Day turns to night and the surprise used HiFi gear shopping centre
I think yesterday I wrote something like 'I bet it doesnt rain at all tomorrow'. Well I lost that bet. It rained and rained and rained, and I managed to get wetter than ever. I didnt even really go anywhere, but where I ended up was about 300 metres from a subway entrance. To get back to the entrance, after an hour or so of waiting under a bridge, required running through ankle deep water. Who knows what was in that water? My socks were crunchy afterwards.
Perhaps more impressive / depressive was just how dark it was. I dont think I have ever in my life seen it so dark in the middle of the day. This was just before the real rain started, I took some photos as you will see below of how bright the lights of shops appear compared to the outside light. I think the word I am looking for is contrast.
After returning to the hotel for a shower, change of clothes and an attempt to dry my shoes a bit with a hair dryer, it was time to head out and get something for lunch. Still raining! I managed to get soaked even getting across the road to get back to my hotel, shoes got soaked through again. So now I am washing all my wet clothes, drying my shoes, and contemplating purchasing a life raft (but I still wont use an umbrella!). I am sure I will only go to the underground mall place again tonight for yet more 'more of the same', thats unless its under water! The subway station into it last night had been sandbagged.
I didnt mention above, but I had an early morning trip first up to a train station to collect my ticket for tomorrow. This went about as well as it always does. I had to line up in 4 different lines for no reason, fight people trying to push in or pay someone else to buy a ticket for them. The issue is, the only people who actually have to use the line, have no bank account, have no ID, are being paid to collect tickets for someone else, have lost their tickets (so they claim) or are unable to use a computer. So you really get to hang out with some strange characters. The whole process took about an hour, security in the ticket hall is tight, the police told me not to take photos. As a foreigner, I have to show my passport and my confirmation number to collect a ticket, I cannot use a machine to do this, I must line up. Korea is better! I printed my Korean ticket in Australia.
Now I will attempt to explain how dark it was. Notice how bright the lights in those shops are compared to the buildings around it. This is the middle of the day.
Notice how the underside of the leaves are lit up by the shop lights.
Car lights lighting up the road at 11am.
Here is a clothing market about to open at 11am.
The clothing market went through many streets. Not quite raining yet.
If you need a xmas tree in Guangzhou in Late April, this place has you covered. Lots of places seem to just have permanent xmas decorations, malls, restaurants etc.
It was raining now, this overpass had a roof. Despite my experience yesterday, I was still in denial. I was already wet at this point, but at least my feet were still dry. Then the thunder and lightning started again.
The amount of water coming off the edge of that bridge was ridiculous, not captured well in the photo but I took a video.
My safe haven was under a bridge, where old ladies sung, and a couple of guys were fishing. They actually caught fish and were very excited when they did. They were about the size of a goldfish, only not gold.
Flood.
The stance! Its back for 2019. The camera hanging from the roof is awkwardly placed behind my head. This is just after I entered the subway soaking wet and the girl manning the security point burst out laughing at me.
After a change of clothes it was time to head out again. Still raining. Still raining as I type this too. It is a little brighter here though as you can see.
I was amused by this guy. Here we have a guy carrying various things in buckets slung over his shoulder with a bamboo pole, heading towards starbucks and mcdonalds.
The last few shots from today are from a nearby former mall that is now lots of junk shops. Many of them contain second hand, possibly stolen gear. There were literally hundereds of shops selling old hifi gear. First up, heres a stall selling only speaker cables and component interconnector cables.
Lots of places selling components to repair your speakers. There were also shops dedicated to electric typewriters? Who still has one of those? And also broken down laptops for parts. If you need a specific ribbon cable from under the keyboard of a 10 year old laptop, you can get it here.
More speaker repair shops, some were doing actual repairs in store, soldering. Also you can smoke in here, It was full of chokingly bad smoke a lot of the time. Wow, chokingly is a word! I thought I made that up for sure!
Everyone got rid of their hifis and just use their phones and a bluetooth speaker. In this giant complex lots of guys have decided this is a trend that will not last, so they have stocked up on huge old hifi amps and speakers.
There was some pro audio type of gear, but it was mainly aimed at the karaoke / p.a. market. No guitar gear at all. Thats all for now!
