Carol Abroad

Decision

2008-08-28T21:49:00.004+08:00

I finally made the decision....

A new beginning, a fresh start...

I know I can do it!!!! YOSH!!!! ^_^

Post-Olympic Syndrome

2008-08-26T02:11:00.002+08:00

Because of the "coincendental" timing due to my job situation, I actually got to watch a lot of Olympic this year. I don't think I have ever "participated" so much in any previous Olympics =) My favorites are (as always) badminton, ping pong, diving and swimming.

And lucky for me, since I am in HK this time, so I got to watch tons of badminton and ping pong that I normally would not be able to watch in the States! (yea, you know how NBC ONLY broadcasts the games that the US teams can win!)

Pre-Olympic Fever @ TST

I had some free time these few days (surprise surprise!!) and found some pictures that were taken the night before the Olympic opening. We went to Tsim Sha Tsui to feel the Pre-Olympic celebratory spirit among the HK crowd.

The Victoria Harbor is always our favorite night picture spot!

That night we arrived the harbor late so we missed the electronic light show by 5 minutes; however, our goal was actually something else - they have put up some large size decoration and models for the Beijing Olympic near the Clock Tower - and that's what we were really after!

But first - of course we won't miss the chance to appreciate our pretty Victoria Harbor @ night!

See the Beijing Olympic logo on the building?!

And for those who are as geeky as I am: That's right - Mike's shirt does say "Don't make me replace you with a very small script!" =D

IFC is still the tallest, most recognizable structure across the waterfront. (Yea, for those who have seen the latest Batman movie - that WAS the building where Batman flew down from its roof top!)

Olympic Celebratory Spirit

Hey look!! It's "Mike and the Fuwa"!

Finally we saw the "Water Cube" (水立方) decorational structure that they put in the Culture Center Plaza in celebration for the Beijing Olympic.

They have gigantic flat screen TVs inside where Olympic games would be shown the whole time during its opening hours.

At that time I thought this model was very pretty (with the lights and stuff), but what I didn't know was that the real Water Cube is actually 10x more spectacular!! Next time when I visit Beijing, entering the Water Cube and swimming there would definitely be one of my must-do agenda!! =)

We couldn't go into the structure that night because they were doing the last-minute preparation work for the Olympic opening the next night (yea, we went there on August 7th). But it's still cool to look from a distance though.

And of course - can't miss the Clock Tower - as classy as it always is.

I think I am suffering from the post-Olympic syndrome!! I already missed all the exciting and touching moments from the games!!

Guess I'll just have to wait another 4 years.....

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Primary School Gathering

2008-08-25T16:26:00.002+08:00

It all started with a primary school graduation photo uploaded to Facebook...

Rex uploaded our 6th grade graduation photo; people started tagging each other; more and more familiar faces showed up; buddies from old days found each other again through FB, etc.

(I know not everyone is as geeky as I am, but sometimes you do have to appreciate the beauty of technology and how it really does "tie" people who have lost touch back together!) ^_^

Anyways, we were extremely lucky that we were able to reunite with many old classmates. And even more lucky that many of us made it to our first gathering!! (Thanks AuYeung for organizing it!!)

Amazing, isn't it?!

There were so many of us that we needed to sit in two different tables at the restaurant. This picture was taken from one table of the other table. (And don't ask me why Bread was making that face. I bet he must be talking about one of the "horror" stories about how he got "tortured" by one of the teachers back then!)

I was really happy to see Ida and Hazel. (Love Ida's hair!!!!) ^_^

We even got one of our old teachers, Miss Hui (bottom right), to come! She brought her son (bottom left) as well. It's was fun to have 3 "generations" of people together! =)

We went to grab drinks afterwards at a bar nearby.

Boys, don't be so shy and dodge from the camera!! ;)

Katherine came back from Sydney as well. I haven't seen her in ages!

Thanks Kent for being the "appointed photographer" for the night! I borrowed his DSLR and took a couple quick shots of him, so his face would "show up" on film as well. haha... (Though Rex on the other hand was totally trying to hide from or ignore the camera!)

We gathered everybody's emails and cells, establishing our SJS 6A Alumni network!! Yay!!

It's truly amazing to see how much we did NOT change from old times (^_~)v

And I am totally looking forward for the next gathering with all our "old buddies"!!

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Ginger Milk!!!

2008-08-07T23:09:00.003+08:00

Long Break...

Long break since my last post. So many things have happened: the biggest event being traveling to Vancouver, Toronto, visiting family at SF and Mike's family at St Louis... Such a refreshing and awesome trip! Will post pictures of the trip later.

But First...

Topic of this post though is not about the trip (which can wait). What can't wait is my excitment from my "virgin" attempt at making Ginger Milk (姜汁撞奶) !! Everybody knows how much I love dessert. ^_^ Especially steamed milk, steamed egg, and sweet tofu type of Chinese desserts.

There is a really yummy traditional Chinese dessert place near my apartment. I visit them regularly each week to satisfy my sweet tooth. One of my favorite from that place is their hot ginger milk dessert. I accidentally found a recipe, and it looks simple enough with just 3 straight-forward ingredients: ginger, milk and sugar. Surprisingly, it tastes as good as the dessert house!! ^__________^ hohohohoho~

It tastes as smooth and yummy as it looks ;) And the best thing is - it's cheap and easy to make!!!

Looks like I am going to stock up on some milk in my fridge from now on!! hahaha~ ;)

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Candlelight Vigil - 19th Anniversary of June 4th 1989

2008-06-06T06:05:00.007+08:00

It's painful to recall, but it's never to be forgotten.....

Mike and I went to the Candlelight Vigil for the 19th anniversary of the Tienanmen Square protests of 1989.

This is held annually in Victoria Park to commemorate the thousands of Chinese students who were killed in the June 4th Massacre in China in 1989, and express our eagerness for democracy, freedom, human rights and rule of law.

The June Fourth Incident

It all started with a number of peaceful protests led by Chinese students in April of 1989. They wanted the Chinese government to reform, to clean up the corrupt bureaucracy, calling for democracy & human rights. The Chinese government ignored the protesters.

The protest gained momentum in a short period of time. More and more students and other activists joined, but the protesters remained non-violent. They gathered in Tienanmen Square in Beijing. 3000+ students started to starve themselves to try to call for the government attention. As the starved students grew weaker and weaker due to the lack of food and water intake, the Chinese government continued to ignore their request. This provoked even more people to join the students.

In late May, workers, farmers, police, teachers, parents, and intellectuals all sided with the students. The Chinese government was forced to talk to the student representatives; however, nothing resolved after their meeting. Large scale protests were happening in 20+ provinces throughout China, in addition to the main one in Beijing.

On June 4h, the government took a desperate action to "quiet down" the much-overheat protesting voice - a total military crackdown - Solders, with tanks, guns and other weapons, were ordered to "disperse" the protesters from Tienanmen Square. The military crackdown left thousands of students dead and even more injured.

After the massacre, the government also conducted widespread arrests for surviving protesters and their supporters, killed all remaining protesting voice in China, banned all foreign press from entering and erased all national coverage of the massacre. Many of the protesters caught from the protest back then were still in prison today.

