Getting the Lay of the Land

We spent Tuesday morning getting an overview of the city by taking a ride on a double-decker tram and another ride on a different double-decker tour bus.

Sightseeing from the double-decker big red bus.

Enjoying the view from the top of Victoria Peak. We could barely make out the city below through all of the pollution, or, as we Angelinos like to call it, haze.

While at the peak, we enjoyed a bowl of soup/noodles/dumplings at Mak's Noodle (Anthony Bourdain's a fan).

More photos will follow in another post. The hotel wifi isn't cooperating with our desire to upload multiple photos at a time.

Good Morning Hong Kong

Not exactly a "Room with a View"

Welcome to Hong Kong!

After 14 hours, 7 movies, many cups of tea, many cups of noodles, unidentifiable veggie meals, one Indian meal and one unsolicited palm reading, we have finally arrived in Hong Kong!

While Lisa enjoyed a delicious meal at the H.K. Yacht club with her friends Tracy and Joe, the 3 rat girls ventured to the much ballyhooed Jumbo Floating Restaurant. Great pix, but no dim sum for us. Sonja already enjoying her twin bed at the Fleming, Karen and I enjoyed an Italian meal at Al Dente. Pasta and salad served by a lovely Chinese man while listening to an American Hit parade of tunes including Desperado and Beauty and the Beast.

Mad Photo Skills

Karen and me, sharpening our night photo skills in preparation for the crazy lights of Hong Kong. Thanks to our teacher Brian for all the shutter-holding.

Welcome to the Art Girls' Hong Kong Diary Blog!

Once upon a time, three rats and a goat decided to go to Hong Kong and document their trip on a blog.

Linda (year of the rat); Lisa (goat); Sonja (rat); Karen (rat)

On the agenda: Art HK contemporary art fair, gallery-going, dim sum, a giant Buddha, junk boats, light shows, visiting friends, and (hopefully) countless other adventures.

Marfa Style

We LOVED Marfa!  Thanks Marella for finally getting us there.  Good food and Great Art. We'll definitely be back for more!





Check out some really inspired videos about Marfa on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lryy7YBhM4A&feature=related

Donald Judd, Marfa, TX

Our last day in Marfa involved finding someone to guide us through Judd's personal compound.  Here we saw his library, the earliest protypes of signature works, and his personal living space.  It was quite something.

If you want more information about Donald Judd or The Chinati Foundation, go to their website:
www.chinati.org

Good Eating in Marfa

Turns out there were more opportunities for terrific food in Marfa than we had time for.  We made it a priority to sample something from the daily changing menu of the famous Food Shark. Midnight grilled cheese was absolutely divine!!! We had heard so much about Cochineal (with the two chefs transplanted from New York City) that we just had to have dinner there and boy did it not disappoint. We dined with our friends Marella and Jimmy at the Marfa Table and then had lunch at Jett's Grill at the Paisano Hotel (James Dean, Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor of "Giant" fame slept there). We never had a chance to try the much heralded Pizza Foundation or Tacos del Norte or Maiya's. The beer and local entertainment at Padre's - very local - was memorable!  All fun and delicious!

This article in The New York Times gave us a clue that we weren't exactly in the "real" Texas but some artsy hybrid fantasy version of Texas invented by a bunch of well-healed dreamers.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/travel/22journeys.html?pagewanted=all

Here are some pix of our midnight grilled cheese at the Food Shark and their school bus dining car.





































Want more Food Shark?  Check out their groovy blog:
http://www.foodsharkmarfa.com/
or YouTube commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-MG8cRiDC4



Lunch at Jett's Grill at the Paisano Hotel (the only other hotel in town).
















The Marfa Table with friends Marella and Jimmy, transplanted New Yorkers and artsy types.

Chamberlain, Flavin & Judd, Oh My!

Our day at the Chinati Foundation began with a guided tour of the artillery sheds and the 100 aluminum boxes by Donald Judd.  The view of the Texas landscape outside and more Donald Judd works in concrete on the horizon made it a truly breathtaking experience.  We eventually got to rooms of Dan Flavin, Sol Lewitt, Roni Horn (the only woman in the collection), a Soviet era school house installation by Kabakov, a giant horseshoe by Oldenberg, a former horse arena re-designed by Judd complete with his furniture and so much more.  Then we had lunch in town and caught our breath.  We spent the afternoon in a former airplane hanger installed with about 50 John Chamberlain sculptures.  The docent unlocked the door and we had the place all to ourselves. The day far exceeded our wildest imagination and needless to say, we came away with a renewed respect and admiration for Judd and his vision of what an art experience could be.  Here are some highlights.

If you are curious about the art at the Chinati Foundation or want to gain a greater appreciation for Donald Judd and his contemporaries, check out Robert Hughes' segment on Judd from his American Visions television series.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgelc5BVQrk&feature=related

Go West Art Girls!

Going to Marfa is the third installment of the art trifecta of remote art viewing sites in the American SouthWest (Spiral Jetty and Lightning Field being the first and second installments). Marfa, Texas, population about 2,000 is located in the high desert of far West Texas. Over the years Marfa has been an Army airfield and POW camp during World War II; served as the backdrop for television and feature film productions, GIANT (1956), There Will Be Blood (2006) and No Country for Old Men (2007) being the  most well-known; and since 1971 has been the headquarters for Donald Judd, world-renowned minimalist artist and his Chinati Foundation. This is Mecca for contemporary art. It’s about time we got there!

  












We know we're getting close when we find "Prada Marfa," 2005, by Elmgreen and Dragset. A permanent sculptural installation made to resemble a Prada store complete with bags and shoes (only the right shoe) along Route 90, 30 miles north of Marfa.  Art Girls and Texas Longhorns LOVE Prada!















Stocking up on provisions - for the weekend!
    













Making the Thunderbird Motel our home in Marfa - if it was good enough for Javier Bardem, it's good enough for us!

To get a perspective on all things Marfa, check out the NY Times Wanderlust Blog:
http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/05/wanderlust-marfa-texas/