Exploring the underground malls of the glitzy Tianhe area of Guangzhou
Tomorrow I will go back to Hong Kong. I will not need to go outside to get to my Hotel in Hong Kong. My hotel in Gunagzhou is in a mall that connects to a subway that connects to the high speed rail, that goes to Hong Kong, that connects to the Subway, that goes to a mall, that goes to my Hong Kong Hotel. Welcome to a life where fresh air is a mystery.
Before departing tomorrow, I still have one more night in Guangzhou. When I left my hotel, it was still raining... of course it was! I went to a different mall, walked around, looked at the latest Chinese mobile phones and decided that none of the restaurants in that mall would take a party of 1, as they all had parties of 10 lined up by the hundreds on little plastic seats waiting for their number to come up in the restaurant lottery. Not to worry, I know where to go.
Before taking the subway back to the main place under the tall buildings, I thought I would just stick my head outside, and see if it was raining, it was not! I can walk to my dinner! Hooray.
I was nearly killed twice.
My first near death experience is one that has been repeated many times. Electric bicycles.
The electric bike is the most dangerous invention of the 21st century. Delivery riders ride along as fast as a car goes, in pedestrian only areas, reading their phones to see where the milk tea they are delivering needs to go. These bikes are heavy as they are largely made of batteries, they also often carry a lot of cargo. I hate them. They are becoming a problem in Melbourne where I live, the problem in China is 100x worse. Ban them! Tonight one knocked me flying, the bag hanging off the back hit me, luckily it was quite a soft bag but I hit the ground.
My next near death experience was as I was walking back to the subway. I went through a small park. I heard a buzzing sound very briefly and then a large drone flashed past my head, not more than 3 foot away. This was also traveling at tremendous, imminent decapitation speed. Ban them too! I suspect they are banned from flying in parks in the centre of the city. Bring in the death penalty for drones..... and electric bikes!
If you feel like getting conjunctivitis, China has you covered. Lots of places have VR headsets you can just try on after a filthy child has had his eyes pressed into it.
If you feel like getting an ear infection, China has got your back. You can try on in ear headphones in every store. I kind of wish you could do this in Australia! They would probably clean them for each listener there. They do let you try them in Japan just like China, but I am too frightened to do that.
Coming to iPhones next year, its the popup selfie cam (the triangle on top has a camera in it, showing me live on the screen). The advantage is... no notch! And no bezel. China phones have had this for a while now, this one is an oppo but vivo also has an even better popup. Samsung is coming out with a popup soon, iphone will be last and claim they invented it. The vivo in screen fingerprint sensor was the new cool thing this time last year when I was in China. Rumor has it apple is going to invent that soon!
The top floor of the mall had a huge games arcade. Very loud, very busy. I now feel so old that I worry I will get arrested for grooming every time I go near one, especially with a camera. Anyway, for this game you sit in a classic supercar, and thats the car you play on the screen. Quite cool I thought.
Yes, it is quite a big mall. But no restaurants will take me.
The journey back to the place with hundreds of restaurants that will take me went through a kind of pedestrian street. Most things were shut here, but I like this shot because you can see the big buildings and even the tower looming large in the far distance.
I walked all the way through the mall of the world until I actually found the end. This is the end. Beyond this point is the infinite void.
Have I had Japanese style ramen yet on this trip? I dont think so. Of course I am not in Japan, but I will be for the month of November. This came from famous Japanese chain Ippudo. The Australian branches always have a huge line. No line here in China, and very cheap too, under $10 Australian.
Back above ground, and at this point it was not raining. I enjoyed the above ground park with lakes that are on top of an underground mall. Nice lighting.
They really did a very good job of this whole area. Its a great place just to wander around at night. Except there was a sudden downpour and I had to flee back underground and retreat back to my hotel!
Going to Hong Kong from Guangzhou on the new high speed rail
Now I am back in Hong Kong, and despite being under 100km away from Guangzhou, it is not raining, it is quite bright, and very hot. I suspect the weather is actually somewhat better in Guangzhou today also, and I hear 2 people died in storms in Hong Kong yesterday, so I am guessing the weather was bad here in Hong Kong too. It is probably for the best (or unfortunate depending on how much you want me dead?) that I was not here yesterday, as I probably would have foolishly climbed something in the storm and been struck by lightning or drowned.
