Window Shopping Hong Kong Style

My Dear Great Ones,

I have raved on and on about amazing Hong Kong in this blog.  This city/territory is truly an architectural, engineering, cultural, and natural wonder.  It is also a world class shopping/fashion center, up there with New York, London, and Paris.  In fact Hong Kong promotes itself as a shopping mecca and many fly in to shop.  Shopping. Ugh.  For me I would much rather get up at 6:00 am to bike 20 kilometers on a rainy, blustery day, followed by a swim in the ocean with senior citizens; watch the sunset from a mountain top; sweat profusely for two hours playing floor hockey;  ride the waves on a body board then go shopping.  Hate shopping.  It is so boring.  

Yet, despite my heavy handed cynicism , I have gained an awareness, due to a special someone, that fashion designer brands like Gucci, Coach, LV, Ralph Lauren are important to some people.  And they greatly influence price.  A lady's handbag that you can get at an open air market here for about 10 dollars Canadian suddenly jumps in price to about 3000 Canadian due to putting a label on it like Gucci, or Coach.  Ok the quality of the bag is a bit better, but really is it that much better?  I had to laugh the other day in Shenzhen.  Went to a market there with Celia and she was offered a nice handbag for a "good price."  Labels like Victoria Secret, Gucci, or Coach could also be put on the bag free of charge.  Yeah, that about says it all for me when it comes to "branding."Brands prey on our egos.  Sucker!

Yet, what I do find interesting here in Hong Kong is the psychological tricks that the clothing industry, in particular, use to lure customers into their stores.    The competition for customers is so intense here  that stores create interesting and I admit, at times very absurd, yet artistic,  even dazzling displays to lure people/money in.   Seriously, Hong Kong should consider providing tours to see the most elaborate displays.  Here is a small sample of what I mean:

Women's clothing.

Women's clothing and accessories.  Note the tree.  It is made of:

...Pencils!

Men and Women's clothing.  A car made of plastic horses with riders on it.  Weird I know.  But interesting for sure.

Clothing store with a camera made of film containers.  Hmmm.

A giant chair and table set in front of several "boutique," stores.  Cool.

Shoes emerging out of a lawn.  

Art shoes.  Mountain and desert.  Huh?

Two bags and two pair of shoes in a window display.  Louis Vuitton  ah huh 

A suitcase store.  Find suitcases.

Ah huh.

Lanterns extra.

What a dragonfly and a moth have to do with jewelry is a mystery to me.

Have a great week everyone!

Love adios and ping on!

Dirk

Butterfly Park

My Dear Wonderful Ones,

Hong Kong, as I have said over and over and over is a place that continues to surprise me.  I have the great fortune to live near the Shing Mun country park, 44 sq km of jungle, mountains, wildlife, and a butterfly park.  Yep located in the park is an area where some, in my opinion, smart people, planted some odontenema cuspidatum, which are reknowned for attracting butterflies, in a concentrated area and set up some nice walk ways.  Hong Kong is home to @240 species of butterflies.  Some are as big as bats.  While I don't consider myself an expert on butterflies, I do find this little treasure of a park very interesting.  Below are a few samples of the butterflies that frequent it:

Entrance to the park.  Free of charge and open.  My kind of price and environment.

A Great Mormon.

Great Morman.

Paris Peacock.

Common Indian Crow

A little territorial dispute between a few butterflies erupted while I was at the park.  A butterfly fight.  Terrible.

Ok you are right if you determined that this is not a butterfly.  Just thought I would throw it in as a bonus picture.  And it is not at the butterfly park either.  But this monster of a spider, located on lamma island, is about as big as a man's hand.  I thought its colors were beautiful in a creepy way.

Amazing what God has created.

Have a great week.

Love adios and ping on!

Dirk

A Road Less Traveled By...

The Road Not Taken

BY ROBERT FROST

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Hello Most Excellent Ones,

Ok I am going to go out on a limb here and give my own interpretation of Robert Frost's famous poem.  Probably not accurate, but art is in the eye of the beholder.  In our journey through this time on Earth we have opportunities to do the "safe," "reasonable," thing, one whose outcome is fairly predictable, or we can choose to go a little "dangerous," an "adventure," not sure where it will lead us.  Four years ago I took the road less traveled by.  I gave up the security of a home, job, church, close proximity to friends, and family and headed to Hong Kong.  There were many who said they never would have done what I did.   Yet it was pretty safe.  It was only a two year deal, I could always come back.  But after the two year deal was done, I decided to continue on my journey on the "one less traveled by."  No question, there has been some tough times; some hard setbacks; yet as I travel down this road, "my one less traveled by,"  I can certainly claim that what I have experienced and seen has been above and beyond my imagination. I have learned and experienced so much.  It has made all the "difference" in seeing the World and "life," from a different perspective. For that I am very grateful.  I am also grateful  that this world is full of good people, people who despite innumerable flaws and regrets (like me), press on and help make my journey down the road I have chosen, an interesting and truly beautiful one.  So thank God for a beautiful World.  It is amazing what He has made.  And for the rest of my life I am looking forward to seeing and experiencing new parts of the road "less traveled by."

God bless you all and have a great week.

Love adios and ping on!

Dirk  

Here are a few roads I have traveled on over the last few years:   

Trans-Canada highway, Alberta Rockies.

The Alberta prairie.

Crowsnest Pass.

Near Waltersdorf, Germany.

On the trails near Heidelberg, Germany.

Alt Stadt, Heidelberg, Germany.

Tubbingen, Germany.

Vienna, Grinzing, Austria

Near downtown Vienna, Austria.

Hong Kong (above and below)

Hutong, Beijing, China

Chek Hun, China

Out in the desert of Qatar.

Doha, Qatar

Lombok, Indonesia

Southern tip of Taiwan

On the road through Cambodia.