October 27, 2012 - Hong Kong Streetscapes

Presented at least as much as nostalgia - I lived in Hong Kong for a year, my third-grade year of elementary school - as out of artistic appreciation of the photography.

Hong Kong, via Brian Yen







I'll admit it, i'm a sucker for long-exposure urban photography, and a sucker for east asian urban photography. Not the most edifying IOTD i've posted but I wanted to show a bit of Hong Kong urban beauty. Reminds me both of my time in Hong Kong and of my time in Taiwan. I love the geopolitical implications of the dual-language signage, the obvious western colonialist connotations of the mixed-language street signage, the deeply nostalgic double-decker busses in Hong Kong...
I wish I could name the streets photographed, but it's been SO long since I've lived there, I'm afraid I can't name the locales.
I personally like IOTD's informative and educationary possibilities, which is why I tend to post IOTDs of geographic, culturo-historical, and/or artistic sensibility. This one is almost all artistic, while being sadly almost entirely devoid of culture and educatory content. Even still, I like the photography and feel it's worth sharing with the community.

It's funny, but downtown Buffalo, NY has a main street with trolleys and with buildings with the same architecture. Take out the signs and they would be similar.

BTW, I looked at that picture and had a craving for some Asian street food. Maybe a bowl of chicken lo mein.

I'll pass on the chicken's feet, though.

double decker street cars. That's so cool. I've never seen that.

Pictures 1 and 3 are the same intersection--I wonder why everyone is wearing red in the third one?

Reminds me of Toronto - streetcars, wind-tunnel highrises, mixed Chinese and English signage ...
Near the downtown Toronto hospitals there was a church basement where we could get phenomenal Chinese food at lunchtime for $1/plate. All the pay-your-own-way med students ate there. Yum.

Nice!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clodfobble I wonder why everyone is wearing red in the third one?

HK is a UBER cool city !! been there twice back in the earlyish 80's ,
Heres a fun fact for you Tallish folks ( 6'+ ) like me , dont want to walk down a side walk in the rain in HK , see all those Umbrellas in pic 2 , all the spines from All those umbrellas are at NECK Height , and yes they ALL are walking that fast !!!
Still an Ubber cool place to wander !!!

yeah - and it rains LITERALLY once a day, like clockwork, for months on end. I was a little'un when i lived there - third grade - but zippy's right, watch out tall folk!

Neat pics, Ibby.

You are fortunate to have had the opportunity... good memories.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clodfobble Pictures 1 and 3 are the same intersection--I wonder why everyone is wearing red in the third one?

I'm getting mildly agoraphobic just looking at Hong Kong.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CaliforniaMama My first thought was: red=life (force) so some kind of celebration My second thought was: marathon My third thought was: a lot of santas - look to the right side and there are white bands a little lower than waist level - made me think of lady santas My fourth thought was: a parade or marching band - same reasoning as above with the white bands looking like marching drums to me