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The Morning After

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Head-rests, arm-rests or whatever they may be used for, these cute-face soft stuff for sale in Cheung Chau resemble the lucky tiger shoes for children during the Chinese New Year.

After the first night of my stay on Cheung Chau, I walked around the island in the next morning to look for photographic chances.

What I noticed in the neighbourhood are places having stayed unchanged since over twenty years ago when some Aussie friends of mine visited this place.  The preservation has been done in context, meaning that the whole community is retained instead of just a building or two.  Visitors can no doubt taste a fair bit of the Cheung Chau back some 20 years ago or more.

As it would be inconvenient for me to move close to the subjects who are enjoying their breakfasts and cups of morning tea , I brought with me the long-range zoom lens for the NX10.  It worked great under the good light condition in that relaxing morning on the island.  No particular focusing problem was noticed.

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I was fascinated by the colour buns in the above photo.  After all, one of the noticeable assets of Cheung Chau is the bun.  There is the bun festival every year.  Why are those blessed buns of the festival for?  Eating?  Not quite.  Some oldies living on the island have the faith that showering the shreds of the dried blessed buns on the street can stop bad weather on the sea.  Remember that Cheung Chau is a fishing community?

If there is one thing which reminds you anything about Cheung Chau other than its authentic culture, it is the King's Cafe sitting on the promenade overlooking the bay.  This is an old cafe and as the Chinese name (British King's Restaurant) suggests, its history dates back to the Hong Hong in the British colonial days.  Do try out their localised western dishes under the tree shades.

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Today's post finishes with the two photos below which show some old way of publicity – for Cheung Chau is a small island, publicity of activities is done by these mostly handwritten boards installed haphazardly around the corners and along the lanes.  I have the feeling that the GXR would have rendered these two photos with a more charming colour outcome.

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