7 posts tagged “hong kong”

Prudence's ChocolateRain x Times Square exhibition & DIY workshop ends today, I was finally able to stop by the great installation and see all of her works.  My stay there was just too short, only able to see the surface of the whole thing.  I recall meeting her in 2007 before her visit to London last year, her positive energy impressed me most.

5 huge mushrooms with domes made of fabrics were there.  Some filled with Fatina and friends, while others are like fantasy playhouses for children.  I wish our government can commission her to revamp public playgrounds coz they are just too far away from fantasy and we all need to explore including adults who bring their children to these places. I mean it, what can we do about this idea?

I love her little boxes, exemplified in her exhibition title "why throw away your memory?" each of us must have boxes of memories and objects related to them, why throw these treasures away while you can upcycle them?  I wish I joined her workshop to understand more.

A decoration on the floor may not attract as much attention, but I found this schedule of hers in fabric interesting, documented her major events and projects since 2008 and looking forward to 2009.

Oh and how I wish to be a girl just to be able to carry some of her stuffs and decorate my room with one of those fabric beads.  All in all, I think her choice of color and pattern intrigues me most, very hard working girl I would say.  Thanks Prudence, I hope to see more public work from you to brighten up the city.

One of my objective is of course to take my son to "new new places" as he puts it and exhaust him as much as possible.  He had such a great time with his elder friend in Science Museum and later at home running around.  I couldn't believe it when he said "I want to sleep" at 8:30pm.  That was yesterday.

Today we were supposed to get up early and go to take a ride on the Ngong Ping 360 cable car, but we were too late to arrive and long queue is typical during holiday.  Disappointed and our plan changed to a leisure lunch and a visit to the Tian Tan Buddha.  The price for 3 cups of noodles was a staggering HK$95 but the colorful paintings and decorations beneath the big Buddha mountain gave us a peaceful lunch full of sunshine and I love it.

It took us 268 steps to get to the big Buddha on top of the mountain, they are divided into sections of 16 steps each and it was no big deal at all.  Light breeze on the top, great sunshine, great photos :)

On the way back, we passed through a horse farm, a tea tree garden and stopped by the Wisdom Path near the Phoenix Mountain.

Seeing my son's happy face is most rewarding.  He likes to see "new new" things and places and I'm happy to be able to give him that without much difficulty, for now.  This of course will change in time, how many "new new" things I will be able to give him?  How can I give him the "new new" internal peace experience?  I'd love to see how it turns out.

How lovely it is to be able to stroll along Hong Kong's busiest streets to find new perspectives on Saturday.  With Quad Camera for iPhone, I was able to compose views of the place I grew up in fresh angles.  There is a magic to frame several photos into one piece.
A typical street scene became so different.  A nice visual merchandising display with film strips inside Sogo's window.  A nostalgic visit to Hong Kong Film 100 Years Anniversary exhibition in Times Square.  All this Saturday's stroll has something to do with films.
There is something about life in a busy city, you can only get a peace of mind when you start to look and listen, from the most ordinary things to what other people are doing.  I would love to travel through time inside my mind to see changes throughout history, will I get sad or will I be enthusiastic about life if I can do that?
Senior citizens were sitting in the old movie theatre installation to look at old films, remembering old times, contemplating how this world has changed in their life time.  Imagine I can do the same thing by time traveling to look at history's very own theatre, what will I feel?  Well, I'm thinking too much and I should just get to bed and make my own dream time traveling.  Oh BTW, an afternoon nap today took me to Japan traveling to unknown places meeting new people, it was a great dream of discovery.  I met a friendly family inside their travel goods store and got some nice shampoo and help about visiting places in that area.  Their faces are still very vivid and I'm sure I've never met them in my own life time.  If I can bring a photo of them from my dream to this world, maybe somebody can find out who they are.  OK, I'm heading to my dream world right away, great adventures within.

10 minutes away from work in Tsim Sha Tsui, an easy access to great beer, music and dance, plus great Victoria Harbour view. German Bierfest runs until 15th Nov 2008.  Had a great time tonight, wish I brought some more friends.  

Reminds me a lot of Folklorama in Winnipeg where I studied.  I would jump around the city on free shuttle, stopping by various cultural sites mostly situated in high school campuses.  I wish there were more events like this in Hong Kong, after all, this is an international city filled with friendly faces.

His wife and son were standing across the street watching, while old Mr. Lam was coming back and forth to the store front to oversee the change.  The scene was such an attraction to people passing by coz the restaurant is so famous there is a saying "if you haven't eaten there, you haven't tasted the real Hong Kong style tea restaurant".  It is also the birth place of Hong Kong style super smooth milk tea nick named "pantyhose milk tea" (絲襪奶茶) and a hot drink mixing 70% pantyhose milk tea and 30% coffee called Ying Yong (鴛鴦).  These 2 inventions alone have touched tens of millions of people's life already, this place should be in Hong Kong's permanent cultural archive!  I heard that to create a cup of today's pantyhose milk tea, Mr. Lam still insist to use tea tree sprouts collected right after rainy seasons in Sri Lanka's Colombo and Malaysian non-dairy creamer.  There are dozens of other creative dishes the store created, before you go please ask our fellow HKers and we'll be able to recommend some popular ones that will worth your whole trip.

Every time I pass by the store, I'd recall a faint memory of my father (who is unfortunately being diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease this week at age 80) bringing me to one of these stores at very young age to eat fish ball noodle.  We would sit on small chairs on top of a wooden platform no bigger than 40cm depth (as seen above the red cola boxes in the above picture) raised from street floor and had our "snack".  Today these became sweet memories of mine while his is fading fast due to the disease.  I love my dad, he gave our family his best, beautiful calligraphy which he no longer can do, .... let's do it dad, I'll bring you over there after their renovation finished.

("Lan Fong Yeun Old Store" photo credit: WiNG)

I could've spent hours but the weather was so hot I had sweat all over.  So I just bought several yards of interesting strings, some coated with PolySomething (wax they said), some leather and some Polyurethane based.  I couldn't even concentrate to take better photos due to the heat.

Price sold in small quantity varies from HK$1/yard to HK$5/yard for those I selected.  Many stores allow you to cut a maximum 2 inches piece per style for sampling.

Later I went to Tak Cheung Stationery in Sham Sui Po, Chung Nam Book & Stationery in Mong Kok, Hands ARt & Craft in Wan Chai and lastly Paper Art in Central.  Believe me, in such a tiny little place, Hong Kong is truly a shopping heaven.  I turned out bought over HK$1000 Hero Arts stamps from Paper Art and became their permanent member :)

I enjoyed very much the SoundWalk tour, coz I was guided by an old lady in the audio, taking precious quiet time and explore within the complex.  Particularly like the installation which you look inside 6 carton boxes watching video projection of naked people interacting.

At the end of the audio tour, I was guided to make a wish by writing on a piece of paper and tied it on a tree.  I'm sorry that somebody's wish fell down and quickly pickup up for the trash by a janitor.  Told me something about conservation of energy :o

Don't forget to go to CityHall, which is publicly accessible, to see the structure!