Yummy and Contrasts (This week's Photo Hunt themes)

The contrasts are clear - between the street food experiences my mother and I had on my recent South Korea vacation and the one before (in 2009), and also between that on this recent trip and what we had in Vietnam last year.  

For a start, while we saw some interesting food being sold on the streets of Hanoi, we ended up feasting on them only with our eyes.  It wasn't that the food didn't look yummy -- but, rather, that the dining conditions didn't come across as all that ideal to us. 

Specifically, Vietnamese street food tends to be consumed while seated on low stools (as opposed to chairs) and using other stools like tables; and thereby resulting in both the food and the diner being much closer to the frequently super dusty ground than I'd like. Also, consider this as a quirk of mine but I like to drink (not necessarily something alcoholic but definitely cool and liquid!) when I eat while the Vietnamese seem to look upon eating and drinking as separate affairs!

On the Korean front: for some reason, my mother and I didn't spot as many street food stalls on our previous visit to the country as we did this time around!  So whereas I can only recall buying and eating street food on one occasion in 2009, it pretty much became an evening ritual on this recent vacation to wander around the streets near our hotel and sample some of the wide variety of food being hawked on the streets!

As I think the photos at the top of this week's entry for Sandi's and Gattina's Photo Hunts show, Koreans sure do love their fried food, seafood (especially squid and octopus) and Tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) -- and after finding out for myself how yummy these street snacks are, I definitely understand why that's so!

Among the offerings I tried from the stall in the top-most photo was that which consisted of a large Western-style sausage with a fish cake and dark green-colored nori (seaweed) wrapping!  While I've eaten all three of those things before, I never had them in the same bite before -- and while the taste contrasts in my mouth were initially quite disconcerting, once I got used to it, I decided that this was one yummy savory snack and would not be averse to having it again! ;b

Rose and Jug (This week's Photo Hunt themes)

For those who wondered about my absence from last week's Photo Hunt: it's because this time last week, I was in the Land of the Morning Calm!  And South Korea is indeed where all the shots in my entry for both Sandi's and Gattina's photo memes were taken!

More specifically, the photo of the statue of the Virgin Mary (whose floral offerings I'm figuring includes a rose or more!) is located in the space just behind Seoul's Myeongdong Cathedral.  And since the more eagle-eyed among you may have noted that in my recent "what I ate on my vacation" blog post, I did mention that I didn't eat any barbecue on this recent Korea trip, I'll 'fess up and state that the middle photo in this Photo Hunt entry actually was taken on my 2009 -- rather than most recent -- visit to the country!

The funny thing is that since I took so many photos of barbecues on that 2009 trip, I don't think I ever have shared that snap on this blog until now.  But looking back now at it, that was one impressive repast, don't you think?

The thing is, as those who are unfamiliar with Korean food probably will not realize, the only part of that feast that my mother and I specifically ordered was the barbecue dish at the center of the table.  Oh, and her glass of soft drink and my beer.  Everything else (i.e., the banchan (side dishes), bowls of rice and jug of water) was included gratis -- or at least assumed to be part of the order!

More than incidentally, I'd like to record my appreciation for it frequently being the case in Korean restaurants -- and, for that matter, Japan's too -- that water is still provided free with one's meal as a matter of coursel; with Korea trumping Japan in that almost invariably, the water dispensed is refreshingly cold (something I particularly appreciate on hot days like the ones that were the order of the day on my recent visit!).  And considering Psy of Gangnam Style's mega fame, I guess it was inevitable that at least one jug (or container) of water handed out this past week in Seoul would have his face on it! ;b

Youth and Joy (This week's Photo Hunt themes)

Youth really is wasted on the young.  When I was of a youthful age myself, I of course would never have thought that -- and this especially in those joy-filled years when I was attending college with, among others, a friend named Joy (whom I wrote about the last time joy was a Photo Hunt theme!).

So I do realize that it's a sign of my having aged quite a bit -- and at times into a curmudgeon -- that I find myself having thought that more than once in recent months; this especially when confronted by brash younger folks whose confidence far exceed their actual abilities in a work capacity! 

Therefore, I do thank Sandi and Gattina for having chosen Photo Hunt themes this week that, when combined, inspire me to more positively consider that youthful folks are capable of acts that can bring people joy.  

And I figure I can't have become a complete curmudgeon just yet since that I did get some joy myself from re-viewing the photos I took of the joyous, festive show that was put on for the community -- by a combination of youth and older folk -- in Shau Kei Wan in honor of the Taoist deity Tam Kung's birthday a few years back along with a smaller festive occasion I just happened to come across while visiting Cheung Chau -- the island home of one of Hong Kong's major festive celebrations -- one day! ;b

Engage and Umbrellas (This week's Photo Hunt themes)

The past few months have seen many treats for Hong Kong-based fans of Totoro and other Studio Ghibli creations (including a certain Ponyo).   Among other things, last month saw the arrival of Isao Takahata's sublime The Tale of Princess Kaguya into cinemas, and it was followed this month by Mami Sunada's wonderful Studio Ghibli documentary, The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness.

