Hong Kong

  Hong Kong, China
Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Hong Kong- January 12-18, 2009

We took a 2 hour train ride from Guangzhou to Hong Kong on January 12.  We arrived on the Kowloon side of HK where our hostel was located.  The hostel was in a "mansion" and by mansion I don't mean a beautiful, palatial, spacious residence... I mean a crowded, 30 story, dirty, scary, and noisy building where people hound you to buy fake Rolexes, curry, and suits.  Staying in a 5'x5' room on a rock hard bed while wearing ALL of my clothes was quite the experience and a great welcome to Hong Kong.

I did not like the Kowloon side of HK

So it isn't surprising that we spent the next morning at an internet cafe searching for a new place to stay.

Willie and Kowloon in the background

We were really lucky to find the YesInn on the Hong Kong side of the city.  It was a clean and amazing hostel that i would recommend to anyone!
 
To get acquainted with the city we decided to take a night cruise up and down Victoria Harbor which separates Hong Kong island from Kowloon and the other parts of HK that are attached to mainland China.

On a night ferry ride on Victoria Harbor

This cruise provided us with a great night view of all of the buildings along HK island which were lit up.  It gave us information in English all about the sections of the island and the buildings, along with some ideas about what we could do throughout our long week in HK.

Exhibition hall in Hong Kong

And it also gave me the opportunity to act out the dramatic scene from Titanic were Leo and Kate stand on the bow!

A Titanic moment I had to take advantage of!

Every night at 8pm there is the "Symphony of Lights."

Hong Kong side during symphony of lights

If you stand on the Kowloon side of HK and look toward HK island you can watch the lights of some of the tallest and most modern buildings in the words.  Each building has a special light "talent" where the lights might chase around the building, or some lazer lights might shine into the sky, or some lights might look like Chinese New Year decorations.

Symphony of light

Meanwhile some music is playing on Kowloon's "movie star strip."  It's fun free entertainment in HK that you can't experience any where else in the world.  

Victoria Harbor is kind of special.  No bridges can be built over the harbor because the governement wants to keep the amazing view in tack between HK island and Kowloon.  The only ways to cross the harbor are by ferry, which is only 2 RMB or by subway.

At a subway stop in HK

Our first full day in HK was spend just walking around and exploring.  

The buildings of Hong Kong

We walked along the shore/harbor of HK island and gazed at tall builings and beautiful views.

The Exhibition hall, Victoria H. and Kowloon

We explored the Exhibition Hall and the famous sculptural symbol of HK, the Golden Bauhinia.

Golden Bauhinia

 We walked to the Wan Chai part of HK island which is the most expensive district and is also know as the financial district.

In Hong Kong

 We also discovered the best and the cheapest way to explore HK island is by Tram.  The tram is only 2 RMB and literally goes from one end on the island to the other.  It is a better option that taking the subway because you get to see the city, it is less comfusing than a bus because you KNOW where the tram is going due to the tracks, and they are double deckers so if you are really lucky you get to sit at the top right in front and se EVERYTHING!  I think I sadly liked riding the tram too much.

Tram ride in HK

Other adventures in the city included a trip to the botanical gardens which was also a small zoo.  

In botanical garden

It was a beautiful area at the top of a peak with a ton of nature to soak up.  

Willie being amused by the monkeys

We also sat and watched some monkeys in a cage for a good hour.  It's definently the small things in life that are the best!  We also discovered a huge market that was similar to our market in Shijiazhuang where they sell anything from strawberries to pig faces.

At a market

 

Hong Kong also has the most popular and busy horse race track in the world.  It is pretty much like a small city inside!  

Hong Kong race track

 And every Wednesday night there are races.  It is only 10 RMB to get in and you can use your Octopus card, which is the same top up card that you can use for the subway, tram, ferry, busses, McDonalds, and more.

Hong Kong race track

This card is pretty much the only currency you need in HK!  I met a friend who I went to grade school with named Camber Carpenter.  I haven't actually seen her since 5th grade, but through facebook I realized that she lived in HK.  We met at the race track and did a lot of catching up while standing right next to the grass track.

