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Hong Kong: almost China at the Lo Wu gateway

I’m at the turnstiles, off to the side from the steady stream of people going through to the other side.

I’m standing on the one side in Hong Kong (香港).

The other side is the city of Shenzhen in the People’s Republic of China’s province of Guangdong (Kwangtung | 廣東 | 广东).

MTR trains come in from Hong Kong and stop here at the end of the line. People pour out of the trains, and head for Shenzhen. There are occasional lulls in between frequent arrivals and departures of the trains, reminding me I’m in the middle of the countryside and at the frontier section separating between what most people know as Hong Kong and China.

Over on the “other” side, Shenzhen is a strong economic force, helped along by its special designation as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), but there’s still a special allure for many to working inside Hong Kong’s Special Administrative Region. MTR rail passengers depart Hong Kong and enter Shenzhen at either the Lo Wu or Lok Ma Chau (Spur Line) crossings. The average cross-border passenger traffic numbers are 220,000 and 80,000 people per day, at Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau, respectively (Source 1, Source 2).

From an economic, urban planning, and logistics point of view, it’s no surprise there’s a push to amalgamate Shenzhen with Hong Kong to create a super-metropolis here at the mouth of the Pearl River. Hong Kong has over 7 million people, whereas the population of neighbouring Shenzhen exceeds 13 million. Many would like to see easier and faster movement of goods and people between the two cities, but many in Hong Kong fear an exacerbation of existing problems with overcrowding and overburdened resources.

But what of the people going back and forth? How many from China and/or Shenzhen enter Hong Kong for work or school, and reverse course at the end of every day? How many from Hong Kong go to work in Shenzhen?

I wonder what the daily routine is for someone going back and forth between Shenzhen and Hong Kong. I watch patiently, and I wonder what it’s like on the other side. I have no doubt there’s someone on the other side in Shenzhen who’s wondering the same thing.

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Karluv most, Charles Bridge, summer dawn, Prague, Praha, Prag, Czech Republic, UNESCO World Heritage Site, fotoeins.com

Praho, miluju tě | I love you, Prague

“Foreward”

With visits numbering well into double digits, my affection for the Czech capital city of Prague remains undiminished, even in the midst of surging summer or winter crowds. When I’ve been in danger of being swamped, I veer off to a side street or quiet park; I’ll also wait for the relative solitude of nightfall or dawn. The magic is knowing I haven’t strayed very far from the big sights.

How I ended up chasing dreams over cobblestone streets, past the thousand spires and ornate facades, and across centuries of European art and history, has exceeded the limits of my imagination.

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Photobook 1: “Basilian Days”

Basil is one of the oddest felines I’ve ever met. As an aging cat, he’s slowed down some, but what’s always true is he’s unique. He allows very few into his personal space, and I’m honoured I got to be one of the selected few. For friends and caretakers, I wanted to make this short 20-plus page photobook highlighting his “ornery” character and how he spends his sleepy days. I wanted something tangible and on record showing he was around to enrich my friends’ lives for many years. I photographed Basil in Sydney, Australia from March to May 2013.

The first time I met Basil was in 2002 in the German university town of Heidelberg. Whenever my friends were on travel, they asked me to stop by their apartment and to ensure Basil had enough food and water. Occasionally, the encounters were fraught with uncertainty: he’d sit in an inconvenient place, and suddenly leap across to “attack” or “bat at” my feet as I walked past. I thought I was the only one to whom he’d react in this way; clearly, he sensed danger in my Canadianness. Eventually, we realized other visitors witnessed and experienced the same thing. I admit I was a little disappointed.

Basil is a well-loved cat, and he knows it. He’s lived in the U.S., Germany, England, and Australia. Through all of the moves, an important change over time has been the availability of a backyard, an open space into which Basil can roam and monitor his domain. After a number of visits with friends, Basil and I have come to an informal yet “mutual and beneficial understanding”: I ply him often with canned tuna, and he agrees not to draw blood from my legs. It’s really quite simple, but I know he’s free to change the terms of the agreement at any time.

Basil is now 16 years old, and he’s beginning to show signs of his age: overall appetite has diminished, he’s slowed down, and he’s sleeping a lot more. But tap a fork against a can of tuna, his eyes light up, and he’ll rush into the kitchen for a round of “furry figure-8’s” around my legs in anticipation.

Thanks to MB and DZ, for giving this hobo a place to stay, and for trusting me to ensure Basil’s well-being over the years. Basil, I know you don’t trust easy, but when you finally allowed me to pet you on your fuzzy head, I knew it was a big deal; I just never realized I’d learn something new about my own trust issues from a cat.

This photo-book is for you all, a family of three.

I produced and published the photobook, “Basilian Days”, in June 2013. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-48G.

PostScript: Basil passed away in Sydney, Australia on 18 December 2015 after 18 years, surrounded by hairless bipeds who loved him.

Berlin Gleisdreieck: winter vs. summer

Gleisdreieck (“railway triangle”, “triangular junction”) is a U-Bahn train- and junction-station at the western end of the Kreuzberg district in the German capital city of Berlin.

The station has both upper-level and lower-level platforms serving lines U1 and U2, respectively, although both sets of track are raised above ground. At Gleisdreieck, the U1 line runs west-east, whereas the U2 line runs perpendicularly and temporarily “north-south”.
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Karluv most, Charles Bridge, dawn, Prague, Czech Republic, UNESCO World Heritage Site, fotoeins.com

The shape of things to see and spot

Come here early enough, and it’s just a few early risers, dedicated runners, and well, me. There’s plenty of space to move around and change the angle of how I’m seeing things. Sure enough, there’s a bright circular halo surrounding the famous St. John of Nepomuk statue. With the rising sun in the background, the back-lit view has other bridge fixtures, some buildings, and the tall sharp dual spires of the Church of Our Lady Before Týn in silhouette. Image: 1/640s, f/8, ISO100, 18mm focal length (29mm full) with Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II lens.

“Shape” is a noun whose meaning is synonymous with:

form, appearance, configuration, formation, structure; figure, build, physique, body; contours, lines, outline, silhouette, profile.

It is one of the many “pieces” of good photography, and when the separate pieces come together, there’s something beautiful to behold, even perhaps, thought-provoking and inspiring.

I’m not going to pretend my photographs are absolute “championship” quality, but I know and understand my photographs are often worth a good long look. Here is a small selection of shapes I’ve seen from around the world with my trusty Canon EOS450D (XSi) camera (which has since given way to the 6D).

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