When it happened that year.....

I was just a very little girl when it all happened in 1989. I was too little to understand what democracy means, or what freedom stands for. But I definitely remembered how the whole city was in extreme grief during that time.

People watched news everyday and night to find out what was going on in Tienanmen Square. Countless tears were shed watching how students were killed by the tanks, the army, the government....

In my little mind, I didn't totally understand what was going on at that time, but I would never forget that year, that day, that massacre...

Natural Disasters v.s. Human-caused Disasters

The vigil this year was also about the victims from the earthquake on May 12th.

Yes, the earthquake was sad and caused way too many innocent lives. But at least it was natural disaster after all.

But what about disasters caused by people? Or even by the government?

Yes, since the earthquake happened, the Chinese central government has been doing everything they can to rescue and help the earthquake victims.

But....

If the 7000+ schools and hospitals were built properly by the local government or the responsible organizations in the first place, would so many innocent children and people die as a result of improper construction??! As a result of the so-called "tofu-residue" construction!!!

What about the students protesters back then? Was it really so wrong to protest peacefully to voice out their concern? Was democracy and freedom really so expensive in our country that our students had to pay the high price of LIFE for it???!!!

During the Candlelight Vigil

It rained during part of the candlelight vigil.

Instead of leaving, we took out their umbrella to block the rain from putting out the candle fire, which represents our respect and remembrance of the students who shed their blood in exchange for a call for democracy, for freedom, 19 years ago.

We raised our candlelight up high and waved, while singing the June Fourth memorial song, Blood (血染的風采),

I cried.

I hope generations and generations of our people will not forget the June Fourth historical event. It's only through learning what really did happen in our history that we can become better and stronger, as an individual, as a nation.

And I'd like to pay my sincere regards to the students, for their self-less act 19 years ago. I hope that all of them, their families and loved ones will find comfort and continue to live bravely.

It's painful to recall, but it's never to be forgotten.....

Din Tai Fung @ Tsim Sha Tsui

2008-06-03T05:06:00.003+08:00

After being trapped at home for almost 2 whole weeks, my hand's burned injury is finally approaching a "stable recovery" state. The outer burned skin (now blacken) was slowly peeling off, while the new inner skin (very red and sensitive) is glowing, slowly and "itchily".

Though still far from 100% healed, I couldn't wait to break out from my recovery "cage" and went to a restaurant that Mike and I have meant to try for a long time, the recently-opened Din Tai Fung at Tsim Sha Tsui.

New Restaurant, Yay!!

Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐) is a must-visit restaurant in Taipei, famous for its "little dragon buns" (Shanghai style steamed buns with meat fillings). They have chains in lots of countries and cities (unfortunately not in SF). They just recently opened their first one in Hong Kong.

Mike LOVES the Taipei main branch of this restaurant. We visited twice in our last very short three-days Taipei trip. He was willing to give up an opportunity to try other yummy restaurants just for this, so you know....

Not to mention that he alone ate 15+ steamed buns in our second visit....

Other Yummy Food

Besides steamed buns, we also tried a bunch of things that we didn't try last time when were in its Taipei branch.

Such as this tofu veggie vermicelli soup.

"Dan Dan Noodles" with peanut sauce.

It always made me soooooo happy to see all the yummy-looking, freshly made food steaming all at once in front of me on the table !!

The Hungry Couple

"Itatakimasu!!!"

Yup... and that would be my "bundled-up" injured hand that you saw from the picture.

Luckily my recovery was finally at a state where I could hold my own chopsticks, otherwise I'd need to use my "un-chopstick-trained" left hand and I'm sure there would be lots of food dropping and sauce splashing, or Mike would have to feed me very "lovingly".... haha... ^_~

See how relieved (or .... cynical?) he was knowing that he didn't need to hand-feed me!!

The steamed buns were juicy and fresh, but just.... hmm.... didn't seem to be as yummy as the ones in Taipei.

Also, they cut the number of buns served in each order. In Taipei, you get 10 for each order, but it's only 6 here. The missing 4 made this dish look less "fulfilling"....

Regardless of the slight decrease in quality, I was just too happy to be out and enjoying delicious food, after almost two weeks of "cage-life"!!! =D (I know I know... it's for the sake of my own hand's recovery, but still...... I was almost bored out of my mind starring at my poor blistered hand with pain for soooooooo long!!)

More, please!!

Apparently we still had room for more after what we ordered. I told Mike to "go totally out" and ordered whatever he wanted! And guess what....

Yup, he has been having the Japanese-style fried pork cutlet craving for awhile now, and here we are! Taiwanese fried rice with pork cutlet it was!!

Close up!

And it was absolutely delightful! Easiest the most delicious dish of the night!

I would totally come back to this restaurant just for this dish! haha....

Even for Mike, who is a pseudo-vegetarian (i.e., he likes to pretend to be a vegetarian most of the time, except when he goes eat burgers and sushi), helped me clean the entire plate (not including the 3 dishes that we finished prior to this one).

By the time we left, there were already giant queues outside. We were glad that we got in early to avoid the busy dinner crowd on a Saturday night!! =D

The Freeze Tokyo 2008

2008-06-02T23:33:00.007+08:00

Aaaaaaaaaa!!!! Another cool "freeze" that I missed! So not fair... -__-...

The Freeze Tokyo 2008

Over 130 people gathered and FROZE for five minutes in the busiest, most crowded part of Ginza in Tokyo, Japan on May 25, 2008. The freeze was inspired by Improv Everywhere, NYC.

Another must see video from the same event~
"The Extras: The Cops"

Japanese police is hilarious ;)

p.s. For those who are interested - here is the entry I wrote about the similar freeze event in HK this year at Times Square: Frozen Times - Square Reborn

Pain and Thoughts

2008-05-28T00:36:00.006+08:00

What would it be like if you cannot use or move your right hand...

Never thought about this before, until early last week, I was (un)fortunate enough to "gain" this experience...

What happened was - I accidentally poured half a bowl of burningly-hot, thick corn soup onto my right hand.

If you have burns before, then you'll know how it feels - yes, IT HURTS - like HELL!!!

I can be a clumsy person sometimes, but this was definitely the most tragic incident caused by my carelessness.

Fortunately, the mistake was tragic but not fatal.

Mike immediately ran out to buy me burn medicine and bandage, while I ran my seriously-burned hand with cold tap water.

It hurt so much that day that I had to numb my hand in a bowl of cold water for most of the afternoon. =(

My burn turned out to be a second degree burn. Big, puffy blisters over the burn area and extreme redness of the skin followed the next whole week... (It's still not healed yet.)

Mike was so worried and urged me to see doctor several times. But my "doctor-phobia" (as Mike called it) made me reject such idea, despite my inability to move my hand nor the bad pain from the blisters.

I was almost like a "disabled" person in the following week: couldn't really use/move my hand at all, and had to have my right hand medicated and bandaged the whole time.

Poor Mike - he took care of me like a baby.

