Author: Willem

Alright, it’s the last day of the old Lunar Year, and the first day of three holidays in many Asian countries, to usher in the new Lunar New Year.  Kung Hei Fat Choi  (May Prosperity Be With You)  says the South China Morning Post.    I am at Hong Kong airport and about to depart for Narita airport in  Tokyo and then on to Seattle.

It was gray and rainy today in Hong Kong, so I went to the International Commerce Center at Kowloon station.  The ICC is the tallest skyscaper in Hong Kong at 108 floors, and the 4th tallest in the world.    The mall in its basement had two Tintin displays going : one based on ‘The Blue Lotus’ and the other on ‘Destination Moon’.  (These are titles in  a series of classic Belgian comic books written and illustrated by Hergé with Tintin, his dog snowy and captain Haddock).   Check out the golden dragon’s detail .. very nicely done !     The tree circled by the dragon is in the lobby entrance to the offices of ICC.

The lamp posts with red lanterns are from Shenzhen. My colleagues and I made our way to Hong Kong to take a few days out from the project over the Lunar New Year holiday.  In the next picture we are on the Tsing Ma suspension bridge on the way to Lantau Island. The dragon on the magazine is from my Marriott Sky City hotel room.  I canceled my plans to go to Korea for a few days. I really need a little dose of home, even though it’s only for 5 days or so.  Besides, Seattle will have temperatures of 4 to 8°C (40 to 47°F), a whole lot warmer than the – 10 to -3°C (14 to 27°F ) forecast for Seoul ! (picture from KBS TV).

The Yantian Sports Center is from my walk around 8.00pm last night, so it is here in Dameisha. The big exploding firecracker is one of two or three dozen, viewed from my hotel balcony at 10.00 pm last night.  It makes a <<<REALLY BIG BANG>>> !  Take coverrr!  LOL.  That’s the Dameisha Beach ‘Evil Eye’ Tower in the background. (The tower is not evil  – it just reminds me of that tower with the eye in the Lord of the Rings movies).

Our hotel lobby has gotten this striking Lunar New Year tree with the little hong bao envelopes.   These are handed out at family and social gatherings such as those for the Lunar New Year (the ones on the tree are just for decoration and as symbols of prosperity).  Some pointers : the amount of money in an envelope should end in an even digit but not a 4, and it is best to put a single crisp note in (so that the envelope is not bulky).   I bought the little envelope with the happy guy on just for fun – there are many many different designs available but the color is always red.   The classic red lantern is from the entrance lobby of our offices at work.

Shenzhen’s first government-funded bicycle rental system has started trial operations here in the Yantian District. The bikes in the picture are from right across the street from my hotel. A total of 3,000 bicycles would be put into use in the early stage of the operation and will eventually reach 5,000.  We – the lǎowàis (foreigners) – are not sure we will qualify for the rental cards that are issued for using the bikes. Residents are to pay 200 yuan (US$32) of deposit for the card while others need to pay 500 yuan (US$80) for each card.  Then it is free to rent a bike for up to one hour, after which each additional hour will cost 2 yuan each.

Will the program be a success?  That is not at all assured .. here’s a report from Paris, France in Wikipedia’s entry (search for ‘Bicycle Sharing Systems’) :
A resurgence in bike sharing programs is attributed by many to the launching in 2007 of Paris’s Vélib’, a network of 20,000 specially designed bicycles distributed among 1450 stations throughout Paris. Vélib’, inspired by Lyon’s seminal Vélo’v project, is now considered the second largest bike sharing system of its kind in the world. While the Vélib’ program may be considered a success in terms of rider usage (daily use averages between 50,000 to 150,000 trips), a staggering 80 percent of the original 20,600 bicycles have been destroyed or stolen. Some Vélib’ cycles have been found in Eastern Europe and North Africa, while others have been dumped in the Seine River, hung from lampposts, or abandoned on the roadside in various states of disrepair, forcing the City of Paris to reimburse the program operator an estimated $2 million per year for excess costs under its contractual agreement.

I caught a glimpse of these buildings in the Shenzhen central business district before and had time Saturday to go check them out up close.    They belong to the largest non-government developer of commercial properties in Shenzhen, the Excellence Group.   These buildings are called the Excellence Century Center.   The first picture was taken late afternoon .. those HAPPY NEW YEAR letters are enormous!, each two storeys tall.    The next two pictures are drawings, showing their location close to the Shenzhen Exhibition Center (flat building with the curved roof in the foreground).  The red blow-up arch, the kitty kat KFC billboard, and the street vendor selling pink and white mice-with-wheels-on-a-string were by the Exhibition Center.   Next stop was a department store Jusco close by where I found the plush dragons (2012 is the Year of the Dragon) and the anime-eyed little guy with the rosy cheeks in a red star uniform.   And then it was dark and I knew I had to go back to the Excellence Center buildings to catch them showing off in the dark.