In addition, MCL Telford has been hosting a -- still ongoing, as I write this -- Studio Ghibli Animation Retrospective Programme while the Hong Kong Heritage Museum's highlight exhibition this summer has been the one on Studio Ghibli Layout Designs: Understanding the Secrets of Takahata and Miyazaki Animation.

At both MCL Telford and the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, provisions have been made for those who wish to engage with Totoro (particularly O-Totoro) in ways that go beyond merely looking at illustrations of it.  Specifically, the cinema has a large Totoro plush in its lobby area which fans can take photos with (but, it's specifically noted, not touch) while the museum has set up specific themed photography areas (such as Totoro's Wonderland and Ponyo's Beach) and organised workshops on the art of Studio Ghibli.

On a related note: when Donguri Republic (Studio Ghibli's character shop) opened its first branch outside of Japan here in Hong Kong last summer, a photo area featuring O-Totoro waiting for a bus (with an umbrella at the ready to be used in case rain started falling) was set up in the shopping mall that the store's located. 

Participants in Sandi's and Gattina's Photo Hunts wondering what's the connection between umbrellas and Totoro, go check out the absolutely fantastic My Neighbor Totoro post haste!  For now, suffice to say that umbrellas play a part in a part in a lovely scene in the movie that takes place one rainy evening, and which many people consider it one of the best animation film scenes of all time. :)

Curse and People at Work (This week's Photo Hunt themes)

Every so often, I look at certain people at work and think "what a hell of a job they have".  That was the case the night that I went to a horror movie premiere and saw "ghosts" wandering about in the theater -- and got to wondering if those young women assigned those roles looked upon it as a curse (this particularly since I find Hong Kong to be a very superstitious society)!

More usually, however, the jobs that get me thanking the heavens that it's not been my lot in life to undertake them tend to be of a more menial nature, and often involve literally heavy burdens.  As an example: see the middle photo in this entry for Sandi's and Gattina's Photo Hunts -- of one of a number of men whose work involves transporting heavy cylinders of liqufied gas on bicycles from their stores to the many homes in Hong Kong -- some of them on upper floors of elevator-less buildings -- which use them.

Then there was the elderly woman I spotted manning her open-air stand at the pier on a windy winter's day the last time I visited Po Toi, Hong Kong's southern-most island.  She may not look like she's doing much in the photo but she definitely is one of those people whose work I would not wish to have, especially on the day that I saw her at her job.

At the same time though, I got the feeling that she actually didn't consider her lot in life as one that was the result of a curse -- since she was surprisingly cheery when I went and bought some pickled scallions to snack on while waiting for the ferry to arrive.  In addition, seeing her also got me musing that while there are some folks who are envious of those who can opt for early retirement, there also are  people who are happy to be at work -- and not just because they feel forced to either - way past what many of us consider to be retirement age!

Lacy and Music (This week's Photo Hunt themes)

Who's that in the lacy white gown that's also got lots of bows on it?  Why, Hello Kitty, of course!  And if that's not special enough, how about the fact that that gown also has bits that light up to help illuminate proceedings when darkness falls!   

The cute cat -- who, more than by the way, is 40 years old this year! -- wore that lacy gown at the afternoon parade that featured music, dancing and acrobatics (along with appearances by Hello Kitty, a similarly snazzily attired Dear Daniel and more) at Sanrio Puroland on the day that I visited back in 2011. 

To those who still think that the furry feline only has young fans (and me), check out the audience in these photos that I'm sharing for Sandi's and Gattina's Photo Hunts this week!  And for those of you who want to hear what kind of music was playing while Hello Kitty and her friends cavorted about, check out this cool video posted on Youtube by the pink-haired German Hello Kitty mega fan behind the Hello Kitty Museum blog! :b

Cloudy and Hobby (This week's Photo Hunt themes)

This is one of those rare weeks when Sandi's and Gattina's Photo Hunt theme choices, even when combined together, leaves me spoiled for choice.  After all, if you count photography as a hobby, every photo you take illustrates your practice of your hobby, right?  And since hiking is another hobby I like to indulge in, I can safely say that I've got hundreds, if not of thousands of outdoor shots taken in cloudy conditions and/or featuring clouds in them!

