Working as a movie extra in Hong Kong
Trip Start
Jul 20, 2004
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88
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Trip End
Jul 20, 2014
Macau, Macau
Friday, August 11, 2006
Administered by Portugal until 1999, it was the oldest European colony in China, dating to the 16th century. The administrative power over Macau was transferred to the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1999, and it is now one of two special administrative regions of the PRC, together with Hong Kong. As stipulated in the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration of 1987 and provided for under the Basic Law of Macau, Macau is guaranteed its special administrative region status for at least 50 years starting from December 20, 1999. Residents of Macau mostly speak Cantonese natively; Portuguese, Mandarin, English, Fujianese, Filipino, Thai, and several other languages are also spoken.
Besides historical Chinese and Portuguese world-heritage relics, Macau's biggest attraction is its gambling industry and casinos. Though many forms of gambling are legal here, the most popular game is baccarat, which generates over two thirds of the gaming industry's gross receipts. Gamblers from Hong Kong often take a one-day excursion to Macau; ferry service by hydrofoil to and from Hong Kong is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and often takes less than a hour to travel between the two cities.
Before I left for Macau, I was approached by Michael, who works for an agency recruiting actors. He needed a few Caucasian people to work for 2 nights. I said yes and when I came back we went straight to the shooting location in Central HK. The film will be released in December and currently has the English title of "Confessions of Pain" which will be released in mainland China in December 2006. Director Andrew Lau and Alan Mak produced another modern crime drama, starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Shu Qi, Xu Jinglei and Chapman To. It was a new and interesting experience to work as an extra in the movie industry. One of the main characters is the famous Japanese actor Takeshi Kaneshiro and women everywhere run to him to get autographs or took pictures with their mobile phones. We worked from about 7pm until 2am shooting street or restaurant scenes celebrating Christmas. This involved many repeat shootings of the same scene depicting us shouting merry Christmas and hugging each other and Santa on the street. We also got real beer to drink while playing the scenes. The company fed and clothed us and we got paid 400HK$ for each day.This was welcome money as HK is not the cheapest place to hang out as a backpacker. There I made friends with a lovely couple from Argentina, Sebastian and Betiana. After the filming, we went back to the hostel and hang out there talking and didn't get to bed until 3am. http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/007994.html
The last 2 days in HK, I went to Lantau Island. Lantau Island, also Lantao, is the largest island in Hong Kong, located at the mouth of the Pearl River. Administratively, it is part of the Islands District, but a small part in the northeast of the island belongs to Tsuen Wan District. Area: 146.38 km². Originally the site of sleepy fishing villages, the island has in recent years been transformed with the development of several major infrastructure projects, including Hong Kong's new international airport and Hong Kong Disneyland. Upon arrival, I booked into one of the youth hostels. I spent the day relaxing at the beach and in the evening I went off to explore Pui O when I got caught in heavy rains. Luckily, I met lovely Carmen who invited me to her apartment and then for dinner. She also took me back to the hostel and we decided that I should stay at her place as we were planning to go to visit the Ngong Ping Plateau.
The next day, we took the bus to Ngong Ping where we visited the Po Lin Monastry and the golden Buddha. Po Lin Monastery is located at 450 meters altitude on the Ngong Ping Plateau. Po Lin is not a historical site; it was opened in 1970. The main hall has two floors and is covered with an elaborately decorated roof and hosts three big, golden Buddha statues. The main attraction of Po Lin, however, is the 34 m high giant Buddha statue outside. It weighs 250 tons and is said to be the biggest Buddha statue in Asia (quite believable). Since I had to be at the airport by 5Pm, we had not enough time to climb up Lantau Peak which I would have liked to do. Well, next time then. From here, we went to Tai O, also known as "The Venice of the Orient", which is the largest settlement on Lantau Island. Crisscrossing canals run the length and breadth of the small fishing harbor. In addition, homes built on stilts over the water are a common sight here. Tai O was once a garrison town but has now become a peaceful fishing harbor. Salted fish is a local specialty. Tai O was once the largest city on the island. In the 1970s, Tai O started to attract holiday visitors, and today the town is prosperous and busy. Tai O has a divine experience in store for all. To experience it, we needed to venture out in a motorised launch boat in the choppy South China Sea waters. Twenty minutes out at sea, the engines were stilled, and the boatman asks for our silence. And, then it happened. The world around us exploded into a glorious sight of pink Chinese dolphins, splashing in the water. They were following a big fishing boat and we could see their pink backs going up and down in the water. It is mystic, incredible and everyone is mesmerised, especially when the dolphins jumped out of the water doing a salto in the air. The dolphins frolic against the backdrop of the Hong Kong international airport in the distance. I very much liked the narrow streets and stilt houses of Tai O, another place to come back to. We returned to Carmen's place where I got my backpack and the headed for the airport to catch my flight to NZ.
