Back to Guangzhou...

We leave now for a brief shopping excursion followed by our ferry back to Guangzhou.

Since I doubt I'll be able to get another update out past the Great Firewall of China, you'll have to watch the photos uploading to Smugmug.  (There are also many other photos up there and much higher resolution than the blog.)

If interested, go to www.georgereiner.smugmug.com

Scroll down below my slideshow and bio...

Click on "Travel"...

Then click on "2014 Chinese New Year"... photos are in order of date taken, so the newest ones will be at the end.

I'll see you all on Sunday!

Touring Hong Kong: Kowloon District and the Walk of the Stars

With all of Vicky's "sister's" family, we boarded the train and headed down to the Kowloon district.  I noticed that all the holiday lights were out and the trains were quite clean.  The train cars were connected and you ended up with a long open space in which to ride.

Here's where I screwed up.  I carried my tripod all the way from NJ to Hong Kong, and left it in the hotel.  As we got out of the train station, I realized that the "Walk of the Stars" (which was explained as some sort of Chinese Hollywood Walk of Fame sort of thingy was right across the harbor from the Central district on Hong Kong Island.  So instead of great long exposure shots with smooth water reflections, we'll have to live with hand held.  (Sorry.)  I did get some nice photos of everyone in front of the skyline.  Preparations were underway for the Chinese New Year celebration, so we got to see some of the rehearsals.

Finally, this morning I worked with Photoshop to stitch together a panorama...

Touring Hong Kong: Visiting Vicky's "Sister" in Lo Wu

OK, first I need to explain that I've known Vicky for going on 2 years and I've only ever known about her brother... suddenly she started talking about needing to visit her "sister" while in Hong Kong.  After a bit of discussion, I finally realized that paternal cousins are referred to as your brother and sister as well.  I'm always learning a bit more about Chinese culture.

Mu Hua (Vicky's sister), Guo Qiang (her husband), and their children Rui Juan (their daughter, also called Apple, who is Vicky's favorite niece), and Fu Wai (their son, who I got to name Frank). Live a long bus ride north of the Shatin district where we are staying.  I got a nice front seat on the upper level of the bus where I was able to take a nice sunset photo (not too bad for a moving bus).  We had dinner in a local mall and then they took us back to their development to see their house.  Their building is 40 stories high and houses over 600 families (16 to a floor).  Each apartment is maybe 1000 sq. ft. and has a small kitchen, 3 bedrooms and a small bath.

Touring Hong Kong: A Visit to Sai Kung

We are staying at the Regal Riverside Hotel in the Shatin district of Hong Kong.  This is the sort of central area right near a river.  We have a gorgeous river view.

After visiting with David last night, Vicky went to work and I worked on my blog and photos.  We then had a lunch, got some water at 7-11 and set out by bus to visit Sai Kung.

The Sai Kung district is over on the eastern part of Hong Kong and is a great little fishing village.  The place had a small downtown area, a couple of public piers and is covered with seafood restaurants and bars, along with some businesses that cater to the marine trade.  There are a fair number of westerners around, and the seafood is both huge and impressive in it's variety.  Take note of my shoe in the photo of the peapod shrimp (for scale), and see if you can find my self portrait.  Also, note the "Beep Fried" specialties at the dessert store we stopped at.

I'm in a hurry since Vicky wants to go shopping so I'll just post a bunch of photos for now...