The View from Here

The milky haze of the last couple weeks lifted today, and we had partly cloudy skies.  I thought the view out our apartment windows was particularly beautiful, so I took some photos.

This is the view looking straight out our windows.  Across Shenzhen Bay you can see the low mountains of Hong Kong.  Sometimes the haze has been so dense that we haven't been able to see even the outline of these mountains.   Fishing boats of all sizes come and go across the bay all day, although it doesn't seem that there would be too many fish left to catch anywhere in the area .  Before the economic reforms were implemented here 30 years ago, some brave Chinese people would attempt to swim several miles across this stretch of water to the freedom and prosperity of Hong Kong.

Looking to the left out our windows, we can see the Shenzhen Bay Bridge, which connects our area of the city with Hong Kong.  In the distance is the dense urban forest of high rises that many of us picture when we think of Hong Kong.  This bridge just opened in 2007, marking the 10th anniversary of the British return of Hong Kong to China.  In the foreground is the eastern side of the peninsula that we live on.

                                          

This is our apartment complex, aptly called The Peninsula because we live on one.  I took this photo about 10 days ago when it was not only hazy, but starting to rain.  Why was I out in the rain taking a picture?  Because I walked outside midday and felt an incredibly comfortable breeze coming off the ocean, after days and days of feeling hot and sweaty outdoors, so I decided to take a walk with my camera.  We live in the middle building of the three in the foreground, on the 7th floor.