the hut in solitude - South Bay

years passed, still remember vividly the day when i first set my eyes on this piece of land...

a young man, started off with nothing but his courage and determination, after many years of hardwork, finally set up his own company, being one of the most successful business man at the time, found this place to build his weekend house, for entertaining business associates, but more importantly also for the gathering of his children, his children's children, and also all the future generation to come.

from a barren rock, the main mansion was erected, and to complement, its surrounding was turned into a landscape garden, not only was it going to showcase the most beautiful flowers, but is also to be different every season, so that the visitor can appreciate the coming and leaving of each season and thus the passing of time...

this young man has many children, and i saw them coming every week, week in week out, each of these children became young adults, and soon each became parents to their own children. the tradition never cease, and they still visit the place every week.

the young man was no longer young, and even the grandchildren were becoming adults, and like their fathers and mothers, they too were spending their youth here, under the moonlit sky, watching the stars, pondering the depth of the universe.

the passing of the seasons, everything changes around me, apart from the peeling off of my skin, i am still who i am, the hut in solitude...

Year of the Dog - Lunar Market

the year of the dog has arrived, and just like all the previous chinese new year, the few days preceding the big day will see various venues in the city organizing different scale of lunar market where one sees rows of stores, selling not only flowers, plantings appropriate for the festive season, but also of goods from all trades.

well, that was what it used to be...

while haven't been to one of these markets for a long time since we were normally travelling out of the city for the past few years, this year we stayed, and decided to take a walk at the largest venue of all, the Victoria Park Lunar Market at Causeway Bay.

due to the large crowds, visitors were advised to move in one direction only, though you still occasionally see some people pushing thru in the totally opposite direction, and god knows what they were trying to do as it were already difficult enough to move along the current, think about moving AGAINST the current!

were very enthusiastic at first, maybe it's the sight of the crowd, or it was the noise generated, laughters, chit-chats, screams, hysterical screams, and more hysterical screams! but after walking down the 1st rows of store, which took about 30 mins, it felt that there was somthing terribly wrong. there was a lack of variety of the goods they were selling. about 80% of the stores were selling air filled ballons, cartoon figures, then there were stuffed cartoon toys, closely resembling some japanese or american cartoon characters, but were in fact, locally designed, and definitely lacked originality. stalls after stalls, they were still selling similar stuff with little variation, what was happening? right, there's nothing wrong in making a few dollars during such event, but where's the entrepreneurship, novelty, and courage to try out something different, something new?

there was this stall which we believed was organized by or affiliated to the local architect's institute, and what they were selling were, T-shirts and yes, you guessed it, air-filled ballons. at least what they set themselves apart from the rest was that the graphic were designed by themselves and not just extracted from somewhere, but still very disappointing. and what's worrying was that they were cutting down their price quite early in the night, definitely inspirational for the architects.

perhaps the only consolation was that there were a few stalls, quietly tucked away, selling some traditional chinese paper cuts, which were nice, and gave a fresh breath of life.

Brands | Architecture: Chanel HK - 01

a few blocks away from the Louis Vuitton is the recently reopened Chanel store at the Princes Building. Responsible for the design of the store is american architect Peter Marino, whose name is associated also with the design for brandnames stores including Fendi, Armani, Dior.
during the daytime, the facade can be easily recognized by its simple contrasting use of black and white, intermixed with the warmly lit interior. as the daylight recedes, this is when the facade comes alive. the white panels are in fact LED display screen and is playing a series of carefully choreographed monotonal clips.
furthermore, apparently 5 contemporary artists were invited to help in decorating the interior, will dig out some more info on this.

