Between Hong Kong and China

Hong Kong was once the British Colony. For better or worse, the British governance and the hard working DNA of the Hong Kong people had made this place special. For those who were born before the Handover would know that the political friction between parties was never like what we’re seeing now. The definition of Colony was never an ugly word for most people here. We took it granted to the greatest level. And the fact is that Hong Kong was never governed by a Governor. They had a full team working off-shore back in the Great Britain to support the all the previous governors (as far as I heard from some professor on TV). Right after the handover, there’s never a back up team to support the highest leader ‘Chief Executive’. We are on our own so to speak. We make our own fate. The future is on our own or there isn’t.

The national anthems were played on both nations before the the World Cup matches begin. Players, coaches, and the audience sang on top of their lungs for their nations. What does the national anthem mean to their people? Just to see from the sport event perspective, it shows how loyal you’re to the country. You were born under the nation and you represent the nation. The Chilean and Brazilian national anthem were the two amongst memorable ones. They sounded like battle chants to me, really drew the adrenaline for everyone.

While China to us is like our original parents (Britain as our foster parents), it’s a bittersweet thing between us and the Mainland. Whether we like it or not, we do not get to choose. They’re still undergoing development, not as civilized in most part of the country but they got lots of world achievements such as hosting the Olympics, World Expo…What’s more is that, It’s still a communist country, the undeniable cultural shock. We just don’t know them very well, or we don’t want to know. Think of the Britain was our good foster parents and had been thru the worst in history with us. Hong Kong now wishes to live like an adult. Hong Kong is not rebellious, we just want to become an adult. It’s unfortunate that both Hong Kong and China are not acting like a family.

Second Chance

Sometimes I just do not get why viewers have common interest on certain photos. Some that I believe they’re great and turn out to be just average ones; some that I believe that are so-so, turned out to be the unique ones. I still never thought I’d ever misjudged my photograph selections. I stand really firm on what I’ve picked and I never look back again.

It just happened I’m slightly bit preoccupied by my life happenings. I left my camera in my bag and hardly ever take it out. I should really spend more time to at least hang out with my camera even without getting any, it’s the least I could do. Anyhow, I shot so few these days I barely notice I had any photographs. I have gone back to my archive and have another look at some photographs that were either disqualified for my previous posts or simply not fitting very well on the theme or essay. I picked out a few and reprocessed them. Do you think they’re worthy for another chance? Two of which actually came from this week.

Go Dragon, Go Paddle!

Not everyone could join a traditional event like many of those fire dragon dance, bun festival I’ve visited before. But participating or to witness an event can be just as fun when we are just this close. I’ll get to that. It’s my first time going to the Stanley Dragon Boat Race. The bus ride to Stanley (the south side of Hong Kong Island) was already a beautiful journey already. You get to see the spectacular bay area from all elevations. The route to Stanley passes by two important natural beaches of Hong Kong, the Deep Water Bay and Repulse Bay. It reminded again I was always on the other side of the island the whole time. The bus ride took about 30 mins + depended upon the traffic. On that special day, too many double deckers went in and out of the narrow mountain pass, causing the traffic to stop many times just to yield the opposite traffic to come through. I tell you, on a summer day like this hot isn’t a bad idea at all.

My McDonald’s meal kept in a sack since eating and drinking is not allowed on public transport. I was mumbling the whole way, but I was glad I did not finish. I rarely have car sick, that day I had a little. It took me 10-15 minutes to settle. The burger in my hand was unfortunately wasted, two tiny bites and it’s in the trash. It’s steamy, hot and salty everywhere. I did not want to think about anything but fluid. The sun was burning up high. My best shelter was to stand by people’s shadow. Luckily, there were plenty. If it’s the most crowded day on a beach, it has to be this day. The beach was swamped with athletes and spectators. It was more like a beach party more than a sport events to be honest. Visitors could hard see the race or tell who’s leading or behind due to the direction of the race track (toward the beach). Good news was we all could go as near as touching the boat or even sit on it. It’s what’s unique about this event.

I arrived there with my sister. The moment we stepped on the beach, we did not see each other. If there weren’t any sun tan, we don’t call it Stanley. And that was precisely the time to go for a Snapple Peach Tea and head home.