Sept 2003 - I spent a fun couple of days shopping and sightseeing
in HK towards the end of 2003. My girlfriend was there for
a seminar, so I tagged along to make sure she stayed out of
trouble. The above picture was taken at night from the Star
Ferry Terminal in Kowloon, which is on the mainlaind side
of Hong Kong. The ferry travel accross the narrow waterway
you can see to HK island.
While my girfriend was busy working I took the ferry across
to the island and took a bus down to Repulse Bay. On the way
down we passed the place featured in the picture below, Deep
Water Bay. I was impressed by the view so caught a taxi back
up the hill and took some pics.
Space is at a premium in Hong Kong. There are very few houses,
most people live in incredibly high building blocks in apartments
smaller than most peoples living rooms. Because of this most
'Honkies' don't spend alot of time at home, flooding the streets,
and in the case of Mongkok, a shopping district, the roads
aswell.
On one of the days we took a ferry ride to Lamma Island where
we had a seafood lunch. We planned to go for a bit of a walk,
but it was just too hot. From here we took the ferry to Aberdeen
where we visited the famous floating markets. From there we
caught a bus to Stanley for, you guessed it, more shopping.
We watched the sun go down then grabbed a quick dinner.
The shopping in HK is pretty special. I was impressed by the
low cost of lenses and other electrical tems. The prices in
most asian countries are fairly low, but Hong Kong has a much
greater range than other poorer cities. There are literaly whole
districts and streets dedicated to certain types of products...
one street we visited was all bird stores, the next street along
held a dozen flower stores.. all teaming with thousands of eager
shoppers.
We did all the normal tourist stuff you have to do when you
visit a new country. From various movies I had the impression
that Hong Kong Harbour was full of old Junks like the one above.
Most Honkies didn't even know that this tourist Junk made regular
trips across the bay... we only discovered it by accident.
No trip to HK can be considered complete without a trip up
the Peak. You need to time it so you get there while it is still
light, and you stay long enough for it to get dark. As you can
glimpse from the picture below, it is well worth the wait...
