The Olympics You Didn't See

Here a great video from David Bernett about his experience covering the Olympic Games in Beijing. Both funny and informative, it is well worth watching. If you are interested in the daily work of a top photojournalist you should also read his blog.



The Olympics You Didn't See from David Burnett on Vimeo.

Hong Kong/Shenzhen border

Here is a photo of the Shenzhen River at Lo Wu which separates Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Shenzhen is on the right and Hong Kong on the left. Lo Wu is the busiest immigration point in Hong Kong. The introduction of automated booths which verify identify via fingerprints has done a lot to improve its efficiency.

Fritz Hoffmann Photographs of China

Here is a link to some excellent photos of China by Fritz Hoffmann for National Geographic.

Noodle Dim Sum King (面点王)

Noodle Dim Sum King (MDW) is a restaurant chain which sells handmade noodles, sort of like a Chinese McDonalds. We had lunch there on our visit to Book City.





You get a card which is stamped as you take food from the front counter and return to your table to eat it. Unlike McDonalds, waiters and waitresses are on hand to serve you. It is more upscale than typical noodle places on the mainland and is hence a little more expensive.



Noodles are freshly made and have just the correct amount of chewiness.




Many people order the braised pork ribs which are a specialty of the house. There is not much meat but they are very tasty. This a favourite of Mrs Fisher.



Kailani likes the cucumber marinated in soya sauce, chilli and garlic.



I like the beef cakes and Chinese pizza.


All in all, this restaurant is dependable in quality and we always look forward to having lunch there. It costs about RMB20 per head and we give it 4 of out 5.

Lok Ma Chau and Shenzhen Book Mall

We took a trip to Shenzhen to visit the Shenzhen Book Mall in Shaoniangong. The way to get there is to first take the MTR train to Lok Ma Chau (see the map here).

Lok Ma Chau is the new border crossing, designed to take some of the real estate and traffic pressure from the other crossing reachable by MTR, Lo Wu.



Compared with Lo Wu, it is not nearly as crowded. Opened only last year, the facilities inside the station are excellent though unfortunately, there is no taxi stand outside so getting one is a little chaotic.



The picture below is of the Shenzhen River which forms the border between Hong Kong and Mainland China.



Once you have passed through immigration, you are on the Shenzhen side which is called Huanggang. Go down to the subway and take it four stops north to Shaoniangong on line 4 (refer to the map here). The book mall is across the road from exit D as shown in the photograph below. A good street map is available here.



There are several book stores within the mall as well as a music shop, restaurants etc. More information about it is available (in Chinese)from their website.

They have a huge range of books, mainly in Chinese but there is also a collection of English books. For example, Henry David Thoreau's Walden was 18 RMB.