August 19th, 2009: Bonus Material
In the process of getting my pictures all straightened out and updated, I found a few more from last August.
Woody, a giant golden salmon
From the gardens of a mansion in the South Bay called Filoli:
August 3rd, 2009: China, part 4: Hong Kong
Hong Kong is simply a ridiculous place.
Hong Kong Island from the Star Ferry
After Yangshuo we spent the last leg of our trip in Hong Kong. Hong Kong was also pretty spectacular although in a different way than Yangshuo. It was interesting to transition to a much more Westernized Asian city, though it was too bad that part of that transition involved everything suddenly getting more expensive.
HK Island from the Star Ferry
Riding the cablecar up to Victoria Peak, Hong Kong
Kowloon from Victoria Peak, Hong Kong
Yvonne at Victoria Peak, Hong Kong
Pathway at Victoria Peak
Apartments that I imagine are quite expensive
Hong Kong in general seems to have a lot of very effective and impressive public services. One thing that I liked was that the municipal construction projects seemed to always come with an explanation of what was being done, why, and when it was expected to finish, as well as a healthy dose of positivity about engineering. I give you:
Construction signs of Hong Kong, part 1
Part 2! Note the presence of actual information!
Part 3: something to warm the heart of an MIT'er
Part 4: they are generally very big on safe slopes in Hong Kong
Artificial intra-escalator turf and art spheres, Victoria Peak
The view south, Victoria Peak
Giant mantis, Victoria Peak
Neat traffic architecture, Mid-Levels, Hong Kong
Neat tree, Mid-Levels
Cloudbank, construction, and moon, at the ferry piers on Hong Kong Island
I'm pretty happy with this particular group of photos.
Skyscrapers, Kowloon
Hilarious juice-in-a-frozen-test-tube drink, Hong Kong
A great part of visiting Hong Kong was being able to see my friend Clayon, whom I haven't seen much of lately, since he's been living in Hong Kong and all.
Clayton with the hilarious drink
Terrifying Mickey Mouse sculpture, Times Square, Hong Kong
This soda machine is named THIRSTBUSTERS
On Saturday we took a junk trip around the Hong Kong area with a group of Clayton's friends who were having a going-away party. The trip involved sailing out to a beachy area, dropping anchor, and swimming and eating a lot. The boat was not at all like an old-fashioned junk, which was a little disappointing, but the food was delicious and the trip was great overall.
Junk trip, Sai kung, New Territories
Our own private beach! Until a bunch more people arrived.
Our junk did not have a banana raft
Indoor ice rink in tropical weather, Hong Kong
Inscrutable shirt, Hong Kong
Water fountain, Hong Kong Park, Hong Kong
Yvonne from within the fountain, Hong Kong Park
Hong Kong Park
The Lippo buildings, Admiralty, Hong Kong
Another angle
Giant walled lily pad, Hong Kong Park
The buildings mostly come out at night ... mostly ...
The future is now
An always-amusing sight in the MTR
On the last night of our trip we had to move to a somewhat sketchy hostel in the moderately infamous Chungking Mansions. "Sketchy" in Hong Kong is pretty reputable in most American cities, so it was fine.
Bizarre lettuce sculpture in our room
We encountered one last Hong Kong technological marvel as we left. The Airport Express subway takes you straight to the airport, of course, but you can also checkin and leave your bag at the departure station, and they'll give you a boarding pass and get your bag onto the plane for you. Impressive!
Airport Express, Hong Kong
And that's the trip in pictures. It was a lot of fun and I'd love to go back.
