Now, firstly Hong Kong is a lot of reclaimed land- and there has been some controversy over the environmental damage that that has done to the Harbour given the amount of water traffic on it. Looking at the muddied waters I was flabbergasted that there used to be swimming and water polo competitions in it because it definitely is not clean!! Over a couple of hundred thousand boats come into the harbour annually. Suffice to say there is a number of NGO’s and environmental bodies all lobbying furiously on the subject of reclamation which goes on apace in this country.
The reclamation has seen some eight islands in the harbour already disappear as they were connected to other land masses and now only four islands remain- Green, Little Green and Tsing Yi Islands and Kowloon Rock.
Now there is a number of ways to see the Harbour- from Victoria Peak (damm!!), from the Kowloon side (tick the Intercontinental Hotel for that one), from the Culture Centre (tick) or on a Star Ferry ride across the harbour (tick, tick, tick and tick!!). At a pound to cross from one side to the other I decided to do it a few times- each time on a different boat- they have quaint names like Twinkling Star, Night Star, Golden Star, Morning Star and Heaven Star among others.
To add to the beauty, one night sets in the tall buildings on Hong Kong Island host a light show known as the Symphony of Lights. Its pretty surreal to see these huge spotlights dance across the harbour, backdropped by the twinkling office lights, lit up by neon signs and blinking lights in a rainbow of colours going up and down the skyscrapers.
When I visit Hong Kong again ill do the peak and add to this blog (did it when i was 10 but cant remember it!!)
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