Walking Tour in Central Hong Kong19 May 2018
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Our Walking Tour Guide - Johnson
Explaining the 2014 Umbrella Movement (Time Magazine front cover)
Government Complex Courtyard Sculpture
Went on a walking tour with a small group from all over the world. Our young guide was very knowledgeable and impassioned. His commentary was equal amounts of Hong Kong history and current events as regards changes since the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997. Also saw the city's buildings & skyline from a different location, and hence perspective. His rendition of the architectural 'battle of the buildings' between HSBC (Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation - designed by Sir Norman Foster) and the Bank of China (designed by I.M.Pei) was both interesting & humorous : HSBC was constructed first, then Bank of China was built taller AND has the shape of a Chinese sword aimed at HSBC. So, HSBC added the 'cannon' looking object on the top left of its building pointing at the BoC ! Then the Cheung Kong Centre was built in between them and was designed with its angles pointed at the two antagonists in order to deflect harm ! And you thought household Feng Shui design efforts were fraught with detail !
The amount of tall buildings here in Hong Kong seemed overwhelming at first glance, till our guide confirmed H.K. ranks 1st in the world as the city with the most skyscrapers; i.e., buildings greater than 100 meters tall. H.K. has 303, city #2 is NYC w/ 237, and completing the triple crown of tall is Dubai with a relatively distant 148 (though it does have the world's #1 tallest- Burj Khalifa @ 828 meters; NYC Empire State Bldg @ 443 meters). In Hong Kong the land rises so steeply from the water's edge that is is limited flat land upon which to build - so, H.K. has been forced to build up into the air.
Ventured today up to the New Territories section of Hong Kong to visit the H.K. Heritage Museum in Sha Tin. Used the very modern, clean, easy to navigate Metro system (MTR). Museum had an interesting exhibit on Chinese Opera, and so we bought tickets to go to a performance in Kowloon next Saturday night. Museum also had a Bruce Lee exhibit - a quite different type of performer ! He was actually born in San Francisco, raised in Seattle, lived in LA for a bit, but lived in and loved Hong Kong.
It's getting late so I must call it a night.
Ciao for now
