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Entries in China (2)
Hong Kong: International Flower Show 2023 + About Town
Monday, June 12, 2023 at 2:36PM 
While visiting my Hong Kong in-laws, we all took the morning in the Hong Kong Flower Show. A beautiful experience . . . and another opportunity to try out my new-ish X-T5 Fuji camera.
Acres of extraordinary flowers.
From these exciting yellow splashes, to . . .
. . . to fields of colorful tulips . . . the Hong Kong Flower Show had it all!
I wish I could tell you the names of all these flowers . . . but I did not take notes while there . . . I was only rffocusing on the beauty.
Such happiness expressed in this arrangement!
I think this show had more different kinds of flowers than I have ever seen i one place.
Some of the arrangements were fantistically beautiful.
Thailand had an official entry . . . a large space to showcase Thai flowers and garden aesthetics.
I have to confess a bias: I live in Thailand . . . and I think the Thai exhibit was the very best in the show. There, I said it.
I have these in myb garden . . . astonishing!
Bluebells galore!!!
Japan also had an official entry . . . and it was beautiful too . . . and very Japanese!
Japanese garden style.
A classic formal Japanese garden.
Massivce tulip plantings everywhere . . . the colors were sooooo bright!
Tulip interiors are also interestimng.
More tulips . . . on the way.
Tulips, tulips, tulips . . . I could have done an entire entry on tulips . . . I took so many photos.
I have these in my garden.
A mixed arrangement. Nice.
I wasn't the only person who thought of bringing their camera to the Flower Show. Everybody, and I do mean EVERYBODY, had their cameras and phones out taking photos . . . and there was some elbowing here and there to get the 'best' photo angles.
A lone pink rose.
New yellow rose in colorful company.
Yellow rose showing off.
There was a small pavilion with flower arrangements . . . I think this one won.
A massive flower arrangement. Wow!
A cute "farm" display.
The European-style farm display used grain stalks with good results.
I do not know how they managed to get these fruit trees to blossom at the exact time for the Flower Show . . .
A lovely sunflower and succulent ground cover arrangement.
Lovely color and pattern . . .
Purple succulent splash!
Sunflowers always make me feel happy.
The organizers of this event spent a lot of time placing the flowers in perfect compositions for the many photographers who attended.
These were my favorite.
I want these in my garden . . . but it may be too hot here in Bangkok.
Color, color, color everywhere!
I was very happy with my flower photos from this show.
Colorful puffs.
So pretty.
It seemed at every turn we found more tulips!
Fields of tulips!
I had a great time at the flower show with my photographer brother in-law . . . .
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The Rest Of My Hong Kong Visit:
The rest of my Hong Kong stay was equally photogenic . . . Star ferry in sunset light .
Hong Kong skyline . . .
Many interesting kinds of boats in Hong Kong Harbour.
Wooden harbour "party boats" ready to board.
We took a late afternoon bay cruise around the back of Hong Kong Island to Lamma Island, aka, "seafood restaurant island" . . . This is our cruise boat arriving.
The back side of Hong Kong . . . showing the high density mass housing high-rise estates. I guess it is a good way to house people because it saves the destruction of nature and open spaces.
Arriving at the Lamma Island sea food village . . . where there was only sea food restaurant.
A long stretch of seafood eateries lining the Lamma Island harbour.
We found our table by the bay and set off to secure seafood favorites.
Our live seafood choices!!!
These looked good!
Waiting on the dock for our boat to take us back to Kowloon . . . our stomachs full from the delicious meal!
Our arrival by boat back into Hong Kong harbour at night was truly spectacular!
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Chi Lin Nunnery and Garden Park
It's nice to have in-laws living in Hong Kong . . . they know the cool places to go, beyond the tourist spots, for good photography. These gardens were magnificent! And right in the city.
An astonishingly beautiful place surrounded by the city.
Stunning ancient Chinese styled garden pagoda.
Classic bridge to the Other Side.
Old water-powered mill in the park.
The inner temple at the nunnery.
They did not allow photography inside the temple . . . but it was fantastic.
Stepping out from the inner temple we were greeted with this view of Hong Kong Kowloon side.
When I got home I couldn't resist making a highly altered HDR "Art" photo from the nunnery.
Dr. Jeff Harper
We went back to Hong Kong in February of 2024 to visit family . . . for the 10th time.
Even though I have been to Hong Kong many, many times, I still find interesting things to photograph . . . like the back of this neighborhood school.
The city street in front of our hotel in Kowloon.
The famous bamboo scaffolding of Hong Kong. Amazing.
Where the Hong Kong apartment dwellers go to tend their spiritual needs.
I took a little artistic liberty with this photo . . . but it is an iconic image of Hong Kong.
A Long Week-End in Maçau, China
Sunday, February 2, 2020 at 3:57PM 
On the week-end that the corona virus was announced, we happened to be in Maçau . . . it was beautiful in the old part of the city as they were erecting decorations for the upcoming Chinese New Year festivities.
Big crowds on a beautiful February day.
Gold for good luck . . . Year of the Rat (but only mice depicted!!!). . .
There were crews putting up the elaborate Chinese New Years decorations along the famous walking streets.
