Hongkong

April 8, 2012

In the end of our journey through three of the best known chinese cities we finally arrived in Hongkong. After leaving the airport by subway we went through the lush green landscape straight to Kowloon. After the dirty dry air we had in Bejing and Shanghai it was like arriving in an oasis. Humidity was comparable to the one in the airplane before take-off but temperatures where not that high as the crew told us (the airline saved money by turning off air condition on ground – it was like in a finish sauna).

Hongkong restaurant

Hongkong restaurant

Hongkong - Kowloon

Hongkong - Kowloon

The more we enjoyed the relatively fresh air and the rain on the crowded and busy streets. Hongkong reminded me of India (many indian people/tailors) and England (cars are driving on the left side). Streets are narrow, shops are side by side and jewelers at every corner selling jade jewelry. At the first night we “enjoyed” the huge laser show at the harbor. Laser beams are projected into the night sky accompanied with music – to be honest we saw this show twice and we didn’t like it that much, although it’s a kind of unique.

Symphony of Lights

Symphony of Lights

Best thing to do in Hongkong is definitely to climb up Victoria Peak which is on Hongkonog Island. It is also possible to be driven up in a cable car but I will not miss to find the way up on my own. Humidity is breathtaking but I could enjoy the longest path of escalators in the world and get the feeling of being in a jungle. At the top it’s much cooler and windier and we spend our time with walking the Victoria garden trail and eating at Bubba Gump’s until I could take the picture of Hongkong skyline.

Hongkong Skyline

Hongkong Skyline

Victoria Harbour

Victoria Harbour

There are many things to do in and around Hongkong, like visiting the Chi Lin Nunnery with its beautiful garden, seeing the biggest sitting buddha Tian Tan on the top of a mountain on Lantau, relaxing at Kowloon Park, walking through bird and flower market or just go shopping for cheap electronics.

Tian Tan Buddha

Tian Tan Buddha

Chi Lin Nunnery

Chi Lin Nunnery

Kowloon Park

Kowloon Park

Hongkong seems to be different to Shanghai and Beijing, regarding food, people and mentality. It is more western like although it makes the impression to be indian and british…like a big chinatown in a british colony in India. Briefly speaking I liked it most in Hongkong.

At the fish market

At the fish market

My private symphony of lights

My private symphony of lights

Filed under: Allgemein,China,City,Street Photography — Tags: — Andreas @ 10:17 PM

Shanghai

April 5, 2012

The second time at Beijing South Station we somehow managed to buy tickets for the express train to Shanghai. The category G trains build a nonstop connection between Beijing and Shanghai, a distance of 1.300 km that took us only 4.5 hours.

Shanghai Skyline

Shanghai Skyline

When leaving the subway at Yuyuan Garden my first impression was that the city was louder and the climate already warmer. At the exit of the subway something odd happened, we were already “expected” by a mid-aged couple that I would, in retrospect, rate as informers of the communist party. Or why should exactly we, struggeling with backpacks and suitcases, take a picture of them, speak about our travel adventures, letting us explain the way to our hotel? Considering that everyone applying for a visa must send detailled copies of the travel itinerary, hotel reservations and flights it only makes sense that someone proofs the truth. I mean they were nice people and the first ones who spoke perfect English, so nothing to worry about…although a bad first impression of the city.

Early Morning at The Bund

Early Morning at The Bund

Some of the must sees in Shanghai are The Bund, a long promenade at the river with a beautiful view of the skyline, Yuyuan Garden, an oasis in the middle of the turbulent old town, the view from the World Financial Center or (cheaper) from the 88 floor of the Jin Mao Tower. The bar/restaurant at the top of the Jin Mao Tower does have reasonable prices, a nice atmosphere and a spectacular view – there is no need to go see the skywalk at the World Financial Center. From floor 56 I was not only fascinated by the 32 story high atrium but also by the band which plays modern songs with chinese instruments (e.g. er-hu); they play every night, starting at 7 p.m. After I found out that the hotel sells a CD from “On 56″, I went back and bought it. Actually I liked the unplugged version at the hotel better, where they didn’t use percussion. But it’s still a nice compilation of melodic songs.

Shanghai and Beijing can sometimes be shocking when it comes to people begging for money. Some of them were crippled, making there way through the subway at rush-hour, sometimes walking, sometimes sitting on a skateboard. Some of them were walking through the narrow food concourse in Shanghai – one guy was pushing a kind of hospital-bed through the narrow streets, begging for money for an older man, who seemed to sleep on the mattress. For well situated Europeans like us a scene like this hits you with a brick.

Chinese Man

Chinese Man

Old and Modern

Old and Modern

The food concourse that I mentioned above is close to the southern end of the The Bund. It is packed with people and gas cookers, with raw meat, tofu things and fish-like meals. We decided to have noodles and rice and a soup, which looked like dishwater. But no things to worry as soon as I learned that the dish was not really washed, but only thrown into a bowl with water where it was waiting for the next customer, it was no longer the soup I was afraid of. After many meals with gristles and bones I was pretty happy with rice and vegetables, although the table we were sitting at was covered with bones…from other people. However I’m still sure that we could have eaten anything as it is always fresh made and tested by a many people.

