Tuesday November 14, 2006

Hong Kong Holiday Day one - The Island and Stanley

So a five day trip to Hong Kong beckoned which would be my fourth trip there but the first as a tourist. We flew Qantas and I was pleasantly surprised as my previous two flights with them were less than impressive. We left midday on Sunday and arrived bleary eyed in Hong Kong Monday morning at their fantastic new airport. From above this has the shape of an airplane and is another of Norman Foster's creations in Hong Kong. A bus transfer took us to the Regal hotel on the Kowloon peninsula over the expressway that links the island Chek Lap Kok - which when flattened became the site of the new airport, across to Lantau, Tsing Yi then Kowloon itself. We had a sleep in the morning and got up to explore in the afternoon. We walked along the promenade looking over the harbour to Kong Kong island.

We walked further round along what is called the Avenue of Stars Hong Kong's equavalent of the Hollywood one - with less famous names in the pavement. We saw the old Clock tower the only reminder of the site of the old railway that used to be there. We also saw the windowless Cultural Centre which looks like a ski jump. We then took a ride on one of the most famous ferries journies in the world across to the island on one of the Star Ferries boats with their familiar green and white paintwork.

Arriving in Central we looked around at the impressive sky high buildings in the business area. On our wander around we also saw the only four remaining gas streetlamps on the island. Now feeling tired, we went back to the hotel for a sleep after an early dinner.

One our first full day after getting up later than we expected we took a trip to Stanley. First of all we got ourselves prepayement cards for most of the Hong Kong's transportation system called Octopus cards. We caught an MTR train at Tsim Sha Tsu near our hotel to Central the line goes underneath the harbour to the island. The system is perfect the trains have a map of the entire system and indicate which way you are going, what the next station is and helpfully what side of the train the doors be opening at the next stop. At Central we picked up our number six bus that takes you to Stanley and its famous market. This is on the South Eastern tip of the island. We passed through Wan Chai the old seedy area and then saw the EM>Happy Valley race course. The route took us through Repulse bay before stopping in Stanley village. The market was full of tourists all eager to snap up a bargain.

There is much more to see here though, there is an excellent beach where locals were cooking food in bar-b-q areas and also a lovely temple which was built in 1767 inside which is a skin of a tiger that was shot in 1942. Near here is Murray house moved from Central many years ago. We returned back to Central and took a look at my favourite building on the island called Central Plaza. This became the tallest building beating the Bank of China tower - which is also impressive. Its spire has neon lights so you can tell the time to the nearest fifteen minutes. Before returning back to the hotel we wandered around the convention and Exhibition centre newly enlarged taking more of the sea away from the harbour. It has a great view over the Kowloon. In the evening after dinner we went to Temple street where there are lots of street stalls - which was dissapointing but found a parallel road Woosung which was more interesting with its food stalls and other shops and overheard the large neons advertising shops/resturants etc. The food stalls are known as Dai Pai Dongs. The other two things I remembered about Hong Kong were the intense smells both nice and nasty which get stronger at night. Also the clatter of the pelican crossings - the sound of which changes when it is safe to cross. I apologise for the picture quality I think I have cut the resolution down too much..More tomorrow.