I felt so guilty watching him cook me meals everyday, washing the dishes, doing the laundry, peeling me fruits, and even going out to buy me desserts just to keep me from being totally depressed. Yes, I was pretty depressed because I couldn't do anything except coding to keep myself distracted from the pain. >_<

I have been very emotional in the past two weeks. Before the burn happened, I was already very sadden over the Sichuan Earthquake and all of the heart-broken stories behind it. Tears ran down my cheek everyday watching sad stories one after another... And then this burn... It made me realize something else...

True, the burn was very painful and it might even scar me after it heals...

However....

My burn will heal someday, but how does the pain of the people who lost their families, their loved ones, their homes, their everything in the earthquake, pain of such great magnitude be healed, be relieved, or even just be reduced... just a little....

......

I don't know...

......

I just hope that they'll find peace and be strong to continue to live...

My heart goes out to all the victims of the earthquake and their families...

Be strong!!!!

"Small Planet" by Naoki Honjo

2008-05-07T03:49:00.002+08:00

I heard about this photography gallery by a Japanese photographer called Naoki Honjo a few weeks ago. The photographs that he takes are supposed to be pretty different from mainstream photos, so I was very excited waiting for the opening of his exhibition this week at the petite art museum at Tsim Sha Tsui's Harbor City.

Surprise on the street - Lion Dance

Though before getting to the gallery, we saw some interesting scenes along the way as well.

In the busy center of Tsim Sha Tsui, we saw this gigantic pink crowd in the middle of a road.

Lion dance!!!! (A bright pink one!!!)

There were two!!! I think the black one looked even cooler!!

I was not sure what was the occasion that called for this celebratory lion dance, but the crowd were cheering and taking pictures happily regardless (including Mike, of course).

It reminded me of the days back in high school when I was volunteering at the Oakland China town police station, where the Oakland Youth Lion Dance Team would always gather before practice.

I got to hold the lion head and pretended to "dance" a few times. I was told that I barely moved, even though I thought I was dancing very energetically at the time, hahaha....

The Gallery - "Small Planet"

I was really looking forward to this gallery because it is a very "fun" gallery.

The photographer, Naoki Honjo, specializes shooting from helicopters or very tall buildings using a "tilt shift" lens, which allows allows maximum control over the depth-of-field of the photo, distorting its focus in such a way that the human eyes are fooled into believing that they are looking at a miniature or a model.

Though they look incredibly like models, these photos are all of real landscapes and architecture and haven't been digitally post-processed.

Here are some of Naoki Honjo's exhibition photos, ain't they "fun" to look at? =D

Swimming pool, Tokyo, Japan, 2006

HonjoNakayama Horse race track, Chibe, Japan, 2005

Taxi Stand, Tokyo, Japan, 2006

Kings Cross, London 2007

With the special tilt-shift lens, focus can be restricted to a single, narrow band, with everything else around it rapidly blurring away, creating the miniature effect you saw from the photos.

Another tilt-shift photo that I really like, by mcsixth

Here are more info on tilt-shift photography, if you are interested.

The Harbor

Besides the framed, enlarged photos on display, the exhibition also featured Naoki Honjo's latest collection book "Small Planet". I was curious enough to flip through the book page by page.

While I was busy playing the "find the focus of this photo" game on each page, Mike's attention was already attracted by the beautiful harbor outside of the museum.

Victoria Harbor will always be the prettiest harbor to me!!

I couldn't resist the temptation of the harbor and joined him outside.

Looking at the blue water....

Enjoying the light wind blowing onto your face...

So peaceful and pleasant....

It reminded me of the time when I was still living in the Bay Area in California, Mike and I would go walk near the bay every weekend...

I wish that the place that we choose to settle down in the future will have such a beautiful bay nearby also.

See how the harbor makes me so happy that I actually "glow"? hahaha....

Yummy Fruit Juice

After enjoying the gallery and the spectacular harbor view, we needed something to recharge our stomach as well.

Since we were not near Mong Kok and thus couldn't get our favorite mango cococut juice, we settled for a fresh cup of juice nearby.

Somebody was apparently having too much fun with the camera when I was busy trying to get attention from the fruit stall owner.

"Hey You!!!!"

And yea - the fresh strawberry juice was yummy!!!! =D

Acrobatic Drama "Journey to the West"

2008-05-03T22:00:00.003+08:00

We went to see an acrobatic drama/dance performance "Journey to the West" by Guangzhou Acrobatic Troupe of China (中國廣州雜技團). The drama was adapted and based on the Chinese classic novel 西遊記.

I haven't seen any large scale live acrobatic performance before. So it was a real treat for me!! (Especially after the depressing experience and emotion from yesterday... sigh.....)

Anyways, back to the drama. I loved all the acrobatic stuns and the group dance performance. The girl dancers were all hot and pretty, hahaha....

My favorite scenes were the:

the "Monkey's Swaying Pole Climbing and Fighting" from Act I, where the acrobatic artists portraying monkeys performed risky acrobatics on bungee cords swaying thin poles.

the "Hoop Diving on the Trampoline" from Act IV, where 15+ acrobatic artistics jumped, dived and threw themselves through various small golden hoops of varying heights in amazingly crisp and quick moves,

and the eye-opening "Hand-to-Hand Stand" from Act III, where a male and female artist danced and posed in a series of impressive-looking, hard-to-balance and massive strength-required moves. I could never imagine two separate human bodies can combine and bend to form straight horizontal lines like that.

This performance had won a bunch of international awards and is on a world tour.

This promotional video gives you some highlights of the performance:

I wish my parents are here... I think they will be excited to see this with me!! =)

p.s. Sorry about the "nano" size of the photos. No camera is allowed in the theatre, so I can only "borrow" the pictures from the HK government website. ;)

I cried today....

2008-05-02T23:14:00.003+08:00

I cried today....

During the Olympic torch relay today, I witnessed a young guy standing next to me, silently holding up a half-A4 sized human rights poster.

When the crowd discovered him and his poster, they attacked him immediately, poking at and trying to destroy his poster with their red flags or umbrellas.

During that whole time, the innocent guy was just repeating "Freedom of Speech" in Chinese and English.

He then got taken away by the police, got interrogated and was finally forced to leave the site after the police recorded his ID and other personal information.

In the midst of that kind of blind patriotism and violence, I couldn't stop my tears.

I haven't cried like that for years... since my grandma passed away.

I am not ashamed of admitting that I cried in the street out in the public (got eyed on by many passers-by), but I am ashamed of my own country, of the city that I have always loved so much...

Where did the freedom of speech in HK go....?

Dinner with Christina

2008-04-29T00:20:00.004+08:00

It's again time for my "quarterly" dinner with Christina, my childhood's "twin" buddy from primary school time (yes, that's what the teachers called us at the after school center) !! =D

You know what, we really should gather more often, because it's filled with so much laughters!!!! ^_^ haha...

We talked and laughed so much tonight....

My personal favorite bits were the "English school net for KITTENS" (wink wink, somebody!!! ^_~ ) and the "Canadian budget airline owned by Chinese people" (that made Mike INSTANTLY scare)... hahaha.....

Have a wonderful Taipei trip!

(And don't get lost, you know you have the map!!!! hehe....)

Nan Lian Garden (Part III) - Chi Lin Nunnery

2008-04-21T01:35:00.002+08:00

Continuing with the last part of my Nan Lian Garden visit from last weekend, we walked towards Chi Lin Nunnery (志蓮淨苑) from the north stairs of Nan Lian Garden.

