The Signs of Hong Kong

I rather enjoy looking at signs in whatever non-English speaking country I am in. Whether it's the loosely translated English or the artful display of Kanji or a combination of both, it's always fun to look at. Click here for a few more. A few from here in Hong Kong, a few other countries and even the states.

One of my favorites from Cambodia:

Full of Redoubt

Hong Kong's history as a British colony has ensured it has an interesting personality with some excellent areas to explore especially for someone interested in World War 2 history such as yours truly. Throughout various high mountain areas of Hong Kong, one can find these ruins, know as Redoubts in various states of disrepair and neglect. Some of the more well known ones include the Shing Mun Redoubt on the Gin Drinker's Line, the Pinewood Battery and Devil's Peak Redoubt.



I recently explored the last of these three, way up on Devil's Peak. The area is quite accessible, only about a 25 minute walk from the Yau Tong train stop. Hardly any of the sprawling compound is closed or sealed off. Provided you have a decent flashlight and don't mind getting dirty and meeting some friendly subterranean reptiles, you too can crawl through foxholes once occupied by the British, Indian Rajputs and Japanese troops. What I really like about these areas is that they are not meant to be tourist attractions, just areas that seem to have been forgotten.

Click here to browse all the photos I took in, around and under the fortress.

Looking Out My Windows

The apartment building I live in is relatively new in Hong Kong, so it tends to be pretty nice. One of its nicest features are the large windows. It also helps I live on the 21st floor. Every morning I wake up, open my bedroom door and see this:


Then I turn to my left and check out the progress being made on a new set of buildings. As the workers work towards completion, I often sit and watch them straddling the Bamboo scaffolds as the peel away all the layers.

Evening on the Praya

After a nice run in Central, HK tonight, I headed back home while the Symphony of Lights was taking place. A tourist infection no doubt. I'm allowed say that since I am a resident of this place. Here is the Avenue of Stars:


Here are a few more that I took this fine evening.

An Argument for Guns?

For as long as I have been alive, I have been anti-gun across the board. The level of violence in the states is almost unparalleled in the world thanks to the lax laws regarding who is allowed to own or buy a gun. The law cannot touch many gun owners, who go about acquiring arms illegally.

A daily routine of mine is to log on to the St. Louis Post Dispatch's web site, STL Today.com, and peruse the headlines. Almost without exception, there is a story of someone gunned down, a bullet riddled body found or some other terrible gun crime. It's never made much sense to allow this to go on.

Then comes this recent quote from a man in Burma:

"I really want change - but they have guns and we don't, so they'll always win."

--from this article on BBC

I've followed the violence in Burma quite closely over the past few weeks. The once promising peaceful protests of monks and civilians has spiraled into sickening violence on the part of the military and thugs. Among the sad, sad stories that are struggling to make their way past the iron media curtain imposed by the government: protesters mercilessly gunned down in the street; cars pulled over and occupants beaten and incarcerated; praying monks beaten and incarcerated; monasteries being raided and trashed with monks being sent to rural prison camps; civilians' homes invaded at 3am and occupants dragged out and incarcerated; international media being intimidated and physically denied from filing reports; people coming home from work struggling to breathe amidst the tear gas used by the military; sons and daughters abducted by the military unable to be located by parents; the internet being completely shut down in the country to prevent news of the terror being imposed reaching the outside world.

I cannot help but think: what if this country allowed its citizens to own guns? Would these travesties still be happening? Would the violence that would occur as people fought back result in thousands of deaths? Is this the reason our founding fathers in the US ensured citizens should always be allowed to own guns? Is violence the only answer in this situation? Does gun ownership in a country cause more violence or does it protect its citizens from brutal regimes abusing and enslaving the population? Is the NRA on to something???

We may never know.