Getting from Guangzhou to Hong Kong was very easy. I got to the Guangzhou South station way too early and walked endless laps of the very large departure hall. So large it has 4 Starbucks. However despite that, its not that large, it does not rank very high up on the list of ridiculously large Chinese train stations. There was lots to see of course. Slow trains to rural areas also depart from this station so you get a mix of rural people and Hong Kong billionaires. Lots of hunchbacks carrying their worldly possessions yelling for no apparent reason. I suspect it is because they are deaf. It would seem you can still find people in China who very rarely if ever visit a city, and are confused by the whole thing. Escalators, security screening etc.
Of course I managed to nearly get arrested.
In my large bag that I always check in for flights I have had the same small knife for many years. It comes in handy in hotel rooms in Australia and abroad in case I need to gut a pig, stab someone, or cut up an apple because I cant eat one unless its cut into pieces.
This has never been an issue before, traveling all around China getting my bag scanned every time I go on a train or subway. Today I got pulled up for it.
The police gathered around and I had no idea what they were interested in. I showed them my little nail clippers, vitamins, spare camera battery. Eventually they told me fruit knife (in Chinese). I got it out of the pocket and they snatched it off me (its in a plastic scabbard). I thought that would be it, but next thing a book comes out and I am supposed to write my name, phone number, passport number in the book. This was confusing but once I told them I dont want the knife, the book went away. Am I to presume I can take a knife on the train if I sign my name first? No idea! I am here now and was let across the border, so I guess its all ok!
Before going to the train station many hours too early I walked a lap of Guangzhou and had another brown sugar ginger latte to use up my Chinese money. As you can see, not raining. This has brought the monks out from their cave. You might recall I visited them a couple of days ago in a thunderstorm.
Here it is, the Guangzhou south train station. Not particularly large really, yet still quite large.
Dont worry! If you suddenly need new underwear while inside the train station, China has you covered. So cheap! All under $3 AUD.
Proof I am back in Hong Kong. This is the view between the high speed station and the Kowloon metro station. It is quite a long walk. As is the transfer at central to the island line. I suspect everyone who has been to Hong Kong is familiar with that long transfer. But then the exit from the station to my hotel is on top of was even further, and very deep underground. I am not complaining, I was pacing furiously all day to get as many steps as possible to complete my second ever million step month. I am on target. Some of us have pathetic goals in life.
Here is the view from my hotel window. I am already very familiar with my 10,000 neighbours. One of them yelled SHUT YOUR CURTAINS! As I stood nude waving.
And here is my strange room. I dont think I paid for single beds! Oh well, I can rent out the other bed to someone that lives in a coffin house perhaps? The room is actually quite large, but the desk is hilariously shallow. I can still sit here and type but only just! Now I will prepare myself for very hot, very humid weather. It feels 15 degrees (centigrade) hotter here than in Guangzhou just up the road.
Eating Tteokbokki in Causeway Bay
All my photos are mundane. Tonights are particularly mundane.
I could have just wandered down to Causeway bay, shot some photos of neon lit streets, gone to the food court and called it a night. But I have done that before on my numerous previous trips to Hong Kong. Not much has changed.
Instead I wandered down to Causeway bay, shot some photos of signs and rubbish, then went to the food court. This means that tonights photos can probably all be scrolled past and ignored!
On my journey I noticed that I am almost not in the minority. Around the central and admiralty areas there are more non Chinese than Chinese. Actually theres probably more Filipinos, but they are huddled together in a few hundred locations as you shall see, and as I have discussed before. Wait, I am part Chinese, not enough to change the results of this survey though.
Australian oranges are a joke. Australian fruit in general is a joke. Due to patriotic blind nationalism, we do not allow food imports for many many things, fruit included. If anyone tries to import fruit, people threaten to burn down the supermarket. Well Australian oranges are some kind of mutant species than cannot be peeled, and that have segments that do not pull apart. So when you try and eat one you get covered in juice and waste most of it. This orange on the other hand, the peel came off in one piece, the segments are all perfectly formed, and I did not even need to wash my hands afterwards. I have done this rant before, I will do it again. I have eaten 2 oranges today because they are so superior.
The first sign tonight, an education session to promote the benefits of the one country two systems policy. Controversial.
Here is somewhere heading up to mid levels. As usual, photographing a steep incline is almost pointless, but trust me, this part of Hong Kong is on the side of a steep hill. Most people know this, most people have taken a trip up the mid level escalators. Those are a terrible idea, walk you lazy bastards.
