I did not realized one of the old buildings in the park was converted into a little museum of Hong Kong heritage.
A newly wed is taken some bridal pictures in this nice building. And a creative arrangement for potted plants.
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Checking out one of the exhibits in the museum.
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It's spring time, and the flowers are blooming.
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This nice looking little girl was watching my kids playing with my camera. After asking permissoin from her mother, we took a picture of her.
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In 1999 the then PSINet COO Pete Wills, who had worked in London for a few years, visited Hong Kong and was amazed and said "there are a lots of wealth in this city!"
We all know there are lots of wealthy people in Hong Kong. But leaving a Rolls Royce to rot in the garage?! ???
And this was just one of the many expensive cars leaving to rot in the carpark in the Peak.
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I look out from my window this afternoon and saw this nice sunset scene.
The tall buildings on the right is Sinoland's much hyped Lake Silver. A duplex goes for more than HK$10,000 per sq.ft.!!
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This is the second time I saw these guys playing with fire on the beach in front of our home.
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with tripod and long exposure time?
(time and ISO???)
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with tripod and long exposure time?
(time and ISO???)
Yes tripod, about f10, 6s, ISO800 or 1600.
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We always enjoy the sight of eagle loitering in front of our windows, chasing whatever it chases. We sometime see some white crane like water birds with long legs hanging out in the rocks near the beach. In the late afternoon in fall, the birds in the nearby could get very noisy but to us city dwellers could still be a nice song of natural.
And almost every week, we would see this guy alone working his way on the beach. He would move the rocks on a pile, pick up garbage, and generally just be the one-man beach patrol.
But then, we sometimes also see people dumped whatever chemical that possibly poisoning the water! ???
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Foggy
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Foggy
(http://chinman.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=90.0;attach=5514;image)
Woww . . . . just like a painting . :o
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好詭異.......... :o
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好詭異.......... :o
First impression is that it's not HK. But it is.