48 Hours-Part II

The highway to the airport takes us over all the beautiful bays and you see all the green covered mountains that you don't even know are there when you're walking around Central Hong Kong. I gotta admit, the city itself isn't the turn-on for me. I was born in a city and have only lived in big cities so the "bigger brighter better" theme makes me want to break and run. But I suppose Hong Kong's lure is its seemingly unlikely mix of things that sit next to each other. For example, this morning I photographed a 50 foot waterfall inside the Wish Garden that sits in the Wong Tsai Tin temple, one of the oldest and well preserved temples, and in my lense behind the waterfall is a cluster of 40 story apartment buildings. I kept looking for ways to capture the waterfall without capturing the apartment buildings with their faded colors and tarnished metals. Not possible. To have one--at least here--you must have the other. McDonalds and temples side by side. So this is my farewell to Asia. In 8 days, I've gotten romantic wet nights in Vietnam and its genteel feeling and the combination of aggressive and sensitive side of the Chinese culture. And just like I started, I'm grateful for all of it.