HAPPY NEW YEAR~!

It's been 2012 for 2 hours already in Hong Kong and the festivities are dying down.

So what do people do for the solar new year here? Well, there are parties in Lan Kwai Fong (aka the expat district) and a countdown at Times Square and then as always, an occasion for people to take pictures of stuff aka a fireworks display at Victoria Harbour.

Let me tell you now - watching these fireworks may seem like a tame activity but it is not something for the faint of heart. First of all, there are massive crowds. The main thoroughfare in Kowloon, Nathan Road, was pretty much pedestrianized and shut off from normal traffic. Then there was the harbour. The Avenue of Stars was PACKED. Did I also mention that we were there starting at 9PM? (The first little display - a star on the ifc and a little firework shooting from the roof - was at 11PM...) Here is a picture of all the people standing directly behind me.


And when I mean packed like sardines, I mean, there were awkward moments when the lady beside us was shimmying up and down in front of her man friend. I dunno what they were doing but the awkward turtle was definitely swimming about. My friend also got an elbow in her ribs for prolonged periods of time.

My friend and I couldn't get a viewing spot by the Avenue of Stars and had to settle for a spot near the Ocean Terminal shopping mall. Or near the ostentatious ad for Toy Storyland to be precise. We couldn't see the fireworks that were blowing up from the buildings left of the ifc but at least we got a clear view of the ifc. It was a grueling wait. We literally stood in our spots packed like little sardines for 3 HOURS. (Yes, we're crazy, I know.) Starting at 11PM, the ifc would have a little star on it and a little firework would go off. This happened every 15 minutes and each of the stars were different colours to symbolize different things. I only bothered to take a picture of the red star, which is supposed to symbolize love.


And finally, in the last minute (literally), there was a countdown (the crowd around me was counting down in Cantonese) and fireworks! Cool! Though it should've been way cooler with all that waiting we did. (I didn't take a picture of the fireworks because I figured I should fully enjoy the spectacle after waiting for so long.)


My friend and I lingered for a bit before heading back but in the end, we still had to face... THE CROWDS. You seriously don't understand unless you've been there. Crowds and crowds of people filling the sidewalk and the road on Nathan Road. Police blocking certain streets for crowd control. Crowd control was pretty well done though I'll have to wait for tomorrow's news to see if anything horrible happened. (Can you spot the foreigner in my picture of a crowd?)

Foreigners tend to stick out literally because of their height. LOLs.

Anyways, whatever you did, I hope everyone has a great 2012~!

In a sea of capitalism...

Hong Kong is undoubtedly a place in which capitalism is thriving as it has done since the founding of the British colony. As I was exploring Hong Kong on Saturday with one of my friends, you couldn't help but notice it everywhere.

Giant shopping malls (some super expensive and fancy ones too!) in which wide scale consumerism takes place are literally everywhere. You don't even need to try and you'll be able to find one. My friend and I stumbled upon many of the malls in this post. And yes, we saw them all during the same day.

Pacific Place Shopping Mall in Central:


Interior decor store at Pacific Place:


ifc building complex (it's a fancypants shopping mall, hotel and possibly other stuff as well):

(Outside - 1 of 2 towers)


(Inside)


(The picture of the necklace above was also taken in the ifc.)

1881 Heritage (this is more like a collection of shops in a historical building aka the former Marine Police Headquarters):


A gallery store near 1881 Heritage.


Closeup of another tusk (can you imagine anyone putting this in their house?):


The crazy capitalism in HK can also be seen in residential areas where old buildings are constantly being replaced with skyscrapers and new building complexes as real estate is some of the most valuable in the world. Here, you can see a variety of housing (which in turn represents the social stratification here): old shanty houses for low-income tenants (see the lower right corner), medium sized apartments for middle-class tenants and high rise buildings which are fancy condos for rich people (aka the buildings that didn't fit into the picture because they were so tall).


Political parties or policies that belong to the left of the political spectrum are sorely lacking in Hong Kong so labour laws and unions are not as powerful as they are in North America. Good for the entrepreneur and strike-haters, bad for the average Joe or Jane who's being paid about $3.50 (USD) or less an hour passing out flyers on street corners in 30+ degrees (Celsius) weather.

Then again, this doesn't mean that the political left doesn't exist in Hong Kong. In fact, right across from Times Square (aka crazy big shopping mall in Causeway Bay) is a Communist cafe/bookstore, featuring Mao Zedong as their logo.


They serve drinks in jars in this cafe. It was kinda cool. You could also purchase these jars (as well as cups with Mao's face on it) for home.


There were also books on the June 4th, 1989 Tiananmen Massacre and Marxist ideology. It seemed very much like an iconoclastic cafe in many ways.


What an interesting place this is... In any case, my adventures from Saturday continues in the next blog post, coming soon to a browser near you!