Here are some of the Filipino house servants on their day off. Potentially racist observation #1, they are not starving. Potentially racist observation #2, how come ethnically Chinese people living in Hong Kong do not hire mainland Chinese house servants? Is there a law against it?
Cool, I guess. There is a dealership for every kind of wanker car around here.
Just a random street corner with some brightly colored apartments.
I am impressed with how tall and skinny buildings can be, until they fall over. Did that ever happen?
The tall building lined up well in the gap between these old buildings. Ideally I would have used a tripod and taken 2 shots exposed differently and combined them, but that would take time and effort.
I was not sure if this was a protest, religious service or religious protest service.
I have argued with numerous people, including a non Vietnamese waitress in a Vietnamese restaurant that it is pronounced FUH, not FOH, FOO, FAR or anything else other than FUH. Hong Kong agrees with me. If you dont agree you can get pho-cked.
Those are some really nice cardboard bales! Top quality, grade 1.
In response to my mothers comment about litter and social credit systems earlier, here is Hong Kong's version. A sign warning you that cameras have been installed to catch people littering.
OK, not all the house servants / slaves are Filipino, this is Indonesian slave I mean servant street. Can you tell I dont agree with this practice? Clean your own toilets.
For no apparent reason, Times Square mega mall is now completely Dumbo themed. Is there really a new Dumbo movie? Is Dumbo the new movie franchise since in the 49th Marvel movie out tomorrow everyone dies? I do not know, but Transformers is on Hong Kong TV right now as the Sunday night blockbuster special.
And for my final photo, dinner. How predictable. Remember when I was in Korea? That was a couple of weeks ago. Here in remembrance of that, is some Korean food. TTEOKKKBOKKI to be precise. With cabbage soaked in pigs blood, Soup made out of seaweed recovered from a hairy crab tank, and a few bits of old cucumber and carrot. Delicious.
There are currently 4 comments - click to add
David on 2019-04-22 said:
I think you have a bit of a reality distortion field.
Guangzhou is not as 'nice' as Hong Kong. It is just that you have been to Hong Kong. If you actually went to Guangzhou you would probably declare it filthy, backwards, third world etc. as you do for Hong Kong.
mother on 2019-04-21 said:
you must have seriously good quality undies! HK not as pretty as Guangcho (sp). Do you think that if mainland China takes full control, they would do the place up?
David on 2019-04-21 said:
My underpants have lasted me 10 years so far, I am not about to waste money buying new ones!
mother on 2019-04-21 said:
So stock up on cheap undies and buy a new fruit knife in every place you go. That's what we do - both!
Walking up and over the peak along the morning path in dense fog
Out the back of my hotel are hills. I walked up the steep streets and arrived at some hills. The hills here are full of rich people, some of whom have declared parts of the hills off limits to anyone but them. This resulted in a few backtracks, very annoying.
Eventually I found the 'morning path'. I had no idea where it went. It didnt matter. Hong Kong island is small and has transport everywhere you go, so I followed the morning path. This wound its way up the hill past an abandoned gun battery point thing. It was very hot and humid, I was sweating profusely.
Up on the abandoned gun battery there was a group of people doing Tai Chi, and some public toilets. I had to walk all the way around the circumference of silent people holding a pose to get to the toilets, for whatever reason there was one small metal knee high pole in the path. Of course I hit that pole with full force with my knee, and comedically half fell over, half took a giant correcting step, half walked it off as if nothing had happened. The sum of those 3 halves caused a few Tai Chi'ers to lose their pose.
The morning path lead to the peak, through thick fog as you shall see. Everyone goes to the peak, large parts of it are under redevelopment, I did not stick around for too long to take photos from the 'spot', even though the fog on the view side had lifted. Instead I decided to push on over the hill and down the other side and see where that lead me.
At first it lead me through more compounds of private houses with armed guards! Scary stuff. One of them had a Lexus LFA, the greatest sounding car ever made (fact). Eventually I rejoined a path, the Hong Kong path. I think it goes for a long way in the other direction so I will probably do some more of it another day.
After following this path for a while and marveling at how hot it was and how many huge mosquitoes and warning signs about dengue fever there were, I arrived at a reservoir with a dam. Aberdeen Reservoir.
