The Principal is a newly opened restaurant at Star Street, Hong Kong. The restaurant is spacious. The decor is modern and elegant. For a new restaurant, the service was very good indeed. The wine list is good. Although not the most extensive, they do have some pretty rare and interesting wines from all over the world wines, and not necessarily expensive either.
The most important aspect of any restaurant is of course the food. Chef Jonay is from Spain and he has worked in numerous famous restaurants in Spain including the 3 Michelin stars Can Fabes in Barcelona. I am pleased to report the the food did not disappoint. You can certainly see the modern Spanish influence from the style of cooking here. Chef Jonay dishes has creative use of ingredients, and the dishes are all presented well.
The prices here are also very reasonable considering the level of cuisine, service and decor. We tried the 8 courses tasting menu with wine paring. I highly recommend their wine pairing. They give you a different wine for each individual course. That is 8 different wines to match 8 different courses, and some of the wines were quite rare and unconventional but they all matched the different courses rather well. Most restaurants that offer wine paring might match 1 wine to 1.5 courses at best. For those who want to eat less, there is also a 6 courses tasting menu and a la carte of course.
As the restaurant is so new, it is not yet listed in Michelin Guide of course. Compared to the peer standard of Michelin star restaurants in Hong Kong, I would award them with 2 stars.
All photos were shot in RAW with Canon EOS 5D Mark II with Canon EOS 50mm f/1.4 USM. The RAW files were converted to TIFF with Capture One Pro, with further processing by Photoshop CS5 before final output to the web. It is a pretty dark restaurant as far as photography is concerned. Most food shots were shot at ISO 6400. I am still amazed at how well ISO 6400 looks with the 5D Mark II.
After finished seeing Impression Lijiang, we had lunch and in the afternoon we went to see the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. the main event of the day.
Mount Satseto, known in Chinese as the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (simplified Chinese: 玉龙雪山; traditional Chinese: 玉龍雪山; pinyin: Yùlóngxuě Shān) is a mountain massif (also identified as a small mountain range) near Lijiang, in Yunnan province, southwestern China. Its highest peak is named Shanzidou (扇子陡) (5,596 m or 18,360 ft). The view of the massif from the gardens at the Black Dragon Pool (Heilong Tan) in Lijiang is noted as one of China’s finest views. The far side of the mountain forms one side of Tiger Leaping Gorge (Hutiao Xia).
Shanzidou has been climbed only once,on May 8, 1987, by an American expedition. The summit team comprised Phil Peralta-Ramos and Eric Perlman. They climbed snow gullies and limestone headwalls, and encountered high avalanche danger and sparse opportunities for protection. They rated the maximum technical difficulty of the rock at YDS 5.7.
The Austro-American botanist and explorer Joseph Rock spent many years living in the vicinity of Mt Satseto, and wrote about the region and the Nakhi people who occupy it. An interest in Rock later drew the travel writer Bruce Chatwin to the mountain, which he wrote about in an article that appeared in the New York Times and later, retitled, in his essay collection What Am I Doing Here?. Chatwin’s article inspired many subsequent travellers, including Michael Palin, to visit the region.
The Jade Water Village is at the foot of the mountain. source : wikipedia.org
As it was only early Autumn, there was not much snow on the mountain yet, but the scene was still quite spectacular. The natural beauty of the mountain and unspoiled surrounding country are well worth the visit.
All photos were shot in RAW with Canon EOS 5D Mark II with Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM and Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM. The RAW files were converted to TIFF with Capture One Pro with further processing by Photoshop CS5 before final output to the web.
You can see a full set of photos at my SmugMug gallery here.
After Jade Water Village, we had one more stop before going to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. We went to the Impression Lijiang Show.
Impression Lijiang (印象·丽江) is a cultural show demonstrating the traditions and lifestyles of the Naxi, Yi and Bai peoples of the area. The show takes place inside Jade Dragon Snow Mountain Park at 3500m in an outdoor theater specifically designed to showcase the mountain which is used as a backdrop. The production itself was designed by Zhang Yimou (director of Hero, House of Flying Daggers), Fan Yue and Wang Chaoge, a cast of over 500 people, and a number of horses. However, the show does not have a plot. source : wikitravel.org
All photos and the movie were shot with Canon EOS 5D Mark II with Canon 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM. All photos were shot in RAW and converted to TIFF with Capture One Pro with further processing by Photoshop CS5 before final output to the web. The movies were shot in Full HD and processed with Apple iMovie.
