Kowloon is less chaotic and more modern. The famous Tsim Tsa Tshui commercial district is here, along with the Nathan Road shopping area, also referred to as the 'golden mile'.
We had one evening and two full days to do HK. There was some confusion finding our guest house, and we were set off three stops before our destination. We eventually found our way to the hotel. It was in the busy Causeway Bay district. As we waited for the hotel rep.to take us to the hotel proper, we had our first taste of HK: a crowded, busy back street teeming with commercialism and people.
The area was just behind the upmarket Sogo shopping centre. Added to the fascination was the fact that this area is served by the exotic double deck trams. Here is a tram near Sogo. YOu can barely make out the 'SOGO' neon sign behind the tram.
After freshening up at the hotel, we decided to take a walk and poke around looking for tour tickets for our next two days. We eventually decided to go to the area around Times Square shopping mall.
The road in front of the Times Square is set in red brick.
One thing which strikes you in HK is the large scale proliferation of neon signs. Event he tiniest shop seems to have one! And all of them are lit up at night. This adds color, and the dazzle to HK.
So much so, even the back streets seem to have them! Here are two pictures of neon signs in a back street in the busy Causeway Bay area of HK:
Continuing our walk towards the Times square, we posed for a shot while waiting for the traffic to pause.
Apart from trams, HK is also well served by double decker buses. Here a tram and a dd bus wait at a signal near the Causeway Bay.
We rode into town from the airport by bus # A11, after resisting deep temptation to ride the Airport Express. The bus ride into down is HK$ 40 per head, 20 cor children, whereas by the Airport Express, its HK$100 per head, 50 for children.
A brief word (what, one more?) about trams before we proceed further. Established 1904, HK's double deck trams ply on the Northern shoreline of HK island between Shau Kei Wan and Kennedy Town. Kennedy Town is the farthest destination, and it takes about 45 to 50 minutes for a one way ride.There is also a side loop around the Happy Valley Race course. During the course of our trip, despite the bus tours, we did manage a tram ride from Causeway Bay to Kennedy Town and back. The tram fare is a fixed HK$ 2, payable when you get off the tram. So even if you take a to and fro ride, you only pay HK$ 2 if you do not get off at the other end.
Here is a view of the tram stop at Causeway Bay:
and this is a view from the upper deck. Most of the passengers on the first seat on the upper deck seemed to be fascinated tourists! Locals always took the inner seats. The trams usually go packed.
Apart from dd buses, trams and things, HK has a fleet of shiny Toyoto Crown taxis. We never got a chance to ride one, but here is a pic of one of them:
Taxis in HK island are red with silver top, whereas those in Kowloon are green with yellow top. The ones in the New territories are blue. Officially, the cabs require permits to go from one region into another.
So that was the evening of day one. I can tell you a lot about HK: getting there etc., but will stick to our travels alone, as several others are sure to have put up this information on the web.
The following day, we took two tours: Kowloon and New Territories tour in morning, and HK Island tour in the afternoon. And in the night, we took the peak tram to Victoria Peak for the night view.
A brief rundown of the tours is as under:
KOWLOON AND NEW TERRITORIES TOUR:
Four stops on this tour: -Chuk Lam Sim Yuen (Bamboo Forest) Monastery -Kam Tin Walled Village -Lok Ma Chau -Wishing Tree
-Chuk Lam Sim Yuen or Bamboo Forest monastery gives a glimpse into Chinese traditions and workship. It is one of HK's most exquisite monasteries. Here, an incense burner provides an interesting foreground to this monastery.
The Monastery also serves as a home for the aged, and a training school for monks. It also houses a funeral parlor, which was mercifully empty when we visited.
We learn there that there are two forms of Buddha followers in China, the Buddhists, who are vegetarians, and the Taoists, who eat meat. However, offerings at the temples are usually fruit and other veggie stuff. Here are some of the offerings at the Chuk Lam monastery. The pagoda like structure next to the bouquet of flowers is supposed to denote the seven steps to heaven.:
We also learn that Buddhists burn incense, but Taoists do not. Buddhists follow the Buddha in his original form, as brought in from India, however, Taoists have given Buddha another form, that of the Laughing Buddha. We found several Buddha images in the main entrance hall of the monastery:
Here we were also introduced to the concept of Kun Yam, or Godess of Mercy, referred to by some as the 'Lady Buddha'
My wife and son are posing. Kun Yam is held in high reverance by the fishing community, who pray to her for safe return.
-Kam Tin Walled Village: We then moved on the the Kam Tin Walled Village, one of the few surviving of such villages.
