Guanyin of Lianhuashan, Guangzhou, China
When my family visited Hong Kong earlier this year, we took a day to travel into mainland China.
One of the places we visited was Lotus Hill (Lianhuashan) in the area of Guangzhou.
A statue there called Guanyin, situated along the Pearl River, depicts a goddess of mercy. Visitors ascend the hill to see the 134-foot-tall statue, with some bringing along beautiful paper creations to burn out of respect.
Come on, I’ll take you on my walk up Lotus Hill. Read more
A Symphony of Lights in Hong Kong
Victoria Harbour, situated between Hong Kong island and Kowloon, does this really cool (or really cheesy, depending on how you look at it) show at night called “A Symphony of Lights.”
The show is comprised of 44 buildings on both sides of the harbor that are lit up in a synchronized fashion set to music, and it’s been named the world’s largest permanent light and sound show by the Guinness Book of World Records.
One night in March, my family and I sat at the edge of the harbor on the Kowloon side to watch the Symphony of Lights, and I taped almost all of it. Click through for the video clip. Read more
suzuki takayuki x UNIQLO Dress
While in Hong Kong in March, my sister and I were shopping one day in a shopping mall the size of a small city. At some point, we wandered into a UNIQLO store, where I ended up finding this very comfortable and cute dress.
It was made by Japanese designer Takayuki Suzuki — who named his brand suzuki takayuki — for the UNIQLO Designers Invitation Project.
Born in Aichi Prefecture in 1975, Suzuki established his brand in 2002 and has been participating in Tokyo Collection Week (that’s Japan’s Fashion Week) since ’07. His work is often characterized by subdued colors, elegant simplicity and the use of organic cotton.
This particular dress, which was relatively inexpensive, is super-soft, made with modal, cotton and silk. And I like the layered, slightly uneven ruffled hem — it prevents the shapes and lines from looking a little too “organized.” Read more
Tai O Fishing Village
Another interesting area my family and I were able to visit while in Hong Kong in March was the Tai O fishing village adjacent to Lantau Island.
It’s been called the “Venice of Hong Kong” due to the scenic collection of stilt houses over the water, but romantic this village is mostly not. The street vendors here specialize in traditional dried and salted fish (check out the shark skin in one of my photos at the end of this post), so the whole area smells a little a lot like fish soup.
Still, Tai O draws quite a few tourists who want to visit the village’s temples, catch a glimpse of the pink and white dolphins which inhabit the nearby waters, snap photos of the stilt houses and of course, load up on those dried fish products. Read more
Junks and the Jumbo Floating Restaurant
During my trip to Hong Kong in March, my fellow traveling companions and I took a short sampan boat ride around Aberdeen Harbour.
Two things this particular area of the harbor is well-known for are the Jumbo Floating Restaurant (if you’re a kung fu movie fan, you may recognize it from a few Jackie Chan films) and the “junks” – junk-rigged sailboats that are people’s homes. Read more
The Big Buddha
OK, so I actually returned to Phoenix on March 12 after my trip to Hong Kong, and I feel like I’ve only just now re-synced with Arizona time.
But while I was trying to get my internal clock all straightened out over the course of these past few weeks, I did go back through all my photographs, and I found a few snapshots I wanted to post, including these images of the Tian Tan Buddha (also known as the Big Buddha) and the temples near Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island. Read more
Toward Hong Kong
Today I leave for Hong Kong for one week for both work and play.
This will be my first trip to the city — in fact, my first trip to Asia, and words can’t really describe how much I’m looking forward to this experience. Read more