Chi Lin Nunnery

Chi Lin Nunnery is a Buddhist nunnery adjacent to Nan Lian Garden.

To go from one to the other, you just cross the stone stairs in the north part of the garden connecting the two.

The buildings in the nunnery are the only ones built with purely wooden rooftops in Hong Kong now, constructed without using any.

Its construction style reminded me of the famous Kiyomizu Dera (Clear Water Temple / 清水寺) in Kyoto.

Because Kiyomizu-Dera was also constructed without the use of any nails but can withstand strong earthquake. Mike and I were both very impressed when we visited the temple in Kyoto. (Kyoto is one of my favorite places in Japan!!)

Front gate of the Chi Lin Nunnery.

The buildings in the nunnery were built based on a unique architectural style from the Tang Dynasty, which uses special interlocking systems, cutting into the wood for construction.

The Water Lily Pond

There are multiple ponds filled with beautiful Water Lilies in front of the main temple in the nunnery.

Water lilies of different colors are grown vibrantly. I had to admit that this was probably one of the cleanest ponds I've seen with flowers growing!

On the sides of the ponds, water comes out continuously from the mouths of the beautifully-crafted stone dragon-head statues.

I remember a lesson from my Chinese literature textbook in Form 2 (equivalent of eight grade in US) - It was a poem about Water Lily -

Water Lily symbolizes the perfect gentleman, because it can survive in the dirtiest, muddiest ponds but still grows upright and pretty, without being polluted regardless how bad its surrounding environment is!!

I totally agreed with the poem seeing these gorgeous water lilies!! =D

Even the leaves of the Water Lilies are so clean and round and green!!! What an artistic composition!!

The Temple

When we got to the main temple, it was already passed 4pm. (Yea, we had spent quite a long time just touring around the garden before coming to the nunnery).

Unfortunately, the temple was already closed before we had a chance to enter.

As you can see, the entrance to the temple front was blocked, and the security guards were closing down the temple gates as well.

Finally... the whole temple was shut down.

Not main temple, what then?

Well... since we couldn't get into the main temple, we changed direction and walked around the peripheral buildings surrounding the temple.

Discovered one of the many exits as we explored. But of course, we didn't want to leave just yet.

Coming back in, we discovered another interesting building on a different side of the nunnery. It felt a bit similar to the wooden Fragrance Hall back in Nan Lian Garden.

With an additional gigantic traditional wooden door.

Oops... sorry, bad habit - Naught me, couldn't resist the temptation to try to pull the door!! haha~ (luckily there was no security guard around at that time....)

Miscellaneous Interesting Stuff

Gigantic wooden lantern in the middle of the nunnery garden. The West side of it faces other buildings in the nunnery.

While its East side faces some of the tall residential buildings in a long distance!!

Bright pink vibrant flowers can be seen everywhere in the nunnery garden.

Bright Pink (flowers) v.s. Light Pink (lady) !!!!

hahaha..... ;)

Crazy girl jumping up high in front of the temple!!
(Sorry, somebody really needs to keep her behave next time....) wakakkaka.... ^_~

Exiting the nunnery through the same doorway we entered back into Nan Lian Garden.

For those who haven't been here and like beautiful nature scenes or impressive-looking temple structures, I'll highly recommend coming here. (My dad already told me that he'd like to come visit next time when he is back.)

Mike and I spent an enjoyable afternoon and were amazed at how clean, well-designed and well-maintained everything is there!! (May be all those strict rules are worth it after all?!!! hmm..... )

Nan Lian Garden (Part II)

2008-04-20T04:47:00.005+08:00

Today was a super rainy and windy day for people in Hong Kong (Typhoon signal # 3 was up! The first one in 2008!!!!).

We couldn't really do much outing activities, so it's the perfect time to continue with last week's Nan Lian Garden visit, Part 2 !!

The Blue Pond

In the middle to the right of the garden located The Blue Pond.

The Blue Pond is a stretch of calm water on which floats the reflection of the surrounding scenery.

You can see clearly the reflection of the bushes, trees, hills, rocks and even the tall residential buildings nearby. So peaceful~!!

There are so many fish in the pond, swimming energetically.

Their energy energized me as well. Look how excited I was!!! It had been a very long time since last time I saw such a clean pond with so many fish in it!! (It's rare enough that you can see through the water!!!)

Standing on the north shore of the Blue Pond is The Pine Teahouse, fronted by a broad covered veranda on the water’s edge.

Even the sign to warn people not to feed or disturb the fish is traditional-looking and pretty!!

They must have spent lots of time and effort to maintain the plants and trees. Look how aligned and beautifully-shaped they all are!!!

The Goofy Couple

Haha... for those who don't know - Mike and I are both very goofy!!! And here is the evidence...

Goofy evidence #1:

Look how powerful my Chinese "Qi-gong" is!! Supporting the entire temple with just my bare arms!!!! Wakakakaka~

Goofy evidence #2:

Hmm.... I think this picture is pretty self-explanatory. Anyone who can pose with a look like this definitely qualifies to be called "goofy". Right, Mike?!! hehe ^_~

Goofy evidence #3:

I *think* (not sure) I was trying to imagine this was how I would feed the fish (like the sign portrays).... Either that or I was begging for money with my hands~

Goofy evidence #4:

Mike's casual, incredibly-cool "James Bond" look. Don't worry, he's not carrying a gun - that was only the camera bag!!

He insisted that he didn't know when I took this picture, and didn't understand why he had such "pretentious" pose.....

Haha... no need to be embrassing, Mike. This picture would make a good Facebook profile photo for you and gets added by a bunch of young gals~ (*wink wink*) wakakakaka!! ;)

Okay, probably enough goofiness for one time.... back to the garden.....

Wondrous Nature

Can you see the big round fresh dews on the small bright green leaves? Isn't nature amazing!!!!

I found the "pregnant tree"!!!!!

This waterfall is called "The Silver Strand". Exactly like its name describes, the waterfall forms a shiny curtain of water, making the view from within dance with the reflected sunlight and the greens surrounding it (even on top of the fall !!!)

Another silver strand of water. This one has the falling water hit directly on the vertical timber, creating thousands of bounced water droplets in the air. I am totally a big fan of waterfalls!!!!

Our failed attempt to capture ourselves with one of the waterfall as background.... Well... you can sort of see the waterfall in that tiny corner..... ;)

Back to the Garden Rules...

Remember the strict rules of the garden that I mentioned in my Part I entry? Well.... here is one that we witnessed and certified in person.

As the sign says, the tea house located on the side of the Blue Pond is only opened for customers. The minimum charge for the tea house is a cup (or pot?) of $120 dollar tea, which I am sure is of high grade tea leaves.... (it better be, $120 dollars?!!)

Well... since we didn't think it's worth paying the $120 but still wanted to see the tea house, so we walked around to the back of the tea house and took a quick peek!!

It's a shame that the garden is forcing people to pay in order to enter.... it's so beautiful, traditional and classic-looking...