Brands | Architecture: Louis Vuitton HK - 01

so what is the hottest things happening for the past few months here in Hong Kong? in terms of architecture and interior design, it is probably the opening of, one after another, fashion stores. First we have the Harvey Nichols from London, then we have the much talked about Lane Crawford at the Pacific Place, followed by the almost simultaneous reopening of the Chanel at Princes Building in Central and Louis Vuitton (LV) at the Landmark. There were many others too, almost lost count, and each have their own merits.
this is a phenomenon happening in a global scale, New York, Paris, Tokyo and now Hong Kong. taking the tram alone will probably allow one to see a dozen sites.
the picture above was taken as I was taking the tram from Central back to my office after a meeting. while it looks like a detached building itself, it is actually part of the shopping arcade of the Landmark, cleverly executed by the architect responsible for the project, Jun Aoki, who happens to be the design architect for the LV in New York, Omotesando in Tokyo and pretty much the rest of the LV stores in Japan. In the Hong Kong store, Jun Aoki is responsible for only the envelope and not the interior, which if you are planning to visit, should realise in the difference in approach, though of course this might be the result of the client's intention.
what amazed me was not so much the iconic effect but the type of materials and his preferred mode of execution. Don't want to give away too much, go visit yourself, observe (or even empty your pocket to buy a bag!), come back and leave a message, let others know what you think, OK?

the deck - Yokohama Port

designed by the Foreign Office Architects, the Yokohama International Port Terminal is a visually captivating piece of architecture during the daytime. the views are even more dramatic after the sun has set and the deck became deserted, an alien landscape in an alien world.

Blue Yokohama Port

cosmopolitan hotel, happy valley

this might not be a great piece of architecture, but definitely worth mentioning. the Cosmopolitan Hotel is located in Happy Valley, converted from what used to be considered as the regional HQ for the People Republic of China before the handover from the British colonial rule to the PRC. Its former occupant, the Xinhua News Agency was thought to be political representative of PRC in Hong Kong at the time, its interior secretive, and it was not easy to get beyond the reception lobby unless you happen to work there, invited, or undercover as a spy.
now a hotel, its interior is finely decorated and some rooms have marvellous view of the Happy Valley racecourse, though don't expect it to be one of those new boutique hotels.

apart from its unusal background, another intersting aspect about this place is it's location. yes, about half of all the rooms will have views of the Happy Valley racecourse, but the other side of the hotel is actually facing another well known feature of Happy Valley - the cemeteries! we are not talking about one cemetery, BUT cemeteries, including Catholic, Jewish, Parsees, Islamic, Hindu...etc!!! This might be the only place on Earth where all different religion can be so close to each others! We shall prepare another entry to talk about these cemeteries.

this hotel is definitely worth a visit, and a night at one of the room with a view of all these cemeteries must be breathtaking!

MANOI - RISE OF THE MACHINES.

another picture taken during the IREX 2005, this time it was the much awaited MANOI by Kyosho, alongside with the KONDO KHR-1. In fact, the cute looking MANOI is actually using the KHR-1 inside. Coming out on the shelves by June later this year, don't know how much power it will pack, but it sure looks like a prototype for the ASTROBOY.

just imagine 10 years from now, we will have less kids running around due to low birh rate but many more MANOI look-a-like everywhere.

a density of an indefinable object

while we pursue accuracy, exactness, precision in everyday life, isn't reality more of a blur? you have an impression of a certain object, but you can't exactly replicate, redraw that piece of object. as time changes, object changes, nothing ever stays unchanged through time. an impression of an item, an idea that floats in one's mind.

(Casio EX-Z40 F/3.5 1/8sec picture taken at night at the gallery cafe of Mori Building, Roppongi Hills)

The tallest thing in Hong Kong

well, the tallest man-made thing in Hong Kong to be exact. 88 stories high and total to 420m tall, try to beat that! designed by Cesar Pelli, but actual construction was overlooked by Rocco Design, the IFC 2 (International Finance Centre 2) is undisputedly the tallest building in Hong Kong. Its distincitive "fangs" at the top of the building together with the intense beam of light occasionally shooting skyhigh causes one's imagination to run wild.

can you hear me?

picture taken at Wong Tai Sin Temple, Hong Kong. a typical scene where devotees were making offerings in return for a better year, more fortune, keeping all the evil things away...

some says this is one form of psychological therapy that a highly tensed city like Hong Kong needs.

