HONG KONG - MAY, 2013

This was my fourth trip to Hong Kong. Because I had already visited all of the major tourist sights, I spent most of my time in the local areas, and in areas off the beaten track.

After boarding the plane at my connection in Tokyo to Hong Kong, we waited at the gate for over an hour before being cleared to take off for Hong Kong because the Hong Kong airport was closed due to heavy storms in the area. Hong Kong had been the subject of a "Black Storm" warning that day, with black the highest rating for storms [amber and red storm warnings being the two lesser grades of storms.] This was the first time since 1998 that Hong Kong had a "Black Storm" warning, and some areas of Hong Kong had over 10 inches of rain in a two hour period that day. When I arrived the storm was over, and although there was a lot of water throughout the city, no major damage was seen. During the week that I stayed in Hong Kong the weather was very humid with the chance of storms every day, but there was only one day during that week that I couldn't go out and do the things that I planned to do because of heavy rain. Most of the time the sky was dark with clouds, as in these pictures of Hong Kong Island as seen from the Kowloon side of Victoria Harbor.

 

 

 

The new major tourist attraction was a giant rubber duck in the harbor next to the Star Ferry terminal on the Kowloon side of Victoria Harbor. The rubber duck was originally part of an art exhibit, but because of its popularity was kept on permanently as a tourist attraction. There were always hundreds of people there [thousands on the weekend] getting their pictures taken with the duck in the background. I went there several times just to watch the "people show" .

I went hiking for a day on Lamma Island, which is an island off the coast of Hong Kong, about a 30 minute ferry ride from the Central Ferry pier on Hong Kong Island. From Central you go to the fishing village of Yung Shue Wan, where there are a lot of small restaurants and shops. It is a popular spot for residents of Hong Kong to go on the weekend for dinner to get away from the big city. The weather that day was the best of my trip.

 

 

From Yung Shue Wan you could hike a well marked paved trail to the other side of the island to the fishing village of Sok Kwu Wan. The hike took about two hours, and along the way you had many beautiful views over the South China Sea, of many secluded beaches along the coast of the island, as well as the interior portions of the island.

 

 

 

Sok Kwu Wan is a small fishing village where many commercial fishing pens are located raising fish in the small harbor. There is a strip of restaurants along the edge of the harbor, and when I was there they were preparing for a festival that coming weekend. I ate some delicious grilled prawns at the Rainbow Restaurant with a view over the harbor. I then took the ferry back to Hong Kong.

 

 

 

 

I had a great time during the week that I spent in Hong Kong, truly one of my favorite cities in the world.