"The Scream"

I found a crazy-looking rock behind the tea house (the tall rock in the photo above in the background). It totally reminded me of the famous painting "The Scream". And I did my impression of the screaming face in front of the crazy-looking rock that gave me the inspiration.

Despite my strong effort to convince Mike, he didn't think that the rock resembled even a bit of the actual painting. What do you think?

Continue with the Garden Path

Over 50% of the garden path is nicely paved and surrounded by fresh green plants and trees. Look at all those different shapes of leaves!!!

Passed by a small exhibition room that has a very pretty Chinese name. (Sorry to those who can't read Chinese, I don't think I can translate the beauty of the name into English....)

Then we passed by a stone-paved small playground. And don't get mistaken, the knee-height seat-looking stones are not actually seats. You will get warned if you try to sit on them.

(yea yea, as expected, one of the many complaints filed by visitors!)

Ever seen trees that grow semi-horizontally?!

Beautiful Rock Clusters

There is a part in the garden where various shaped and colored rocks are put together, fronted and decorated with waist-height Japanese plants.

It's even more attention-capturing when water is splashed against the surface of the rocks. Look!!! I stood there for a few minutes to fully appreciate the impressive presentation of the rocks, plants, trees, and splashing water as a whole!!

Close-up of the splashing water.

A tiny pond and waterfall by the side of the stairs composed of leveled rocks.

"Yay, waterfall~ !!!!" (Should probably have put this photo together with my earlier "goofy collection" pictures!! haha...)

But seriously, waterfall is such a magical scenery. To me, it symbolizes hope, energy and adventure, just like life~!!!! (wow... I felt like I am doing some kind of "positive-thinking" commercials by saying that, hahaha~)

Walking up the stairs, we viewed the garden from higher up. The first thought that went through my mind was : "Ahh... so many trees, so green!!!)

Okay, time to end this Part 2 entry (my bed time alert went off an hour ago already), which brings to another temporary pause to my Nan Lian Garden Visit series. (haha... making it sound so grand and interesting and popular or something....)

Anyways, in the next (and also the last) entry for my garden visit, I'll unveil the mask of the secluded Chi Lin Nunnery (志蓮淨苑) next to Nan Lian Garden.

All Girls Night Talk

2008-04-19T03:16:00.004+08:00

Today was Ah Gi's actual birthday date, so six of us buddies came out together, not to celebrate her birthday (since the official bday celebration dinner was last weekend, which I missed due to my heavy food poisoning), but just to have fun. With that said though, the phrase "Happy Birthday" was said multiple times!!! =)

We went to a bar near Sogo in Causeway Bay. Honestly, it was only my second time in a bar in Hong Kong. (Yea, OBVIOUSLY, not the drinking-type of person...) But since it was for ah Gi, I'll make it no matter what!!! (I even brought Mike out, so he could say "Happy Birthday" in 100% accurate Cantonese to Ah Gi.... hahaha... though he left fairly early due to the extreme noisiness in the bar, which I couldn't blame him for...)

Honestly though, drinking with just a group of all-girl friends was a fresh experience for me. I went drinking a number of times when I was in Berkeley, but usually with a bunch of both guy and girl friends. Having such a crazy "all-girls" night out drinking event was really my FIRST time.

And yea, I can assure you, it's absolutely eye-opening and crazier than what you can imagine! We played many fun dice games first (when Mike was still there), accompanying with alcohol as punishment, of course!! =p

But the best was still yet-to-come after Mike left - the ultimate "Truth-And-Only-Truth" game (a mutated version of the traditional "Truth-Or-Dare" game, where we could only choose "truth" but no "dare"). Many truths were told; many unimaginable questions were asked. (And of coz, all talks started and ended there at the same place!!!)

Since I've moved to the States, most of my close friends there were almost all guys. I had a few good girl friends back in high school, but then after we graduated and entered university we became distant because of our own busy schedules. And during university years, my time was spent EXCLUSIVELY in the campus computer labs, packed with stinky, no-shower-for-3-days geeky guys all the time. I only had one relatively-closer girl friend during those years. So tonight's "all-girls" talk and drinking experience was totally new, fresh and even a bit shocking and touching to me. Shocked by everyone's frankness and touched by the bond of friendship... which made me realize how much I have missed out since I've left Hong Kong...

Anyways, I am so glad that I've come back and see you all!!! LOVE YOU!!!!!
^_____________________^

p.s. Among the 6 of us, we managed to kill off a whole bottle of high grade Scotch!! =D And somebody was highly suspicious of being drunk (though of course, she denied....) (^_~)/

Nan Lian Garden (Part I)

2008-04-17T03:50:00.003+08:00

Last Saturday Mike and I went to Nan Lian Garden at Diamond Hill, Kowloon.

The entrance. Nan Lian Garden is a public Chinese garden under the management of the HK government.

The funny thing is that I didn't find out about this beautiful garden until the recent news about the many complaints voiced against the strict rules in this garden.

Strict Rules?!

Of course people are not complaining the normal rules that you'd expect from a public garden, such as those listed on this warning poster at the entrance.

From what I've heard from the news, some of the strict rules that people complained about are that tourists are forbidden from: taking group pictures with more than 3 people, painting landscapes inside the garden anywhere, bringing food inside the garden, entering the tea house unless they purchase the $120 dollars tea..., etc.

The "no food" rule I can understand. But the rest are a bit too strict, in my opinion.

For example, such a pretty garden, and you don't allow landscape painting?!?! What a waste!!!

For example, I, for one, would really love to "capture" all these crazy, stunning-looking rocks into some sort of painting (if I had that talent, which unfortunately, I don't... haha~)

The Golden Temple

There was a golden temple structure in the garden that from a distance looks like a smaller version of the Golden Pavilion (Kinkaku ji) in Kyoto.

There were quite a lot of tourists including locals like us going to the garden that day. The complaint news, though might create a bad image for the garden management, had probably let many people who didn't know about the place before now be aware of this beautiful place. I'd say it's not totally a bad thing...

The golden temple was a popular spot for snapping pictures. (Though this one I had to semi-forced Mike stand there for me to take one of him... ha... )

Then the usual "us" picture!!! ^_^

The garden is literally next to the Diamond Hill MTR station, in the middle of the center area of the district. I bet the people living in those buildings can have a good view of the garden any day they want!!

There are many small ponds in the garden surrounded by carefully-maintained green plants, kind of similar to a Japanese garden in that respect.

Even the trees look like those you can see in a Japanese garden.

Walking closer to the temple. There was a bright red, rainbow-shaped bridge right in front of the temple.

Too bad we can't cross over and go into the temple. (One of the complaints is that many facilities of the garden are blocked off and not opened for public. I guess this is one of those...)

Oh well.... can't go through nor enter....

I guess I'll just look and appreciate from afar.... (like those ancient Chinese poets...) =D

Guess what these are? Well... if you can read either the Chinese or English characters on the tags, you'll realize that they are indeed garbage boxes. However, the amazing thing that I'd like to point out is not what they are, but that somehow Mike (the photographer of this picture) was able to make two originally three-dimensional boxes appear as two-dimensional as they possibly can. Unbelievable!!!! ;)

Taking a last and full look of the golden temple.

