Around The World Without Flying: Back in Hong Kong Part 1

Yesterday was a very full and fascinating day. I just about walked my legs off and climbed countless stairs, but it was all very worthwhile.

My first shore excursion was to Lantau Island, where Hong Kong’s new airport is located. We reached the island on a coach travelling along a huge suspension bridge and then another bridge, though you can reach the airport by a fast train that zooms along a separate, lower level of the suspension bridge.You also can travel by cable car. With my fear of heights I was not sorry, however, that the latter was closed for maintenance, otherwise we would have returned on that.

It took about an hour to reach the island, so we saw much of Hong Kong on the way. We also stopped at the same viewing spot I saw last time. This time rain the day before had dissipated all the smog from China and it was sunny and balmy. Our guide said it was the clearest view he had seen in months, so we were very lucky.

When we arrived on the island, our very chatty, delightful guide told us that before the new airport was built, there were only a few thousand residents there, many of them fishermen whose families had fished there for many generations and who mainly lived on their boats or houses on stilts. They had no education and no medical or other facilities. Now hundreds of thousands of people have moved there. A new township has been built with densely packed apartment buildings, commonly 60 storeys high, which are less expensive to rent than those on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. This is supported by an excellent public transport system and the establishment of infrastructure, schools, and so forth. Indeed, a new massive bridge is under construction as well, and it was incredible seeing how prefabricated sections were being put together using a very long kind of ‘train’ sitting above two successive sections. The very rapid building is mostly being done by Chinese companies from the mainland, which are very experienced at this and are able to supply all the massive amounts of materials as well.

The views we saw when driving through the island along a very narrow, winding road around hills and mountains were sheer bliss after the concrete ‘jungles’ we had left behind. The island was full of trees, and even ferns in some places, and offshore we could see many smaller islands, like green mushrooms sprouting out of the calm blue sea. Apparently there are about 160 islands off shore, but only 30 are inhabited. With a view out to sea like this, and the beautiful sandy beaches, it is not surprising that many very wealthy Hong Kong residents have purchased residences that resemble luxurious though not huge town houses near the shore, bringing their developers millions of dollars in profits.

In contrast to these small pockets of wealth, further along the road there was Hong Kong’s maximum security prison, with a million dollar view down to the shore. It looked very well laid out. (Apparently the crime rate in Hong Kong is very low, but the inmates here are those who have been sentenced to seven years or more in prison.) They certainly seemed to have good facilities for rehabilitation, including some well maintained farming land and sporting facilities.

Further along, we reached the old fishing village, with its fascinating little houses on stilts, boats, and market place, where dried marine products were featured. It is believed they are very healthy. For example the dried fish air bladders are claimed to be a great source of collagen and dried sea cucumbers are great source of easily digested protein (when soaked to soften them, of course). This little village even had a small square outside its small temple where Chinese operas are performed. The festivities last for days. There were many brightly painted ceramic figures of the characters in these ancient stories on the roof of the temple.

I will tell the rest of the story of this trip and the story of my evening cruise on Victoria Harbour in my next post.

By the way, I have no control over the order in which my photos appear. They are automatically placed in the order in which I took them. When I mix photos from my camera and phone, as in my last post, the order appears quite illogical, but that is the reason.