Scarlett and Dan's Hong Kong Vacation
March 29 to April 3, 2002
We took a one day city tour, covering Hong Kong island and the Kowloon area on the Chinese mainland, which is still a part of Hong Kong city. Our hotel was located in Kowloon in the Tsimshatsui district. There are lots of shops selling all kinds of merchandise in both areas. Kowloon was very much like Chinatown in San Francisco. On Hong Kong island, we spent a day at Stanley Market, a flea market that has almost everything you can imagine at great prices! Our hotel package deal included a museum pass, which we used to visit four museums: History, Arts, Science and Space. They were all wonderful and well worth the time we spent in them - two days total. Every evening, we would go down to the pier, about one block away and watch the city lights. Very striking and they changed as time went by - some buildings had lights that flickered or changed colors on a regular basis.
Here's Scarlett and Dan in front of an old Chinese mansion on Hong Kong Island.
Here's the front gate of the Chinese mansion. This home is still privately owned!
We took the tram (which has been around about a hundred years!) to the top of Victoria Peak on Hong Kong Island. This is the view while we were there - very foggy, since it was early spring. We also crossed the harbor on the Star Ferry.
Here I am standing in a gateway to a viewing area on Victoria Peak.
In front of the Museum of Culture, where they hold concerts and other performances, there was a fabulous display of paper lanterns. Here's Dan standing in front of the giant phoenix. At night, these were lit up from inside, very dramatic!
Here's a view of Hong Kong harbor, with the floating restaurant, Jumbo's, shown in front. The tall buildings in the background are tenements - small apartments of about 600 to 800 square feet in size.