Oh by the way, I forgot to mention that another rule the garden has is that every path is a one-way path, so you can't go back to see something if you have already passed it. (Yea, this rule is on the complaint list too!!)

And we experienced this firsthand when we tried to route back into the garden near the exit of the garden. The security guard there told us that we can only enter the garden again by going out the exit first and then coming back in from the garden entrance.

No wonder people complained... =(

Tree Fairies?!?!

Apart from some of the unreasonable rules though, I'd say the garden itself is worth visiting. Definitely beautiful views and many really interesting, awesome-looking plants and nature scenes that you can't normally see.

Oh my god!! Doesn't this tree look like it is inhabited by some kind of "tree fairy"?! hahaha~ (I know I know, I can have "excessive" imagination sometimes! )

More "tree fairies"?! Seriously, this tree and the grass beneath it really looked like they had a magic spell casted on them....

Fragrance Hall

Leaving the golden temple, we walked along the designed, designated walkway and came to the "Xiang Hai Xuan", i.e. Fragrance Hall.

The hall takes its name from the sea of fragrant trees around it over the hill that it is built on.

The Fragrance Hall has a surreal-feeling front walkway.

I liked the deep brown, timber pillars a lot. Very solemn...

I took some sneaky pictures of Mike, while he was looking at pillars of timber.

Apparently, I was not the only "sneaky" one. He tried to sneak up on me as well.... Haha... I guess the timber pillars are good for playing hide-and-seek as well. (Though of course you can expect to get yelled at by the strict security guards if you actually try to do so there...)

Okay, wrapping up my Nan Lian Garden visit (Part I) here...

Will continue (with more beautiful pictures of the garden) in the next entry...

Classical Music Concert @ Museum of Art

2008-04-06T04:03:00.002+08:00

Last Sunday we went to a free admission classical music concert, "Mozart and More in the Museum", performed by the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, at the Museum of Art in Tsim Sha Tsui.

Since watching the Japanese drama and anime "Nodame Cantabile", I fell in love with classical music. I even craved playing piano again. (My mom and dad must be so happy hearing me say this, hahaha...)

The Classical Music Concert

The Orchestra performed 3 main movements.

Schubert's String Quartet in A minor.

Mendelssohn’s Octet for Strings

And my favorite of the day, Mozart’s String Quintet in G minor. The lead violinist on the leftmost seat was super awesome!! He played so effortlessly and beautifully!!

The whole audience was listening carefully and appreciatively the whole time.

Even the little baby!! haha... =D

After the Concert

We walked around the area a bit after the concert finished.

Space Museum. (Yea, the weather was a bit crappy that day, mostly cloudy and foggy.)

A colorful painting outside the wall of the Museum of Art.

Another wall art contributed by students.

"Hi Mike!!"

We then proceeded to the water front. This is a must-go place every time we come to Tsim Sha Tsui. Always so pretty!

Though we usually come at night to watch the Symphony of Light electronic light show. This might be one of the very few times we come during the day time.

My attention was soon captured by this traditional-looking wooden ship.

Yea, Mike caught the right moment so we could take one with the ship as background.

But..... wait.... our BIG heads blocked most of the ship!! (well... mostly Mike's....)

Hehe... okay, this one was much better!! ^_^

Watching the ship leaving....

Plaza area of the Hong Kong Cultural Center. This area is usually very crowded at night when everyone gathers here to watch the light show.

The other end facing the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center at Wanchai.

"Hello !!!!" (Me "popping up" suddenly, as usual, in Mike's "no people" picture.... haha....)

The "landmark" curvy wall structure at the Cultural Center. (Can you spot the shadow of the Clock Tower on the wall?)

Oh wow... somebody was sleepy already... It's only 5pm.....

Victoria Harbor is soooo pretty! I never get bored just looking at it!!

And from time to time, you can see some really cool-looking ships, just like this one!!

I wonder if the place that we are eventually going to settle will have a stunning harbor like Hong Kong!!!!! ;)

Frozen Times - Square Reborn

2008-04-02T02:27:00.007+08:00

This is SOOOOOOOO cool !!!

From fmtp (FM Theather Power)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Name：「凍結時代。廣場復活」即興大搞作
Host：好戲量 FM THEATRE POWER

FM Theatre Power, a Hong Kong local independent troupe, organized "Frozen Times . Square Reborn" in HK's landmark--Time Square.

Over a hundred people "freeze" in this busiest spot to feel the fresh air of Hong Kong Public Space .
This event is echoing Improve Everywhere Global -- Causing Scenes Worldwild
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Too bad that I only found out about this today, otherwise I'd definitely have participated!!!!

NEXT TIME NEXT TIME!!!
hell yea, baby!!! \(^_~)/

Mike's Mapo Tofu

2008-04-01T03:15:00.003+08:00

As everybody knows (well... everybody who knows me will know), Mike has talent cooking and I have talent eating. (well... plus that I cook slow and don't cook as well as he does). And and and... I am LUCKY!!! hahaha~

So... I get to cross my arms and legs every night to wait for hot, fresh, home-cooked meals cooked by my "Little Chef"!! hehehe~ =D

And he cooked something really yummy last night ^_^ Well... His cooking is usually yummy, but last night was extraordinary!!! (hahaha, yea, have to give compliments from time to time to keep the little chef happy and "keep him in the kitchen"!!! ) =p

Anyways, let me introduce to you - Mike's newest recipe -

Very Authentic Sichuan-Style Mapo Tofu

It was DELICIOUS!!!! Spicy and savory and just a hint of sweetness all mixed together!!!

I couldn't stop myself and ate 3 full bowls of rice!! ^_^

I tried cooking this before and it usually ended up being.... Mapo Tofu PASTE instead of these beautifully shaped tofu cube!!

HOW DID HE DO IT?!?!!!!!!!!!!!! >.< What is the SECRET?!!!

(My curiosity did suffer a bit, but my tummy was totally satisfied!!! I'd say it's a very GREAT deal overall !!!! hahaha~)

Post bday dinner with primary school buddies

2008-04-01T02:30:00.003+08:00

I had a post-bday dinner with two of my best buddies from primary school: Carol Tse and ah Gi.

We ate tons of sushi and sashimi. Yum yum...

Carol Tse and me~

Ah Gi and me~

Silly "Pig Nose Buddies"?!!! (^_~)v

Yea, that's us!!!!

After Dinner

We were the last table to leave the restaurant, but apparently, we still had room for dessert !! haha...

Waiting outside at Lucky Dessert, where there is a always an ever-lasting long line.....

And guess what, someone ELSE was also interested in having dessert!!!! (^_~)v

Answer: "THE white guy"!!!! ~hohohoho~

What happened was - Mike originally planned to stay at home because he was still a bit sick, but then he changed his mind - he said he didn't want to miss the chance to see Crazy Gigi!! ^_^

It was Carol Tse's first time to see Mike, and it was soooo funny how she was so eager to tape Mike's Cantonese talking the whole time...

She was especially impressed when Mike said this (all in Cantonese, of course) -

"She didn't want to spend money... No heater.... I was very cold..... I got sick....."

