Hong Kong
Trip Start
Nov 09, 2010
1
67
98
Trip End
Dec 12, 2011
Hong Kong, China
Friday, June 24, 2011
Hong Kong is split into various parts, mainly the mainland (Kowloon and New Territories), Hong Kong Island, Lantau Island and over 260 Outer Islands. Some parts are very modern, others quite old and a bit run down. It's home to over 7 million people and seems extremely busy. We were there in low season and it was like London at Christmas time! The place seems to come alive at night. I can only describe Hong Kong as one massive shopping complex, everywhere you go there are shopping malls and even the back streets are full of small individual shops. Everyone told us to wait until we got to Hong Kong to shop since everything is cheap. This was unfortunately incorrect, unless you are after fake goods. The shops were no cheaper than the UK and the hotels, food and drink were on a par with the UK. Some of the individual clothes shops were cheaper but they wouldn’t let you try the clothes on and didn’t offer refunds or in some cases even an exchange!
We wondered down to Victoria Harbour which from the Kowloon side, you look across to Hong Kong Island. The view is of huge skyscrapers with mountains behind and is quite an impressive sight. Along the promenade is the Avenue of Stars, a smaller version of Hollywood’s Walk of Fame with stars such as Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. On the evening there is the "Symphony of Lights" show, which we decided to sit and watch. It’s a show where all the buildings in the harbour light up and flash lights to music. It has been awarded the world’s “Largest Permanent Light and Sound Show” as it’s on every night. We got a good front row position and the music started which you could hardly hear and then the lights began. It was a 20 minute show and at the end of it I was still waiting for it to start - I am sorry to say, it was rubbish.
One morning we thought we must try the traditional Hong Kong breakfast of Dim Sum. We went into the restaurant got the menu and that was as far as we got, with Frogs, Fish Spawn and other such delicacies our stomachs turned at that time of day and we left for a pastry and a nice cup of tea! The rest of our group bar two did the same.
The Peak is a lookout point on Hong Kong Island from where you get amazing views of Victoria Harbour and the city. We took the ferry across to Hong Kong Island and caught the tram up to the Peak. The tram climbs 396 metres, in some places at a very steep angle. It is said to be the world’s steepest, but I am not sure I agree with that. The view on the way up of Victoria Harbour is amazing and the skyscrapers you pass on the way up look like they are at weird angles. At the top is The Peak, a building full of tourist shops (surprise surprise) with a viewing area on the roof at 428 meters. The view is fantastic - you can see for miles, including some of the Outer Islands. Well worth the trip.
On an evening we often ventured to Temple Street night market which was just a couple of blocks from our hotel. It was full of the obvious tourist stuff and cheap fakes. However, there were also food stalls selling loads of different things and we ate there a few times. The food was quite nice and reasonably priced I have to say, the Chinese like their food fresh and you could see the live prawns and langoustines etc. trying to escape!
The Sunday was the last day that most of our group were going to be together and John came up with the bright idea of going to Happy Valley Racecourse to watch the Horse Racing which is huge in Hong Kong. We all agreed it was a good idea and having checked out the times on the internet arranged to meet at a metro station, since we were all now in different hotels. We arrived at the racecourse and it didn’t look that busy, but we didn’t think anything of it. The racecourse is situated in the middle of downtown Hong Kong Island and is surrounded by huge apartment blocks. We got some betting slips and someone kindly gave us a paper listing all the races and the names of the horses. We placed our bets and it wasn’t until the first race started that we realised the horses weren’t actually racing at this ground, you just watched them on a giant TV Screen. We stayed for four races and then in the long break between races headed to Sha Tin Racecourse in the New Territories where the horses were actually racing. We got there and the ground was a lot busier with more of an atmosphere but still very subdued. It was great fun, Ian and I weren’t betting much, just 10 HKD (which is about £1.00) to win on each race as we still have a budget to try and stick to. To see the horses actually racing was amazing, at one point they were so close to us that the mud they kicked up actually hit us! We were all shouting for our horses, I can see why it is so addictive. A few of us won. I won 97 HKD on one race (Supreme Knight) and on the last race Ian and I pooled our money on “Fulfil the Dream” and won 67HKD, so we just about covered our expenses for the day. It was a really good day but also a sad one as we had to say good-bye to everyone who we had spent the past four weeks with.
Ngong Ping 360 is on Hong Kong’s largest island, Lantau and is home to the Tian Tau Buddha. We caught the metro across to the Island and then the cable car to the top of Ngong Ping. The view from the cable car is amazing and it seems to go on forever, it must be about a 30 minute ride. You get a bird’s eye view of the airport and can see the aeroplanes taking off and landing. The cable car takes you over forest land where there are actually hiking trails upto the Buddha, but it was far too hot for that.
Tian Tan Buddha is the world’s largest seated bronze Buddha and weights over 242 tons. You can see it in the distance when you are on the cable car. Once you get close to it you can appreciate just how big the Buddha is. It is quite an impressive sight.
Unfortunately Ngong Ping Village has just been built for tourists and is full of tourist shops and restaurants.
Kowloon is famous for its markets (i.e. Goldfish, Bird, Flower and Ladies). The flower market was pretty, just a couple of streets of flower shops, one after the other, but some shops sold purely Orchids which looked beautiful. The Bird Market I really didn’t like, but went out of curiosity. It was full of tiny wooden cages with many different species of birds along with live crickets in mesh bags for sale. The most upsetting was when I saw three baby parrots which could only have been days old in a cage with their mum no-where in sight, that was horrible. The Goldfish market was again lots of shops, one after the other, selling tropical fish (mainly Goldfish) but they had them hanging in plastic bags on the doors to the shops. They were also selling other animals, such as Terrapins, Tortoises, Rabbits and Puppies. I fell in love with one puppy which looked a bit like a St Bernard, he was just a huge ball of fluff and I wanted to take him travelling with us, but Ian wouldn’t let me (meany)! The ladies market was rubbish, just market stalls like back home.
We enjoyed ourselves for the time we were in Hong Kong but were looking forward to moving on.
