2016 - China? - Hong Kong, Part 1 of 2

February, 2016.

Hong Kong; the land that is China, but not really China. This trip marks my fifth trip to the place that my family is from, but this post will be split into two separate posts, as I arrived for a few days, and then left for China for the Lunar New Year’s holidays, then back to Hong Kong for a week before flying back home to Toronto. Yes, this blog post is terribly late, but I felt it was about time to post, especially since I’m on a 3 hour drive to Sudbury, Ontario. Yes, it is now September at the time of writing.

To start my trip in Hong Kong, I broke my fancy newish camera, my Sony A7Sii because the Hong Kong humidity just didn’t seem to get along with it. Moisture sucks, and Sony’s $4000 CAD camera isn’t at all weather-sealed. Wished I kind of did what this guy did, because its complete and utter shenanigans for a $4000 camera to breakdown this easily, but now I’m $800 further invested in repairs and moving on with my life. As the winner of the “Worst Asian Ever,” I could’ve tried reviving my Sony A7Sii in a tub of rice to dry it out; I was in Hong Kong after all, but I clearly screwed messed that up. This was the last photo I took before my camera ended up going on the fritz, whilst on a bus heading to the boonies to meet up with my friend that I was staying with.

Shot somewhere in West Kowloon. Sony A7Sii with Sony 35mm f/2.8, shot at F/14 at 1/50. Edited on VSCO on the OnePlus 2.

From there I met up with my host and homeboy, Andrew Tso, and another Canadian friend, Sir Doctor Ronnie Yip, and just explored the city with some roofs and street shooting.

Sir Doctor Ronnie Yip overlooking a roof in Mongkok, Hong Kong. Shot on the OnePlus 2, F/2, 1/17 sec. Shot in RAW, edited on Snapseed and VSCO.

Andrew bathing in the Mongkok Neon Glow, in Mongkok, Hong Kong. Shot on the OnePlus 2, F/2, 1/17 sec. Shot in RAW, edited on Snapseed and VSCO.

Loitering in Ho Man Tin, Hong Kong, with Sir Doctor Ronnie Yip. Shot on the Fujifilm XT-1 on the 18mm, F/3.2, 1/60 sec. Shot in RAW, edited in Lightroom.

Chilling in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, with Sir Doctor Ronnie Yip. Shot on the Fujifilm XT-1 on the 23mm, F/4, 1/3 sec. Shot in RAW, edited in Lightroom.

Loitering at the Apple Store in Causeway Bay. It’s also exactly how excited Andrew is about the new iPhone 7. Shot with the OnePlus 2, F/2, 1/100 sec. Shot in RAW, edited in Lightroom.

Prior to me leaving for China for the Lunar New Year festivities, I invited my clutch friend — Elaine Li hooked me up with a camera rental through Kiyoshi Lam for breakfast. I insisted breakfast being on my treat since she help hook up the camera connect, but I was too stupid, or she was too fancy, and I couldn’t end up paying for breakfast so I had her pitch in. 

Snapchat revenge; pre filter era.

The fanciest HK breakfast I’ve ever had.

Shortly after breakfast, I crossed over into China, panicking, because I realized on the way there I had to set up all my other digital accounts such as Outlook and WeChat, several VPN apps, and also download all my Google apps as fast as I could, because I remembered the Great Chinese Firewall would block all my access to the free world. And luckily I did, because trying to use Chinese apps while not being able to read Chinese made it an interesting two weeks.

Next up, Shenzhen.