Me and Camber, my 5th grade friend

There are sooo many museums in HK and all of them are free on Wednesdays... which we didn't know about until Wednesday afternoon.  We did get a chance to go to the Space and Art Museum.  Those are two seperate museums but it could be a cool concept to combine the two.  Anyway, I would compare the Space Museum to any other Space Museum in a big city; but the Art Museum was a uniquely Chinese experience.  It had a mix of Chinese modern art which was highly influenced by European art along with Chinese post modern art which was influenced by the backlash of Chinese art being influenced by European art!

At the art center

It also had a collection of traditianal Chinese caligraphy and water colors which were done by two cousins.  One was a trained professional who went to school at a presigious university at the time and trained in art and the other was his poor cousin.  The cousin actually worked as a servant in his rich families home and became interested in art by watching his cousin paint.  He began to simply copy the movements and techniques used by his trained cousin.  And from doing so he became just as good and is actually know today as the more creative and for having more naturaly talent of the two!   The Art Museum had a section for the children to create a picture for the new Chinese New Year... the year of the OX.  So I had to make a picture... and a stupid joke.... "Happy Moo Year!"  Ahh, that still makes me laugh.  

Happy Moo Year- Year of the OX

 

We took a couple of day trips to surrounding islands while we were in HK.  There are many islands within a short ferry ride away from HK city center.  We went to Lantau Island and Lamma Island.  Lantau Island is the biggest surrounding island with the least amount of people.  It is the island that has the HK airport, HK Disney Land, and the cable car ride to the big buddha. 

Buddha

We set out for the island for the cable car ride and the big buddha.  We knew that it was the 3rd largest buddha in the world but did not realize that is was made in 1984 until we read the information UNDER the buddha.  It wasn't real or historic... it was only built because Japan and Taiwan are the two other places that have a large buddha and China felt left out, so it built one too.

Willie and Buddha

Needless to say, I was a little disappointed and Willie could not stop laughing.  That's what happens when you don't do your research!  The cable care ride up to the buddha and back was really enjoyable.

Buddha in the back

We got to see some beautiful scenery, the HK airport, and some STRUGGLING hikers below us... that was funny.

Find Willie!

And we fully took advantage of the Chinese New Year decorations where you put your face in a big cut out.  

Happy Qing Dynasty couple

 


Lamma Island is a much smaller island that has two very small villages.  The most popular thing to do on Lamma Island is to take a ferry to one of the villages and then hike 2 hours to the other village.   Each village is just a small place with a lot of seafood restaurants, shops, and bikes.  Cars or motarized vehicles are not allowed on Lamma Island so it is a cool sight to see bike after bike after bike lined up along the dock.  We set off to hike from one village to the other and stop at some scenic spots and beaches along the way.

Lamma Island

There was one moment where we looked down to the water and saw a beautiful small beach.  We decided to make our own trail and go down to the secluded beach.  Well, there was already a small trail but it was off the beaten path.  We got some of our first rays of the spring and Willie enjoyed the cold water... which I did not touch!

Lamma Beach

 Instead I wrote messages and sculpted a man's face in the sand!

My artwork

Along the hiking trail we saw a small man made cave and a sign.  The sign read that the cave was actually made by the Japanese military during WW2 when they invaded Hong Kong and other parts of China.  The Japanese military used Lamma Island as a place to hide and store their boats and subs incase of an attack.  So this man made cave  was created to hide Japanese war crafts in case they needed to launch some sort of attack from Lamma Island.  

Japanese caves dug during WW2 on Lamma

  Finally we made it to the 2nd village... which we ended up not liking... so we hiked back to the first village where we ate dinner and watched the island sunset before taking a ferry back to HK Island.

Lamma sunset

Lamma Island was my favorite place in HK because of the beaches, the lack of cars, and the intamacy of the small villages.  Just remembering Lamma makes me want to go back!

On Lamma Island