Hong Kong wrap

 

These are a few more good pictures from our week in Hong Kong.

Below left: Downtown has lots of raised pedestrian walkways to keep pedestrians off the street.  We kept hoping for a downpour to experience them in the rain, but it never came.

Below right: The Hong Kong Occupy protest is camped out underneath the HSBC building.  This picture was taken on Sunday so the Occupy people are surrounded by the wave of Pilipino domestic workers (there are about 130,000 in the city) who picnic all over downtown on their day off. 

The pictures below are of the building we stayed in, called the Mirador Mansion in Tsim Sha Tsui.  It was unlike any other building I’ve experienced in that it was like a city of its own.   I think it was 15-16 stories tall with a courtyard in the middle from the 3rd floor upwards.  From what I understand, our room was large by HK standards, but it was also windowless (like our rooms in KL and Singapore) and there were a few nights where it was absolutely flooded with cigarette smoke, although the whole building is supposed to be smoke free.

Chinese/Lunar New Year is a great travel holiday.  We kicked it off in Singapore and wrapped it up two weeks later in Hong Kong.  Chinese opera is indeed an acquired taste (high register) but the costumes were great.  Like in Singapore, there were lanterns for all of the Chinese zodiac.  I’m a pig and Jack’s a rat (please don’t read that sentence out of context).  Lastly, CNY also marks the beginning of spring and there were some fabulous spring time dances.  The men on the bottom left did a fun and expressive ballet-like deer dance and the women danced like shimmering drops of snow melt.