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Anne
and I have made two previous trips to Hong Kong in 1984 and 1994
and many of the pictures from the 1994 trip are on other pages of
our web site so I won't bore you by duplicating them here. (If you'd
like to view them click
here. A new window will open allowing you to view those
pictures and easily return to this page to continue.)
Even
though we'd visited Hong Kong twice before we discovered several
new and interesting things about the city. It is rapidly changing
since it returned to Mainland China's control in 1997. However,
those changes didn't change the feel and flavor of this beautiful
city, one of Anne's and my favorite cities. On this and the following
Hong Kong pages I'll concentrate on just the new discoveries we
made.
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Arriving
late in the evening the first thing we noticed was its brand new,
large and modern airport. The airport was under construction during
our last visit so this was our first experience with the new airport.
As with anything there is always the good and the bad. The good
was that it was a beautiful airport, modern, and quite easy to maneuver
around. The bad was that it was quite a distance from downtown
Kowloon and Hong Kong. On previous trips the ride from the airport
to hotels in either Hong Kong or Kowloon was only a matter of minutes,
now the ride is 45 minutes to an hour. I guess it's the price you
pay for modernization.
Another
thing I missed because of the new airport was the landing approach.
I'm sure many won't agree with me because there was an element of
danger involved in it, but the approach to the old airport was much
more exciting and beautiful. During the last few seconds of landing
you were actually flying between high-rise buildings that were very
close on both sides and higher than the airplane. I found the old
airport to offer beautiful views of the city when landing and taking
off while the new airport only offers boring views.
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View
from the top of Victoria Peak
with Hong Kong skyscrapers in the
foreground and Kowloon in the background |
What
trip to Hong Kong would be complete without a visit to the top of
Victoria Peak with its splendid views of Hong Kong and Kowloon across
the bay? Even though we'd been numerous times before we had to do
it again. Only this time I was a bit disappointed for several reasons.
First, we had very little time to really enjoy our visit. On our previous
trips we'd always walked around the top of Victoria Peak and I hoped
we'd have the time to do so again, but we didn't. Second, and more
important, there seems to be a building boom on top of the peak and,
for the part we did visit, it's changing the whole appearance and
ambiance of the site. They really need to put a moratorium on any
new buildings as it does nothing but distract from this beautiful
and peaceful retreat from the city below. There is now a massive tourist
building with shops, restaurants and parking that was not there previously.
They did, however, build a nice overlook (picture left). |
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Leaving
Xi'an we left behind the ever present cloudiness and cold of China,
but in Guilin, while there was sunshine and relative warmth, there
was an ever present haze. I'd hoped that flying into Hong Kong we'd
find sunny and clear skies, but that wasn't to be. Hong Kong was
covered by a heavy haze that made distant viewing from the top of
Victoria Peak very poor. But it was still nice to be in the warm,
correction, make that hot, temperatures again.
Our
included city tour started with the tram ride to the top of Victoria
Peak and then proceeded to Repulse Bay on the other side of Hong
Kong Island. We'd never been to Repulse Bay and found it a beautiful
spot for the locals to enjoy.
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View
from the top of
Victoria Peak |
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Beach
front at Repulse Bay |
Anne
getting her feet wet |
Anne
and I at Repulse Bay (Photo by John) |
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Temple
at Repulse Bay |
Anne
in the shade |
Large
statue |
Repulse
bay |
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One
of the few shots of me alone,
Repulse Bay (Photo by Anne) |
Mae
and Placida
(Photo by John) |
Anne
squinting from
the bright sunshine |
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Don't
ask me where John found these
floating pads as I don't know, but they
make a nice picture |
Leaving
Repulse Bay we headed over to Aberdeen, home of Hong Kong's famous
floating restaurants and the floating fishing village. There we would
all pile into small motorized junks for a quick ride through the fishing
boats anchored not far away. This area is known for these fishing
vessels that serve as boat workplace and home to many Chinese. The
ships would leave port for weeks at a time fishing the South China
Sea and return here for safe harbor. Riding amongst the boats you
get a chance to see what life is like for the Chinese fisherman today.
Hong Kong is changing rapidly and this is one of the changes. We were
told that the Aberdeen fishing community was the last place of its
kind in Hong Kong. All of the others have been eliminated. What a
shame as it changes the character of this wonderful city. |
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Anne
at the Junk dock |
The
Jumbo floating restaurant |
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| Leaving
the junk dock the first thing we saw was the Jumbo floating restaurant.
This restaurant is huge and beautiful at night when it's all lit up.
Anne and I have eaten there twice before. The food isn't spectacular,
but the ambiance is not to be missed. Unfortunately I'd hoped to take
Carol, John and Alicia there, but there wasn't any time. |
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A
small junk tied next to a larger fishing boat
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A
small junk |
Doing
the daily chores |
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A
houseboat pet |
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Me
taking pictures of the junks
Picture courtesy of Phil and Beth |
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Carol
and Placida
on the junk |
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Alicia
mesmerized by
the fishing village |
John
comfortable on the bow
of the junk |
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Life
aboard a fishing vessel
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| After
our short ride through the fishing vessels we boarded the bus and
headed for our next stop ... the dreaded stop. Remember my telling
you that GCT had a planned visit in each city to a shop in the area
that was suppose to offer the best merchandise of its type throughout
China. In Beijing it was cloisonné, Shanghai it was silk rugs,
Suzhou it was silk bedding and garments, Xi'an it was lacquerware
and Guilin it was Chinese art and scroll paintings. Unfortunately
in Hong Kong it was jade jewelry. Before we even arrived I knew this
was going to hurt. I'd been lucky in most of the other places, but
I expected my luck would change here. It did. Anne bought some nice
jade jewelry for herself, her sister, Irene, our daughter, Jeannette,
and our granddaughter, Alyssa. It was expensive, but what the heck.
You only travel this road once and you may as well enjoy it. Unfortunately
for me, Anne would like her road paved with diamonds, sapphires, rubies
any other precious stone you can think of. I don't blame her. She
looks good in it and she works hard enough to enjoy the splurging
every once in awhile. |
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After
losing a few pounds, Hong Kong pounds that is, at the jade jewelry
shop we boarded the bus and headed back to the hotel for a quick lunch
and short walking tour of Hong Kong. We ate lunch in the lobby bar
at the Marco Polo Hong Kong Hotel, each of us ordering a cheeseburger
and thoroughly enjoying it. I think it was the one and only time we
had classical western food. Continue to the next page to join our
short walking tour and some good night shots of Hong Kong from Kowloon
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