Hong Kong
Trip Start
Oct 01, 2002
1
157
158
Trip End
Aug 08, 2005
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Friday, August 5, 2005
Once we arrived in Central we found it quite difficult to find our bearings due to the sheer hoards of people thronging the streets, a moving carpet of people, even if we could've fought our way through we wouldn't have had a clue where to go
01 Bright Lights Big City
. So we hopped onto the tram which runs the length of the north side of the island. Grabbing the best seats at the front of the upper deck we rode up and down three times snapping pictures as the sky changed from sunset to dusk and then as night time fell we watched the sky scrapers light up in their technicolour splendour. The next day we headed off to do a short hike which Yat Ming had recommended and which ended at an unspoilt beach on the east side of HK Island. However when we arrived at the start of our hike we couldn't find the beginning of the trail and asking the locals they said it wasn't possible. Obviously we were quite disappointed and having wasted too much of the day already, we headed back into the main fray of Central. On the way we stopped at Victoria Park, a peaceful haven in the midst of all the bustle and there we tried out the pebble garden, a circular walkway of pebbles which you walk along in bare feet whilst it massages and eases any troublesome spots in the body - that's the theory anyway..... In our case we hobbled and yelped along part of the way much to the amusement of the locals! Next we decided to do a walking tour of Central which took in some of the most interesting sights of the main island including phenomenal modern and colonial buildings, parks and the viewing deck on the 43rd floor of the China Bank Building. The views of the harbour were fantastic and we actually saw a junk right there in the middle of town!
02 Nightscape
! Junks are traditional boats which used to ply the harbours and bays of Hong Kong in their thousands with trade goods but are now virtually extinct. We were happy to spot one even if it was only the size of a beetle from our vantage point. At the end of our tour we headed across to Tsim Sha Tsui on the Star Ferry in time to watch the sunset casting orange light over the silvery skyscrapers and when we reached the other side we waited for nightfall to see all the buildings light up again as they co-ordinated their nightly light and laser show. It really is one of the most impressive city skylines that we've seen anywhere around the world. We finished our day with a walking tour of Tsim Sha Tsui where we couldn't resist visiting the infamous Chumphoen Mansions which has to be one of the dodgiest backpacker haunts anywhere in the world! It's basically a huge skyscraper housing multiple budget hotels that have nothing more than filthy tiny boxes they call rooms. Okay so HK is expensive for any backpacker but really, given where we've stayed in the past, even we wouldn't have stayed there - no chance!!The next day (Wed 3rd) we again headed to HK Island but this time to HK Park which houses the pretty unimpressive Tea Museum in a nice old colonial building, the oldest surviving anywhere in HK. There's also a really cool aviary which we walked through on elevated platforms at eye level with the birds in the branches
03 Aberdeen
. Afterwards we headed off to the Botanical and Zoological gardens, which are pretty well respected in HK so we'd decided they could be worth a visit. They turned out to be okay but at least they had a fantastic Jaguar who languished in the sunshine and made our visit worthwhile - for Sian and her fascination with kitty cats at least. Having explored the Central area to death we made our way over to the south side of the island to a small town called Stanley which sits on a small beach. The market there was fun to explore with everything from abstract Chinese paintings to tacky chopsticks produced in their thousands for the tourists who snap them up as quickly as possible. Of course we couldn't help but purchase a few more things we didn't really need but thankfully no chopsticks for us! A little further along the coast to the West is the small town of Aberdeen which we couldn't resist paying a visit just to see what it's like. The only interesting thing about the town (that we could find) was it's harbour which is home to many colourful fishing boats but is a far cry from the tales we'd heard from John, one of the guys we travelled Africa with. In his navy days during the sixties, Aberdeen harbour was filled with row upon row of junks tied together, never moving but housing communities of people who never had to step foot on land as each boat served the community in their different ways, doctors, shops, everything
04 Incense at Man Mo Temple
. It would have been cool to see it but nowadays only a few rows of boats remain, strung together with planks leading from one to the next. We watched the sun set and then went to meet Yat Ming and some of his friends to sample some of the local food delights. The food was really nice and after a bit of practise we'd re-honed our chopstick dexterity enough not to totally embarrass ourselves and we finished off a great day by sitting on the isolated beach outside the restaurant, beneath a massive bridge spanning from one island to another lit up in neon lights against the black sky. Surprisingly we hadn't had enough of walking tours by Thursday so we set off on yet another, eager to see as much of HK as possible. We started at the Yau Ma Tei bird garden, a small but amusing place where the locals preen and cluck after their feathered friends and try to outdo each other with more and more elaborate teak cages. There were even live grasshoppers on offer to be devoured by the vast array of noisy birds. Sadly, not all the birds were taking advantage of lives of luxury as there were those waiting to be sold, but in the mean time were tightly packed in small cages or held by their legs on ridiculously short chains plucking out their feathers in despair. Not happy with what we were seeing, we made a swift exit and moved on to the more genteel and serene flower market before more scenes of despair in the tropical fish section. Needless to say we were very glad to reached the Jade market but not at all tempted by any of the gaudy items on offer even if we were on a shopping trip! Our next stop was the Man Mo Temple, the oldest temple in Central and which was really quite atmospheric with huge coils of incense sending smoke swirling into the sunlight as it filtered through the roof.
