Before we moved to Okinawa, we asked the few people we knew who had been stationed on this side of the world for their travel recommendations. Any places that we MUST visit while we live in Japan. Again and again, we heard Hong Kong.
In November, we decided that we would try to do Hong Kong in January for the 3-day weekend. But when Benny called the travel agency, they mentioned that there was a package to travel to Hong Kong in February for the Chinese New Year. Heck yes! We delayed our travels and paid an additional $100 in order to visit this international city during its largest festival of the year and the largest holiday for the Chinese. The agent warned us that many shops and restaurants would be closed for the holiday. But there would be special things for the holiday, like the night parade and fireworks. The only thing I can compared it to is Times Square on Dec. 31. Everyone should do it at least once in their life. If they can push through the crowds, master the plastic Chinese chopsticks and keep their good attitude during rain, wind and fog.
This 4-day, 3-night vacation is one that I'll never forget. Of course, we didn't do everything we could have done in Hong Kong. One factor was that my boss asked me to take a fancy Fuji camera with f-stop settings and a Nikon len so that we could produce a photo essay about my experience. Working on a vacation was an added pressure that I didn't expect, but definitely felt.
And even though we were only in China for a short time, I felt that I gained a bit of insight into the differences between Japanese and Chinese. And I'm thankful that I live in Japan.
1 comment:
I love this, and am fully confident your photo essay is great! Happy (Chinese) New Year!
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