Saturday, July 5, 2014

Sunset and Papers (This week's Photo Hiunt themes)


The two sunset photos at the top of my entry this week for Sandi's and Gattina's Photo Hunts were taken in locales located around 1,500 miles (i,e., approximately 1,414 kilometers) apart from each other.  Not that long ago (including back when my parents were at school), however, Hong Kong and Penang were -- on paper at least -- part of the same realm: specifically, the British Empire.

These days, however, Hong Kong is part of China.  Specifically, it's a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China -- with its specialness seen by such as Hong Kong still having a different currency from the rest of China, different official languages (Hong Kong's official languages include Cantonese and English along with Putonghua (aka Mandarin)), and a separate political system as a result of the "One Country, Two Systems" principle formulated by Deng Xiaopeng.

Also, to this day, there remains an official border between Hong Kong and Mainland China -- so that official travelling papers (passports for the majority of us) are required by people to pass from one territory to another, including from certain sections of the area in this blog entry's top most photo to others.  (For the record: I took the photo while standing on Hong Kong soil and technically would have been breaking the law if I had stepped into the water just a few feet away!)

14 comments:

Trekcapri said...

Hi YTSL, I love your beautiful sunsets. Interesting that Mainland China starts at the shoreline on the Hong Kong side and not on the China Mainlade side.

Have a great weekend.

YTSL said...

Hi Trekcapri --

Good spot! There's actually an area of Hong Kong known as the Frontier Closed Area. The water area close to where I was standing is part of that but I didn't want to get too technical in my post!

Still, should you be interested:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontier_Closed_Area

:)

magiceye said...

Lovely takes!!

Gattina said...

Good for you not being really part of China ! I didn't want to live there !

Una said...

Lovely sunsets you captured there :)

Anonymous said...

Great shots for this week's theme. The second one is particularly stunning!

Have a super weekend.

Anne said...

Wow, those are gorgeous sunsets!!

YTSL said...

Hi magiceye --

Thanks!

Hi Gattina --

Well, Hong Kong IS part of China -- just not like other parts of China! But ya, I wouldn't want to live in mainland China... heck, I get the feeling that my blog's blocked there! ;b

Hi Una --

Glad you like them. :)

Hi JDeQ --

Re that second shot: should there be any doubt, there really was no Photoshopping involved! ;b

Hi Anne --

So much so that I just had to capture them in photos! ;)

Sandi @the WhistleStop Cafe said...

Both of your sunsets are magical!
Happy Hunting ~

Carver said...

Stunning sunsets. I like the sky in all its manifestations and spend a lot of time looking up at it.

fredamans said...

Gorgeous sunsets!

YTSL said...

Hi Sandi --

Sounds like you're impressed by how they look! :b

Hi Carver --

I'm not a big fan of the sky when it's hazy gray... something I see too often in winter here. ;(

Hi fredamans --

Thanks -- for the comment and visit! :)

eastcoastlife said...

The second photo of sunset is spectacular.
I have been following the news on the demonstrations in HK. People are becoming more unhappy. Hope the kids are ok.

YTSL said...

Hi EastCoastLife --

Re the second photo: that's taken near the floating mosque in Tanjung Bungah, from the beach in front of a great seafood restaurant called Crab Village -- highly recommended!

Re the demonstrations in Hong Kong: yes, people are becoming more unhappy. Re the kids: some of them were out marching together with their parents on July 1 -- yes, it was a family friendly rally. Such is the beauty of Hong Kong -- and one worth fighting to preserve.