HongKong Picture Day

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I hope that I have done all that was on my to do list for HongKong. ONLY one more day to wander around. I will go by tram the Happy Valley Racecourse Museum. Races happen at 19:30. I may and thenagain may not participate ... nonot ride the horse nor bet .... but watch the people and the race.

The actual list is frozen in the fried notebook, which should by now be in some container in Shanghai Harbour.

And now for a picture story of my second last day in HongKong.

Below you will find with 20 pictures with titles and captions. Enjoy.

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Photos

The Chinese Me
A series of people appeared on the whitewashed receiving dock of a building and I found myself.

Organizing Early in the Morning
On many occasions I found people packing, repacking, filling, stuffing, and generally getting stuff ready for sale or shipping ... all on the sidewalk.

December Gardening
Decorating for the Holiday Season plants come in boxes and are arranged beautifully by the gardeners in straw hats ... its December ... I must be close to the equator!

Hong Kong Mosaic
The workers of the Post Office donated their stamps and time to create this mosaic to commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the creation of the Post Office Trading Fund. It measures 3.97m x 6.45m

Stamp Mosaic Junk in Harbour
The mosaic was unveiled August 30, 2005. It is the largest stampmosaic in the world.

Convention Centre in Stamps
The 25.61meter square mosaic has received a Guinness World record Certificate.

HongKong Tram
Riding end to end on the tram takes 50 minutes. The double decker experience was fantastic until an Australian woman suffering from verbal diarrhea sat next to me. Had to get away! Did not want to hear about bedbugs! On the return trip all was kopastetic(sic).

Some Bike Lane!
Without fear these riders use the much safer space in front of and behind the tram to traverse the city or a part of it anyway. Laden with purchases or deliveries the uni gear bikes move along briskly and change tracks to stay out of the way of the trams.

A Six Story Library
And every floor has a story. An interactive screen on the ground floor explains all the facilities available. Considering the number of people living in HK I was surprised to get info quickly, locate my bookeasily and find a seat to sit on for reading. On the globe is written, My World is a Book.

Calm Serene Bright Inviting
Three glass elevators scoop you up to the top floors. Self check out stations abound. Access to internet is automatic. Library catalogue is easy. Staff was most helpful. Books are in english and chinese using the same call numbers but in separate sections. Not the Stockholm Library but nice.

HongKong
This is how I see HK in my mind's eye not the glitzy glass skyscrapers ... so... am I living in the past?
I have come too late. Should have made the trip in the sixties ...or at least seventies. Ohn well, at least some parts of the city have not yet succum to glass.

CardBoard Everywhere CardBoard
Notice the pushcarts! With a pushcart you can start an enterprise. Every crosswalk, every sidewalk, every alleyway and even on the street beside the Rolls you can see a pushcart.

There's CardBoard and then There's CardBoard
Lots of decorations: in the windows, on the sidewalk, on stairways, on railings, in hallways, on counters, some tasteful and much of it with the look of dollar store specials. The live poinsettas are impressive in white and red.

More Bamboo
This walkway protected pedestrians fromm one of the many construction sites ... at least two per block!

More Bamboo
And this is what it looks like when the scaffolding comes down before the poles are arranged into the piles on the street and put into trucks to be taken to the next construction site.

Western Market
This building was a great disappointment. A model showed what it was. Now it is full of shops and the top floor is one huge fabricland ... ok cloth I willnever see again and was sorry to leave behind ... but really... why is this place even mentioned as a HK attraction?

Beauty
This remnant of the Western Market as it had been I found in the stairwell heading for the happy room. It was sad to see how the place had been "renovated".

A Crowd!
Courious to see what kind of shop was having an opening or what the astounding sale object might be. I approached this crowd only to discover it was a group of parents waiting to pickup their Kindergarten children. LOL LOL LOL

Entrpreneurs
This elderly, no, old couple hasa small stand where they advertisethemselves as locksmiths.The old man was rummaging thru a tray of keys and the old lady was cutting a key for a customer. Fromthe look of the bill in the customers hand I assumed it cost 20 to 25 HKD for the key.

High on AIR
Can you find the cat? The building facing the alley was a wall of airconditioners. The cat walked from one box to the other. Which window he lives in is a mystery.