Yea yea yea, for those who didn't know - I was that stingy girl friend who freezed her bf !!! ;p

They laughed so much talking to Mike in Cantonese the whole time!! ;)

I guess that means that somebody's Cantonese must have improved, huh?!!! ^______^

(Pre) Birthday Dinner with relatives

2008-03-29T03:13:00.003+08:00

We had dinner with Stephen's family, my favorite (and only) relatives in Hong Kong on the day before my birthday. Stephen is two days older than I am. So we chose to celebrate our dinner together on the day in between our birthdays!! (I am sure it's Stephen's idea~ ^o^ )

We went to Peking Garden Restaurant in Central. They specialized in Peking Duck dishes. We ordered 3 duck dishes: Peking duck with buns, stir-fry duck meat in lettuce wrap and a yummy, luxurious duck soup. Besides the duck, we also had a so-so veggie dish, two orders of steamed "small dragon dumplings" (because it's Mike's favorite), and a banana-red bean pastry dessert (yea, dessert!! dessert!!!)

All the duck dishes were excellent. Even Mike, the (pretending) vegetarian ate lots of yummy duck that night~ =) I think that must have been the most meat I've seen him eaten besides burger!! ^_^ (Right, Mike?)

Stephen, Winnie (the happy couple) and me. =)

Winnie just came back from Mexico that morning. Poor Winnie - she must be very tired that night. She told us lots of exciting things she saw in Mexico though. The funniest thing was how she liked the Taco Bell's Mexican food more than the authentic Mexican food she tried in Mexico. hahaha.... Mike couldn't stop laughing....

It's always fun to see my favorite cousins' family!!!

T-shirt? Tea-shirt!!

2008-03-23T18:54:00.005+08:00

One of Mike's best friends, Andy (or should I say "Dr. P"? haha... --> Sorry, insider-jokes) , submitted a T-shirt design to CafePress and it's open for sale now.

Black

Pink

Cap-sleeve!!

Get it?! T-Shirt --> TEA-Shirt!!!!
I thought it's really funny and clever!!
(^_~)/

Picture books for adult - Jimmy Liao's Gallery

2008-03-22T23:11:00.003+08:00

When you hear about the word "picture books", what does it make you think of? Many people might immediately think of children stories, kid books, and the like. However, if you have seen Jimmy Liao's (幾米) books, I'm sure you will have another level of appreciation of picture books.

(Well... either that or if you have watched the Japanese anime "Monster", which will also make you interpret "picture books" at a different level... but not quite in the same way.... more like on the crappy side.... )

Jimmy Liao (幾米)

For those who don't know who Jimmy Liao is - he was from Taiwan and is probably one of the most famous Asian contemporary adult picture book artists who creates illustrated books with simple stories about people coping in the modern urban world. His books have become hot sellers in Taipei, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai and Singapore.

His gallery "Never Ending Story" is being hosted at Times Square this month. As "curious" as I am (and also having the geographical advantage of living so close-by), of course I'll go check out the gallery immediately after I found out about it! =)

The gallery itself is being hosted at the 2nd floor open plaza area in Times Square.

I dragged Mike together with me to go. ;)

Cameras are not allowed in the actual gallery; however, we cheated - Mike took pictures of gallery from the floor above (upon my request, hehe...)

Though I am not super fan of Jimmy Liao, I generally like his stories and illustration.

His stories are simplistic but powerful and also leave a pleasant aftertaste.

To me, reading his stories and seeing his art is like drinking a cup of good hot tea, light and flavorful.

Statues of Characters

In addition to the picture gallery inside Times Square, there are also a bunch of stone statues of Jimmy's characters on display in the outdoor area.

Unlike the picture gallery, photography is very welcome for this part.

Lots of people are taking pictures of the various statues.

I of course will take full advantage of that !! \^o^/

The little boy holding the snake looks so sad.... I just want to tell him it's going to be alright....

Big hug from me too!!!

Apparently, in Jimmy Liao's world, people and animals are one big family, and he's also a strong advocate of loving hugs!!

I want a "hat" like this!! =p

This "hat" is not bad either!!! haha~

Me, communicating with the little piggy. (well... may be not THAT little....)

Aiya... got "found out" about my "special ability"!! haha~

Mike was playing with the camera focus and depth of field - this one turned out pretty nicely!! I like it!! ^_^

I got a lot of "camera time" today!! =D ~hohoho~

Refabricating City (Part II) - The Exhibits

2008-03-20T05:00:00.003+08:00

Picking up from my previous post about the Hong Kong & Shenzen Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture Exhibition, we took a leisure stroll at the exhibition site, the former Central Police Station, that night and saw a lot of interesting display. Even though we stayed there until the last minute before the exhibition closed for the night, we still ran out of time to go through the entire thing =(

Anyways, let me show you some of the exhibits that I found interesting...

The Exhibits

Buildings and neighborhoods cut out of wood, cardboard and other materials; displays of model cities

Story of how an architecture is born...

Mike got lost among the photograph racks...

Dark room with hanging.... magazines?!

How architecture has evolved.... from this.....

to this......

From Rooms to Rooms...

Almost all of the rooms in the compounds were used for the exhibition. People toured from rooms to rooms.

Stepping outside from the rooms, you can easily see the open area outside and the giant LCD screen right next to the stage at the front.

Special lighting effect, in preparation for the party held on the closing night!

Tools used to create the magical light effect!! Pretty "heavy-duty-looking", ain't them?

Behind the stage.

Walking through the hallway, going to the next room....

Vertical Park

Novel idea of a "Vertical Park"

Main idea is to fully utilize the distinct characteristics of a High zone, Mid zone and Low zone in a mountain area and turns it into a park that spans vertically.

Very cool and ingenious idea!!

More Urban Architecture...

Whoo... the "mirror" room!!

The reflection from the mirror created such an interesting perspective.

Oh, Hi There!! ^o^

Oh my gosh~ Mike's larger-than-normal eyes looked exactly like the alien's eyes on his shirt!!!

The Tree City

Recycling Art

Pullable rack containing various recyclable materials

Plastic bottles...

Paper, paper bags....

Sea of green labels...

The Balloon Tent

An elongated tent built with balloon materials....

What's there?!

This is what I would call a "Photographer's stance" (hohohoho.... )

Another mirror?!!

Next building....

There are many buildings in the compounds. After seeing stuff at the first building, we moved on to the next one.

Corridor to the next building

A very old, rusty metal door...

Apparently the male changing room used to locate on this building!

And the female changing room too!! Wait a second... why doesn't it have a proper sign like the guy's one?!?!

Old style of fan switches!! So... historic!!

Old style clothes rack, and also, the "Save electricity" label on the wall.

Warnings left from the former police station.

Central Divisional Common Room. Wondering what facilities used to be in this room?

The Airport Exhibit

This exhibit was all about the history, info and future plans of the Hong Kong airport.

Look at all the paper planes hang from the ceiling!!

Gigantic model in the middle of the room, showing the area around the old airport.

Mike stole the DSLR from me and was busy taking pictures of the model.

Even the little kid was attracted by the huge city model.

I was busy reading the background info of the airport.

Since Mike "borrowed" the DSLR, I was stuck with the point-and-shoot for awhile.

Hehe... finally swapped the DSLR back and returned the little point-and-shoot to him!

