FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/250 sec, ISO200)
After a short ferry trip across Victoria Harbour I finally landed in Hongkong. The other side was Mong Kok. To travel means to learn.
What I also learned is that Hongkong is a true vertical city. There are skyscrapers everywhere. Not only for the offices, the people live in skyscrapers too. Most of them in truly small flats. But Hongkong has one fantastic feature that really sets it apart from all the other Asian cities I have visited so far: The Central Elevated Walkway (CEW). An extensive network of footbridges that connects almost all parts of the center. They are all roofed and some are even air-conditioned. What a joy!
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO1600)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/640 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/500 sec, ISO200)
On all those images above and on the first three images below you can see the CEW. You can only truly appreciate the CEW if you ever tried to walk i.e. in cities like Bangkok or even worse in Hanoi. Last time in Hanoi I gave up and hired a bicycle-rickshaw because I was to afraid to get hit be a car or scooter.
But the climate also helped. When I was there in March it was about 20 degrees Celsius. Very pleasant compared to the other stations of this trip. As a consequence I walked 19km that day. Enough to give my legs a workout after the long flight.
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/340 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/6.4, 1/125 sec, ISO320)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO250)
The CEW is frequented by the office people rushing back to their desks but the true live takes place at street level. So I finally decided to leave it and to continue my walk to the Man Mo temple on street level. The Man Mo temple where the people worship the god of literature (Man) and the god of war (Mo). God of war sounds somehow strange to me but what do I know. Here are the images I took inside the temple.
Back to the streets of Hongkong. Even at street level there it is save to walk. Unlike all other Asian cities I frequently visit pedestrians seem to have rights. Hongkong is Asia light.
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/150 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/6.4, 1/125 sec, ISO250)
But there is one thing you hardly see when you are on Hongkong Island. The sky! When you walk the streets you really have to look up but even then skyscrapers will block your view. I guess the last couple of floors in every building are the most expensive. But if you don’t live in a flat close to the top of one of the higher buildings all you will ever see is the walls of other buildings.
In the evening I searched the internet for pictures of Hongkong apartments. I found some truly shocking images of extremely small flats in urban slums. The smallest was 28 square feet! But it could be worse! At least he does not live in a cage. If you don’t know what I’m talking about just google cage dwellers Hongkong. It doesn’t help to know that Hongkong is one of the richest cities in the world if you see something like that.
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec, ISO200)