Out with the old in with the new April 4, 2011

We spend a lot of time in Kowloon City and there is a small construction site there that has always caught my interest. Ever since I first noticed it, I could tell they had torn down this old four story building and were planning to put up a tower in it’s place. Instead of ripping down an entire block and putting up a massive tower, they only took out the one building. I have no idea how big the lot size is but it is pretty small. Here’s a view of the site from Google Street View:

I was in Kowloon City on Saturday and took some photos of the skyline and was quite surprised to see a slim 30 story tower sprouting out of that construction site. It really is quite a sight, and I am not sure I have seen anything quite this scale with such a small footprint before.

I did some googling and the place is called Zebrano and has 23 flats one per floor, each under 700sqft.

Link to Zebrano

Here’s a couple of other photos taken that day.

Empty China February 14, 2011

Over Chinese New Year we went with the family on a 2 day bus tour in China. I am not exactly sure where we went or what the purpose of the tour was. It was a pre-planned family thing and the only info that I had about the trip was all written in Chinese, and the tour itself was also in Chinese.

I’ll do my best to explain the trip and what I got out of it. It was a full two days on a bus, stopping at some places along the way. The stops mainly involved eating or sightseeing. The eating was pretty good with some diverse types of Chinese food. My favorite was place that served chrysanthemum salad, chrysanthemum soup, and of course chrysanthemum tea as part of their Chinese lunch. The sightseeing was interesting but not anything that warranted two days on a bus. Reese said the best part of the trip was the hotel we stayed at in Zhongshan. It was a nice modern hotel but we only slept there and had breakfast so again, not really worth spending two days on a bus.

The best part for me was seeing the countryside over the two days. My phone has a GPS so I tried to catch a signal and save a few waypoints on my GPS to figure out where we went. When I got back I looked up the GPS coordinates and discovered that Dongguan and Zhongshan seem to be the main destination points. We started and ended in Shenzhen just across the border from Hong Kong. I would estimate that we traveled about 300-400kms.

So what did I see along the way?

Let me fist say that the scenery wasn’t pretty. It’s a flat and expansive place with smoggy skies and general pollution. Well I guess that’s to be expected for this part of China, but what really caught me by surprise was how empty it was. The Shenzhen bus terminal was packed, and the traffic getting out of the city was horrendous. Once outside of the city, every place we went through seemed like a ghost town. Could I have become too used to the density of Hong Kong, and anything else seems like a ghost town? Did everyone leave town for Chinese New Year holiday? The two days we were traveling were a public holiday in HK and I assume China also. Some places we went through were definitely industrial cities that could have been abandoned for the holiday. What really stood out for me was the contrast of the emptiness against the size and scale of the modern infrastructure there. Empty cities with massive multi-lane roadways. Huge elevated highways running through rural farmlands. Endless buildings under construction in an area that doesn’t seem to have any people. Some of the emptiness was not just from people on holiday. I was struck by the number of abandoned buildings. For some places we went through, it seemed like entire areas were abandoned yet a few miles away new construction of modern high rises were underway.

I took some photos that I think captured what I was seeing. I processed the photos in a dark monotone style that emphasizes the “emptiness” feeling that I had as I was taking the photos.

Be warned: these are not your typical family holiday photos, but then this probably wasn’t the typical family holiday.

Click to see my photo album on Picasa

I hope you enjoy this little look into China though my eyes. Let me know what you think in the comments or drop me a line in email or on Facebook.

Chinese New Year 2011 February 4, 2011

Our second Chinese New Year in Hong Kong and I still have not quite figured out all the traditions, as it all seems quite complicated. For example the giving of money in red envelopes has some rules around who gives to whom. The older and married give to the younger and single. From my observations, the little kids love Chinese New Year because they get showered with red packets. I would imagine that as you get older Chinese New Year becomes a major time of stress, trying to keep up with the traditions and impress the family etc. Then once you are a grandparent or great grandparent then the time is really special because it brings all the family together. Isn’t that what most holidays are about? Sharing some time with family.

In the spirit of sharing with friends and family, here’s some photos and video of our Chinese New Year. We miss all of you who are far away!

Video of the Lion Dance in our neighborhood:

Photo slideshow:

Happy Lunar New Year, Kung Hei Fat Choi!

Hong Kong Timelapse December 30, 2010

Should be moving back into the house soon and boy will I miss the view from this apartment. Living on a high floor with a view in Hong Kong is quite a treat. I can not get over much much the view changes day to night and with different weather.

I have been experimenting with some timelapse photography where I set the camera up in the window and take a photo every minute or so for several hours. I still need to work on the technique a bit, but here’s a couple of videos that I made.

The first video is out the side bedroom facing east as the sun comes up. It’s taken with a fisheye lens which gives a good view and also includes the inside of the bay window within the frame.

The second video is from the bedroom that faces Hong Kong island and runs from day to night. It really shows how Hong Kong comes alive at night. I especially like the boat on the left that can be seen floating around. If you look closely you can also see the daily light show that takes place at 8:10 every night.

My entire Facebook life in under 3 mins. December 12, 2010

OMG, it’s almost Christmas and the year has just flashed by. If you want to look back at everything there is a cool site www.pummelvision.com that will access your photos on Facebook and/or Flickr and create a rapid-fire slideshow to music. If you are OK with letting the application access your personal photos online, it’s a cool way to see your life flash before your eyes.

My video is linked below. It goes back more than a year because it seems to have picked up everything I have on Facebook. (I need to clean up my photos)

Enjoy!