Although I'm not all at adverse to going out hiking on super cloudy days, I've noticed while looking through my photo archive that I prefer to take photos of the sky when they're actually not so very cloudy and consequently have more bits of blue to brighten them up some.  Also, because Hong Kong is full of hills, super cloudy weather is not super optimal hiking weather since it often means that you end up walking in the clouds and thus having pretty low visibility! 

As it so happens, all the days when the photos in this blog post were taken were ones that were great hiking as well as outdoor photography days.  As a result, I took plenty of photos while out hiking -- and so many good ones, in fact, that those three photos didn't end up in my double photo-essays chronicling those particular excursions!  

So... if that makes you curious to see more images from those hikes, please go here and here for a two-part photo-essay of a trek along the western section of the South Lantau Country Trail from Pak Kung Au down to Pui O, here and here for a hot summer day's excursion from Pak Tam Road to Chek Keng, and here and here for a two-part photo-essay of a trek from Lantau's Ngong Ping Plateau down to Shek Mun Kap village. :b

Wet and Modern Architecture (This week's Photo Hunt themes)

Back when Taipei 101 was the tallest building in the world (rather than number 6, like it is now), my mother and I went on a vacation to Taiwan's capital city.  In some ways, late December 2007 was a good time to visit: among other things, Taiwan's one of those countries where December 25 is not a public holiday, so museums and many other attractions were open as usual rather than closed for the holidays.  

On the other hand, despite December in Taipei not supposed to be as wet as many other months of the year, it rained a lot while we were there (including on the days when we visited both Taiwan's prime example of modern architecture, Taipei 101, and the far more traditionally looking Lungshan Temple).

Despite it being ultra-wet when we visited, I still got much out of our visits to both those Taipei landmarks, including some cool photos. (Incidentally, yes, I could have used just photos from my Taipei trip for this entry for Sandi's and Gattina's Photo Hunts but decided to go for a bit more geographic variety!) 

This was particularly so at atmospheric Lungshan Temple, which I would happily have spent more time photographing if my mother had not been champing at the bit to go somewhere else!  But while my mother and I enjoyed going up to the observation floor of Taipei 101 in its super fast elevator and then walking around and viewing the rest of city from up on high, doing so only got us thinking that as far as tall buildings and other examples of modern architecture go, Hong Kong actually impresses way more.

Sure, "Asia's World City" has never had a building that held the title of world's tallest but Hong Kong easily tops the list of cities with the most skyscrapers.  And although there are people who like to criticize its modern architecture as being on the visually boring or uninspired side, I reckon that some of them, including that which is its currently Hong Kong's tallest building, actually don't look all that bad, be it during the day or at night.

At the very least, I do like that the International Commerce Centre is part of a complex with other tall buildings near it. To my way of thinking, this makes it look less ridiculous and an "ego-product", the way that buildings built to tower over everything and look like they're standing in isolation are -- like *cough, cough* my home state's 60-storey-high Kompleks Tun Abdul Razak (KOMTAR), which sticks out like a sore thumb on the cultural heritage-rich George Town landscape even now, close to 40 years after it was first built! :S

Sheer and Nails (This week's Photo Hunt themes)

Call it sheer stubbornness or sheer stupidity -- but even while I could have opted to take both the Photo Hunt themes chosen this week by Sandi and Gattina, I got it into my head to hunt through my photo archive for images featuring actual nails.  Perhaps if I had known how few photos with nails -- as opposed to screws, bolts and other fasteners! -- I wouldn't have done so... but, ultimately, I think the three that I've found are actually pretty neat.

The first photo is of a wooden walkway at the Hong Kong Wetland Park -- in terms of sheer numbers, it's the image with the most nails (or, at the very least, their tops) in them! And seeing that wooden construction got me thinking of a far more rickety one on which I've also been on, with greater misgivings as to its sheer durability.

The bridge at Tai Long Wan is one that a number of people hesitate to go on, even if they're super hungry and thirsty and know that there are a couple of cafes waiting invitingly for them on the other side of the stream!  It doesn't look too bad in the photo I've included of it in this entry that was taken while resting at one of those nice beachside cafes -- but you can go here or here to get a better sense of how its very sight can cause people to hesitate to go on it!

Finally, there's a photo that I think has the others beat for its sheer evocativeness. Taken at one of rural Hong Kong's many abandoned villages, it's of photo collections that remain nailed to the wall in what I'm assuming must have been the home of at least some of the people in the pictures.  

When seeing sights like this, I get to thinking that the residents of these homes must have left in a major hurry -- or were moving to a place where they weren't allowed to take much at all with them. Otherwise, I find it inexplicable that they'd leave such items behind -- ones that would help them call to mind moments and people in their lives whose memories they had considered worth capturing in now faded photos. 

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!)