Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2014/10/23
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Your email contains a salutary lesson for some people here in Ireland who think nothing but opportunities beckon in China. No doubt they do, but there's seems to be a bit of a downside: Doug Herr might have trouble finding subjects.... Anyway, it has to be Eye Contact for me. Douglas ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jayanand Govindaraj" <jayanand at gmail.com> To: "Leica Users Group" <lug at leica-users.org>; "PSM" <psm-1857 at googlegroups.com> Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2014 5:46 PM Subject: [Leica] Hong Kong & Shanghai > Neela & I have just returned from our maiden trip to China, which kicked > off in Hong Kong and ended in Beijing, following the tourist trail about > which a friend of mine, who travels often on business across the length > and > breadth of China, calls "Showcase China". In many ways I found China > fascinating, and full of contradictions. The infrastructure is amazing, > but > quite a bit seems wasteful - Chongqing, for example seems to have a modern > suspension bridge across the Yangtze every kilometre or two, and all the > cities I visited had many unoccupied completed residential skyscrapers, > and > plenty of half finished ones where no work was apparently going on. The > cities are spotlessly clean, but the air pollution has to be seen to be > believed - we did not see the moon and stars during the whole trip save > for > the first night in Shanghai. Amazingly, there are no birds or even insects > visible in the cities at all - dead from the air pollution, I suppose. In > fact, I just saw two wild birds on the whole trip - which included four > nights on a boat on the Yangtze! Again, the way the historical sites are > preserved and protected, and the same time designed to be tourist > friendly, > in places like Xi'an and Beijing, is just very well done. Local guides > spoke surprisingly frankly to us about the pros and cons of life there, > and > gave valuable glimpses of personal history to emphasize the points made, > and were not scared of criticizing Mao, the wasteful infrastructure > spending or laws like the "One Child Policy" either. Most were college > graduates who had majored in "Tourism English"! > > Anyway, here are some pictures from Hong Kong and Shanghai. All > photographs > with the Fuji X100S or Fuji XE-1 with either the 35mmf1.4 or the 56mm f1.2 > lens mounted: > > *Hong Kong* > > Occupy Central - the few days we were there, the students seem to have > gone > home - the protests restarted the day after we left: > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141008-034.jpg.html > > Bird Garden: > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141008-079.jpg.html > > Conversation: > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141008-572.jpg.html > > Shopkeeper: > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141009-626.jpg.html > > *Shanghai* > > Pudong (Grain deliberate) a three vertical frame panorama: > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141010-190.jpg.html > > The Bund at Night: > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141010-165.jpg.html > > The Bund in Sunlight: > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141011-716.jpg.html > > Cigarette Break: > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141011-718.jpg.html > > Smartphones: > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141011-721.jpg.html > > Selfies: > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141011-743.jpg.html > > Eye Contact: > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141011-875.jpg.html > > Pei Pei: > http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141011-797.jpg.html > > Please see LARGE > > Comments and criticism, as ever, welcome > > Cheers > Jayanand > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >