Monday, June 1, 2009

Hong Kong constructors

Image of a construction worker, in Hong Kong, glimpsed through a gap in a blue tarpaulin.Dear Gentle Reader,

Hong Kong is not just finance and law and trading and selling and designing and sourcing and shipping and white collar pirating.

Yes, the factory jobs left for China twenty years ago, but, there still is a blue-collar side to Hong Kong.

All those lovely, shiny, sparkly buildings?

Someone has to build them, not just finance them.

A new building is going up near my apartment; the dirty work is screened from view by a faded, flapping, blue tarpaulin.

But, I like seeing what I am not supposed to.

I also like seeing what I am supposed to avoid. Or what I am not supposed to like.

Today, therefore, is a different take on glitz versus grit, and I'm just going to look at the grit.

Let's part the curtain and see what life looks like on the other side of the divide.



Image of a Hong Kong construction worker having just lit an oxy-acetylene torch.



Image of a construction site supervisor, in Hong Kong, issuing commands.



Image of a Hong Kong construction worker cutting through pipes with an oxy-acetylene burner wearing rubber boots, crouched in the mud and on the pipes.



Image of a Hong Kong construction worker cutting through pipes with an oxy-acetylene burner wearing rubber boots, now out of the mud, crouched on top of wooden pallet.



Close-up image of a Hong Kong construction worker cutting through pipes with an oxy-acetylene burner wearing rubber boots, now out of the mud, crouched on top of wooden pallet.


That's it for today.

This is my Hong Kong, on the other side of the blue divide.


Tschuess,
Chris

12 comments:

Teresa said...

Love your construcion site voyeurism, Chris; the flaps of the blue divide make the pictures quite tantalizing...

Teresa said...

Gruss Gott Chris,

I forgot to mention that I haven't seen a picture of Pommes, the wonder cat, in a very, very long time. I thought you were going to provide us with dated pictures of his inky blackness to prove that he is alive and well after catnip rehab.

Surely the taxidermist is finished with him by now...

Surely, you didn't finish him off with a bottle of Thai chili sauce...

Auf Wediersehen,
Teresa

Unknown said...

Neat series, I like the 3rd image the best

debra said...

There is always another side, isn't there. We so often forget that the glitzy nouns are built by grit.

Sepiru Chris said...

Dear Teresa,

There is a lot of pelt...


Dear T & S,

My favourite too. Not as colourful as peafowl displays though (I especially like the feathers closest to the rump in the last picture of your most recent series).


Dear Debra,

Even stained glass comes from sand and crushed rock...


Tschuess,
Chris

Clare2e said...

It takes a long time and a lot of little moments like the one you captured to make the monuments we casually explode in CGI's movies.

Richard Wells said...

cyber-subversion...FREE POMMES! Flood these comments. Pommes lives and must be released. Demand justice! Comments united can never be defeated. Health care for all...ooops, wrong slogan....uncover the coverup! Don't let these clever little posts about construction sites distract you. Remember, Jimmy Hoffa! FREE POMMES!!!

Travis Erwin said...

I honor of blue collars I clicked on a few of you ads to drop a little coinage your way.

Heidelweiss said...

Scandalous!

Sepiru Chris said...

Dear Clare2e,

But not as much time as you would expect. Pre-economic crisis, buildings sprang up, on a time per floor basis, on average, faster here than anywhere else on the planet.

Why? Because of the outrageous cost of land and the necessity to get it built as soon as possible to start throwing tenants in.

And, I agree with you.


Dear Richard,

I hear your pleas, and they have been answered... today...


Dear Travis,

Cheers Travis, thank you very much.


Dear Heidelweiss,

Wait till you see today's post. Oh wait, you have...


Tschuess,
Chris

Cloudia said...

Wondeful post!
"But, I like seeing what I am not supposed to.


I also like seeing what I am supposed to avoid. Or what I am not supposed to like. "

That's how I feel about YOUR blog - a guilty, off-kilter (thank GAWD) pleasure!

Sepiru Chris said...

Dear Cloudia,

I have long known that about you, from your wonderful posts about the grittier aspects of Hawaii, and I don't mean grades of sand on the beach.

Tschuess,
Chris