Strolling Through Downtown Hong Kong

Last November, I went out to Hong Kong and Singapore for about three days each for the "usual" sightseeing and roller coasters. My flight landed early at Hong Kong's airport, and I was on the first train into the city itself. The airport line drops you off in a fairly confusing location, though I'm sure experienced travelers and locals will disagree with me.

Getting from Hong Kong Station to the Central-Mid-Level Escalators is probably pretty straightforward, but I was hoping to get closer to Admiralty Station to start my walking tour of the downtown area. That was my real mistake - there are pedestrian overpasses and such in place to get to the core area, but I started walking in an area north of the major highway which doesn't really see pedestrians. After a bit of finagling, I made it through to the good stuff.

 I did get a good glimpse of this large Ferris wheel being installed. It's open now, so this entire area will be completely different from my experience. But I didn't really do anything here - you can see the vast nothingness between the city and the waterfront (just left of this photo) in this area.

 The Hong Kong of high-rises is really a thin line along the shore, with water in front and the mountains in back. But they're lined up dramatically when viewed from across the harbor or on the ferry.

 Their location and arrangement make them all very visible.

 When I was in Hong Kong, the Occupy protests were in full force. I saw the most involvement at the Kowloon camp, but an entire major road was closed here as a result of the camps.

 This is The Cenotaph and Statue Square. The Cenotaph is a war memorial originally built in 1920 for the First World War, but was later amended to include World War II.

 The building in the left photo is the Hutchinson House, and on the right is the Bank of China Building - not the Bank of China Tower, which is a newer structure.

 This plaza, I would later discover, is used as a staging area for distributing the many newspapers that are freely handed out around town. I just thought there were lots of uncaring people who tossed lots of trash around. Though there was some of that, too.

 Here's the Bank of China Tower, with its distinctive antenna-style top. There's an observation deck on the 43rd floor.

 There's a nice park downtown, which I'll visit in a future post. Cheung Kong Park is a separate private park nearby with a small pond.

 And here is the view from the bridge to Hong Kong Park - there is a lot of traffic in Hong Kong but many accommodations have been made for pedestrians.

Finally, this is the Lippo Centre, formerly the Bond Centre. There is more coming from downtown Hong Kong in a future post.