The last of Hong Kong

Friday August 26th

Our last day in Hong Kong. We managed, for once, to get going early and checked out of the hotel by 9.30, leaving our bags for later collection.

Since we were so early, we were able to have a new experience, going down on the escalator. Since the escalator is for workers, it goes down from 6 a.m. until 10 a.m. Then it is closed for 20 minutes so those on the way down can complete their journey. It opens again at 10.20, when it starts going up, which it does until 10 p.m.; then it closes completely until the next morning. 

One thing that occurred to me was that the streets in central Hong Kong seemed much less crowded than they were in 1977, in spite of the fact there are 2 million more people than there were then. I do remember it was quite impossible to push a child in a pushchair down the street, Queens Road Central was always like Oxford Street on the first day of the sales. Now, it seemed no more crowded than any other street. This could, of course, be because of the number of people who have been re-housed outside of the centre in new towns. But we were also struck by the number of high-level walkways that keep people up at first floor level and away from the streets.

We got off the escalator just before the bottom, to do some sightseeing. Our first visit was to an old-fashioned area called Sheung Wan, which is felt to be somewhat reminiscent of old Shanghai. First, we visited the Man Mo temple, which is about 200 years old. It was having renovations done, but we were able to go inside and take some pictures. Coils of incense hung from the ceiling, and it was dark and smoky inside and surprisingly small for such an important temple.

There were statues of various gods, some with offerings of fruit in front of them, and a couple of worshippers praying and offering incense sticks. There were other people taking pictures, nevertheless we tried to be very discreet and turned off the flash.

Old parts of Hong Kong sometimes had very steep streets - nowadays they cut the tops off mountains and use the spoil to make the slopes less steep, but that only happened relatively recently I believe - since the end of the war. You can still see some streets so steep they are just steps - one is called Ladder Street. We headed for Upper Lascar Row, sometimes called Cat Street, which has lots of antique shops and stalls and is very picturesque. We were unfortunately too early for some of the shops and stalls, but some were open and we were able to contemplate lots of heavy antique furniture, some 3 foot high stone Chinese lions for the garden, lots of ceramics and carved stones and any number of new 'antique' coins.

Shops in other streets nearby were more organised - this is a collection of stalls that will make you a 'chop' - a stamp with your signature using Chinese characters which you can stamp onto documents.

We caught a tram along to Hong Kong Park, something else which is new since our time. It is very nicely landscaped, with fountains, lakes and waterfalls. The lakes are full of large carp and large terrapins, and I longed to join them in the water, it was so hot. One of the waterfalls is arranged so that you can walk behind it, and you can get underneath one of the fountains, all, I imagine, to help you feel cooler. It didn't work!

We walked up the hill to the aviaries, the usual large aviaries with thick mesh which makes it impossible to photograph the bored-looking birds. But there is the most wonderful walk-through aviary which is huge and set up like a rain forest, with wooden walkways winding down through the forest canopy so you can see the birds which seem to have little fear of humans. The main problem is that mostly they fly so fast they are hard to photograph! However, we did manage some pictures of a few who were prepared to pose for the cameras - the Balinese Mynah bird was particularly co-operative.

The park also houses 2 small museums, both of which are air-conditioned, so we visited both. The Seal Museum had a lot on the history of seal carving, and also an excellent selection of early ceramics. The Tea Museum was extremely fascinating, explaining the different ways tea can be made and the different ceremonies associated with it. I had no idea that it was customary to pour hot water onto the leaves and then immediately throw it away. This is known as 'washing' the tea.

Pausing only for a quick lunch (in an air-conditioned mall!) we headed on to the Bank of China building where they allow tourists access to the 43rd floor to appreciate the views of Hong Kong from on high. And the views were indeed fantastic so we spent some time up there taking photographs. Unfortunately, none of them is very good as they are taken through a window, and it was a muggy, misty day

It was very hot indeed, so we decided to call it a day and took a tram back westwards so we could use the escalator back to our hotel.

There, we cooled off in the pool until it was time to head for the airport