Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Rotunda do Istmo, Taipa

Episode 5 has fewer locations on offer than previous ones and many of them are part of general travelogue style shots to fill the gaps between scenes. We start off, unsurprisingly, where #4 left off - with Jonah on the private boat at a Macau marina. However, we have already established that the marina was in fact back in Hong Kong. The film makers are seeking to show otherwise by opening with an establishing shot of Macau. This is another shot of the Rotunda do Istmo. The top image showing an angle looking slightly to the west. The body of water in the right is the lake/wetland (former sea now encapsulated by the reclamation and, no doubt, swapped with freshwater) that sits between the Avenida de Praia on Taipa (where the Taipa houses museum now stands) and the Cotai Strip.

You may have spotted the bottom image is the same one used in the previous episode.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Hung Hom Promenade, Kowloon

One final shot from Episode 4 is this nice view along the Hung Hom Promenade. The Government made a sensible decision for once (it doesn't happen often!) and joined this section of the waterfront up with the main section in TST a few years ago so you can walk from one to the other.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Shum Wan Road and Po Chang Wan, Wong Chuk Hang

When David leaves the casino, Jonah jumps in a cab to follow him and this must have been the mother of all journeys because they both miraculously manage to travel about 50 miles east, over the sea, and back to Hong Kong Island. The location is supposed to be a marina in Macau where a gangster is keeping his boat. In reality the taxi stops on Shum Wan Road by the Po Chang Wan shipyards and Jonah goes through the first one to find David on one of the boats in dock. The buildings in the distance are part of a 'luxury' development on Ap Lei Chau called the Larvotto.

The building behind is a school: Victoria Shanghai Academy

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Rotunda do Istmo, Taipa

Another quick shot that doesn't really show us anything other than some of Macau's sights. This time it is a roundabout on Taipa called the Rotunda do Istmo. I guess it, and the roads that lead to it, mark where the southern Taipa shoreline once stood before it was all filled in to create the Cotai Strip. You can see a few of the resort casinos in the background. The Venetian is on the right, followed by the Four Seasons and then you can just make out the Parisian and its fake Eiffel Tower. On the left is the Crown Towers part of the City of Dreams, followed by the cluster of the St Regis / Holiday Inn / Conrad / Sheraton.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Rua da Felicidade, Macau

Another slight detour as the taxi gets his monies worth by then taking Jonah all the way down to the Rua da Felicidade. This "Street of Happiness" was named so due to its previous incarnation as a popular red light district. It was basically one long street full of brothels. This time it's only Jonah getting screwed.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Rua de S. Miguel, Macau

In the process of being taken for a ride (literally and figuratively) Jonah is driven along the rather picturesque Rua de S. Miguel. This view shows us the view looking back towards the intersection with Calcada da Igreja de São Lazaro. On the other side of the junction (where the green netting covers the building) the road becomes the Rua de Eduardo Marques and continues on up to the St Michael cemetery (the pastel green blur in the far distance is the church that sits in the middle of the burial grounds).

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Macau Maritime Ferry Terminal, Macau

Jonah follows David and catches the ferry to Macau. He then hops in a Macau taxi cab at the front and is taken on what must be the most realistic aspect of this series i.e. being taken on an overly circuitous ride by a local taxi driver. Remember that he only needs to go around the corner to the Legend Palace Hotel Casino.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Legend Palace Hotel, Macau

David has gone to do his deed at a casino called the "Illusion Hotel and Casino". In reality it is the relatively new Legend Palace Hotel, built on the site of the fake Chinese fortress/temple at Fisherman's wharf. It's a really quick walk (< 3 mins) to the main ferry terminal.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Sai Van Bridge, Macau

Greetings peeps. After a rather long lay off as I spent the last few weeks in Europe, I can restart the Strangers posts with the second half of episode 4 as the action moves to Macau. David Chen (Anthony Wong) heads there to meet a contact and Jonah (John Simm), being suspicious, decides to follow him. Cue a nice shot taken from Penha Hill looking south towards Taipa and the Sai Van Bridge, one of the three bridges that connect the Macau peninsula to the (former) island.

Tomb Raider - Alicia Vikander (2018) - View from the Peak, Hong Kong

Okay, I'm off for a few weeks for Chinese New Year and will return with the Strangers posts at the end of the month. But before I go here is a quickie involving last year's reboot of Tomb Raider. 

Perhaps in a bit of a homage to the previous version of Lara Croft, some of the action from the reboot supposedly takes place in Hong Kong and we are given a typical Hong Kong harbour view in order to establish that that's where the action has moved to.

However, it turns out (after some of the scenery in the background didn't make sense to me, see bottom image) that the key Hong Kong-based scene - supposedly shot in Aberdeen Harbour when Croft goes to find the boat her father was on - wasn't filmed in Hong Kong at all but was actually shot on a well crafted studio set in South Africa.

I must admit it had me fooled for a few seconds because it blends real superimposed shots of the harbour with what appears to be computer generated buildings. So I have included a couple of examples below. The first image shows a superimposed view along the real Aberdeen Harbour in the top half of the screen, with the South African set in the bottom half. You can achieve a view like this if you stand on the breakwater at the western end of the harbour, but there are no flat concrete piers there. Still, it's very convincing.

Real Aberdeen top, fake Aberdeen bottom

The next shot shows where the CGI buildings appear. They look sort of Hong Kong style I suppose but anyone familiar with Aberdeen will know that there are no buildings like this at that location. They look okay on film but closer scrutiny reveals the slightly computer-generated quality to them.

Fake Aberdeen top, fake Aberdeen bottom