Hong Kong - Day 4

This was our last full day in Hong Kong. Tomorrow we fly back to Japan.

After a late night last night, today was rather relaxing. We started the day by taking the ferry across Victoria Harbor to Kowloon.

Statue of Bruce Lee

After a walk along the harbour we stopped for a rest at Hutchison Park where I took a few shots of this rather cooperative dragonfly.

Dragonfly

Bridge - Hutchison Park

In the afternoon and evening we walked around the Temple Street Night Markets and finally finished up back at the Harbour with spectacular night views of Honk Kong Island.

Downtown Hong Kong and Victoria Harbour

Hong Kong - Day 3

Today we took another day trip. This time we visited Lantau Island, one of the many islands that make up Hong Kong.

Fishing Boat

The main attraction we visited was the Tian Tan Buddha and Po Lin Monastery.

Stairs leading up to the Tian Tan Buddha

Po Lin Monastery entrance

Lantern - Po Lin Monastery

Main Hall - Po Lin Monastery

Tian Tan Buddha

After Lantau Island we took a tram to the top of Mt Victoria for some panoramic views of Hong Kong.

Downtown Hong Kong

On our way back to our hotel we passed through Hong Kong Park.

Hong Kong Park's Artificial Lake and the Mid-Level Apartments

Hong Kong - Day 2 (Macao)

Today we decided to visit Macao. It's another of China's Special Administrative Areas, meaning that it is part of China but has special privileges that push it closer to being an independent country. And as such, when visiting from Hong Kong we need to take our passports but we don't require a special visa like mainland China.

Where as Hong Kong was the British trading port in China, Macao was the Portuguese presence in China. The Portuguese were the first to arrive and the last to leave.

Fountain with china painting

Ruins of St Paul's Cathedral

Built in 1602, Only the southern façade survived a fire in 1835.

the Dom Pedro V Theatre

The Dom Pedro V Theatre is one of the designated sites in the Historic Sites of Macao which is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site.

Fountain near Bishop's Palace

Senado Square - Macao

Clock Tower of the General Post Office Macao

Hong Kong is full of modern sky scrapers but Macao has a rich collection of colonial style buildings. It's certainly worth a day trip for anyone who has a few days in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong - Day 1

Etsuko and I are off to Hong Kong. We both have difficulty getting long holidays so this is just for a few days. We've never been here before so it should be long enough to give us a taste of the city and surrounds. We might also fit in a day trip to Macao as well.

We arrived last night but today was our first day to look around the city. We thought we would start our holiday with a walk around the streets of down town Wan Chai and Central on Hong Kong Island.

Queens Way - Admiralty

Far East Finance Centre building

HSBC Main Building

Hong Kong Park and Apartments

One thing that becomes quite clear rather quickly about Hong Kong is the number of tall building that are packed into such a small city foot print.

Escalator

Later that night we tried out the world's longest escalator. I was a little disappointed. I was expecting it to be one long escalator but it's a series of escalators stacked end to end and stretching from Central to the Mid-Levels. It is still over 800m long, rises 135m and took us the best part of half an hour to ride them all to the top though.

Apartments at Night

And again, another night shot looking back up towards the Mid-Levels and Victoria Peak with all those apartment buildings.