| Tuesday, July 03, 2007 |
| The Great Chinese Take-away |
On Sunday we joined some friends to celebrate ten years since Hong Kong moved back to China. Was funny to think that, in a way, we were also celebrating the demise of the British empire.
British people, and English speaking people generally call the event the 'handover', although I have heard that in Chinese the word used is more accurately translated as 'takeover'. I guess it depends on your perspective as to whether you were handing over the territory or taking it back. But the best description I have heard was 'The Great Chinese Take-away'!
There were some pretty cool fireworks, including some mixed with lasers set off from the tops of about 50 of HK's skyscrapers. Must have been a nightmare to coordinate all those to go off at the same time. Two of our friends from Sydney were involved - one guy that works for a fireworks company that supplied and set up the fireworks and another who works for the software company that built the computer system that ran the laser show. They certainly did a pretty good job.
Of course, I couldn't help giving the 'fireworks' setting on our camera a go, as did everyone else. You can see the results in the picture...
There was an amazing black cloud left behind after half an hour of fireworks. Not quite as bad as a few years back when there was no wind and you couldn't see any of the fireworks. Anyway, I tried to take a few before and after shots of this cloud, with almost all of HK island hidden from view behind it. But it's strangely hard to take a photo of a big cloud of nothingness. So I won't bother to post them here. Instead, here's another of the fireworks that created the black cloud.
.JPG)
It's amazing want a special event does for inspiration. Even our friend the silent programmer blogged, as did KT. Michelle gave it a mention, and Phil took this video of the fireworks standing next to us.
Another highlight from Sunday was that we got to have lunch at Brantos (aka 'The Chris & Athania restaurant' - See Michelle's blog for the reason behind the name change) for the first time in ages, catching up with good friends Chris and Athania, back from LA for the summer. Thanks, Michelle, for capturing the event so aptly, so we just need to link to you! And thanks, Chris and Athania, for coming to visit. Great to have you guys back!
|
posted by Mike & Helen @ 6:22 PM   |
|
|
|
.JPG)