I immediately demanded to see the Earl, the inferior Earl on account of the fact I felt like a sandwich.
Aberdeen reservoir actually had a series of dams and seemed to be a nice place with various nature paths and jogging tracks, it also lead to Aberdeen, which is now recently connected to the subway, so thats where I went.
Down at Aberdeen is a floating flotilla (is there another kind?) of fishing boats, restaurant boats, rubbish boats and tourist ransom boats. I think there are some unofficial boats that take you out to a pirate island and leave you there, unless you pay a larger fee to return. No really, I read that happens!
So it was an action packed day, no rain, some sunshine, and then some dumplings.
Getting to the base of the hills requires you to walk up a steep hill called the city of Hong Kong. I refuse to use the outdoor escalators which are on the right hand side of this photo. Also when I took out my camera for the first time it was completely fogged up. I had to do a full clean of the front element with my German made $20 cloth that should have only cost 50 cents.
The morning path was actually a nice smooth concrete path. Steep in places but no stairs. I put this photo here to suggest that I hiked up some boulders.
You get a view quite soon after starting along the path. Fog was coming so I thought I better take a photo in case this was the only view I would get all day.
A bit more view, more view to come.
Now no view, fog.
The fog was thick, but since at this point it was a mini road filled with joggers, there was no chance of getting lost, no matter how hard I tried.
A waterfall in the fog. Time to go to f22 and see how slow I can set my shutter speed for some smooth looking water. Not quite slow enough.
It is a very interesting path, lots of nice trees to keep me ducking. I think I may have walked along here previously many years ago.
The morning path lead to the peak. Lots of it is currently shut. The tram is open again, I had read that was shut also. No matter how foggy it is you will know when you get there, because Gordon Ramsay has a restaurant up there, and a giant video screen with his big stupid head yelling at everyone. Obnoxious.
This is the view from the public toilets on the peak. I have taken this photo before, one handed.
Protesters protesting the Falun Gong cult. I happen to agree with them that Falun Gong is a dangerous cult. If you read into it you will find out that their leader is a billionaire, believes he communicates with aliens who control the worlds governments, and among other things was put on earth to eradicate the world of homosexuals. They do not tell you that when they are getting you to sign their petition on every Australian city street corner. I suggest you read 'Me and Li' by Ben Hurley. The protestors have a prominent spot on the peak.
I take photos of taking photos of the view. Lots and lots of Germans around today.
Last one of this side.
It was time to push on to the other side. I had no idea what would be there.
A real path, and some sunshine!
Before too long I arrived at Aberdeen Reservoir. I believe I have added a small amount to its level!
Dam 1 of 2. Nice big buildings on the hills in the fog.
The lower reservoir.
Dam 2 of 2. I am always amazed at how they build those huge buildings on the top of the hills.
The dam is quite high. Here is the drop down the other side. Also, bright sunshine!
I plodded along down the steep hill, aware that if the dam let go I would surely die, until I arrived in Aberdeen.
Now for some photos of Aberdeen port. They call it a typhoon shelter, for boats.
There are many signs warning that the water is highly polluted, do not touch it.
I climbed down to the shoreline after going as far as I could go. This is the very far side of Hong Kong island, but still giant apartments as far as the eye can see.
Time to walk along this big drain to the new subway station on the new subway line that only has 4 stations in total.
After getting back to the main part of the city, I remembered to look up. In Hong Kong, always look up. It is often interesting. But be aware of dripping air conditioners. The water is poisonous. They have signs everywhere advising that letting your air conditioner drip is an offence, and yet sometimes it feels like its raining.
To finish the day, a most basic of lunches. Celery dumplings. I assume they also had pork as they were delicious. It came with an ice milk tea for under $5.
Walking along the waterfront area of Hong Kong island
Since I was last in Hong Kong, the island side of the waterfront has been completely redeveloped. Impressively so.
First of all, the light was perfect, so tonights photos (actually late afternoon) are actually decent. What a difference the light makes!
Next up, the subject matter, and it was excellent, nice water, nice sky, nice buildings, parks, ferris wheels, hills, all the stuff people that dont take photos of people take photos of.
I walked all the way past our old friend, Sun Yat-sen, past the ferry terminals, past a new events area, past the new government buildings, past the convention centre. Basically past everything.
