National Day

Wednesday was National Day, commemorating the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. There wasn't much celebrating in Hong Kong, though. Most of the celebrations were cancelled, including the annual fireworks display, due to the protests.

Anna and I went to take in the protests in the evening. It had devolved into a sort of festival atmosphere. Here Anna is signing one of the many things put out for people to sign.

The mood is almost painfully innocent and idealistic.

It reminded me of middle-school in the sixties. The white paper on people's foreheads are cooling patches that are being handed out for free.

There is a whimsical air to it all. The sign above the tent door says "Gate."

Perhaps the most impressive aspect is the effort to keep the protest areas clean. Volunteers have set up recycling zones to separate trash...

... and pack it up ready for disposal.

Even bottle caps are separated and stored.

Anna and I both liked this sign.

There have been more people each night.

Though the government has pulled back the police. Here three officers are patrolling around the perimeter of the main police barracks just a few hundred feet from the main protests. They are walking past a big police recruitment sign.

Earlier in the day, True had wanted to go with a friend to Shenzhen, across the border in China. He discovered as he was about to leave, though, that his China visa had expired six days earlier.

I drove him up to the border hoping to get him a visa upon arrival - called a 'port visa.' We crossed from the HK side to the China side, which involves walking and taking a shuttle bus, only to discover that China had stopped issuing port visas to Americans in 2004. So we retraced our steps and drove home.

We stopped at the beach cafe at Deep Water Bay for pizza. I had a cider.

It was a lovely day.

True had a fruit smoothie as usual. Those things didn't really exist when I was his age.

We ate an excellent pizza with anchovies and olives...

... and admired the beach, though True refused to go swimming. There were a lot of pleasure boats gathered off shore because of the holiday.