In decades gone by, westerners' connection with the Orient was through the port city of Hong Kong. For decades as British protectorates, Hong Kong and Singapore were the centres of trade in Asia. As business became more global in the 1970s and 1980s, the importance of these two city-states grew to the extent that the word "largest" - as in largest transportation hub, largest financial institutions, etc - could be applied to them. Hong Kong became the largest port for the trans-shipment of goods throughout the world. Investment reached an all-time high in manufacturing and finance. It very quickly became a place where East met West.
Today we're going to take a tour of Hong Kong and perhaps see a bit of how this all evolved.
Victoria Peak - A Panoramic View of Victoria Harbour
Victoria Peak (formally known as Mount Austin and locally as "The Peak") is a mountain in the western half of Hong Kong Island. With an altitude of 552 m (1,811 ft), it is the highest mountain on the island, but Tai Mo Shan is the highest point in all of Hong Kong. While the summit is occupied by a radio telecommunications facility which is closed to the public, the surrounding area of public parks and high-value residential land is the area that is normally meant by the name "The Peak". With over 7 million visitors a year, The Peak is a major Hong Kong tourist attraction offering panoramic views of Central, Victoria Harbour, Lamma Island and the surrounding islands
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| The view of Central, Kowloon and Victoria Harbours from Victoria Gap, near the top of Victoria Peak |
These original residents reached their homes by sedan chairs, which were carried up and down the steep slope of Victoria Peak. This limited development of the Peak until the opening of the Peak Tram funicular in 1888. We might get to the top by travelling on one of the world's oldest and most famous funicular railways - the Peak Tram. The tram rises to 396 metres (1,300 feet) above sea level. It is so steep that the buildings you pass look like they are leaning between 4 to 27 degrees
The vistas of Victoria Peak have been further enhanced by the 2006 revitalisation of one of Hong Kong's most striking landmarks - "The Peak Tower" and "The Peak Galleria". The tower, with its wok-like top, offers a vast array of shops and restaurants with a great view of the harbour, leisurely shopping and souvenir hunting. The tower incorporates the upper station of the Peak Tram, the funicular railway that brings passengers up from the St. John's Cathedral in Hong Kong's Central district. The Peak Galleria incorporates the bus station used by the Hong Kong public buses and green minibuses on the Peak. The Peak is also accessible by taxi and private car via the circuitous Peak Road, or by walking up the steep Old Peak Road from near the Zoological Botanical Gardens.
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| Victoria Peak Tower |
There are several restaurants on Victoria Peak, most of which are located in the two shopping centres - the Peak Tower and the Peak Galleria. However, the Peak Lookout Restaurant is housed in an older and more traditional building which was originally a spacious house for engineers working on the Peak Tramway. It was rebuilt in 1901 as a stop area for sedan chairs and was re-opened as a restaurant in 1947.
The Peak is also the summit of Hong Kong's property market. At the peak of The Peak, properties were appraised at the highest prices in the world. Most of the super-rich billionaires in Hong Kong live in residences in Island South or The Peak. A house on The Peak recently sold for HK$1.8 billion ($13.7 billion). At $68,228 per square foot, it is the most expensive location in the world.
Stanley (Chizhu) Market
Stanley, the town on the southeastern part of Hong Kong Island and east of Repulse Bay, is one of the famous attractions of Hong Kong. In Mandarin Stanley is called '"chi-zhu" which literally means "bandit's post" or "red pillar".
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| Chizhu (Stanley) Market |
The original Cantonese name of the village was believed to be based on a big tall cotton tree, often covered with bright red blossoms at the time, hence "red pillar" in the local Hakka language. It was given an English name after Lord Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby who was a19th-century British Secretary of State for War and later Governor General of Canada. (The NHL's Stanley Cup was donated by Lord Stanley during his stay in Canada.)
The Stanley Market is one of the most famous markets in Hong Kong with museums and historic monuments near by.
Repulse Bay
Repulse Bay is located on the south shore of Hong Kong Island, to the east of Deep Water Bay and to the west of Middle Bay, South Bay, and Deep Water Bay. Middle Island is located off of Hong Kong Island between Repulse Bay and Deep Water Bay.
