Hong Kong, day 3
'Tis me again, yours truly, reporting - or perhaps more humbly photographing and blogging - from HK.
Had a thoroughly nasty surprise a bit earlier. Since I left home without the cable used to connect my camera to my computer, had to transfer my photos using an SD card reader bought on the cheap in Seoul a couple of days ago. For some reason, I wasn't able to transfer all, or even most, of the great many photos taken in the course of a gruelling day's walking around town. When I put the SD card back in my camera, lo and behold, it was empty. Not a nice feeling. Happily, with broadband wifi in my room, and the appropriate app, was able to recover almost everything (and nearly every photo ever taken with my Df !!!). I've now uploaded a selection to my web-site, though haven't yet set up a portfolio to make them viewable, so do bear with me on that for a few more days (as with my Seoul pics).
Even so, I suddenly regretted not having taken one of my film Nikons along too, with its uterly dependable lack of gadgetry.
While I'm on that topic, I happened upon a veritable treasure trove of classic (film) cameras, most of them in pristine condition. In Kowloon, shopping arcade at 16 Kimberly Road. Nikons, Leicas, Voigtländers, 'Blads, Rolleis galore, with lenses and the whole lot, in any of 5 or 6 specialist shops. Warrants a pilgrimage (though didn't purchase anything myself).
As I walked in Kowloon on the main shopping drag, it sudden struck me that the shops, i.e. the big, desirable ones, were not only much the same as anywhere else (Cartier, Prada, Armani, Rolex, Zara and the usual suspects), but were, more to the point, western. There didn't seem to be any local, or Asian, equivalents (with the sole exception perhaps of Shanghai Tang). Nor are there any Asian equivalents on our high-streets in the West. The fact that this last remark may seem slightly ridiculous is, I would argue, a testament to the validity of my point, namely that for some reason, westerners are role-models for the world. Here's another example thrown in: there seem to be a few local chains/brands equivalent to Starbucks - but that's just it: they model themselves after Starbucks !
And why is there such a market for skin-bleaching creams in many parts of the world ? Why (according to an article I read a while ago) is South Korea such a market for plastic surgery aiming to widen the eyes ? It rather looks like the same, unaccountable desire to look like westerners.
Since it's just before 1am here, I'll leave it to you to ponder this riddle...
