[Please see the Production Notes page.]
Hong Kong is every bit the metropolis depicted in the movies and on TV.
We sailed in at dawn, still in the wet low pressure system. (We saw some patches of blue sky in our two days but never really had sunshine.) We were immediately struck by all of the high-rise apartment buildings along the water—banks and banks of 20 story buildings, even on the outskirts. But we also sailed past a little fishing village.
Hong Kong Contrast
Hong Kong includes a section on the mainland and about 200 islands, including Hong Kong Island. As in Sydney, our hotel had the best location—at the cruise terminal in Kowloon on a point of the mainland across the harbour from Hong Kong island.
Hong Kong Island Skyline Reflected in the Rotterdam Bridge Windows
The cruise terminal is really a 3-4 story up-scale shopping mall, next to the Star Ferry and city bus terminals and the clock tower, a couple blocks from Kowloon Park and two streets over from the legendary Nathan Road—Hong Kong’s high-rise Rodeo Drive.
The first morning’s excursion was around Kowloon. We started with a flower market (on Flower Market Road, I won’t attempt the Chinese) and the neighboring Yuen Po Street Bird Garden and market. It appears that Asian countries tend to cluster merchants together by type rather than spreading them around town.
The second stop was the Kowloon Walled City Park. Up until 1899 the area was a walled garrison city. Then it was used for a variety of purposes. In the 1990s it was developed into a park based on the Jiangnan garden style of the early Qing Dynasty. A traditional Chinese garden has four elements: rocks, water, flora, and architecture. One element of architecture is the fully restored courtyard complex.
The third stop was the Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple, one of Hong Kong’s largest taoist temples. There are several temples and a large garden. The largest, Buddhist, temple was under reconstruction, so we couldn’t see it. Most of the complex was crowded with incense being burned in and near the temples. There was a beautiful garden in back complete with a zig-zag bridge to confuse the evil spirits.
Zig-Zag Bridge in Garden of Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple
On one side of the complex there was a long two-story building full of stalls occupied by fortune tellers.
The final stop was the Hong Kong Museum of History, a fantastic depiction of the history of Hong Kong from its 400 million year geological formation to its cultural and political development. There are dioramas, recreations, artifacts, photos, videos, etc. It was established in 1975. One could easily spend the day.
After lunch on the ship, Janice went out to explore more round the terminal area. We wandered up Nathan Road and into Kowloon Park, a large public park with swimming pools, aviary, and gardens.
After dinner Janice and I went outside again to see the famous Symphony of Lights show. Every evening at 8pm there is a 15 minute show that coordinates lights in and on more than 20 buildings on both side of the harbor to music. We finished the day with some time on the Internet through the free Wi-Fi in the terminal.
The second day dawned as foggy and drizzly as the first. But that did not deter Janice and I and about 40 of our Tai Chi classmates from venturing out before 6am to go to Kowloon Park and do Chi Kung with the natives.
After breakfast, all three of us went on an excursion to see the highlights of Hong Kong Island. The bus took us through a tunnel under the harbor (there are several tunnels these days, but no bridges) into the business district called Central. This is probably the area best known through movies and TV. It is where most of the high-rise office buildings are. We took the tram up Victoria Peak and saw absolutely nothing (except the inside of a cloud).
Then we went over the peak and down the other side and on to Aberdeen and a sampan ride. Like the rest of Hong Kong, Aberdeen is changing: fewer people are living on the water and more are living next to the water. You may have seen Aberdeen in a James Bond movie that had a scene a the Jumbo floating restaurant.
Final stop for the day was Stanley Market a warren of small shops selling all manner of goods for tourists.
Stanley Market
After lunch Janice and I spend some more free Internet time.
After dinner, we watched the Light show from the Sports Deck in the drizzle. Thankfully, the rain subsided enough that the dragon show could go on, although the lighting was disappointing. The troupe had banks of black lights to illuminate the two-person dragon and the 75′ boa-like dragon, but it just wasn’t enough to really see them on top of the terminal building. There was another two-person dragon with a “Welcome to Hong Kong” sign down by the gangway that was much more visible.
The sail away was as drizzly as the sail in but more of the buildings were illuminated.
Hong Kong is a fascinating city with much to do, friendly people, and generally clean streets.