The paper planes were so pretty!!

Black and White Poster Section

This room was filled with tons of black and white designed posters. Most of them had a satire theme.

I like the way they arranged the poster boards.

DisneyLand? or DizzyLand?

A map of overly-overlapping metro routes and the poor, confused guy in the middle.

Kowloon King's graffiti, the artistic version?!

The happy panda!!!

Chinese chess board, divided by Vic Kong (Victoria Harbor's Chinese short name), Hong Kong

"Hong Kong Mountain, Hong Kong Sea" - built (or destroyed?) by the cranks...

Mike said he really liked the last one!

Exhibit from Brussels

Besides local and mainland-China designers/architects, the exhibition also featured a bunch of international artist's works, including this one, from Brussels.

The goal is to relieve the heavy traffic in Brussels city center. The idea is to create this kind of small, golf-car like vehicles and only allows traveling by this kind of vehicles in the city center, i.e. no normal cars allowed!

The idea sounds crazy but I thought it is interesting.

Though I bet it's close to impossible to actually implement it.

This one design was from a Japanese architect. (sorry, didn't read the details for this one)

Broken Keyboards

Going up the stair, we surfed around the third floor as well...

And we found in this room .....

Sea of old keyboards!!!

A very shocking scene (to me at least...)

Could help but crouch down to take close-up pictures of the old, broken keyboards...

I guess something does have to be sacrifice when we go "urban"....

Another "demolition" art!!

Accidental Urbanism

How modern architecture is shaped by urban forces instead of just purely stylistic approach.

Models created based on refabrication through strategy and urbanism.

Looks pretty "urban" to me.

Jumping to Modern Abstract Art

Walls of bags, handbags, purses..... Made me think of "The Evil who Wears Prada".... haha...

Walls of T-Shirts.

"To be Confirmed" Exhibit

The title of the exhibit was really cool...

Graveyard of the "unconfirmation"?!

More Abstract Art

Contemporary Chinese Architecture

I really enjoyed this part too. They showed many cool-looking contemporary Chinese architecture on the interwoven photography strips.

Mike reading closely the poster board on the floor with embedded LCD TV!

Shortly after he lost interest in reading, he found another "him"!! =)

And don't ask me what was I doing at that time!!!

You could see/smell/feel the "historical values" of the police station compound... I was very glad that I got to see the exhibition and the building itself!!

Time to Leave

We spent lots of time looking at each individual exhibit, so we ended up running out of time and didn't even get to see the closed Victoria prison =( That's my biggest regret!! Oh well....

Glimpse of outside from inside.

What a peaceful night and pretty sight!!

Reflection of the buddies returning home...

Refabricating City (Part I) - Central Police Station Compound

2008-03-17T05:24:00.007+08:00

Mike and I have been doing a lot of "cultural" things lately...

We went to the Hong Kong Science Museum two weeks ago, saw the Chanel Mobile Art Exhibition last week, wandered in the Refabricating City at Central and the annual Hong Kong Flower Show at Victoria Park this weekend...etc.

Well... More on the pretty flowers in a separate post. I wanted to write about the eye-opening Urban Refabricating City night stroll at Central first. =)

What is "Refabricating City"?

I have the same question when I first saw the exhibition title. So I looked it up - "Refabricating City" is the name of the Hong Kong & Shenzen Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture Exhibition this year.

Hearing the word "refabricate" immediately made me think of "fabric". This exhibition though, is not literally about the use of "fabric" in architecture and art. Instead it's more as a metaphor; it's about the tapestry of an urban city - its old buildings, walkways, marketplaces, skyscrapers - and about how all these things are all interwoven to give the city its identity.

Supposedly the exhibition's goals are to raise public interest about urban design and redevelopment and to inspire creativity amongst design professionals.

I am not a designer or architect by a long shot; however, this type of exhibition interests me a lot!! =)

I always enjoy learning about and appreciating more of my beloved city!!

See how excited I was! Couldn't even wait to take pictures before entering the actual exhibition!!!!

The Exhibition Venue

This large scale biennale exhibition has been running for 3 months since January (and closed already last Saturday), showcasing the works of Hong Kong, mainland-China and other international artists and architects.

The exhibit itself is staged in the historic Central Police station Compound (including the now-closed Victoria prison!). Can you imagine seeing a gallery at a closed police station and a prison (at the same time)?!

The entrance of the exhibition was decorated with very tall, traditional bamboo construction scaffold.

I never thought that bamboo scaffold could look so cold, especially the top, with the pretty green plastic nets.

If you look carefully, you could see the yellow leaves laid on the green net, and the moody-looking leafy branches behind (on top?) of the net!

Yea, we took two cameras with us, since Mike already sensed that I would hog the DSLR the whole time when we were there~ ^o^ (which I totally did, haha!!)

Just like this!

The Compound Central Ground

After going through the scaffold-built entrance, the first thing entered our eyes was this vast empty ground in the middle, surrounded by the police station compounds/buildings.

The dim yellow lighting added to the atmosphere an extra historic element.

A stage with a gigantic LCD screen at the far end of the ground (with special lighting effect on stage)

On both sides of the ground you can see the historic look of the colonial buildings at the Central Police Station Compound.

I really liked this shelter-shaped tree next to one of the compounds. I wondered how long the old tree has been there...? It must have witnessed all the changes to these historical structures....

There were art pieces on both sides of the ground.

Such as this one : A holed, metal sheet forming a 3D bent shape, reflecting the light from all angles, very "urban-feeling"...

Contrasting with this "art piece" - Old-style plastic foldable tables and chairs. I used to see them often at any "Dai Pai Dong" (HK-style outdoor restaurants with cheap food/drinks) when I was little. Now, especially after SARS, I don't even see a "Dai Pai Dong" that easily anymore nowadays. =(

Sad.... I remembered how mom and dad used to like those Dai Pai Dong's milk tea and egg sandwiches so much...

I have never been in the Central Police Station in person before. So of course I won't miss any chances to fully-document my "footprint" here, heh!!

Inside the Compound

Walking up the stairs, entering the police station building. You can tell how old and historical the building is by its worn-off ceiling and walls. I am glad that the HK government has made a much larger effort in preserving historic structures with memorial values like this!!

I'd never imagine the hallway of a police station can be so pretty at night!!

The Victorian-style architecture elements can be seen everywhere...

You can even see the landmark skyscrapers of Central from the opened hallway.

I am glad we came in the evening!! (The exhibition opened till 8pm on weekend. Normally it closed at 6pm)

The exhibition occupied a total of three floors of the police station compound. Each floor had (I am guessing) about 6-10 rooms, and each room was used to host different exhibits. In addition to the police station compound, the prison (which we didn't have time to go to.... what a shame!) was also used for hosting exhibits. You can imagine how large scale it was!!!

The Exhibits

Well.... have a lot to say about the exhibits and took many awesome pictures. Unfortunately thought, it's time to go to bed for me (well... actually, way passed that).

But don't worry - I have seen too many interesting and exciting exhibits that I would not dare NOT to write about them... (uhm... double negatives?!!) haha... anyways, stay tunned for interesting urban art and architecture show off in the next post !!!