Saturday, January 7, 2012

Bling and Tree Branches (This week's Photo Hunt themes)



Talk about a challenge -- or two. This being a Saturday, I'm referring here, of course, the Photo Hunt meme -- specifically, the effort of coming up with a single entry that combines the themes for this week that have been separately thought up by Sandi and Gattina. For, truly, my first thought when seeing them was that they were worlds apart!

An early look through my photo archive yielded nothing, so I felt prompted to actually go out and take new photos especially for this entry. Fortunately, I decided to do so at the right time -- before the Christmas decorations had come down in many parts of Hong Kong, including purveyors of major bling like the ritzy Pacific Place mall (which I only usually go to for its Great Food Hall, whose cheese selection actually is good value as well as wide, and multiplex cinema).

In keeping with its super high end reputation, the festive decorations at Pacific Place mall could actually be described as more understated than at several other shopping malls in other parts of Hong Kong (who really do go to town with their Christmas-themed decorations each year). At the same time, there's still so much shiny ornaments on the trees that it's hard to see any tree branches amidst them all (and, of course, the evergreens' plentiful leaves)-- even though they are in fact there!

More than incidentally, I'd say that Pacific Place -- with its opulent mall, three five star hotels and one "premium luxury" boutique hotel -- is the kind of place that such as the Hong Kong Tourism Board would like people to think is typical of "Asia's World City". The truth of the matter, of course, is that it's not the kind of place that most denizens of the Big Lychee would think to go to -- regularly or irregularly.

Still, for those who are apt to dismiss the place whole sale as not being really Hong Kong, I think there's some irony in that the mall's un-Asian sounding anchor tenant (Harvey Nichols -- whose flagship branch was established in 1813 in London) is actually owned by a Hong Kong tycoon named Dickson Poon -- who may be best known to fans of Hong Kong cinema as the producer behind movies such as Yes Madam and Royal Warriors starring his ex-wife, Michelle Yeoh! ;b

21 comments:

Kay L. Davies said...

Perfect! Branches covered in bling — a response to two (apparently) different prompts in several beautiful photos.

Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie’s Guide to Adventurous Travel

magiceye said...

lovely combo!
interesting info about the Pacific too!

eyesonme2world said...

hk always has nice xmas deco. yeah. we think alike having same theme this year.

Anonymous said...

Lots of bling there - it's amazing how much comes out of packing crates for a short period of time at Christmas. I'm going to have to be busy today packing that bling away for another year.

Have a great weekend.

Annie said...

Holiday bling is a perfect way to combine the two themes. I enjoy seeeing what HK looks like during the holidays. Hope you had a good one and have a very happy new year.

Trekcapri said...

Hi YTSL, I was looking forward to see how you would combine the two themes. :) And it is a perfect take. The Pacific Mall looks like some of the highend ones we have here. I tend to window shop there only..not to buy. :)

Wonderful photos and a great multi theme take. Have a great weekend.

Gattina said...

Congratulations ! you did a great job by combining both themes !

Susan Demeter said...

Lovely combination of themes :)

Carver said...

Great choice for both themes. I also thought the themes were world's apart and can't believe I didn't think of Christmas bling on trees. I tend to avoid malls, especially at Christmas. Interesting about the owners of the Hong Kong one.

Sandi @the WhistleStop Cafe said...

Holiday Bling was the perfect choice for both themes!
I am glad you continue to join us both for the Saturday PhotoHunt.
I hope to see y'all next Saturday!
Sandi

YTSL said...

Hi Kay --

Thanks for your vote of approval! :)

Hi magiceye --

I figure it'd be useful to include some info on the Pacific Place mall just in case some Photo Hunters from overseas come to visit here. ;b

Hi eyesonme2world --

Hong Kong does indeed have some nice Xmas deco. I just wish they wouldn't put it out so early -- as in straight after Halloween! ;(

Hi JDeQ --

Here, the period isn't too short. Instead, some of the Christmas decoration was already up on November 1st and still around in early January (for the record, the photos for this entry were taken on January 2nd!)! ;O

Hi Annie --

I resisted putting up Christmas decorations for much of the time... but felt I had little choice when it came to combining this week's Photo Hunt themes! ;b

Hi Trekcapri --

I'd say that the Pacific Place Mall remains the most high end one in Hong Kong -- though there are other contenders, including The Landmark (in Central) and Elements (in West Kowloon). At least the Pacific Place Mall has Great Food Hall -- which is great for finding food items that are hard to get elsewhere in Hong Kong! :)

Hi Gattina --

Thanks, glad this entry meets with your approval. :)

Hi Sue --

Thank you. :)

Hi Carver --

I chose to go hiking rather than shopping on Christmas day but made the mistake of venturing into a mall the day of Christmas (Boxing Day -- a public holiday here). It was insane! Never again!!!

Hi Sandi --

Yes, well, re joining both Photo Hunts. The thing is that there are Photo Hunters whose blogs I regularly visited on Saturdays who take part in the one organized by you and others who take part in the one organized by Gattina. So I'll try to combine when I can... though you guys sure are challenging me quite a bit! ;b

CherryPie said...

A perfect way of combining the two themes :-)

peppylady (Dora) said...

I was starting to get tired of posting related to Christmas. But Christmas tree does have lot bling in there branch.

Thanks for stopping in earlier and the coffee is on.

YTSL said...

Hi Cherry Pie --

Thanks -- and it was the only way I could think of, actually! ;b

Hi peppylady --

Yeah, I tried to avoid posting conventional Christmas entries -- and think I managed to for the whole of December 2011. But then come the first Saturday of 2012... ;(

Gemma Wiseman said...

Such an informative, interesting post! And the sparkle of bling plus tree branches has been beautifully captured!

Dani - tkdchick said...

Wow didn't know there were two different photo hunts out there! I've been doing the one for years.

You did a great job capturing the spirit of both themes.

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

Those HK movie stars, the blings are real?

YTSL said...

Hi Gemma --

Thanks for liking and reading as well as looking. :)

Hi Dani --

Funny, despite your having been a fellow Photo Hunter for years, I think only became aware of your blog this weekend! Re the two Photo Hunts: there used to be just one but after tnchick passed the mantle, two people decided to host the meme!

Hi Ann --

I'd say so. And speaking of movie stars: I once spotted Josephine Siao Fong Fong at Pacific Place mall... really! :b

A. @ A Changing Life said...

This has to be the perfect way to combine the two themes! It did cross my mind but I had no pictures at all that would come up to this standard.:)

menehune12@gmail.com said...

Great post! Love to learn something new as well as finding photos interesting. Thanks!

YTSL said...

Hi A. --

Am glad you like these photos and my way of combining the themes -- especially since these are the rare Photo Hunt pics that I actually went out and took rather than hunted for and found in my photo archive! :b

Hi menehune12 --

Thanks for reading as well as looking, and I'm happy to learn that you love to learn something new (from my blog). :)