Walton Hotel Shenzhen

... 3rd in the year 2009. What is the Moon festival? Every year on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, when the moon is at its maximum brightness for the entire year, the Chinese celebrate "zhong qiu jie." Children are told the story of the moon fairy living in a crystal palace, who comes out to dance on the moon's shadowed surface. The legend surrounding the "lady living in the moon" dates back to ancient times, to ...

... like sure, that should be an interesting experience. We caught the first shuttle out of the hotel and headed back to Tsuen Wan. Funny how the town seems somewhat better when you're not actively feeling frustrated at its messed-up planning.

We managed to nick a little breakfast at the Maxim's Cakes bakery in the MTR station before continuing on. (Maxim's is another of the major F&B players in Hong Kong, so this'll be a name that pops up a few more times ...

... From the waterfront I took the star ferry to Hong Kong island, only 25 cents for a gorgeous ride across the water. Once there I took another ferry to Lantau island, home of the worlds largest seated bronze buddha (I think..either way its HUGE). From the ferry it was a 40 minute bus ride through the jungle to Po Lin monastery, where the buddha resides; the greenery and countryside visible from the bus was a nice break from the craziness of the city ...

... a series of escalators. It was exciting for all of two minutes, until we realised that spending a good 20 minutes going up escalators really wasn't actually that enthralling. Still, at least I managed to find a street that was named after my Mum - Shelley Street! After a trek through the Botanical Gardens, the name of which was potentially misleading considering the mass of concrete that it consisted of, we reached the Peak Tram. Incredibly steep, the tram takes you up to a ...

... note : The Main Altar is currently under renovation, so the activity has temporarily moved to the Fung Ming Hall (the large bricks building, on the right hand side of the Confucian Hall) After completing the visit to Chi Lin Nunnery and Wong Tai Sin Temple, you basically have two options: Either to proceed to the areas of Yau ma Tei and Mong Kok (in Kowloon), where local markets and bazaars can be ...

... e toilet before we boarded e turbojet for macau & I witnessed an old man who had his zipper stuck after peeing. He didn't have e strength to zip it back up & requested e cleaner (a middle aged man) to help him zip up, offering to pay a small token for tea. e cleaner actually obliged to my surprise & ...

... a great boldness of spirit to set out to capture the essence of so diverse a people as the Chinese in a single volume of photography. The thrill is to discover that Tom Carter has achieved just that." - Asia Literary Review (read the entire China Portrait review here) "As photojournalist Tom Carter discovered on his journey across ...

... Police were also directing everyone to the subway stations. I walked right up the centre of Nathan Road, to go to the nearby Temple Street Night Market. There were so many stalls, but I got the sense most of the stuff there was for tourist consumption, with various trinkets for sale. There were also guys with cards, trying to get you to take a look at their knockoff designer purses. They can't keep the good stuff in their stalls, so you follow this ...

... sure I will return too. China has many things going for it, and it's an amazing place, but if I could share one thing with people here that would make it better, it would be to stop fighting this perpetual war with everybody you don't know, notice what's around you and marvel a little at the world you live in. However much being in this daily war zone gets to me, I keep telling myself I can't forget to have a little peripheral awareness of my own. It's hard, but I keep trying.

... them, the market stalls and the umpteen hairdressers with 3 staff to every client and the crazy transport contraptions are still mind-boggling to my eyes and mind even if the shock isn't there. In this environment, knowing that your body and its natural senses are attuned enough to tell you that something around you is normal is a huge comfort. It's a feature of life you take for granted when you're at home, but here it becomes much more significant.