This brought me back to Causeway bay, but since I was there last night I took a 180 degree turn back to Wan Chai, and quickly fled from there when I go to all the expat / backpacker bars. It seems many white people living in Hong Kong got the day off today to recover from the anniversary of the crucifixion and resurrection, to celebrate they were linking arms around each others shoulder for unison vomiting in the streets while yelling ENNNGGGLLAANNNDD!!!
Here is the Sun Yat-sen memorial park. Not a mausoleum. You might notice that it is filled with largely non Asian families. The Asians are inside the tents avoiding the sun at all costs.
Some ocean, with the sun, at sunset. So oceany, so sunny.
There is Kowloon as seen from Hong Kong. Kowloon is part of Hong Kong, its where I was last week, but it is physically attached to the mainland. It is the biggest part of Hong Kong. Hong Kong island upon which I am standing to take this photo, is also part of Hong Kong, but is an island. It is the smaller half of Hong Kong (not including the many other islands). Ok?
Here is central, as seen from the coast of Hong Kong island near central, and as you can see, a fountain! I was quite pleased with this shot.
Behold, a ferris wheel. This one was celebrating 100 years of something? I believe this is all newly reclaimed land, actually I think I have a photo from when I was last here when it was a giant hole.
Looking down the harbour. These are not actually wharves used by ships anymore, just spots to take photos from attached to a new outdoor events and concert area. Giving up this much land in Hong Kong for public space seems unusual!
Have another photo of the ferris wheel.... and a big building. I photographed that building each time I came to Hong Kong.
OK, none of this was here on my lat visit. The signs suggest it is all government offices, and a huge public lawn. It looks very impressive. I am sure it was a giant mud pit last time.
As I wrote above, I felt as though I needed to flee Wan Chai due to too many idiots, so I caught the subway back to my hotel. For dinner I remembered when selecting my hotel, reviewers raving about the noodle bar over the road, so I went there. It does indeed have many newspaper clipppings on the window, and even the same tripadvisor review of the hotel I read that mentions the restaurant. Confused? Anyway, I ordered the main thing, wonton noodle soup. A small old man was making the wontons. It was nice I guess! Quite plain, very small serve. So small that I had an ice cream afterwards.
There are currently 2 comments - click to add
Barbara on 2019-04-23 said:
I like your photos from The Peak. They are so clear. Whenever I've been there it has been so foggy/polluted.
adriana on 2019-04-22 said:
i like the new buildings and the open parkland. looks nice and new compared to all the old apartment buildings that all seem to have been designed by the same architect. Got you jokes too - they are getting better.
There are currently 4 comments - click to add
David on 2019-04-20 said:
I might also add, I don't gong guangzhou to be as nice looking as many other Chinese cities. Beijing is nice but gets all the money, but even places like wuhan and chongqing and particularly xian I think are nicer.
They are more colourful and varied than grey guangzhou.
Of course the weather has not helped.
David on 2019-04-20 said:
China streets are no more or less clean than they have ever been, they have an army of people sweeping them and street scrubbing machines just like Sydney and Melbourne.
Your view is badly skewed because you live in a place with no people. To get an idea of what Australia looks like when there are a China level of people around, have a look at the footage of Flemington racecourse after the Melbourne Cup. A sea of rubbish.
Shinjuku in Tokyo gets very dirty overnight, piles of food and drink containers, vomit everywhere.
The social credit thing is not a factor, but here is a fun fact about that.
By percentage of population, there are more Australians prohibited from flying in Australia than Chinese in China, the no fly list in Australia and the USA for that matter is large but secret. I know people on it (tax fraud, failing to make child payments, bikies).
I also know people who turned up in the usa and were not allowed to enter, deported back to Australia. Their crimes were hiv+, drink driving offence in 1980, wife is Pakistani. So what's the difference?
And of course, I put my camera on something for the photo.
mother on 2019-04-20 said:
Who took the afternoon photo of you in the David pose, or did you find somewhere to balance your camera?
adriana on 2019-04-20 said:
So, what I want to know is, are the streets so clean these days because people lose points on the antisocial behaviour list or whatever it's called which leads to them not being able to go anywhere on a train or particularly overseas? Or have you only been visiting the groomed pretty areas this trip? it's all so beautiful and green and clean etc etc. Maybe all the rain has washed the filth away.