Hong Kong: February 20, 2011

(Tip: Click on photos to see a larger version, or go to: www.ronalddunlapphotography.com.)

All material including photographs are ©2011 Ronald Dunlap / Doglight Studio

This morning, when I walked out of the Holiday Inn at 8:30, I was surprised to find that it was Marathon Sunday in Hong Kong. The race starts here in Kowloon, just up Nathan Road a bit from the hotel, so the streets were humming with anticipatory energy. I snapped a lot of shots as runners jogged up to the starting area in their dressed-to-impress running togs.

The side streets seemed to be mostly deserted, and I had no trouble zipping in and out of BK to get my usual HKD 23 breakfast. After this sunny meal, I was all smiles as I made my way past the American and European high-end boutiques that lined Kowloon's streets on my way to the Star Ferry.

Last night, I had perused the day's take and wasn't happy. A lot of my images needed to be reshot, because they weren't up to my usual tack-sharp standard. In HK, it's extremely difficult to use a tripod, because in most places there is hardly room enough to stand. So even after I boosted the camera's ISO up to 6400, the long exposures were still creating a myriad of problems.

Over on the Hong Kong side of the bay, I got another Rickshaw Bus day pass and headed back to Hollywood Road. The skies were still slate gray as I stepped down from the bus at the Man Mo Temple stop. The temple was again overflowing with visitors, so I headed west on HR (Hollywood Road), trying to remember where I'd shot what.

I used all the tricks they teach you in school: take a deep breath, let half of it out, very gently squeeze the trigger, sorry, I mean button, and hope for the best. I reshot everything that was on my list, then left HR and headed down to Cat Street. CS is really more of a lane or alleyway than a street. It's also more appealing to most casual visitors than Hollywood Road. One of the greater advantages is that you don't have to break the imaginary plane of reciprocity by opening the door to a deserted gallery and dealing with an expectant merchant who comes wearily out to greet you. Most of the Cat Street merchants display their wares on tables out in the lane, so you can peruse to your heart's content without requesting an audience.

I was browsing amidst the different tables when I came across what looked to be a commercial poster from before World War II. It must have been 70 or so years old, but the image of a "Shanghai Girl" was still in great shape. I wasn't sure what the poster was advertising — either beauty products, Camel cigarettes, or both — but I was sure it would make a great gift for a snow-bound friend of mine. I bargained with the owner, and finally we settled on a price that included photos of her holding up my purchase. I counted out the HKD 55 and she shyly held up the poster as I moved her around to get the best light. This is one of my favorite shots from this trip; she and the poster look amazing.

I shot for a while longer, then it started to rain harder. I dashed back to the bus stop just as the purple and pink metal behemoth was pulling up. I thankfully climbed into the lower deck where I and my camera were semi-safe from being soaked.

It was hard to see much through the fogged-upped windows on our 30-minute ride back to the dock area. I wasn't sure what to do. I didn't want to go back to the hotel to sit in my room, so I decided to get on board the H1 bus and see what that part of HK looked like.

I was the only passenger on the lower deck for the next hour or so as the bus cruised through bouts of on-again, off-again rain, past the many shopping areas that HK is famous for but that I really didn't have any interest in visiting.

I don't mind the rain in the tropics, but when it's cold I hate it. I feel like the Wicked Witch of the West, afraid I'm going to melt into a slag heap of self-pitying tissue.

It was only drizzling when I got back to Kowloon. On the ferry, I made sure my camera was dry and zipped-up tight in its rain coat before we exposed ourselves to the elements again on our walk back to the hotel. A couple of blocks from the Holiday Inn, I sighted a stationery store and stopped in to purchase a mailing tube for the Shanghai Girl's journey to Minnesota.

Diagonally across the street from the stationery store was a branch of The Spaghetti House. Since I hadn't had any lunch, I walked over to grab an early dinner, but unfortunately, when I got up to the second floor, I found there was a line out the door, so I headed to the 7-Eleven to load up on more junk.

I spent the evening transferring files, doing maintenance on my equipment, and snacking on yogurt drinks and sundry other bad things.

Hong Kong: February 19, 2011

(Tip: Click on photos to see a larger version, or go to: www.ronalddunlapphotography.com.)

All material including photographs are ©2011 Ronald Dunlap / Doglight Studios

Gray again this morning.

I made my way up to the same Burger King as yesterday and had the same inexpensive (HKD 23/$2.96 US) breakfast. As soon as I'd finished, I headed for Raja Fashions, the Bespoken Tailor on Cameron Road. I had decided to give them a try, there was something about Sam's Tailor that was a bit off-putting (just a guess — there's really no telling until you commit).

I walked the few blocks over to Cameron Road and loitered on the corner for five minutes so that I'd arrive at the stroke of 9:30 for my appointment with Andy, the sales representative I'd spoken with the night before. Raja Fashions has been located in this smallish storefront for the past 40 years. The place must be 15 feet wide by 45 feet in depth; luckily, it has a high ceiling so it's not totally claustrophobic.

Inside, I asked for Andy and was told that he was out sick but that another tailor would be assigned to take my measurements and handle my order. Opinion: This is a sales ploy used by many tailoring establishments to shirk responsibility. You never deal with the same person twice, so any deal you make with one salesperson is totally denied by the next. Which can make the whole process very cumbersome and quite disagreeable if you are unhappy with the end product.

