Looking Down on Fireworks

Last Friday was modern China's 61th anniversary. Hong Kong used to celebrate the Queen’s birthday, but ever since the handover in 1997, they've switched over.

Annika’s classmate and her parents invited us over to watch the fireworks from their apartment. They have a beautiful apartment in a section of Hong Kong called the Mid-levels so named because it's halfway between the harbor and The Peak. The kitchen window looks out on the observation deck at The Peak. The living room window provides a panoramic view of the downtown Hong Kong and the Harbor – which is where the fireworks were to be.

With the precision that only Hong Kong would dare to promise, the fireworks were advertised to start at 9:00 and end at 9:23.

They were pretty spectacular. I’ve never watched fireworks from an apartment or a hotel room before and I've got to say, it sure beats fighting the crowds down at the waterfront promenade.

Plus, the bathroom was just down the hall.

And there were brownies in the kitchen.

-Jack

Strolling on Lamma Island

Rednaxela Steet

Can you unravel the riddle behind this Hong Kong Street name? (No fair consulting the internet.)

Type your explanation in the comment sections.

Answer next week.

-Jack

Ladies Night Market

Mon Kok on a Friday Night

Colot of the Sky has Adre Am Dram and T

Sky Rockets in Flight part 2 of 2

There were so many of them, we figured somebody was selling them somewhere. We all looked around for a table or booth, but we saw nothing.

We all looked again; still nothing.

We migrated to a different corner of the lot, where our friend pointed to the ground and we saw a dense concentration of clear plastic wrappers. We must be getting close; but where was the dude selling those illuminated helicopters? Suddenly, we saw him under a street lamp surrounded by half a dozen eager kids and their mothers. No booth, no cart. Just a guy with a shoulder bag full of cheap, some-assembly-required whirligigs.

Just as our friend started to elbow her way forward to buy her son a helicopter, I noticed a park security guard standing just behind the man's elbow. The guard was waiting to escort the vendor out of the park, but was being kind enough to allow him to finish one last transaction.

We followed him to the benches just outside of the park where he resumed selling. When his customers finally abated, he sat on a bench to catch his breath.

I sat down next to him.

He told me that he'd been out there for over an hour. He told me he buys the gyrocopters in China for a couple of (Hong Kong) dollars each and that he's been selling them for HK$10. He had already sold over 200 of them.

“Why did you get escorted out of the park?”

“I am not supposed to be selling without a license.”

“But you do it anyways?”

"Yes.”

He only sells toy helicopters in the park on big holidays. He has to move quickly to sell as many as he can before he gets shooed out. By the time he and I were chatting on the park bench, he had made over US$130 in just one hour.

And that boys and girls is how Hong Kong went from being a rock in the middle of the South China Sea to a world economic power in just two generations.

Sky Rockets in Flight part 1 of 2

The Dragon Dance Festival we had planned on. But when we got off the city bus, we could see that Victoria Park was all lit up for the Mid-Autumn Festival. So Julie, the girls, and our friends agreed that after we watched the Dragon Dance, we would walk back to Victoria Park to take in all the lights.

Which is exactly what we did.

The park was filled with large nylon figurines that were lit from the inside. They were impressive. They were elaborate, big, and very colorful. The organizers had also strung thousands of lights overhead.

The overall effect was pretty magical.

By the time we had worked out way to the middle of the park though our attention was drawn to the far end of the park. Through the lights and above the glowing figurines, we saw what appeared to bio-luminescent grasshoppers on steroids. Like Mexican jumping beans with parachutes, we could see dozens of illuminated somethings flying high into the sky and then slowing floating back down to earth. There were dozens of them. We were mezmerized.

Like moths to a light, we found ourselves drawn to that end of the park to see what this could possibly be. As we drew closer, the mystery was solved. A whole parking lot’s worth of kids were using rubber bands on sticks to launch little plastic gyro-copters high into the night sky. Each one was equipped with a little l.e.d. bulb that glowed. Kids were busy either launching their helicopters or running to catch them as they descended.

When we all finally snapped out of our entranced state, our first thought was “Where do we get one?”

Victoria Harbor looking toward Kowloon

Lamma Island

In & Near an Abandoned Village

Sampan Boat detail