I Love Fireworks

National Day in China is October 1st. It is marked in several ways. Mainlanders get a full week of public holidays, there are huge fireworks displays and more shopping happens that you could ever imagine. Hong Kong is filled with luxury brand stores and every manager in town is salivating as we speak. Last night we saw queues lined up for entry at Prada, Louis Vuiton, Gucci, Channel and others. This was at 10:15 at night! Shopping bags abound on the streets and the usual crowds have swelled.


For we mere mortals who cannot afford such shopping, the highlight of the weekend was the HK$8 million + fireworks display. We have been anticipating this for several weeks. Originally the paper said it was to be at 9 P.M. On Saturday the paper said 7 P.M. Not knowing which was right and finding no start time on the internet and a recorded message (minus firework info) on the Tourism Board website, we played it safe and went down to the harbor at 5 P.M.


As we crossed the bridge to the waterfront we noticed that the Apple Store was just a wee bit busy.

We first spent some time at the end of the public pier. The ferries were shuttling passengers at their usual rapid pace.

And the harbor had more pleasure boats in it than we had ever seen. This area is quite busy with ferries and commercial craft. There are areas at either end that are more conducive for pleasure boating, but this night was the exception.

We met some fun girls who fed us french fries and chatted with us about their home and work. They are both from the Philippines and working in Hong Kong as domestics. 


[There are thousands of young women who come here to earn money to support the family back home or took put together a nest egg to go back and start a business or go to school. It is a tough life, but their salaries (small though they are - about US$500 per month) are much more than they would earn at home. There has been lots in the papers here because of a recent court case suing for right of abode.]


Our newly minted friends showed us photos of family and helped us pass some pleasant time during our four hour wait. 

As you can guess from the above photo, the winds were fierce and the skies were heavy. We kept expecting rain but the fireworks gods were with us and we had not a single drop.

At 8 P.M. the nightly light show along the harbor gave us some entertainment.

The crowds grew bigger and the soldiers for crown control were posted.

The Harbor was clear of all but police boats. The four barges were perfectly aligned. And the crowd was ready.

Ooooooh!!!!

Aaaaaaah!!!!

Oooooooh!!!!

And then the finale.

It was a fantastic display - think 20 minutes of finale with a bigger finale at the end. On the way back to our apartment we stopped at one of our favorite bars for a pizza and a brew. After missing the July 4 celebrations at home, this was a fun way to spend an evening and no longer feel that we missed this year's fireworks.