Shanhaijing

'The late version of Shanghaijing - Hong Kong version VI', an installation at the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre by Pauline Mak. These hanging plastic bag sculptures are based on strange mythical animals from the 2000-year-old Chinese 'Classic of Mountain and Sea'. A comment on the intertextuality between the traditional and the modern, Chinese mythology, the possibilities of genetic modification and biotechnology, and too many plastic bags in Hong Kong. Hanging under spotlights in a darkened empty room, they and their shadows looked really strange.

A walk through Shek Kip Mei 5

Finally we arrived at the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre, which opened not long ago in Shek Kip Mei in a renovated nine-storey factory building and provides space for artists and craftspeople to create and display work. This is the interior courtyard and the hanging cloths - the kind that are used for canopies in markets and constructions sites - are part of an exhibition of installations on the theme of memory.

A walk through Shek Kip Mei 4

A poster from Shek Kip Mei post office. Here are the popular Hong Kong cartoon characters McDull and McMug encouraging us to keep our letters tidy if we want them to be delivered. Alice noticed the red rabbit and black pig stamps that were used in kindergartens to let kids know if their work was tidy or not. She wonders if they are still used now. She also tells me that the black pig has made its way into Cantonese - if you don't keep your room tidy, you might just 'get a black piggie'.

A walk through Shek Kip Mei 3

These coin-operated rides are yet another attraction at the Colourful Dragon Restaurant. Oddly enough, we found more of these on exhibition in G.O.D. at the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre later in the afternoon. Here they are, newly painted, in full working order and ready to use.

A walk through Shek Kip Mei 2

The Colourful Dragon Restaurant in Tai Hang Tung public housing estate. I have passed this octagonal two-storey restaurant many times in the car, but have never had chance to go in before. Apart from the food, the attraction is the dance floor. Tea dance $68, nightclub $108.

A walk through Shek Kip Mei 1

Some pictures taken on a walk through Shek Kip Mei, from the back door of City University to the Jockey Club Creative Arts Centre. This banner is on the side of a concrete footbridge and advertises all the things you can buy at Tai Hang Tung public housing estate market. Teddy bears and paper clips?

Top ten things to do in Taipei

Something from an old notebook that I found today brought back good memories. In summer 2007, Alice, Kaz (11 at the time) and myself went off to a great weekend at the Formoz Festival in a park and baseball stadium in downtown Taipei. In between, there were endless games of 'street basketball' - a game you can play everywhere in Taipei, but nowhere in Hong Kong - while Alice went off in search of hedgehogs. Yo La Tengo were already my favourite band and Kaz had got into the Teryaki Boyz after watching Tokyo Drift. Afterwards we started to listen to Mercury Rev and Alice fell in love with the Taiwanese band Echo (although strangely we missed their set).

I guess the list was some kind of collective literacy event because it shows traces of being written by all three of us. It was evidently unfinished...only nine?

1. Eat Hot Star chicken at Shimin night market
2. Go on a hedgehog hunt (Taipei is the hedghog capital of East Asia)
3. Play 'street basketball everywhere you go [and we did - see photo]
4. Shi ling bun (dumpling bun) at Dun Thai Fung (yummy)
5. Go to the Eslite 24hr bookstore in the afternoon (never between 10 pm and 10 am)
6. Record people entering MRT stations and appreciate the 'city beat' of Taipei
7. Eating quails eggs in Danshui (and deep-fried durian, haha - [see profile photo]
8. Go to the Formoz Festival and see Yo La Tengo (or Teriyaki Boyz if you prefer)
9. Go to the 'retro' toy shop in Danshui and buy a catapult (or a paper doll if you are a girl)