Its basically an enclosed cluster of houses bounded by a tall wall on each side. Most of the exotic Chinese architecture has unfortunately given way to modern monstrosities in cement and concrete, and the village is full of helpless old ladies who have been abandoned as their husbands have died and the children have gone away in search of a better future. The old ladies make their living by posing for photographs, and can at times get quite pushy and aggressive in the process. Somehow, the idea of taking pictures of helpless old ladies did not appeal to me, and I was happy to get out. At one end of the village was a tiny sanctum, where we spotted a large bamboo lantern like structure made of paper and bamboo sticks, decorated with gold and silver foil. This is apparently an old Chinese custom, in memory of departed ancestors. This structure is kept all year till Chinese New Year's day, when it is burnt and replaced with a new one. Here is the pic of this ancestor memory keeper:
-Lok Ma Chau: Here was one of the more fascinating portions of our trip. Lok Ma Chau is the lookout point for China, where, standing in Hong Kong, you can take a look into China. Forget the rice fields, straw hats and bicycles. What you see of China is as good or as bad as HK: tall skyscrapers, and 100% commercialism.
In this picture, the large body of water you see in the foreground in in HK: it was once a large fish farm. Behind that is the Schenzen River, which you an barely make out from the line of trees on its banks. Beyond the river is China. You can barely make out the Schenzen city skyline in the horizon:
You can now see the skyscrapers in China: whooops! Schenzen in China. Poor Chinese girls apparently lay a trap for HK gents, in a bid to marry and have a better future across the border. Net result, elderly HK gents flock to Schenzen with intentions not entirely honorable. The modernity of Schenzen is with an attempt to lure HK residents with modern facilities, like they are used to.
Visitors are not allowed to take their cars upto the lookout point after a nasty accident claimed several lives a few years ago when a descending tourist bus slammed into a car. Tourist buses therefore park at a parking lot at the lower level, after which you have to walk up a steep, and very tiring road till the lookout point. We spotted a traditional Chinese temple, a sort of good luck charm, on the side of the road during the course of the climb:
-Wishing Tree: Also called the 'Chinese Christmas Tree', the wishing tree near the Tai Po temple is an interesting and colorful spot. The Chinese are every bit like the Indians and the Thai when it comes to ancient traditions and beliefs. The idea of the Wishing tree is this: write your wish on a colorful piece of paper which is available at the site for a fee. This paper has a string threaded to it, at the other end of which is a fruit, usually an orange. After you have written your wish, roll the paper up, tie the string round it and throw it up into the sky. If the paper gets entangled onto one of the branches of the tree, then your wish will come true. Here is a view of wife and son writing the wish on the piece of paper.
What happens is, most tourists miss, and the orange smashes to pulp after a couple of falls. So the entire area is sticky with dried orange juice. Here is a view of the tree itself. Note dried orange juice on the floor:
On the base of the tree is a tiny temple, complete with incense offerings:
The Wishing tree is also hop off point to Tai Po Temple (I hope I have that name right!). Although our tour did not include this temple, I did manage a shot of the road leading to the temple. You need to go through the arch you see in this picture:
And so that ended our morning tour. We did stop off at a gem factory, which is almost mandatory on every tour in HK. It is a bit of a tourist trap, and we did not buy anything. A rushed tour of a jewelry manufacturing facility (most of it behind glass) leads you into a glitzy showroom with sales ladies wearing green suits out to exercise their charm. Only positive aspects are a few minutes of airconditioned comfort after a day of hectic touring, and the free drink offered. You can opt for coffee, tea, Pepsi and other fizzy drinks,and beer.
AFTERNOON TOUR: HK ISLAND:
We started off our afternoon tour with a bit of a disappointment: first stop was to be Victoria peak. We had read in almost every website that one should go by day and stay till night. Second, we were to go by road, and not the peak tram. Well, come back later at night, that time you can ride the tram as well, we were told. This time, we need to cover several spots, so stick with us. Fair enough.
The afternoon covered the following spots:
-Victoria Peak -Aberdeen -Stanley Market -Photo stop at Repulse Bay -Gem Factory
-Victoria Peak: The Victoria Peak, or quite simply the 'Peak' is destination numero uno for all HK visitors. The views from atop are stunning. At night, it takes on a totally different color altogether. The fabulous view gets surreal, and you are left regretting that you didn't have a better camera, or you left the tripod at home, if you have a good camera already, like I did. Most of our time at the Peak were spent gaping and gawking at the terrific views of the Victoria Bay. At one spot, the guide pointed out to the site of the old Kai Tak airport. I was left wondering how mighty jets could actually land in the middle of all these lofty skyscrapers.
