HK

Last bit from Hong Kong. A view of the immensity of the Hong Kong area, a tiny shelf dense beyond belief, rimmed between steep hills and ocean, and a shot of the bamboo scaffolding that I was both horrified and delighted to see they still use. I first saw it in the eighties, and it still works, I guess...

Front Page

Susie and I landed on the second page of the 'Shenzhen Economic Daily', captured in a moment of capitalist glee. The one time we shopped, I swear, and it lands on the splash page. In color. The angle makes us look like Bullwinkle and Rocky at the Macy's Parade. Maybe next time I won't wear such a loud pattern...

Night at the Opera

Peggy took this shot of us backstage at the Opera, after the production of 'Bi Hai Si Lu', a wonderful show about the founding of the Han Dynasty, sort of a fairy tale wrapped in a quest rolled up in a love story - you know, Opera. It was a lot of fun, wonderful singing and dancing, and some cool visuals, the part I really love. The young star was adorable, and JC got us the photo op, and his autograph.

On Our Own

For our last day in Shenzhen we were on our own and went to visit the Dafen Art Village, a sort of quasi-old, kinda fake new art enclave in the midst of high-rise Shenzhen. It has a fascinating blend of street life and storefront small business, most of which are making oil painting copies of art - good, bad, and worse. We found great portraits of Mao, and Susie promptly bought one for her son. Luckily, in the intense heat, we found a beautiful oasis of a shop to sit in and try and cool off. It was a very calm Zen-like space, quite different from the rest of the city.

Then we headed back to the hotel and that night went to an art opening, where we met the only ironic Chinese person of our trip, a hip guy who had a sister on Long Island, wouldn't you know ... The young woman whose work was being shown was quite sweet. She did malevolent paintings of cats. Really. The gallery was in a very lovely part of the city, a small area of reclaimed warehouses that just screamed art space. I am sure it will soon be over-gentrified like all such places. Love it while you can.