It was a really fine day today and I took a trip up The Peak in the late afternoon. The late afternoon Sun and the Autumn colours helped me captured some nice photos. All photos were shot in RAW with Canon EOS 5D Mark II with Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM. The RAW files were converted to TIFF with Capture One Pro with further processing in Photoshop CS5 before final output to the web.
I was at Harbour City during dusk time today and the sky was just beautiful I had my FUJIFILM FinePix X100 and took a few shots with it. The photos were shot in RAW and converted to TIFF with Capture One Pro with further processing in Photoshop CS5 before final output to the web. I am quite pleased with the results, so just a quick post to share a couple of photos.
On our second day in Lijiang during our Yunnan trip, we were going to see Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. Our first stop on the way the Snow Mountain, we visited Jade Water Village.
We stayed there for a short time only, so not too many photos. All photos were shot in RAW with Canon EOS 5D Mark II with Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM and Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM. The RAW files were converted to TIFF with Capture One Pro with further processing by Photoshop CS5 before final output to the web.
The town has a history going back more than 800 years and was once a confluence for trade along the old tea horse road. The Lijiang old town is famous for its orderly system of waterways and bridges. The old town of Lijiang differs from other ancient Chinese cities in architecture, history and the culture of its traditional residents the Nakhi people, therefore people there are called 胖金哥 and 胖金妹 (male and female respectively).
Lijiang old town (including Dayan, Baisha and Shuhe) was registered on the UNESCOWorld Heritage List on December 4, 1997.[1] Since then, the local government has taken more responsibility for the development and protection of the old city. Lijiang’s tourism also boomed, and travellers from around the world flooded in; although many locals fear that due to much of the development, the old town of Lijiang will lose its appeal. source : wikipedia
After a stroll through Black Dragon Pool, we arrived at the famous Old Town of Lijiang. It is a very interesting and fascinated place both architecturally and culturally speaking. However, like many old towns in China, it has become very commercialized. Most of the places are crowded with tourists. For photographers, finding ways to avoid the crowds or blend the people in harmoniously in a photo will always be a challenge. I hope my photos will show you some ways in achieving this goal.
All photos were shot in RAW with Canon EOS 5D Mark II with Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM and Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM. The RAW files were converted to TIFF with Capture One Pro with further processing by Photoshop CS5 before final output to the web.
After we left Tiger Leaping Gorge, we arrived at Lijiang city. Our first stop was The Black Dragon Pool.
The Black Dragon Pool (simplified Chinese: 黑龙潭; traditional Chinese: 黑龍潭; pinyin: Hēilóngtán) is a famous pond in the scenic Jade Spring Park (Yu Quan Gong Yuan) located at the foot of Elephant Hill, a short walk north of the Old Town of Lijiang in Yunnan province, China. It was built in 1737 during the Qing Dynasty and offers a spectacular view on the region’s tallest mountain, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, over its white marble bridge. The park features several smaller temples and pavilions:
The Moon-Embracing Pavilion (simplified Chinese: 得月楼; traditional Chinese: 得月樓; pinyin: Déyuè Lóu), which was originally built in the late Ming Dynasty. The current structure is a reproduction from 1963 after a fire in 1950.
The Dragon God Temple (Longshen Temple) was constructed by local Naxi people in 1737 and is located to the east of the park. It was given the name Dragon God of Jade Spring by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty in the same year.
The threefold overlap Five-Phoenix Tower (Wufeng Tower) was built during the Ming Dynasty (1601), and today located at the north end of the park. The tower was originally situated at the Fuguo Temple, which is 30 kilometers to the west, but was moved to Jade Spring Park in 1979.
The park is further home to the Dongba Culture Research Institute and the Dongba Culture Museum. source : wikipedia.org
The pool is the water source for the famous Old Town of Lijiang. It is a nice stroll and walking along the path leads you directly to the Old Town. On a good clear day, you can see the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in the background behind the pond with a nice reflection on the surface of the pond. Unfortunately, on the day we were there, the snow mountain was blocked by clouds.
All photos were shot in RAW with Canon EOS 5D Mark II with Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM. All photos were shot in RAW and converted to TIFF with Capture One Pro with further processing by Photoshop CS5 before final output to the web.
