The quick link to my spanking new photo album is up on the side bar, and it'll be updated once I go on my weekly jaunts. The link is missing for some of my archives, because Blogger will not finish republishing the template changes. Grumble.

Here're some of the albums available right now:

Hong Kong Park

Stanley Market

Repulse Bay

Streets of Hong Kong

Arriving on a Jetplane

Streets

I met in the street a very poor young man who was in love.
His hat was old, his coat worn, his cloak was out at the elbows,
the water passed through his shoes -- and the stars through his soul.
- Victor Hugo

Times Square Hosted on Zooomr

The streets of Hong Kong resemble a capricious grand dame. At times stunningly resplendent with its skyscrapers of glass, concrete and modern angles. At times alarmingly downtrod with buildings packed together like canned food in the local supermarket. Walk along a busy street (or shuffle, most likely) and you'll feel the pulsing beat of the city. Turn a corner, and you may suddenly find yourself in a quiet little corner, seemingly forgotten by time. That is the charm of this city, this marked contrast of old and new, of dull and shiny, of silence and bustle.

Old and the New Hosted on Zooomr

Housing conditions, while improving, can nonetheless be shocking to newcomers. Step into areas stripped of the glamourous sheen that permeates Central and Soho, and it is almost as if you have stepped into a bygone era.

Typical Housing Hosted on Zooomr

What lies beyond the next corner?

Azure Spread Hosted on Zooomr

... and they all begin with Zooomr.

Sign up with Zooomr, follow these instructions, and activate your whopper Zooomr pro account for 0% of the cost of Flickr's pro account. Go. Now.

What happens when you think that the "delicates" on the dryer equates "your clothes will get dried gently"? This:

Space never seemed so essential back home.

And no, I'm not ninny enough to wash my shoes in the washing machine. The kitchen receives the most sun in the morning, perfect for drying "half-ruined-from-a-sudden-downpour-right-when-you-decide-to-visit-Repulse-Bay" shoes. But that's another story for another entry of the Ninny Diaries.

Dry dammit, dry. I'm out of underwear.

Sky

Above the world is stretched the sky,
No higher than the soul is high.
- Renascence, Edna St. Vincent Millay

The Heaven Divide Hosted on Zooomr

It is a majestic sight, even from behind the small window of the pitching aircraft. The clouds are seemingly ethereal against the azure sky, yet real enough to coagulate into a boundless continent. It is a sight that could have formed out of the imagination of a young child who is dreaming of wings, learning of heaven.

Surreal Continents Hosted on Zooomr

Then the plane dips. The clouds part. Gradually, the makeshift continent dissipates, leaving behind wispy remnants that are no less breathtaking. You try to peer past them, to spy the first signs of land. But the sky has dominion still, and all you see are dreamy clouds clinging stubbornly to their own Gaia. When the last of them finally fade away, your heart sighs. It will be months before your eyes get a chance to feast on such a sight again.

As the voice of the captain announces landing in ten minutes, Hong Kong draws inexorably closer. The first islands you see are like a little boy's construction model, laid out neatly and almost as if within reach.

Coast Road Hosted on Zooomr

The plane speeds past the islands, bringing you closer to a city you remember as cramped, bustling, chaotic, vibrant, noisy. Alive.