Hong Kong, day 5

Actually, this is more like day 6, since I haven't been writing every day. I know this because I brought socks and underwear for 7 days, and I am out!! Oh well. It is not a perfect world, is it? Laundry day is tomorrow.

Today, Matthias had to get up early for a simulator session at 6:30 am. I got up early, too, but I got off to a slow start. It's nice to have no schedule!! I finally decided to go to the Hong Kong Art Museum today. I am so glad I did!!! The Museum of Art is located across the harbor (Victoria Harbor) from where I went yesterday. It was another long subway ride. I do love the subway here! Easy to use, clean, and great people watching.

Since it was almost noon when I got to the museum, I decided to eat lunch before going in. I sat outside at the museum cafe, where I had a nice view of the harbor, beyond the sculpture garden. (The sculpture garden only had 4 sculptures in it - wimpy!) Another nice day in Hong Kong.

The special exhibit at the Art museum is a collection of the paintings of Wucius Wong. He is from Hong Kong, but lived abroad on and off for 17 years of his life. His paintings are a combination of Western and Eastern Art. His main media was ink on paper. The paintings were GORGEOUS, Gorgeous! (IMO) Emotional, with lots of atmospheric effects. One of them moved me to tears (this is a new experience for me; the first time it happened to me was last year at the Van Gogh museum.) While I was enjoying his art, I looked over to where a group of rich looking people were gathered, and realized they were listening to Mr. Wong himself!!! So I sidled over to where they were, and got to listen to the artist talk about his work. He had these crooked, big-knuckled hands, and he said he had the mind of a designer, but the heart of a poet. Sounds like a painter to me. I would love to paint his portrait. It was a wonderful treat to see him, and hear him talk about his work.

I did explore the rest of the museum, but it was freezing in there! The second favorite aspect of the museum was the gold and jade exhibit. I saw granulation galore! Thanks to Harold O'Connor, I know what that is, and how hard it is to do.
After the museum, I went out to look at the harbor and enjoy the sunshine. (I needed to warm up after that museum air! Frigid!) Here are some photos from Victoria Harbor. The tallest building is the one that Matthias refers to as the "nose hair trimmer." Every time I look at it now, I laugh about that. It is the tallest building in Hong Kong, and it has 88 floors. (88 is a lucky number in China.)