Cruising in the Far East with HAL: Hong Kong Arrival

Special by Dennis Cox

ABOARD the WESTERDAM –– Arriving in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour, Asia’s cruise hub, is routinely a spectacular event and it proved to be a highlight on this cruise, even in the misty twilight of dawn. Surrounded by skyscrapers, mostly on the Hong Kong Island side, soaring against a backdrop of Victoria Peak, the setting is magnificent. Meeting the Westerdam is a tugboat and a tourist junk with red sails illuminated by tacky red lights and bearing a sign welcoming the ship to Hong Kong.

 

As the harbor has shrunk over the years with continuous building on landfill encroaching on the navigable waterway, the traffic has become ever more intense and hectic. However, on this morning it is surprisingly sparse.

Hong Kong was officially released from U.K. sovereignty after 156 years of British colonial rule to ostensibly become an autonomous territory, Special Administrative Region, of the People’s Republic of China on July 1, 1997. The autonomous status was to last for fifty years while the former colony was integrated into mainland systems. This, nevertheless, has not been without friction or some dilution of the once brisk economic dynamism prior to the handover.

My first time arriving in Hong Kong was coming out of China in 1976 after traveling for three weeks with an invited delegation from the US-China Peoples Friendship Association. As a somewhat addicted Coca-Cola drinker I was aware that Cokes would not be available in China at that time, therefore I carried an eight-pack that I rationed by consuming one can, warm, every three days. Upon reaching the border with Hong Kong by train it was necessary to walk across a wooden bridge to board another train. As soon as I entered the train carriage I saw a hand from an enterprising young man come through the window holding a cold can of Coca-Cola. I knew that I was back in the developed world.

In fact, Hong Kong was a extremely different world from China at that time and the question our group had was how would China ever manage to integrate it into the mainland when the British handed it over in 1997. Little could we imagine how much China would develop economically in two decades to have cities like Shanghai that would out-rival Hong Kong in modernity.

While some passengers from the Westerdam went on EXC excursions, Jialin and I proceeded to find our hotel for the next two nights on the Hong Kong side in Scheung Wan and to see a few sights we missed on a previous visit as well as some old standbys.

There are at least four must-see and dos in Hong Kong in my experience and all are within walking distance of our hotel. The first is to take the Peak Tram, established in 1888, up to the top of Victoria Peak to get an overall view of the harbor and city and the congested yet towering scope of it all. Any time of day will do, but the scene at night is most spectacular.

Second must-do is to take the Star Ferry, also established in 1888, over to Kowloon and back to Hong Kong Island at least once. It is a means of transportation, tourist attraction, institution, and without a doubt, the best bargain in cruising ever.

Third, and another bargain, is to ride the iconic double-decker trams that have traversed through the heart of Hong Kong since 1912, one of only five cities in the world where they are still operational. These trams, now modernized, are often brightly painted with graphic advertisements (although I remember them being even more colorful and artistically hand painted when I first photographed them forty years ago). The view from the second deck of the trams is the perfect spot for sight seeing and observing this city’s manic activity with a bit of distance.
To really feel the pulse of Hong Kong, the fourth to-do is to plunge right into the chaos of the streets. Walking, the best bargain ever, will put you in the mix of life as it goes on day-by-day. If not overwhelmed by it, it will provide perspectives on urban Asia that will likely affect you forever.

One thing I had never done on numerous visits to Hong Kong is to ride the central to mid-level escalators. The world’s longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world, they begin at Queens Road Central and go half way up Victoria Peak. Besides saving a lot of energy climbing stairs and steep streets and costing nothing, it is another way to observe daily life in the city from above. It’s possible to hop off and back on while exploring different neighborhoods from commercial to residential, markets, shops, museums, restaurants, historic buildings, and street specialties. For example, at the top of the lower level escalators is Hollywood Road with its pricey Chinese antiques and art galleries, fascinating for at least browsing unless you’re a very serious collector with deep pockets.

We will soon fly back to Japan for a ten-day visit of Kyoto, the Five Lakes area near Mount Fuji, and Tokyo before flying home to plan future cruises. By the end of next year after a few more cruises I expect to complete a project underway for several years now, a photo book, Cruising the World. Hope to meet you on an upcoming cruise.

Photos © Dennis Cox / WorldViews, All Rights Reserved