In 1841, the bay was used as a base by pirates causing serious concern to foreign merchant ships trading with China. The pirates were subsequently repulsed by the British Fleet and hence the name Repulse Bay. However, another theory holds that the bay was named after the British naval ship, HMS Repulse, which was stationed at the bay at one point in time in Hong Kong's British history.
In the 1910s, Repulse Bay was developed into a beach and the Repulse Bay Hotel was built in 1920. To attract swimmers, a bus was run from central Hong Kong to Repulse Bay making it one of Hong Kong's oldest bus routes. During the Battle of Hong Kong in World War II, Repulse Bay was an important strategic naval base. The beach was later extended artificially and thus the sand closest to the shore is coarser than that further away.
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| Repulse Bay At Dusk |
Until the early 1960s, residential buildings were quite restricted. Three blocks of 6-storey luxury apartments were developed part way up the mountain overlooking Repulse Bay. Blocks A and B had only two apartments per floor, complete with servants quarters. Apartments in Block C are smaller. For a long time, these were the only apartments allowed on the mountain.
Occupying all of the west side cliff above the beach was Eucliffe - a large historical castle with a swimming pool, greenhouse and tennis court - one of three castles owned by the millionaire, Eu Tong Sween. Eucliffe was demolished to make way for a row of low-rise apartments.
The Repulse Bay area is one of the most expensive in Hong Kong with real-estate prices only matched by those on The Peak. In 2012, some townhouses reached a high of HK$50,000 ($70,000) per square foot.
The Repulse Bay Hotel was demolished in 2 stages during the 1970s - 1980s and a boutique-type shopping mall was built to mimic some of the lost colonial architecture.
Jumbo Restaurant at Aberdeen Fishing Village
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| Aberdeen Fishing Village |
Since the 19th century, Aberdeen has emerged as one of the most important fishing ports in Hong Kong. The Aberdeen floating village is located in the harbour and contains about 600 junks housing an estimated 6,000 people. The total population of boat dwellers in Hong Kong was estimated at 2,000 in 1841 150,000 in 1963 but declined to 40,000 in 1982. The population of the floating village has decreased due to rapid fisheries development in nearby Guangdong Province and increased operating costs of the fishing industry in Hong Kong. Instead of living on the boat permanently, the majority of the boat people only fish on the boat during the day.
The people living on the boats are mainly Tanka, a group which arrived in Hong Kong around the 7th-9th century. While sometimes referred to as "boat people", they are in fact boat dwellers and should not be confused with the unrelated Vietnamese refugees boat people who came to Hong Kong by boat in the 1970s.
Aberdeen's role as a port emerged between the 14th and 17th centuries when sandalwood arrived in junks and was trans-shipped to larger boats for transport up the east coast to major cities in China.
We'll be eating dim sum for lunch at the Jumbo Floating Restaurant, one of two floating seafood boats that are anchored in the Aberdeen Harbor. We'll take a free ferryboat shuttle to reach the restaurant.
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| Jumbo Floating Restaurant |
Visit to TSL Jewelry Factory Shop
One of the big Hong Kong chains, TSL (Tse Sui Luen) specializes in diamond jewelry and manufactures, retails, and exports its designs. Although its contemporary designs use platinum settings, TSL also sells pure, bright, yellow-gold items targeted at Chinese customers.
Golden Bauhinia Square and The Hong Kong Conference Centre
The Golden Bauhinia Square is an open area in the North Wan Chai area of Hong Kong. The square was named after the giant statue of a golden Bauhinia blakeana flower. The sculpture is situated outside the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre where the ceremonies for the handover of Hong Kong and the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was held in July 1997.
The sculpture, a gilded flower bauhinia, stands 6 meters high. The major part is composed of a bauhinia on a base of red granite pillar on a pyramid. The sculpture is deemed an important symbol for the Hong Kong people after the handover. On the second day of Chinese New Year and the National Day of the People's Republic of China, the square is lighted up by a fireworks show.
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| Golden Bauhinia Square |
We next get some time to tour the Hong Kong Converence Centre
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| Hong Kong Conference Centre. |
We get to return to our hotel late in the afternoon. Tomorrow we leave Hong Kong to fly back home via Chicago.
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