Hong Kong - Sightseeing

After the workshop finished and before my flight back to Dhaka, I had a good half a day to get out and about and do some sightseeing other than shopping streets and centres.

First stop was the bird market as it was close to the hotel. The bird market was a combination of stalls selling birds, food for birds including insects and bird cages with generally older men bringing their birds in their cages, hanging them in trees and letting the birds sing away. Was there a bird singing competition while the men chatted? I have no idea.

Close to that was the flower market. It was really one lang narrow block where on one side there was lots of plant shops with lots of beautiful plants. Oh, how I wish I could have stuck some of the orchids in my suitcase!! Plus many had pots, vases, seeds and fertiliser. Then on the other side were the cut flower shops, busy unwrapping the bunches when I was there as it was relatively early in the morning.
Then I got the Metro across to Hong Kong Island, as I was staying on Kowloon. After a short walk I caught the tram up to the top of Victoria Peak, or just The Peak, from where there were stunning views across the skyscrapers and harbour. The smog did spoil it a little though. It is a real tourist trap though with high prices for food and souvenirs plus it costs extra to go to the sky terrace! Instead a short walk outside takes you to places that give just as good of view. It cost HK$33 for the return tram trip, 6-7 Australian dollars. Here are some of the views of the tall, tall buildings.




Finally, after another walk I caught the Star Ferry back across the harbour. It was a short trip but very peaceful and relaxing. Nice views of both Honk Kong Island and Kowloon from the ferry.

Hong Kong . . . belatedly

Even thought I have been back from Hong Kong for 10 days, it has taken me this long to get Cambodia finished on my blog and to have the time to do a couple of entries about Hong Kong.

First thing, I do not like the Dragon Air flight - leaving at 3 am and arriving at 7.30 am. Little sleep, if any so that is not a good start. Fortunately, when I arrived at the hotel - the very flash Royal Plaza, they had a room free so I managed to get a couple of hours sleep.

Then went shopping. Managed to get myself to lots of them as I sought out book shops, Marks & Spencers and even found a Spotlight store. It was easy to get around though on the Metro, especially since the hotel was directly above a station. My best shopping effort was getting half a dozen novels on my "must read" list. This included Kabul Beaty School, Love Marriage, Breath and The Angel's Game. Below is the ornate decorations of one shopping centre.

In addition to the shopping centres, I managed to find the nearby electronics street that is full of shops selling digital cameras, laptops, phones and everything else electronic. Lucky in some ways that I only had a limited budget. Parallel to electronic street was the Ladies Market with its clothes, jewelry, leather, bag and bits and pieces stalls. My big spend up there was a "rolly" suitcase.
Of course, as soon as it is dark, the streets light up with a myriad of neon signs as shown below.

Even though the Metro was my main form of transport (we actually got free bus transport to the workshop), the presence of double decker buses didn't really come as a surprise but the presence of a double decker tram like the one below did.