Friday, September 5, 2008

China Day Eleven - Kowloon / Hong Kong

HONG KONG 6561
(signs for "Elf Lubricants" outside a Kowloon mechanic's garage...for those elves who are perpetually on Santa's "Naughty List")

Our tenth day in China began with meeting a handful of vendors in downtown Kowloon. After work, we walked around and grabbed some lunch. Here, Sam, Missy and some Indian dude waited to cross a busy intersection:

HONG KONG 6562

HONG KONG 6563

HONG KONG 6564

HONG KONG 6566

HONG KONG 6567

HONG KONG 6568

After returning to the hotel and freshening up, Missy and I decided to catch a cab to the ferry station, and then catch a ferry ride across VICTORIA HARBOUR to CENTRAL, the heart of Hong Kong proper. On the ride there, I decided that I wanted to start decorating the dashboard of my car like a Hong Kong taxi:

HONG KONG 6569

HONG KONG 6571

HONG KONG 6577

At the pier, there were a lot of little shops and restaurants. I was happy to find out that the band XTC had opened up a chain of gelato stands:

HONG KONG 6581

HONG KONG 6582

HONG KONG 6588

HONG KONG 6583

HONG KONG 6584

We boarded the STAR FERRY which has been shuttling people back and forth across Victoria Harbour for over 100 years:

HONG KONG 6585

HONG KONG 6586

HONG KONG 6590

HONG KONG 6593

Of course, riding on the Star Ferry was just as spectacular, romantic, and nostalgic as one might expect, and, as I've said so many times before, the photos fall way short of truly capturing the experience:

HONG KONG 6594

HONG KONG 6595

HONG KONG 6596

HONG KONG 6597

HONG KONG 6599

HONG KONG 6604

HONG KONG 6606

HONG KONG 6608

HONG KONG 6610

HONG KONG 6613

HONG KONG 6614

We disembarked at the CENTRAL PIER and took the pedestrian bridge over to the massive and ultra-modern IFC BUILDING, which is a complex of shopping malls, restaurants, banks, train station, and offices. The IFC complex boasts the tallest skyscraper in Hong Kong, the sixth tallest in the world. The pedestrian bridge had some pretty interesting views of the Hong Kong skyline along with the harbour reclamation project :

HONG KONG 6616

HONG KONG 6617

A view of the Central Pier from the pedestrian bridge:

HONG KONG 6618

A view of construction crews filling in parts of the harbor for future building developments:

HONG KONG 6619

HONG KONG 6627

A fleet of double-decker buses ready to transport travelers all over the island:

HONG KONG 6620

HONG KONG 6621

HONG KONG 6623

HONG KONG 6624

On the side of one building we saw what looked to be a monumental billboard of a CALVIN KLEIN MODEL in his tighty whiteys. It was shrouded in some sort of green material, as if the local government was trying to censor it:

HONG KONG 6625

HONG KONG 6626

HONG KONG 6629

HONG KONG 6630

From the IFC Center, we hailed another red taxi cab to take us to the beach resort town of STANLEY, which was on the other side of the island:

HONG KONG 6631

HONG KONG 6633

HONG KONG 6636

HONG KONG 6637

1 comment:

Sara T. said...

i admire your perseverence in china blogging.