Maçau is a photographers dream come true . . . especially at this time of year. A worker putting up decorative gold bunting.
This was my third time in Maçau. The historic center of Maçau is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is popular from people from all over the world . . . before the virus, that is.
The walking streets were packed with tourists, mostly from mainland China.
The door of the old Portuguese church.
Yes. A photographer's dream come true.
Did I mention there were large crowds from mainland China . . . .
The mainland Chinese like to come to Maçau and nearby Hong Kong for shopping. We talked to a shopkeeper who said that for items like cosmetics and medicines, the Chinese preferred shopping here because they did not trust the quality back home . . . and they didn't want their neighbors see them buying expensive things!!!
Some VERY interesting graffiti in the alleys of Maçau!
Most tourists spend a day in the walking streets and narrow streets by walking all the way up to the ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral.
The old St. Paul's ruins are lovely. Built in 1602 and burned down during a typhoon in 1835.
One of my favorite subjects for photography are old wall textures. Maçhau plenty!
Understandably a major tourist destination. Beautiful.
There are a lot of CCTV around Maçau . . . cameras everywhere. We spotted these two western tourists looking lost . . .
We took taxis around town to many sites of interest. This is how most working people in Maçau live.
One stop was at the old Portuguese Governors Office. Portugal acquired a leas on Maçau in 1557 and ceded it back to China in 1999.
Next to the Portuguese Governors Office was a lovely old hillside Chinese Temple, the oldest in Maçau we were told.
We walked to the top of the temple compound along narrow and steep steps.
Something interesting around every corner . . .
The way up led went through this lovely circular passageway.
Up and up we went!
Small shrines were found all along the way up.
The views back down over the temple roofs.
The temple complex from above.
Small buildings along the way held fascinating altars.
Among the most interesting altars I have ever seen . . .
Large conical incense hanging from the rafters.
Each altar has their own tender.
The coils made for some amazing patterns.
The votive incense cones were really interesting.
Fortune cards . . .
Another of the many temple shrines at the hillside temple.
A small and seemingly ancient altar.
Wishes set into the wind . . .
These were so sweet . . . casting your wishes to the wind.
The walk back down was also beautiful.
The view down through the incense coils.
A Maçau banana flower.
Maçau Municipal Building.
The historic town center at night was really beautiful.
The Chinese New Years decorations were mostly installed, but it was too early in the season to see them all lit up. Drat.
The famous ripple pattern tiled streets with lights above.
Just as we were saying how great it would be to see the decorations all lit up . . . they all lit up! If you look to the right side of this photo you see a guy on a ladder and a fuse box . . . he was testing the lights! What good luck! We were in the right place at the right time.
So, of course, I turned around to get a photo of the FULL decorations all lit up . . . and the lights went off!
Oh well. It was still a very beautiful place to be at night. We walked in . . . 
The old church square at night.
The old yellow church at night . . . still lots of tourists out and about.
And so we walked on into the side streets towards the St. Paul's Cathedral ruins.
Crowds of mainland Chinese shoppers . . . 
The strange lighting in some of the shops made for some interesting people photos.
Press dried meat stackers. Very popular with the tourists . . . free samples every few blocks. Very tasty.
Crowds in the narrow streets of historic Maçau at night.
These little egg custard pies were absolutely delicious!!!
It seemed like there was a pharmacy on every corner. Lots of mainland Chinese buy their pharmaceutical products abroad . . . for safety.
Interesting architectural find up a side street . . . the Portuguese influence everywhere.
Lots of very interesting old buildings.
A shop of dreams! Something for the Little Woman?
Where the streets give way to the cathedral on the hill.
Just as beautiful at night . . . and almost as crowded.
The view back down the walking streets from the steps of St. Paul's Cathedral.
We stayed here for a while and soaked up the old world charm.
We walked back down the interesting and crowded narrow streets.
At the end of a long day . . . .
I didn't have any (too sweet), but my friend did (coconut, of course).
I love walking around in these cobbled streets at night . . . anywhere in the world.
I did not post all of my 'art' photos here. There were too many!
We left the historic section and walked out onto the city streets of Maçau where the local citizens were going about their business, walking home from work, or off to visit friends.
I love night street photography . . . and was in absolute heaven here.
Superb light, shadow, form . . .
We were all hungry and looking for some place to eat.
Beautiful neon light.
This old Portuguese colonial building looked brand new (or recently renovated). We were heading back in the direction of our hotel, and again past the many glittery casino hotels.
These huge casino towers were amazingly glitzy!
Among the casinos . . . but we really didn't want to go in . . . 
Max Glitz!
More Max Glitz. We decided that because it was so late that we would just dodge into one of these grand hotels and find the all night café.
Yep. This is the interior of a casino/hotel in Maçau, China. We went up these magnificent stairs . . .
. . . and down this polished hall to the café. I had the French Dip.
Back out on the streets. Walking back to our hotel . . . .
Otherworldly Glitz.
We were tempted . . . 
Our hotel was in an older area not far from the casino district.
The shops around the casinos see to cater to the 'big spenders' and 'big winners' . . . .
Our hotel was just around the corner. We had a wonderful four days in Maçau . . . just before the virus pretty much closed off any travel to China.