City Lights

I plunged into a huge shopping mall. It is both an in- and outdoor mall. It goes up several floors and underground a couple or more.
This has one advantage though: no need to carry a toilet paper roll around. Malls have regularly maintained toilets. The closer they are to the high-end the better. And there's no lack of that here.

In the beginning I felt completely disoriented. What was I doing here? Nobody had forced me into this. The crowds, the noise, the traffic, the shopping frenzy. "Self-inflicted pain" a good friend would say :-) But I got used to it. I feel like a country-girl now. Which doesn't mean I feel provincial, not at all. I just feel unadaptable.
I enjoy the little parks in the city, oasis of peacefulness. There are surprisingly many birds there, and their song is enchanting. And there are flowers, beautiful flowers blossoming undisturbed by the snowmen and Merry Christmas! signs put up. There are also brightly coloured butterflies. Whether traffic stops for them? Few people pay attention to these tiny creatures.

People flock here for shopping. From mainland China, from Singapore, from Europe and North-America. It's a frenzy that doesn't seem to end until late after midnight.

I did shopping, too. On one of my tours through a mall in search for the toilet I caught a glimpse of some orange socks. I HAD to have them. So I bought myself 2 pairs of orange socks (they came in pairs). And I even got to wear them the same night waiting on the harbourfront for the fireworks to start. It was chilly and even chillier later on. So I ended up with all my orange collection on. If I'd be rolling, you'd think I'm a huge orange.

So I spent New Year's Eve here and lost in a huge crowd I watched the midnight fireworks show. Less spectacular than I expected, but nice. The brightly and colourful lit cityscape is something special with or without fireworks. This is a city you want to carry a tripod along with you. I've actually never seen so many tripods in a place like on the harbourfront on the New Year's night. My tripod stayed in my pack all the time since I did not feel up to the crowds. I'm carrying some 6-7kg every day on my back for 10-12 hours walking. That is my wimpish excuse for being lazy.

Hong Kong is a city of lights, lines and money. I can't say much about the latter, but for the first two I figured that - at least in terms of photography - that's the essence. Rather than continuing to feel handicapped and unable to take pictures in the city I made use of the patterns offered by architecture and lights.

On the New Year's night, while standing there on the harbourfront amidst the crowds I sent my thoughts out across the ocean wishing you a

Happy New Year! May 2008 be a peaceful and good year for everybody!