Geographically, Hong Kong has three regions: Hong Kong island, Kowloon and the New Territories. Hong Kong island is connected to the Kowloon Peninsula through underwater metro train tunnels, bus tunnels and also through ferry services. Hong Kong’s Mass Transit Railways, or M.T.R., runs completely underground and rated as the best metro rail network in the world. It connects most parts of the country and is estimated to provide 90% of the transport needs of the people. It is the cleanest metro network I had used so far. Every station provides free Wi-Fi. This metro rail network is one of the very few profit making ones in the world.
Hong Kong has the largest number of skyscrapers in the world. Nathan Road, the thoroughfare in Tsim Sha Tsui, is a busy shopping area. If you visit Hong Kong with shopping also on your mind, then do not miss this area.
There are many tourist attractions in Hong Kong, and I am listing out a few that I could visit. One of the most famous attractions in Hong Kong is Laser Show. For 15 minutes from 8 p.m. on every day, a stunning display of laser rays beamed from the beachfront buildings in Hong Kong island region to Victoria harbor in Kowloon, with buildings on either sides lit up. The show’s effect is so illuminating that it lights up the sky and the sea alike.
People start to throng Victoria Harbor in Kowloon by evening to watch the show. There are music bands to entertain the crowd before and after the laser show.
Victoria Harbour:
A cruise ship:
A pagoda near Nathan Road:
Hong Kong is a major financial capital and a luxury city. The British rule of 156 years had shaped Hong Kong so. It all started in August 1842 when the Queen of England and the Emperor of China signed the Treaty of Nanking, and this peace deal ended the first Opium War and ceded Hong Kong Island to Britain. In June 1997, the British returned Hong Kong to Chinese. If you ask me, what is the best known Hong Kong symbol outside Hong Kong, my answer will be The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, or H.S.B.C., the British owned bank founded in Hong Kong in 1865.
Another attraction in Hong Kong is Ngong Ping 360. It is a high-altitude attraction, and one has to take cable car — 5.7 Km journey — to reach the place. The cable car journey gives beautiful views of the city’s waterscapes. At the peak, there is Ngong Ping village, which is a retail and entertainment center.
This place is also home to the Po Lin Monastery and houses the Tian Tan Buddha, a giant Buddha statute.
“The Peak” gives mountain-top views of Hong Kong. It was a foggy day, unfortunately, when I visited.
It is visa on arrival for most nationalities in Hong Kong. It was same for the Indians, too, till recently; however, China, made a change that the Indians should take online pre-approval before arriving. All kinds of cuisines: Chinese, Indian, Italian, etc. are available in Hong Kong. Hong Kong has a sizable citizen-population of Indian ethnicity, who immigrated to the country decades ago and flourished as business men and working professionals. They were afraid that under the impending Chinese rule they would be stifled and would lose what they had accrued over the decades of hard work and hardships. So they lobbied the British parliamentarians and succeeded in getting British passports for them before the territory was handed over to China. In this way, they were able to move part of their assets to the United Kingdom.
Madame Tussauds, Hong Kong, is an attraction not to be missed out. If offers plenty to see and pause with your heroes.
I could see only good things in Hong Kong: well attired men and women, sky-kissing high rise buildings, clean roads, fully underground metro train service, lights and colors — signs of progress and prosperity. Hong Kong is more British than Chinese in culture and lifestyle. If you walk along the Nathan’s road in Shim Sha Sui area, you can see plenty of retail shops of diamonds. In other countries in Asia, especially in the Indian subcontinent, it is jewellery shops selling gold ornaments, but in Hong Kong, the yellow metal is replaced by glossy diamonds. No wonder that Hong Kong has the highest concentration of high net worth individuals in the world.
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