Journey on a Tram

Traveling on a tram in Hong Kong is pretty much the most unique experience one can have. You are floating along the predetermined path, with people coming on and getting off, sometimes deserted and sometimes crowded, you might see your neighbours and decided to have a chit chat, or you can stay quiet throughout without uttering a word. Unlike other means of transportation, this is the only means of vessel where you can actually see what has gone by, and not rushing things through. You have an impression of things you see, equally, you are leaving an impression to others who see you, strangers brushing past one another. Some people choose to dozed off for the entire trip, waking up not remembering seeing anything, some people decided to do things which are slightly more useful.

Whichever type you are, there comes a time when you have reached your stop, no matter how the trip was, you still have to get off, what lies ahead, no one knows, but a certainty is that you have traveled a distance, how you experience it depends entirely on you.

the intangible captured. Part 1.

This is our first attempt in loading a movie on to our site. the movie was taken during our visit to the Yokohama Art Trienniale 2005 during 29 Nov 05'

Our 1st Robot. Part 2.

the inchworm. completed! this mechanical robot is primarily made of steel, can move forward, backward, through the use of the prolonged front and rear legs, and turn directions with the use of the centrally located round base. operated on 4 x 1.5V dry cells, and controlled via the use of a remote infrared controller, the robot inches forward with a distinctive metallic sound. a pure machine, which in itself is already a beauty. the manufacturer is Gakken of Japan, and in Hong Kong, you can probably get this from Citysuper.

Robonova-1 vs Kondo

this is the army of R o b o nova-1 of Hi-tec which we took a photo of during our visit to the IREX 2005 at Tokyo. Now, while there is tons of information, movies, specification and stuff at the Hi-Tec Robonova-1 page, there are already a number of on-line stores which are selling this product. Apparently, this machine is supposed to be cheaper than the mighty Kondo, yet can be used to compete head to head during anyone of the Robo-One Tournament. (Incidentally, if you visit the Robo-One web site now, you can watch "lion dance" by robots!)
for consumers, this is exactly the scene we want to see - competitions! the more there is, the better the products and the more affordable they become.
When you look at this, and the Robosapien, you are talking about real machine vs toys, but of course, bearing in mind that there is a huge gap in the differenc in price.
On the other hand, one can't kept wondering what is the ultimate purpose of these machines...hobby, most definitely, like the radio controlled cars, but somehow i always feel that there might be a purpose far darker and more sinister.... the robots themselves are neutral, but it's the people who control them.

Our 1st Robot. Part 1.

Got this as a X'mas present, well, not only this but a full box of metal parts which you can assemble a robot. we haven't played around with a model assembly kit for ages, but since visiting Japan during the recent IREX 05', our interest in this has quietly rekindled. The entire robot requires about 2 hours for assembly and we will post some photos of the completed form later. I am trying to find ways of uploading a movie to this blog as well, but need time to figure that out.

Here we go! 2006!!!!

wishing all of you out there to have a fruitful year for all the seeds sown!
andH

Welcome Year 2006!!!!

again, this is the morning to check on one's gain & loss for the past year, and looking ahead to the coming year with new goals & resolutions. The past year has whirled past like a storm, naturally, there were ups and downs, challenges through every corners, battles after battles, laugthers and sorrows, and the occasional sweet tastes of success, warmth, and satisfaction. there are different goals in life, like my dad used to tell me, you can choose to take the scenic path at the base of the mountain, enjoying the calmness, dancing butterflies on fields of daisies, and strolling along, watching the world in a leisure pace, or you can climb up the mountain, overcoming treacherous landscape, being challenged on all aspect of oneself, exhausting to the root, and reaching the top to see the world where no one else has seen. the choice is yours, and there is no absolute right or wrong in choosing which path to take.
the most important thing in life I consider is setting your own goal, something you really would enjoy, deciding what you are going to do, setting up small plans which are means of achieving the ultimate goal and go for it! there's no point in regreting after so many years and say "i could have done that if only i did so and so...", time won't wait, so if you have to do something, do it NOW!
Good luck everyone, and wishing you all a Happy New Year and able to seek the goal of your life!