Queen Victoria...and the fish

Since Victoria Park was mentioned, I should introduce Her Majesty. Queen Victoria was the ruling monarch when HK became British colony, so lots of landmarks were named after her, eg, Victoria Harbour. During the WWII Japanese occupation, this beautiful bronze statue was taken to Japan to be melted, but luckily it survived. Thousands of HK landmarks and public facilities were named after British royalties and dignitaries and there had been discussions on whether they should be renamed after 1997. To the relief of many, the decision was to keep the names...just imagine, overnight, Prince's Building at King's Street and Queen's Road becomes Liberation Building at People's Street and Revolution Road...chaos... You can still see a fish in this post! :-) Tags: Causeway Bay|Victoria park|Queen Victoria|street scene|Hong Kong|photos|daily life

Fengshui Fish

Do you know what is Fengshui? I took this photo in the front of a laundry shop. The owner had devoted all available counter space to fengshui elements -- an acquarium, a Japanese fortune cat figurine (always with one hand raised to grab money!!) and a small fotune bamboo. Go to this website if you are interested to know more. This is not a good photo with the confusing reflection, but I think it's fun to do a "fish" series ;-). Tags: Fengshui|laundry shop|acquarium|cat|figurine|fortune|bamboo|Hong Kong|photos|daily life

Floral Anglerfish

That looks like an anglerfish at dentist's office :-) Landscapers and gardeners are busy setting up the annual Hong Kong Flower Show at the Victoria Park. For 10 days from March 3, a large part of the Park will be covered with elaborate displays of landscaping and flower arrangements of interesting designs, such as the anglerfish and balloon fish here. I will surely go and take photos to share with you. Tags: Causeway Bay|Victoria park|Flower Show|Anglerfish|design|balloon fish|Hong Kong|photos|daily life

Paper Goldfish

At one glance, I thought the goldfishes were paper lanterns. They are in fact made of some sort of paper art (the body of the fishes). I can't figure out what they are called in English or even Chinese but they bring back some lovely memories. We used to have crafty toys made of small colorful straps of this paper art but like most traditional toys, they are not made anymore. Tags: Chinese|Central|street scene|paper goldfish|decorations|Hong Kong|photos|daily life

Andrew Deneault

Andrew Deneault is a good friend of mine. We used to carpool to work, we often had coffee break and lunch together and we shared good times and bad times at work. He doesn't like scary movie but he went with me once. Therefore, till this day, I'm still puzzled as to why he refused to look, seemed terrified and ran away when I wanted to show him the homemade lunch I packed to work. This is to show you the food of everyday life, and to try again with Drew. Hope he'll click on the link I sent. :p Tags: Chinese|lunch|food|homemade|Hong Kong|photos|daily life

Deep Blue -- in a different shade

Friendly chess match at park Tags: park|chess player|Chinese chess|senior citizens|Hong Kong|photos|daily life

TTT - Talk of the Town Today

To illustrate the TTT, we have this collage photo of boring suited guys :-) This morning, the budget announcement was televised from the legislative council. In the spotlight and to the disappointment of many, the income tax will only be slightly reduced, contrary to speculation of a big cut. Many more talkathons will take place around town on this . (I should add that HK's income tax rate is considered "not high", say...comparing with Canada. Ouch!) Update: Quite a day! HK's Bishop Zen (a very outspoken critic of Beijing and the local government) has been nominated Cardinal by the Pope. The HK diocese is the only one under Vatican on Chinese soil. Tags: talk of the town|budget|tax|TV news|Hong Kong|photos|daily life

Delicacies or Indelicacies?

This is a specialty shop for eastern Chinese delicacies. Loose translation of the tags are: (from top/left) Hangzhou sauced duck, Nanjing flattened duck, Hangzhou sauced chicken, Shanghai wind-dried chicken, Tsingtao salted beef and Taiwan dried chicken. The green stuff at the bottom are rice dumplings with different fillings. I have never had any of those and frankly, I hope they are not too much for you to look at. In the background top left, you'll also see some Chinese parma ham. Tags: food|Chinese|Causeway Bay|street scene|delicacies|dried meat|Hong Kong|photos|daily life

By the fortune of Hong Kong

Again, the original plan got changed. The already crowded Causeway Bay hosted a demonstration yesterday. Looking through the sea of banners, one will realize that there is still a very high level of freedom of speech here. Simply put, it was an anti-Chinese Communist Party demonstration, and the slogans were quite extremist. The demonstration was obviously approved by the authority and was arranged with police patrol and traffic detour. As yet, this can never have happened in any other Chinese city but HK. Tags: Causeway Bay|street scene|demonstration|protest|politics|Communists|freedom|Hong Kong|photos|daily life