The whole process took about 45 minutes. During that 45 minutes, we agreed upon a style, price, suit material, jacket lining, shirt material, and, most importantly, a timetable. My first fitting was in two days.

Info: If you are unfamiliar with the "Bespoken" process, you should do some research and be a lot more informed that I was. Don't rely on the Bespoken staff to guide you to what you want, as you'll end up in an unpleasant dispute when you see the results. It is a little stressful to tell them to get fucked, that they can keep your deposit, you're leaving if they don't make it right, and then stick by your guns until you are satisfied.

Info: For fittings, I found it best to arrive between 5 and 7 p.m. During those two hours, most of the establishment's staff will be present and the whole process will go much smoother. If you come before or after, the staffing will be hit-and-miss, and so will your fittings.

I again used my Octopus Card for the ferry passage. After landing, I walked over to the Rickshaw Sightseeing Bus (www.rickshawbus.com). They have two routes that cover the same territory as that of the Big Bus (www.bigbustours.com) but without the recorded descriptions and at a third of the price. I purchased a day pass for HKD 50 ($6.14 US) and hopped on the H2 bus. I was off to search for antiques that I couldn't afford.

I got off the bus at the "Man Mo Temple" stop (the temple is a tribute to the God of Literature [Man] and the God of War [Mo]). The place was over-crowded with visitors, and smoke from the incense was over-powering. No way to get a clear shot, so I left and walked west on HR (Hollywood Road). It was still early, and most of the shops hadn't opened yet. The shop windows were filled with great objects that I was able to photograph without the hassle of store owners yelling at me. Photo Hint: If you can place the front of your lens directly against the surface of the glass, you will eliminate the reflections from the surrounding area.

I got a few great shots, but in most cases there just wasn't enough light to get a clear (non-shaky) image. At the west end of HR, the road makes a looping hairpin to the north. Just as you are beginning the turn, you come upon Cat Street, where "antiques" are less than old. This street is much more free-form than HR, with lots of flashy stuff to take home for gifts.

One of the first dealers was a seller of photographic reprints. I'm always looking for reference material, so I spent a while going through his stock. He had lots of shots of Hong Kong at the turn of the 20th century, and I was attracted to a large print of parked rickshaws. The shop owner's disposition reflected the weather — a little overcast — and it took a while for our conversation to take on a more congenial tone. We finally agreed on a price, with the proviso that I could photograph him with the print. I think it's a great photograph, and it truly reflects the tone of our transaction. I could just hear him thinking "Goddamn Tourist."

Opinion: It's a delicate thing to pursue someone to let you take their picture, and make it known that you're not trying to humiliate or degrade them in any manner. I try hard not to practice "photographic imperialism" (just because you have the means doesn't mean you have the right to capture other people's images); that's the reason I try to ask and pay a little something. But sometimes an image is so irresistible, I can't stop myself.

After my purchase, I continued west to the end of the street, then made the jog up some stairs back to HR. I continued west, stopping at Edmond Wong Antiques. The store window had opium paraphernalia displayed in it. The pipes were especially beautiful, made of silver, ivory, and ebony. I stepped inside and waited until the shop's representative appeared. She said there was a 60%-off sale going on. I priced several of the items, but they were still way beyond what I could spend. She let me take a couple of pictures and I left.

Tip: Antique reproductions in Hong Kong are so good, it's almost impossible to tell them from the genuine article, so if you're not an expert, find someone who is. When the asking price is thousands of dollars, you want to make sure you are getting the real McCoy.

Info: When I was younger, I'd seen lots of Hollywood movies portraying the inscrutable Chinese dragging the naive Westerner down into the "White Lady's Lap" of opium addiction. But in fact, it was Westerners, with the use of military force, who brought commercialized opium production and addiction to China. England, Portugal, France, the United States, and many other nations used the opium trade as a means to enslave a large portion of the Chinese people, allowing the foreign Taipans to accumulate massive fortunes and to export much of China's riches back to their home countries.

I went back to the Man Mo Temple bus stop and waited for the Rickshaw Bus to make its circuit. I showed the driver my day pass as I re-boarded and then climbed the spiral staircase to the upper deck. It was a few more stops until the bus got to the "Peak."

I had to use care crossing the road to get to the tram ticket office. Once I had made it past the rushing autos, I paid HKD 36 for a round-trip ticket to the top of Hong Kong's highest hill. The tram car was just arriving as I got in line. Almost immediately, the tram was full. I grabbed one of the last seats just as we began to chug up the hill. The view from the tram wasn't auspicious, and I suspected that I was wasting my time.

The "Peak" is one large commercial endeavor: a shopping mall on multiple levels connected by a series of escalators. When you exit the tram, you're on the lowest level, and to get to the much-advertised view of the former British colony, you must run the gantlet of every kind of souvenir imaginable, priced at least double that of what you can find them for down below. I finally found my way to the vista, and it was totally socked-in. I took several shots of the fog/cloud-bound facilities and headed back down.

I was wet and cold when I got back to the Star Ferry. I switched the Canon 5D over to movie mode and filmed a little of the ferry crossing back to Kowloon. The seas seemed calm from the dock, but once you were on the boat you got to experience the real power of the waves.

After exiting the boat house, I walked past a giant ground-level billboard for Baume and Mercier watches and through the darkening street, back to the Holiday Inn to dry off and change.

I had a snack of Diet Coke and chips and then got the camera and headed back out to see if I could find something interesting to shoot in the chilly Kowloon night.