Hong Kong

in China

Hong Kong was the first place I ever visited in Asia, and what an introduction it was! Delightfully easy to get around, with no shortage of signs (including plenty in English), it is certainly a place to work off the jet-lag if you've come a long way and have it relatively easy for a while.

There are, of course, enormous sky scrapers. But it's possible to get out into the hills and visit a relatively secluded monastery, and feel somewhat away from it all. And even the busy city center felt to me to have something of a sense of elegance - much more so than many skyscraper-packed cities I've been in. Between all of that and the invigorating night markets and awesome food, I'll certainly jump at any chances I get to pay another visit!

Top Picks

• The Peak Tram carries you up amongst the skyscrapers to a large hill from where you can see Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and some of the other outlying islands. The view on the way up is pretty odd; the 45 degree incline of the tram makes it feel like the buildings are all at an angle! At the top, there's a huge shopping mall with a viewing terrace on its roof, which is where I found the best views.
• There's a nightly light show (when I was there, starting at 8pm) over the harbor, which was pretty impressive. The tourist literature states that it’s the largest permanent light show in the world.
• Checking out Temple Street Night Market, which goes on until midnight, is a must. There were stalls for pretty much anything you could want: clothes, bags, paintings, souvenirs, perfumes, electronics and more.
• Take the KCR East Rail to Sha Tin, location of the Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas. The 400 steps up to the temple start about five minutes walk from the train station. Almost all the way up, I was flanked on one side or the other (or in places, both) by gold-leafed or gold-painted (I think it was a mixture) Buddha statues. They are all about the size of a small person. I've no idea how many statues line the steps up to the temple, but this is not what the ten-thousand is referring to. Inside the temple itself, on shelves reaching right up to the ceiling around all four walls, are no fewer than 12,600 individually carved Buddhas, about six inches high each.
• SoHo, a trendy area full of restaurants and bars and thus a great (if not especially cheap) place to go and find food, also boasts the world's longest escalator, which is just short of a kilometer in length. I got there expecting to stand on an escalator for a long time, but it turns out there is a technicality: it is actually a sequence of different escalators, all undercover apart from the odd road you have to cross. It took quite a while to get to the top, and apart from being able to say I did it, it turns out there wasn't so much point going up there: the restaurants end about half way up. The other thing to be aware of is that there is only an up escalator. A lot of walking down steps later I had worked up quite an appetite. :-)

Photos

Looking up Nathan Road	Looking towards Hong Kong Island	Looking towards Hong Kong Island
The old station clock	Me in Hong Kong	Lit up sculpture
Looking towards Hong Kong Island	The Light Show	The Light Show
The Light Show	The Light Show	A huge water feature in the cultural center
A shopping mall	Skyscrapers on Hong Kong Island	A Christian church
The Peak Tram	View from the peak	View from the peak
View from the peak	View from the peak	View from the peak
View from the peak	View from the peak	View from the peak
Escalators to/from the viewing platform on the top	The building with the viewing platform	Hong Kong Island through an arch
Skyscrapers on Hong Kong Island	Buildings, older and newer, on Hong Kong Island	Skyscraper on Hong Kong Island
Looking towards Kowloon	The Ever Blooming Buddha	The Ever Blooming Buddha
The Ever Blooming Buddha with Chinese flags	Chinese flags	The Ever Blooming Buddha with Chinese flags
Buildings on Hong Kong Island	A main road on Hong Kong Island	Wong Tai Sin Temple
Wong Tai Sin Temple	Wong Tai Sin Temple	Wong Tai Sin Temple
Wong Tai Sin Temple	Wong Tai Sin Temple	Wong Tai Sin Temple
The old station clock tower	Sunset over Hong Kong Island	Sunset over Hong Kong Island
Sunset over Hong Kong Island	Sunset over Hong Kong Island	Sunset over Hong Kong Island
Sunset over Hong Kong Island	Sunset over Hong Kong Island	Sunset over Hong Kong Island
Sunset over Hong Kong Island	On the world's longest esculator	On the world's longest esculator
On the world's longest esculator	On the world's longest esculator	On the world's longest esculator
On the world's longest esculator	Top of the world's longest esculator	Temple Street Night Market
Temple Street Night Market	Temple Street Night Market	Temple Street Night Market
Pathway leading to Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas	Pathway leading to Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas	Pathway leading to Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas
Pathway leading to Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas	Pathway leading to Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas	Pathway leading to Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas
Pathway leading to Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas	Pathway leading to Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas	Pathway leading to Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas
Pagoda at the Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas	Pavilion at the Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas	Pagoda at the Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas
Looking to the main temple building	Pagoda at the Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas	Pagoda at the Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas
Incense burner	Colourful Buddhas on a path above the temple	Colourful Buddhas on a path above the temple
The main pavilion from a distance	Buddhas	Another chapel
Buddhas	A Buddha	The main pavilion
A Buddha	Incense sticks	Pavilion and pagoda
Inside the temple	Inside the temple	Inside the temple
Inside the temple	Inside the temple	Inside the temple
Inside the temple	Inside the temple	The temple from outside
Pathway leading to Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas	Pathway leading to Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas	Swedish meatballs have even made it here
Snack shop at a train station	A KCR East Rail train	Pink building