Here are a few views from atop the Victoria Peak by day:
For decades, the only way to get to the Peak had been the funicular Peak Tram.
Put on line in 1888, the tram has an accident free recond. It takes seven minutes from the base of the mountain, and climbs at an impossible angle which makes the skyscrapers alonglside seem inclined! There is now a road running right upto the peak, but we determined to return later at night, one for the view, and second for the tram ride. Here is a pic of the tram preparing to return to the base of the mountain.
Apart from a viewing platform, the Peak has a shopping complex, a few restaurants, and other attractions like the Ripleys Believe It or Not musuem, dino land etc. Here are wife and son posing beside a plaque at the Peak:
-Aberdeen: Next stop: Aberdeen. Most folks when they think of Abdrdeen think of the legendary and exotic Jumbo Floating Restaurant.
Its exotic alright, if very pricey and garish. To get to the Jumbo, you take a bus upto Aberdeen Bay, then use one of the complimentary boats for the last few hundred metres to the restaurant. Its most attractive at night, several film shootings have taken place there, its pricey, yet, one can hardly get a seat without a reservation.
But Aberdeen has another attraction, if you can call it that. Its home to a colony of boat people: about 6000 families live in the Aberdeen bay aboard Chinese boats called 'junks'. Our tour included a 'sampan' (another type of Chinese boat) ride right through the boat colony.
To get to the boat peoples' colony, we had to go right upto the Jumbo, and then sail right around it. Its quite bright, garish and oppulent at the Jumbo, but what lies around the corner is quite different. Here we are then, sailing around the Jumbo. Delighted photographers snap it all up:
Just around the corner, we get a real taste of the boat peoples' impoverished lives:
We come upon row upon row of Chinese junks. Here is a close view of a couple of them:
We are able to see right through some of the boats. We can see people mending nets, skiletting fish, doing their laundry, or just sitting around. The living conditions on some of the boats are pretty squalid:
All in all, taking pictures of the miseries of other peoples and intruding so blatantly into their privacy, shooting into their living rooms etc. did not quite appeal to me, and I was glad to get out when we finally did.
-Stanley: Stanley is a large market area, selling Chinese handicrafts, dresses and T-shits screaming 'Hong Kong'. A very colorful place to be, but we have seen plenty of such places in Dubai and in the Global Village during the annual Dubai Shopping Festival bash. We therefore beat a hasty retreat after taking a few pictures. Its very easy to get ripped off if you are not careful: quality is usually substandard, but prices can be very high indeed. We got a friendly HK girl to pose for us, although we did not buy anything from her shop:
It was pouring quite heavily now, and we had to scamper back to the bus. En route we made a photo stop at Repulse Bay. The series of inlets and rocks along with a curved beach makes the Repulse Bay look very attractive indeed. Add to it the mountain backdrop. This shot is taken from the road, which is at a height. Its only just drizzling now,the rains had subsided somewhat:
It then started pouring again. This view of the Repulse Bay is taken in pouring rain. This is one of the quieter portions of the Bay. The famed Ocean Park overlooks the Repulse bay, more on that later.
We returned to HK: we did not ride all the way upto Causeway Bay, as we needed to get back to Victoria. We had dinner in one of the malls near the Admiralty bus station, then literally felt our way back to the nearby Peak Tram station, which was literally hidden between a cluster of skyscrapers. We booked return tickets, and were soon on our way back to the Peak.
The tram climbs at an impossible angle, which makes the skyscrapers alongside seem inclined. At one point, we round a bend,and suddenly, we see it all. Almost all the passengers exclaim 'waaaaaaaaaaw'! in unison. The night view from the peak is beginning to show already! We took a couple of night views, which unfortunately did not turn out too well due to the absence of a tripod.
We later roamed around the shopping mall again (not for too long though, we'd spent a large portion of the afternoon there already). Here are wife and son posing before a shop selling Chinese novelties in the Peak Shopping mall.
Back at Admiralty, we took an underground tube train back to Causeway Bay station. Called MTR, short for Mass Transit Railway, the MTR is a fast, efficient and heavily subscribed service. We reached Causeway Bay in five minutes flat, after following user friendly signs inside the cars indicating which side the next platform will come up. Many of the MTR stations are upto three levels below the ground, wonder how they managed that in wet marshy soil! This is the MTR train we traveled by:
Back in Causeway Bay, we dined at the World Trade Centre, another shopping mall with a very unusual looking entrance facade. Good Night, see you tomorrow in the Ocean Park!
