Hong Kong

Hong Kong Island from the Star Ferry.
see all photos »

We arrived at Hong Kong to a very foggy evening. Our bus into the city took us over the Tsing Ma Bridge, at 2.2km it is the longest road and rail bridge in the world (apparently). By the time we had settled into our ramshackle hostel in Kowloon it was quite late so we did not realy do much on our first night.

Our first real view of Hong Kong came the following morning. We headed to the Star Ferry terminal and took the famous 8 minute ferry ride across the habour to the city. Incidently, the ferry cost a whopping $2.2 (thats about 15 pence I think)! Hong Kong Island itself is quite an incredible site. Set on a fairly small mountainous island, every single bit of usable land has got a skyscraper on it. We spent most of the day walking around the central area of the city, exploring the many little streets selling dried food and antiques. In the evening we took the ferry back across the harbour to Kowloon to watch "A Symphony of Lights" from the promenade. Possibly one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen, but at the same time, quite incredible. At 8pm every night, some dodgy music is played through speakers along the prom (this isn't the incredible bit). As the music plays over 30 of the cities skyscrapers light up in time with the music. The whole thing ends with lights and lasers shining up into the night sky from right across the city. It is something that has to be seen to be believed!

Looking down on the harbour from Mt. Victoria.
see all photos »

On the second day we were back on the ferry across the harbour. We spent the morning wandering the Zooligical and Botanical Gardens waiting for the haze to clear from the top of city skyscrapers. When it did clear we took the Peak Tram up to the summit of Mt Victoria for some great views over the city and harbour. We walked around the summit and then down the mountainside back to the city. We then took a tram east to the Wan Chai district of the city where we went up the Central Plaza tower to the 46th floor for yet more views over the harbour. After a walk along the harbourfront and some food, it had finally gotten dark, so we caught a tram through the city back to Central Pier. We were able to sit upstairs and watch all the neon lights of the city pass is by.

An old harbour boat or 'Junk' with Kowloon in the background.
see all photos »

Our final day in the city was dampened by soom rather gloomy weather. We had intended to explore Kowloon a little more, but we were quite happy to change our plans. I was particularly fed up with Kowloon, everytime we left our hostel I was badgered all the way down the street by Indian men trying to sell me suits and watches. One man in particular kept trying to make me guess how much he could do me a suit for! Also, Kowloon is one of the most densely populated places in the world so it was like being in a constant rush hour. We eventually spent the day hiding from the rain in the Hong Kong Museum of History, which was suprisingly interesting. We easily spent most of the afternoon sheltering amongst the many exhibits.

A busy night in central Hong Kong.
see all photos »

I think we were expecting Hong Kong to be quite similar to Singapore, and that is wasn't initially came as quite a shock. Once we were over that and got to see more of the city than the overcrowded Kowloon area, we started to really enjoy ourselves. My only personally gripe with the city is the food. There are no Hawker stalls in Hong Kong (none that you should risk eating at anyway), so we had to rely on restaurants, and of these, it seemed most were offering western food rather than Chinese. In fact, we ate more Indian food than anything else, we only found one place selling reasonably priced Chinese food, and even then the dish I had turned out to be Thai.

We left Hong Kong in rather gloomy weather, catching a train to the border town of Lo Wu, from there we walked along the bridge over the Shenzhen River into China!

J.