FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/80 sec, ISO400)
After Bangkok, Vietnam and India it is time to put together my favourite shots taken in Hong Kong.
Strangely I have been there only twice and only for a couple of days. Furthermore the weather was poor during my first visit and extremely poor on my second time around in January 2016 were it was also cold.
Why I still ended up with so many images is simple: I spent to weekends in Hong Kong so I had plenty of time for photography and I walked around a lot. On my first visit I walked over 20km a day and on the second it was similar. And the other reason is that Hong Kong is just awesome. On one hand it is shiny and modern but on the other hand it has many dark and shabby corners. In one word: It’s perfect!
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO640)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/8, 1/125 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/7.1, 1/125 sec, ISO800)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5, 1/125 sec, ISO1250)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/3.2, 1/125 sec, ISO1600)
The most impressive part is Kowloon. I didn’t know that before I went there the first time that’s why I stayed in a hotel in a different part of Hong Kong. It was a busy part too but nothing compared to Kowloon. 2,3 million people live in this part of Hong Kong on an area of just 47km2 which means its population density is over 48.000 people per km2. And that’s a lot. Just imagine 50.000 people living in square of 1.000 by 1.0000 meter. That’s crazy. More of it later.
And there is a lot of other crazy too like the friendly guard with the shotgun in front of the luxury watch shop chatting with tourists or the old man in the ferry station with the Karaoke microphone. And there is the ferry across Victoria harbour which is free of charge. How crazy is that!
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/480 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/8, 1/300 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/8, 1/180 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/250 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO250)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/150 sec, ISO200)
On the other side of Victoria Harbour Hong Kong is crazy too. The weather was horrible and the light very bland. The worst case scenario because it means that the sky is just white which of course looks horrible in photos. The good thing is: there is no sky in Hong Kong unless you point the camera straight up.
In central there is the central elevated walkway. This is an extensive network of footbridges so that you don’t have to bother with the traffic and traffic lights. It’s roofed so you are protected from sun or in my case from rain. Parts of it are even air conditioned. The central elevated walkway was the main reason I walked so much when in Hong Kong. It’s a stark contrast to walking in India or Vietnam where you have to watch the traffic all the time.
There is another amazing thing for pedestrians in Hong Kong but I discovered this almost at the end of the day.
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/6.4, 1/125 sec, ISO250)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO500)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/60 sec, ISO1250)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/60 sec, ISO2000)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/60 sec, ISO2000)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/6.4, 1/125 sec, ISO640)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO1600)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO200)
Central is also home to the Man Mo temple. A beautiful small temple with hundreds of burning joss sticks in form of large spirals. It’s an amazing place that just looks beautiful with all those burning joss stick spirals, the only problem: those fucking joss sticks. The smoke burns your eyes and I assume that all the fine dust makes it an unhealthy place. I have been in India and Vietnam so I already inhaled a fair share of fine dust so in order to minimise the damage I spent only a short time in the temple.
When I left the temple I finally discovered the Central – Med Levels escalators. The worlds largest system of outdoor covered escalator system. It is 800 meter long in total and it climbs 135 meters of elevation. Too bad that I discovered this late in the day after I climbed a couple of hundred meters already. Seems that there is no flat road on Hong Kong island.
The escalators run downhill from 6am to 10am and then uphill from 10am to midnight. In the morning it transports the people to their workplaces in the banks, insurance companies or shops in central and after work it lifts them back up to their flats uphill. A wonderful system that can save you a lot of climbing.
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5, 1/140 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5, 1/125 sec, ISO1000)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO640)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/6.4, 1/150 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/2.8, 1/105 sec, ISO6400)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO640)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/750 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/10, 1/200 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/6.4, 1/320 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO640)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/8, 1/125 sec, ISO640)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/8, 1/125 sec, ISO800)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/170 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/80 sec, ISO400)
I finally made it to the next attraction. The peak tram which would take me up to Victoria peak. After all the walking it felt great to simply sit in tram that takes you up a hill. The ride is quite steep but the lady sitting next to me wasn’t impressed. She dropped her jaw for the longest, “uncovered” yawn I every witnessed. Other countries, other rules I guess.
The weather was still poor and visibility was low but the view from the Victoria peak is jaw dropping. It is truly special. Of course it is a tourist hot spot but for a very good reason. Hong Kong is an amazing city with a lot of picturesque and exotic sceneries. I’ve been to a lot of big cities in Asia but I never saw so many high rise buildings. And I just confirmed that feeling. Wikipedia lists Hong Kong first with 355 buildings higher than 150 meters. To put that into perspective the city with the most skyscrapers in Germany is Frankfurt and it has 15.
What also is special are the double decker trams in central. Another sign of the huge population density of Hong Kong. Speaking of population density: back on the ferry and back to Kowloon to visit the busy streets close to the night market and to have dinner with my colleague in a huge restaurant that almost looked like the office in Jaques Tatis famous film Playtime. It had at least 50 big round tables and a thick carpet to keep noise at bay. When we ordered fish the waiter appeared with a big plastic bag and slapped it on the ground in front of us. In the bag was a big fish, still alive. My colleague explained that is to prove that the fish is fresh. I told him that they might show this fish to everyone and that the fish on our plate could have been a different fish.
