cheap fun

cheap fun, originally uploaded by timon and keely.

by the last night, we figured out that the cheapest way to enjoy HK at night was just to sit on the pier with a beer. i haven't had a decent beer since we left the states, as tsing tao is probably the best tasting and still pretty watery. but on the hot nights, since the humidity is super high, a semi cold beer (if you are lucky) and a killer skyline do the trick. nice pose keely.

night in hk

night in hk, originally uploaded by timon and keely.

this one is a bit blurry, but the night view of Hong Kong looking across from shore of Kowloon is so fun to watch. around 8pm all the big buildings did a simultaneous light show that was totally insane. the tall one in the middle actually has a little brother building below to the right (hard to see) that it did a synchronized laser show with. it looked like a city on speed with flashing lazers going off all over. this image only shows about a quarter of the skyline viewable from where we were standing. the energy in this city is different than any other and frankly super fun.

crazy lighting

crazy lighting, originally uploaded by timon and keely.

the HSBC bank building is one of the strangest buildings i've seen yet with these elevators all lit up on the outside of the building and staircases on either side on the corners in red and white. hsbc colors i guess.

who designed this?

who designed this?, originally uploaded by timon and keely.

the architecture in HK is pretty incredible. on the far left of this image is the Bank of China building and peaking out from the right is the HSBC bank. not sure what's in the middle, except these tall buildings blanket the lower part of the island and are incredible to walk under. it's a more flamboyant new york that's for sure.

going out

going out, originally uploaded by timon and keely.

naturally the evenings fell to sampling HK's night life. by the second night we finally found a place more to our tastes, but this shot is from the first night where we found ourselves in the center of the action with frat boys, tourists, and partying locals jamming the streets. unfortunately we didn't take a digital image of this awesome bar we eventually found with a sort of victorian feel and great people. in fact, most of the digital images we post are from the moments we actually remember to take a digital image since keely and i both often shoot on that old relic called film.

up close

up close, originally uploaded by timon and keely.

up close the caterpillars are just awesome creatures. pretty large though i didn't give any good indication of relative size here.

hangin' out

hangin' out, originally uploaded by timon and keely.

these caterpillars were hanging out all over. i don't know enough about them to be able to tell which ones would turn into the blue or orange butterflies, but we kept running into them while hiking/walking the paved pathways around Victoria Peak on HK island.

one of many

one of many, originally uploaded by timon and keely.

this close up shows just how incredible the moths and butterflies were. most of them are impossible to photograph because they never really land. but every step while hiking around the peak was full of flashy, fancy insects.

stilt roots

stilt roots, originally uploaded by timon and keely.

it's definitely tropical here with stilt root trees, giant leaved plants, countless amazing butterflies, moths, insects. we saw the largest bee we've ever seen anywhere in the world, fully 2 inches long.

happy hiker

happy hiker, originally uploaded by timon and keely.

we took a day trip up to Victoria's peak to get away from the city and incessant call to shop, which we somehow managed to avoid pretty well. though, my backpack didn't arrive until a day later so i had to find a pair of shorts and this shirt at some shop called G2000. otherwise, we've enjoyed looking at shops and markets without needing to purchase anything. our trip is mandatory lightweight enroute to lhasa.

from a bus

from a bus, originally uploaded by timon and keely.

we rode a bus on the second day to a tram to take us up to the peak of the island for some hiking. this is taken from a moving bus and is just a terrible photo to show how buildings are built into the hillside.

from the top

from the top, originally uploaded by timon and keely.

arriving in Hong Kong was a great way to enter Asia. It's like New York only Asian. no real culture shock here. Of course, since Keely speaks Chinese so many cultural difficulties were easily overcome.

if you didn't already know, Hong Kong is an island built into a little mountian rising out of the sea. the skyscrapers are all on the flat parts near the bottom, so that when you get on top, you are looking out over them. pretty strange. also, it is coverd by clouds fairly regular, thus the haze in this image.