As it was a clear day we decided that we'd better take advantage of it and go up to Victoria peak, the highest point on HK island and from where you get spectacular views of the city
05 Peak Sunset
. We walked over to the Peak tram station, boarded the tram for our steep ascent and then evaded the crowds and the tourist clutter at the top by going for a circular walk around the top of the peak. It was a welcome escape and we were soon enjoying the distinctly cooler climate and the unspoilt scenery and woodland with hardly a soul in sight. We were back to the start for sunset which was really quite nice as the sinking sun silhouetted the harbour boats against a shimmering orange sea and sky and then we watched night fall, from a different angle this time, before we descended back down to Central to take the ferry back to Yau Ma Tei for the night market. Not surprisingly we were about shopped out, everything starts to look the same after a while, so we met Yat Ming for more local delicacies instead. By Friday we were ready to explore further a field so we travelled to Sai Kung in the Outer Territories from where we planned to do a bit of island hopping. Best laid plans went pearshaped again when we couldn't find a soul who spoke English so we ended up on a boat which travelled only to one island packed with locals who crowded a too small beach. We looked on bemused as the young girls strutted in the bikinis, ironic considering the rest of the time they all hide under umbrellas to shield themselves from the sun and an unwanted tan! After about and hour, we headed back to the mainland and wandered along the harbour watching the fishing boats selling their catch of all manner of seafood and fish
06 View from Victoria Peak at Night
. Next, and at a bit of a loose end, we decided to go shopping! Happy new laptop and digital camera later, we were very pleased with ourselves!!Our final day saw us making our way to the airport early to store our very tightly packed and now weighing 40kg (!) luggage before we explored the rest of the island of Lantau where the airport is situated. Rickety buses took us on very windy roads to the centre of the island, home to an important monastic complex and the famous big Buddha. It was a sight to behold atop a hill with steps leading right up to it. We made our way up, struggling a bit in the heat, and couldn't help but be impressed at the sheer enormity of it despite other similarly huge Buddhas we'd seen in other parts of the world. Impressed that is until you turn around and see the huge blot on the landscape right below which will soon be another metro station. Still, it claims to be the largest outdoor seated Buddha in the world and was quite incredible. We climbed aboard another rickety bus onward to the traditional fishing village of Tai O, a quaint place where local women sell dried fish, weighing it out on wonky scales and where the majority used to live in stilt houses on the water before a fire destroyed most of them. Still, some remain and are nice to see, better get there quick though as the authorities plan to knock them down as they are deemed too dilapidated and an eyesore!! HK really isn't great at protecting it's heritage that's for sure. We ended another busy day back in Tsim Sha Tsui where we once again met Yat Ming. This time it was to watch the weekly firework display, which takes place every Saturday night. Almost all the major skyscrapers in Central put on a co-ordinated show from the roofs of the buildings and it really was quite amazing, we've certainly never seen anything like it! A great ending to our visit and after saying our thanks and farewells to Yat Ming, we headed off to the airport, another adventure over, but just for now....
