Hong Kong - Living It! Loving It!

This is my entry for the theme competition every Monday at Photoblog. This time it was - "Loveliest part of your city."

Hong Kong as a city is fast, energetic and beautiful. What I love about it cannot be covered by this theme. If the theme were "your city" or "my city", I would cover the beautiful country parks, hills, islands, beaches, seafood, streetfood, nightlife, shopper crowds, etc...but if I were to pick just one lovely part, it would be the HK waterfront with its spectacular skyline. Here are some shots that will give you an idea of how beautiful it is...
My only regret is not having captured the laser show in the evenings. Buildings on both sides of the harbour participate in it and it is quite special.
Every year we have a few occasions when millions of dollars are burnt in fireworks that are spectacular to watch but are too smokey. What a waste of money!!
All tourists are advised to take the HK$2.2 ride across the Victoria harbour in the Star Ferry from Wan Chai or Central on Hong Kong side to Tsim Sha Tsui (TST, Kowloon) and back! It's worth spending hours viewing, capturing or talking about! :-)

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Labels: hong kong, photoblog, Photography

Baby time - Spoony

Spoony is 6 months old now and looks so much like momma in this shot :-)

Labels: Babies, spoony

LIFE IN THE 1500'S

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water
temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be.
Here are some facts about the 1500s:


Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in
May, and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to
smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence
the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the
house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and
men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By
then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the
saying, Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water..

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood
underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats
and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof When it rained it
became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof.
Hence the saying . It's raining cats and dogs.

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house.. This
posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could
mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung
over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into
existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt.
Hence the saying, Dirt poor. the wealthy had slate floors that would get
slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to
help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh
until, when you opened the door, it would all start slippi ng outside. A
piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence the saying a thresh hold.

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always
hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot.
They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the
stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then
start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there
for quite a while. Hence the rhyme, Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold,
peas porridge in the pot nine days old..

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special.
When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was
a sign of wealth that a man could, bring home the bacon. They would cut off
a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat..

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content
caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning
death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or
so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of
the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper
crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would
sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along
the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were
laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would
gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up.
Hence the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of
places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones
to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of
25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized
they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist
of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie
it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the
graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be saved by
the bell or was considered a dead ringer..

And that's the truth...Now, whoever said History was boring ! ! !

Educate someone. Share these facts with a friend

Labels: history

Baby Update

Rhea and Lavani,,,Can you say which is who?

Labels: Babies

My latest...

I bought a pair of Shure e2g earphones after my Griffin Thumpers got busted. The left channel was getting disconnected and I had a bad time while walking and listening to music making it sound more like noise. After walking around and phone support from Rik, I finally picked this pair up...though after using it for 1 day I feel I should have gone for e2c. Don't get me wrong. The upgrade was worth it since the music sounds much better on the new pair.
e2c - white, long cable
e2g - black, shorter cable, gaming version
It just feels a bit uncomfy to wear black phones on an iPod (which is black anyways) when I have been wearing white for a few years already...
Rik pushed for e4c or e5c...I am not that rich :-(
Found that Dave busted his phones as well...hahaha...yeah, I am still waiting for his blog to come up!!

Labels: e2g, earphones, Music, shure

Chocolate? Try some :-P

Labels: Banana Girls, Chocolate, Korean, music video

The future of PC is Made In China

“MADE in China“ won Bill Gate’s top award in Microsoft’s PC Design Contest!! During Gate’s First Day Keynote in Win HEC 2007 (15May2007), Gates announced his favourite entry which he personally selected himself. The winner of the Chairman’s award, was MADE in China by John@AARIVE.

Labels: made in china

sweating in the sun can sometimes be fun

Hong Kong Park is a fantastic place right next to my office...you can grab a sandwich and sit down there with a book on cooler days...just soak up the sun (which we get to see less frequently these days)...also great for photography...you could actually take your kids there and enjoy the flowers, trees and the birds at the aviary...Nice place right in the heart of world's fastest city...you find a few peaceful moments...
My filter got stuck to one of the adapter rings and gave me a bad scare!! I took it to a camera shop and they separated the two in 10 seconds...
It was hot today...by our standards 30-31 deg C is too hot already!!
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Labels: flowers, hong kong, Hong Kong Park, Mothers Day, nature, Photography

Spider Fat

Labels: joke, mtv, spiderman, spoof

HK Waterfront in HDR

Welcome to Hong Kong! After all the training material Sean provided...and some last minute tips from Rik I set out to Kowloon side...with the flimsiest of tripods in the world, determined to take some shots.
I downloaded the trial version of Photomatix but the software added a visible watermark on all pics. So upsetting :-P hehehe. So I downloaded the trial version of FDRTools (my brother found the link). This tool needs Photoshop to do some good toning work however it boasts of getting rid of ghosts (moving blurred objects) in the final product. I am yet to test it out. Sorry for an overdose of darker pics...I could escape out of office only after 6:30pm...after sunset...
PS> those grid lines are from Picassa2 when I was realigning some Tif shots...hmm...will wear my glasses next time. Hehehe *SHAMELESS GRIN*

Good reading on HDR (High Dynamic Range) technique:

Merge to HDRin Photoshop CS2

HDRI Tutorial : Master Moving Objects With FDRTools

HDR Fountain Tutorial

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Labels: HDR, High Dynamic Range, hong kong, Photography

My Lovely Cats!!

Dai Gao (Big Guy), Yue Dan (Fish Ball) and Dao Deng (Little Man) aka Sai Sai Gaw are the source of my enjoyment on every alternate Sunday. DG and YD are twins and the only physical difference that tells them apart is the white spot on DG's nose. They used to be kings until DD arrived a few months ago. Picked up from the street, DD was more like a dog than cat until DG and YD trained him up to behave like one. They love eating, dressing up, sleeping and being naughty...and waking me up in the middle of my sleep...why? so that they can play with me!!
I am including some shots from my friends to show you how much fun they are!
PS- They are all Turkish Angora (mixed).

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Labels: Cats, Pets

Baby news!!

Shawn (name undecided until month end) has arrived into the loving arms of Patrick and Juno. Heard that their cat Bao is very jealous! The baby is very cute and Juno is back at home. Must go visit! I learned about the baby accidentally when I had called her for something else...
Brendon celebrated his first birthday this month...TWICE!! Double the fun with so many kids attending the party...

Labels: Babies

The Sun spills over Sydney Harbour

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Labels: Photography, Sydney

Hello, Mr.Sky!!

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Labels: Photography, Sky

Reflections

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Labels: Photography, Reflections

Snacks with Miss Potter (****)

Labels: Miss Potter, Movie Review, pc-cillin, UA CityPlaza