Food concourse Shanghai

Food concourse Shanghai

I noticed for the second time that my Fuji X100 shows some odd behavior. It would over- and underexpose pictures when shooting one and the same scene (e.g. Shanghai skyline) with exactly the same settings for aperture and shutter (manual mode). Something like that must never ever happen! Now that I googled the problem I found out that I’m not the only one, the “codename” is sticky-aperture blades and I will have to send the camera in for repair.

The Bund

The Bund

Chinese Girls

Chinese Girls

Handcract in the street

Handcraft in the street

World Financial Center Shanghai

World Financial Center Shanghai

Bar Rouge at The Bund

Bar Rouge at The Bund

Filed under: China,City,Street Photography — Tags: , , — Andreas @ 1:03 PM

More from Beijing

April 4, 2012

For me taking pictures means passion, devotion, excitement and at least the ambition for perfection. But it does also bore me to death…when only thinking about taking a picture of a building or a thing just because I was there. This is why I often leave my camera in the bag just because I do not see a message or a unique beauty in the picture. If I want to see a picture of the ‘Hall of Supreme Harmony’ for example which is one of the many halls and gates of the Forbidden City than I better go to google picture search instead of taking a picture of the building in harsh sunlight surrounded by thousands of tourists. On the other hand if I do not take this picture I will definitely miss a part of the story when showing the photos to my family and friends. It’s an ambivalent situation…

Beijing Theatre of Performing ArtsBeijing Theatre of Performing Arts
'Ghost Street' in Beijing

'Ghost Street' in Beijing

Open pants - a common scene

Open pants - a common scene

At the Summer Palace

At the Summer Palace

Night Market

Night Market

Bicycle Lanes

Bicycle Lanes

People playing badminton at South Station

People playing badminton at South Station

Express Train to Shanghai

Express Train to Shanghai

Filed under: Allgemein — Andreas @ 3:20 PM

…still alive…

April 3, 2012

Just a short note…. It has been an exciting time in China, walking and visiting a lot and we really enjoyed our trip so far. Being outside of the hotel room from early morning until late night makes it impossible to keep the blog up to date with pictures from the journey. Additionally I am still suffering from a bad cold which will force me to go to a chinese pharmacy tomorrow morning, a visit I would really like to do without, as my Chinese is very limited and I don’t want to end up worse. I saw many people blowing their nose right on the street and so it makes me happy that I could buy handkerchieves which come in a Hello Kitty design.
We are in (impressive) Shanghai right now and we’ll be flying to Hongkong on Thursday.
I’ll update the blog as soon as I’m home. Thanks for visiting!

Filed under: China — Andreas @ 1:17 PM

The Great Wall

March 31, 2012

Now we are already on the express train on our way to Shanghai. The past days were quite busy with sightseeing and our unique adventure to the Great Wall.
As I have never been keen on seeing the Great Wall from one of the main tourist spots, where the wall had been rebuilt to perfection, I was looking for an alternative. I found a chinese guy named James who offers daytrips as well as overnight trips to Jiankou, a section of the wall being regarded as one of the original (and most dangerous) parts of the wall. We booked the overnight trip in the hope for having a nice sunset and sunrise and for enjoying a private experience of one of the authentic parts of the wall.
After we were picked up from our hotel and after over two hours of driving through small villages and mountains far away of Beijing we finally arrived at a track leading up into the mountains. After approx. 800 height meters and a walk of 1.5 hours we reached the wall at a very steep part which is called “stairway to heaven”. We decided to climb up and to enjoy the view from up there. This part is really nothing for people afraid of heights!

Stairway to Heaven - Great Wall

Stairway to Heaven - Great Wall

Jiankou section - Great Wall

Jiankou section - Great Wall

The camping site was closto one of the watchtowers of the Great Wall where we set up our tents, made a warming fire and ate a chinese meal which was, due to its self-heating mechanism, designed for soldiers or for people like us. It was delicious and had (surprisingly) no bones, gristles or skin. Sadly the sky was cloudy and it became very cold so that we decided to go to bed early.
After a night of freezing and only dozing I somehow managed to get up at 5.45 and grab my backpack in order to look for a good spot for catching the sunrise, of which I was not sure it will ever come.
I came to a watchtower where the second floor had been destroyed and so I climbed up and waited for the sun. And luckily the sun was looking through the clouds from time to time tinting the Great Wall with a pale warm light. I decided to use a graduated Singh-Ray filter to handle the different brightness of the sky and the mountains and additionally I took different exposures of the same frame that I later combined in order to improve the dynamic range. This is the very first image I ever took with the intention making an HDR. To be honest the combination was not really needed but it slighly improved the darker parts of the picture. I guess the effect would have been more intense if I had not been using a graduated filter.

Jiankou - Great Wall

Jiankou - Great Wall

Actually to be honest it was quite an expensive trip but it was worth it. I am pretty sure it makes a difference if you just see a perfectly rebuilt stone wall which could stand anywhere or if you touch and feel the stones people layed almost 2000 years ago. And we really felt it as Jiankou is a beautiful, though very steep, part of the Great Wall with a picturesque scenery. If one sees the dimension of the wall from this point one can hardly imagine that the whole length is over 8.000 km! Remarkable!

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Filed under: China,Travel — Tags: , , , — Andreas @ 1:03 PM
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