Sunday, May 31, 2009

5 years ago today, may 31

May 31, 2004 saw:

another beautiful, hot sunny day in Hong Kong...and another shot of the HSBC building.

This city literally shines on when the sun comes out.

buildings match the tropical blue green water!

Contemplative Alan on the ferry.

a great shot of the speed ferries...they literally rise up on those rutter things and out of the water. amazing for speed, probably terrible for the marine life.

the islands on a beautiful day.


The woman on the left was our hostel mate, who's name and details I was proud to have recorded in the long-lost labels...Her name started with an m...possibly Marnie? she was awesome...I ended up hanging out with her a lot during our time in hong kong. I can't remember where she was from...Australia? Austria? Those sound phonetically right and I remember her having a strong accent but not what kind of accent...ah how memory fades so quickly sometimes. She was a cool cat, though. This was taken just before Phil departed for the airport, and the rest of us headed to see the Giant Buddha.

Just in case you needed a reminder that Hong Kong is a tropical place.


I love this picture. I can totally understand how they came to the aesthetic style they did in the region based on this hill. Can't you just see a scroll based on this beautiful mountain? the lines, curves, angles, loose rocks and forest? Awesome.

At the Temple

This is the Largest Outdoor Seated Buddha in the world. (And yes, evidently that is an important distinction...there is possibly a larger outdoor Buddha that is not seated, and a a larger seated Buddha somewhere indoors. )


My hand, covered in incense after lighting some with Alan.

Giant incense to go with the giant Buddha.

The temple

I loved the gold animals that adorned the roof of the temple.

Alan, a practicing Buddhist, very kindly showed us the proper way to move through the rituals at the temple.


Taken from about midway up the stairs, looking back the way we'd come


taken from the Buddha's platform

Me, looking out over the islands on the Buddha's platform.



an airplane taking off, below us.





me, in front of the giant Buddha.


Alan, imitating Buddha.

Giant Buddha from a distance.

Another shot of the giant Buddha from a distance.

That night, we returned to Victoria peak, since Alan hadn't been there previously, and I didn't object because it gave us an opportunity to see the nighttime skyline. Some buildings changed colors.

They were filming something up there, I don't remember what, but everyone was all a buzz about it. (I was going to say all a twitter, but this was before twitter and that could have just been confusing.)



Alan tried to make it seem like he was part of the filming. It partially worked.

And then he insisted on posing with princess Di in the wax museum doorway. I found it creepy.
The tram landing at the peak

Markings on the street, which I would later realize were a direct result of former british rule.

I liked this moth.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

5 years ago today, may 30

May 30, 2004 saw:

Phil, Carmen and I decided to hike "the dragon's back ridge" which we had an extremely hard time finding and making sense of. It ended up being a 30 mile long hike that went directly over the peaks of the mountains and down into the valleys...We ended up doing a modified version of it, which was still extremely hard on a boiling hot day we were mostly unprepared for, but it was absolutely gorgeous & worth it in my mind. The stairs above were the first bit leading up to join the trail.


















This was us wondering if were were mildly lost or totally screwed. There was a bench. And nothing else for miles. We were so confused.

Taken from the top of the ridge. I used to remember details about that little village at the bottom, which was actually rather fascinating, but it's lost with the labels now.

Phil at the top of the ridge.


There were lots of these cool huge boulders. We were each standing on our own for most of these pics.








You can't really tell in the picture, but I'm wearing lime green, quilted, Pespi brand moccasins, which I picked up in a subway station under people's square in shanghai and wore as my normal shoes until the soles completely worse out a few years later.


You can walk straight under the HSBC headquarters building in hong kong.

I have a bazillion and a half pictures of this building because Ian, the future architect in our social group, thought it was awesome and told me to make sure to get a good shot of it for him. I was never satisfied that my pictures were doing it justice, so I kept taking more.


They still use bamboo scaffolding, even in the big city. cheap, light, efficient, strong. Why not? (see the guys up in it? that's a skyscraper, this was on mega-zoom.)

a wedding in the park in central hong kong! we thought it was so cool that we'd seen that...

then we saw another...

and another...

and a turtle...


and some fish...

and a turtle and some fish...

and another wedding...and this is the point at which I stopped photographing them. we saw about a dozen more.

On the tram on the way up to Victoria peak. Notice how they're straining to lean forward, and the angle of the window behind them...that's how steep it is.

The view from the top of Victoria peak.



Me and Carmen at the top

great fog/cloud cover on top of Victoria peak




Gotta love the pun.

By the time we headed home, it was dark

one of my earliest attempts at using a nightshot setting on a digital camera.

all the buildings were lit up as we made our way home.

HSBC headquarters at night!

And with friends!




The ferries light up, too.

I can't remember what that tall building was called, or what it was the tallest of, but it had a title of tallest building ...in some region or something?

Phil, on the Ferry home.


Phil's camera:



taa-a-a-a-all building.

You feel like you're indoors even when you're outside here. the buildings & mountains are like giant walls surrounding the streets of the city.

This is the area where our hostel was located. I think this was taken just outside the door.


The village I've forgotten about.
Carmen and I on the dragon's back. My shirt kinda looks like it's trying to blend into the background.

I have a shot of this building somewhere, too.

more bamboo scaffolding, gives you more of an idea of height.

Hong Kong as seen from Victoria's Peak

Carmen and I atop Victoria's Peak

Phil atop Victoria's Peak

A panoramic shot phil composed from a bunch of his shots taken atop the dragon's back.