The two sides of the coin

I guess you might be interested so I have changed my original plan for today and post this photo. The QE II coins are still in circulation today but are getting less in numbers (when I went through what I have there are only two). Actually there are still many references to British rule in everyday life here, eg, the "Panic Flower and Clever Leaf" photo was taken at the King George V Memorial Park. Afterall, it has only been 8.5 years. Tags: Queen Elizabeth II|coins|bauhinia|Hong Kong|photos|daily life

Panic Flower and Clever Leaf

Queen Elizabeth II's head occupied one side of every HK coin before 1997; now, you'll find bauhinia in the supreme position. Bauhinia Blakeana, aka, HK Orchid Tree, is the emblem of Hong Kong and also appears on HK's flag. It is nicknamed "panic flower" by college students because in spring, when they see bauhinia blooms in its most glorious, they know final exam is approaching. The nicely-shaped leaf is fondly called "clever leaf" and is dried to make bookmarks. Tags: Queen Elizabeth II|1997|Bauhinia|HK orchid tree|emblem|park|Hong Kong|photos|daily life

Rescuers in Action

Today, I'm using a photo by my friend taken during a hiking trip last weekend. He captured the Government Flying Service in action saving a hiker (not seen in photo and not sure what the problem was) from one of the most challenging hiking trails. See his msn album for more shots of the rescue (the other album marked with some Chinese characters and then 20060212 are scenic views on the trail). The GFS is a well-respected department and has stayed relatively low-profile until last year a TV drama series was made based on it (pretty much like ER but it ran only one season). Don't miss the videos on the GFS website which takes you flying around seeing HK from atop. Tags: hiking|mountains|government flying services|Hong Kong|photos|daily life

Crouching tiger, hidden dragon?

They were in fact practising Tai Chi in a park this afternoon. You'll see people practising Tai Chi in parks here, especially in the morning. I had tried a few lessons and despite the slow and fluid movements, it is actually quite vigorous exercise. Luggi, click to see a close up of the rooftop, no Barbie but someone was reading... Tags: parkTaichiHong Kongphotosdaily life

Shoppers' paradise, renters' hell?

You are looking at the street with the shop ranking No. 3 in the world's most expensive retail property . The junction of Hennessy Road and Yee Woo Street, Causeway Bay is the major shopping centre on the Hong Kong island and it is so crowded on Sundays and holidays that locals tend to avoid going there. So there you are! Among the sea of lightboxes and billboards is the Addidas advertisement with David Beckham in the most expensive spot of all. Tags: Causeway Bay|street scene|billboards|advertisement|shopping|David Beckham|Hong Kong|photos|daily life

Love is in the Rain

Valentine's Day is a big day in Hong Kong -- the streets are flooded with bouquets in the hands of either delivery persons or proud young ladies with starry eyes. I did a little bit of detective thing and followed this guy for a while and he was shopping for flowers in the rain, asking around and checking if delivery can be made promptly. Half a dozen of red roses costs about US$50 from streetside florists. I guess everybody has a number of favourite love songs but if I have to choose one I would choose Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight". What's your favorite? P.S. Click to see a clip from TV news tonight (in Chinese), the gist: girls receiving flowers in office, guys giving out chocolates to colleagues, a stem of rose costs US$10 and a low-income couple's sweet Valentine's Day Tags: Wanchai|Valentine's day|bouquets|flowers|street scene|Hong Kong|photos|daily life

Hong Kong Daily Photo - the 1st post

Hello and welcome to Hong Kong Daily Photo. As some of you might know, Hong Kong is a small place with lots of people (population is close to 7 million). So for my first post, this is the view from my apartment which is half way up the hill from Hong Kong island's Central area. Some of the buildings you see are commercial and some residential. The Victoria Harbour is in the background, and cross the harbour, it is the Kowloon peninsula. Oh, see the reddish rooftop patio? It is a luxury to most people in downtown area but I've never seen anybody out there in the last month... I hope you'll keep coming back and I'm off to take more photos for you now! :-) Thanks to Eric for the wonderful idea! Tags: Central|Victoria harbour|Kowloon Peninsula|rooftop|patio|Hong Kong|photos|daily life