Event: Chasing Rubber Duck

Image from Harbour City

Have you ever had a rubber duck to play with when you bath? I don't think I had, but it surely would be nice to have one, it is the one thing that almost everyone who can afford a luxurious water bath can associate with. Seeing friends posting one photo after another on Facebook felt like sour grapes for me as I couldn't afford the time to pay this giant rubber duck a visit. This happy-looking Rubber Duck by Florentijn Hofman at Harbour City seems so out of reach for me. Even CNN has reported it yet I was still waiting for my chance to come.

Until last Sunday, that day as finally come...

Duck at a distant
Image from Locky's English Playground

Since my PhD proposal has successfully made its 75% mark, I allowed myself an afternoon to go rubber duck-chasing with my wife.

Cool tail
Image from Locky's English Playground

We took the Star ferry from Central to Tsim Sha Tsui and we were lucky enough to have picked the ferry which parked beside the giant bird.

Side view, taken with Canon 7D on Star Ferry
Image from Locky's English Playground

 It was really a great, legal way to come close to the duck. As you can see from the photo above, the crowds were shooting the duck from rooftop and the pier.

Image from Locky's English Playground

Getting a shot of the duck was not as difficult as I thought despite the huge crowd, thanks to the supersize of this duck, most people got their full-bodied shots easily.

Got this shot easily from the very front row
Image from Locky's English Playground

And when they did get their shots, duck chasers will move away from the front row to let others get their shots. Discipline-wise, it was excellent! Except for the fact that everyone was standing on top of the other smaller Rubber Ducks display. How selfish!!!

How the Rubber Duck is Constructed
Image from Harbour City

My wife said the beak of the Rubber Duck was not as inflated as she saw a few days before, and I agree, but it could well be another customers-drawing strategy of the Harbour City. Imagine that you easily get the best shots of the duck the first time you visit, then you'll probably just go there once. If the duck was not in a perfect shape, you might want to pay it another visit, meaning more spending at the shopping mall.

with Canon 7D 24-105mm L
Image from Locky's English Playground

Anyway, it was one rare non-rainy day this raining season and having met this rubber duck really did make me feel happier and younger. PhD proposal was temporarily out of my head.

With Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Android 4.2 stock camera app
Image from Locky's English Playground

 It was also a great day to warm my Canon 7D as I had long left it untouched in the camera luggage. Comparing the above two photos of the Rubber Duck, which photo do you like more?

Naughty kids crawling into a hole of a display, mum apparently permitted such behaviour
Image from Locky's English Playground

Getting food was the biggest problem that day as all cafes and restaurants were practically full. It was then I realised that there are really few good eateries in Harbour City. If there were, the queues were either nothing moving or the restaurants were under renovation.

Image from guim.co.uk

Just a point of information, we are actually getting a cute-looking duck. Look at the one back in London, I wouldn't think I would take even a single shot of that!



Vocabulary:
sour grapes -- (n)(plural) The phrase sour grapes is an expression originating from "The Fox and the Grapes," one of Aesop's Fables. It refers to pretending not to care for something one wants, but does not or cannot have.
beak -- (n)[C] the hard, pointed part of a bird's mouth:


Resources:

Florentijn Hofman, Rubber Duck artist, is man of principles @ SCMP
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1231024/florentijn-hofman-rubber-duck-artist-man-principles

Hong Kong's giant rubber duck @ CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/02/travel/hong-kong-giant-duck/index.html

Harbour City Official Page
http://www.harbourcity.com.hk/whatshot#

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sour_grapes
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/beak_1?q=beak+