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/3.2, 1/80 sec, ISO320)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/80 sec, ISO400)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/80 sec, ISO640)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/80 sec, ISO1000)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/80 sec, ISO2000)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/4, 1/80 sec, ISO1250)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/2.8, 1/80 sec, ISO1000)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/3.2, 1/80 sec, ISO1250)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/3.6, 1/80 sec, ISO640)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/80 sec, ISO200)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/750 sec, ISO200)
The last night we just ate in a small restaurant close to our hotel. Favourite Chinese classics. I ordered the chicken feet (the plate on the left, very nice) and my colleague ordered steamed spare ribs (on the right and not as tasty as it sounds ;)) and of course chicken noodles. Next morning we headed to the airport and flew off.
Btw. I shot all images with the Fuji X-T1 and the Fuji XF 14/2.8R. My favourite lens from Fuji. And an excellent and very versatile lens in the narrow streets of Hong Kong.
My next trip happened in January 2016. The weather was poor again only this time it was also very cold. And I just got myself a Canon G7X so I took a lot of images with that camera. Of course I sold the Canon G7X a long time ago but I still have the Fuji XF 14/2.8 R and it is still my favourite lens only now on my Fuji X-Pro2.
I wasn’t fully convinced by the Hong Kong cuisine so this time I went to a Japanese restaurant where I had fried oysters with a sauce made of sea urchins and a plate of soft shell crab rolls. Very nice!
Canon PowerShot G7 X (8.8mm, f/2.8, 1/60 sec, ISO1600)
Canon PowerShot G7 X (8.8mm, f/2.5, 1/160 sec, ISO125)
Canon PowerShot G7 X (19.66mm, f/4, 1/800 sec, ISO125)
Canon PowerShot G7 X (23.713mm, f/4, 1/640 sec, ISO125)
Canon PowerShot G7 X (18.875mm, f/4, 1/1000 sec, ISO125)
Canon PowerShot G7 X (36.8mm, f/4, 1/1000 sec, ISO125)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/60 sec, ISO640)
Canon PowerShot G7 X (29.902mm, f/4, 1/500 sec, ISO125)
Canon PowerShot G7 X (8.8mm, f/2, 1/80 sec, ISO640)
Canon PowerShot G7 X (16.583mm, f/4, 1/320 sec, ISO125)
FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/3.6, 1/125 sec, ISO200)
Usually in Hong Kong you have to fight heat and high humidity but this time that was not an issue. There was a cold wave and it affected all of Asia. In Hong Kong it was cool but not that bad. In my next destination, Taipei, it was worse and because of all my previous business trips to South East Asia I was ill prepared. I didn’t bring any warm clothing on those trips beside my Patagonia R3 fleece that I use on the flights. On those long distance flights the air-condition can be rather aggressive especially during the night. Luckily I decided to bring a Goretex jacket for the first time.
So what to do on a rainy, cold Sunday in Hong Kong? I decided to take the ferry to Hong Kong island again as I simply love ferries. I would love to live in a city like that. Just imagine that your way to work includes a ferry ride to i.e. Manhattan. I guess I would never go tired of that. I also went to the Man Mo temple again to test the low light performance of the Canon G7X. It is amazing how good those compact cameras have become. But they are still no match for my Fujis though.
Even though the weather was rather cold there were hundreds of young ladies having a pick nick on the elevated walkway. I later found out that those are the house maids from the Philippines enjoying their only day off. They were everywhere on the walkway and also in the small park next to the ferry building where a group dance was going on. They filled this Sunday with life.
I was cold and tired because I just landed the night before so I decided to take the round bus around the island. In a bus I could just sit and it would be warm. It was a big mistake though. There is nothing to see except the sandy beach on Repulse Bay which I’m sure is a very nice place on a sunny and warm day but today wasn’t such a day. And on a warm day I expect it to be very crowded. So when you are on Hong Kong save your money and your time and stay away from those bus rides.
Canon PowerShot G7 X (19.932mm, f/5, 1/1250 sec, ISO125)
Canon PowerShot G7 X (8.8mm, f/4, 1/250 sec, ISO125)
Canon PowerShot G7 X (36.8mm, f/4, 1/400 sec, ISO125)
Canon PowerShot G7 X (15.06mm, f/2.5, 1/30 sec, ISO2500)
Canon PowerShot G7 X (8.8mm, f/1.8, 1/8 sec, ISO250)
I should mention the Canon G7X one more time. While I didn’t enjoy the shooting experience I liked the fact that I had a rather long lens with me. The Canon has a 24-100mm lens. In my usually small Fuji setup the longest lens is my XF 35/1.4 R which is a 50mm equivalent and that’s a huge difference. I really love the container ship image I took with the lens at 100mm. The light was special and so was the colour of the water. This shot only works because of the light and the compression caused by the tele lens. I would love to have a light and small tele lens for my Fuji. Something like in the 80 to 100mm range with an aperture of f4 to keep it small and light. But I guess I’m the only one.
The last three images show the skyline of Hong Kong at night. On Sunday I was watching the laser show with the crowd on the water front. On Monday night I was invited by my distributor to a fancy restaurant in one of the skyscrapers and the view from their terrace was truly special.
The meal was too and the first course was Speck (raw bacon). Cut in small slices like my grandfather used to eat it. I told him that this course reminds me on my childhood. And then he talked about his childhood. When he was a kid his family could eat meat only two times a year and I remembered that my mother told me that she was underweight as a teenager and that meat was something very special in the years after the war.
It’s amazing how Europe and most places in the world have developed within the last century. We quickly take for granted what we have today but most of us just have to look at the life of their parents or grandparents to see that life was very different when they were young.
Canon PowerShot G7 X (20.495mm, f/2.8, 1/8 sec, ISO400)