OCEAN PARK TOUR:
Day Three was the full day Ocean Park Tour. Disappointment # 1 was that it was raining. And that we had to return by latest 3pm. Well, there were three options: return with the group by 1pm, or stay on till 3pm. Our previous night's independent travels had given up enough confidence to ask the tour guide whether we could leave the tour at Ocean Park and return late into the evening! But the park is so well organized with things so close to each other that we managed to see everything within the specified time.
There are two entrances to the Ocean Park: the upper level entrance and the lower level one. To get to one from the other is twenty minutes by tour bus. And then you need to get your hand stamped while exiting. An UV sensor then scans your hand at the other entrance and then only lets you in. The stately entrance to the Ocean Park is on the lower level.
The Ocean Park is sponsored by the HK Jockey Club, which meant that a horse had to be part of the Park logo. Now horses and the ocean don't exactly match, so the Ocean Park took on the logo of a Sea Horse. A large figerglass sea horse graces the entrance of the park.
Another alternative to get to the lower to upper levels of the Ocean park is to take a cable car. The service was unfortunately defunct when we visited due to gusty winds, and the launch of Cyclone Signal # 1, which is supposed to be the first warning of imminent danger. No one seemed to be unduly alarmed however. This is a view of the cable cars going up the hill. Note the sea horse logo cut into the grass at the top of the mountain. And yes, thats me in the picture.
We eventually took the l-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-n-g escalator from the bottom to the top. I could not photograph it unfortunately as it was raining, and as the cable car was not operating, the escalator was jam packed.
A brief rundown of the sights within the Ocean Park:
Upper level:
The upper level is home to the seals. Pacific Pier is the name given to the seal house. Its enclosed with a nice wooden wall. You can view the seals from ground level, then walk down a curved ramp and view their antics underwater. Here is one of these buffoons floating upside down under the water!
And then there is the deadly shark aquarium. None of those photos came out. And the coral reef: a classic representation of life on different levels of the ocean floor. You keep walking down a curved ramp, while the scenery beside you changes. From small fish and sea weeds the tour takes you right down to the ocean floor, with sharks, stingrays and other deadly predators. The beginning of the walk is fairly peaceful, with small fish.
And of course,the dolphin and seal shows.
Aberdeen looks fabulous from the Ocean Park. Ha,Ha, hid the skyscrapers from you till now didn't I?
Lower Level:
The lower level is home to the Giant Pandas. Only one was visible unfortunately, and despite all the warnings, that bloke was fast asleep.
A sure hit with kids is the Dino Trail. Stone statues of dinos add atmosphere to a trail made more eerie with use of white vapor, dino sounds, and moving models. Here a stegosaurus greets you at the entrance with a growl:
The piece de resistance has got to be the T-Rex. They have saved the best till the last. A larger than life model stares at you with piercing eyes. Every few minutes, amisdst flashing red lights, the beast bobs up and down, opens his mouth and roars for all he is worth. Unnerving for small kids, but very interesting.
And then there is the bird show.
And the Amazing Amazon: recreation of a trail through dense forest, full of animal sounds, a suspension bridge and white vapor. Many of the animals here can be approached at close quarters. Here are two parrots in a playful mood. Although I used a zoom lens, I was able to move in fairly close.
And finally the Gold Fish pagoda: a quiet and peaceful haven of refuge from the noisy and squawking birds and frogs in the Amazing Amazon and the roaring dinosaurs. This scene of peace greets you from the Amazing Amazon trail:
This is the main entrance to the Gold Fish Pagoda. This is what you see after you have walked right round the lake. Several varieties of goldfish are featured. The lake you just saw is directly behind this scene.
And so it was finally time to say goodbye to Hong Kong. We'd had such a whale of a time and in such a short while that we were actually sorry to leave. Wait,we still haven't explored Tsim Tsa Tsui,the Outlying Islands, Macau and Lantau! Yes, we will be back, hopefully very soon.
We got a final taste of HK at the airport. Despite all the friendliness at the airport, I was taken aback as my razor blades were confiscated by security! Our flight to Bangkok was due to leave from Gate # 69. To get there from the main terminal building, we had to take one of these driverless underground trains.
And my did she fly! We thought she was going to take off.
So thank you for reading this far, hope you have enjoyed the photographs. Stay tuned for Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
To see my pics from the rest of the world, go here:
http://www.worldisround.com/home/shankie/index.html
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