Néi hóu from the city of Hong Kong! Néi hóu means hello in Cantonese, and it means the same thing as ni hao in Mandarin, it is just pronounced differently.
I went back for a visit in 2015, three years later, together with my niece and her family, and we just took time to visit friends and relatives, shop and dine. We were there in July, the hot summer months in Hong Kong, so the heat was debilitating. Join me again as I share with you some of the places we visited, as this was not the first time we visit Hong Kong.
The name Hong Kong in Cantonese means fragrant harbor, and the city is another Special Administrative Region of China, the other one being Macau. Hong Kong has been a British colony for nearly 150 years, and it was handed back to China in 1997.
This is the famous Hong Kong harbor taken from the Kowloon side. In the picture we see Hong Kong's tallest building, the International Finance Centre, or IFC for short. In the distance we also see the Bank of China building, which used to be the tallest building before IFC came into the scene.
During our visit we stayed at the InterContinental Hong Kong on Salisbury Road, which overlooks the Hong Kong harbor.
This is the hotel's pool, which we enjoyed every morning while we were there. One cool thing about this pool, you hear music when your ears are in the water! I kid you not. I was floating one time and I was hearing music, but when I got up, there was no music. It was then that I realized that you can only hear the music when your ears are under water. I told my niece so that she could try, and also to make sure that I wasn't 'hearing' things, and she said it was true, ha ha!
We had the pool to ourselves most mornings we were there, so we enjoyed the peace and quiet and we were able to relax before we faced the intense heat during the day when we were out and about.
We had with us this little cutie, who was eight months old at the time, and who loves the water. He enjoyed the pool a lot as well.
The pathway that leads to the path of the hotel. Two of my sisters also came to visit us while we were there and we were treated to delicious meals while there.
This is another picture of the harbor, and this harbor sees a lot of maritime traffic. Hong Kong has two main districts, the Hong Kong district and the Kowloon district, and the harbor separates them. There are ferry services from both sides that ferry passengers from one side to the other. There is also a subway that goes all over Hong Kong. There are also buses, trams and other modes of transportation, so getting around is very easy.
The mountain behind the buildings is known as the Peak, and from there one can view the whole Hong Kong harbor and the Kowloon side as well. The Peak is one of the most famous places tourists visit, as there is an observatory up there, as well as a Madame Tussauds.
Cantonese is the local language in Hong Kong, although English is also widely spoken as there are a lot of migrant workers from all over the world, Filipinos making the most number of foreign workers there.
Hong Kong is a major tourist destination in Asia, and also an important business hub. It connects Asia to the rest of the world, as business travelers often make Hong Kong a stop over before traveling on to other places.
Along the Hong Kong harbor, just below our hotel is a walkway, where the Avenue of the Stars can be found, just like the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles. You can take a leisurely walk here and look for the famous names in the Hong Kong entertainment industry. In the middle of it there is a bronze statue of Bruce Lee, one of Hong Kong's most famous stars. In the picture is the Hong Kong Film Awards statuette.
This picture show the harbor at the Wanchai District, and the building that looks like the Sydney Opera House is the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, famously known as HKCEC, the acronym for its name. Concerts and major exhibitions are held here.
This is a picture I took of the Hong Kong Cultural Center in Tsim Sha Tsui, on the Kowloon side. Concerts are also held in this building, and they also rent out meeting rooms for different events. The round building beside it is the Space Museum of Hong Kong.
This is the Hong Kong Museum of Art, which is beside the Hong Kong Cultural Center. In all the years that I lived there though, I have never went inside this building except into the shops that are inside, ha ha!
This is the Hong Kong harbour at night. At 8 pm every night, there is a laser light show for 20 minutes. Laser lights are trained at the buildings and the lights 'dance' for 20 minutes. It is a nice thing to see. During national holidays like the Chinese New Year and others, fireworks display also happens at the Hong Kong harbor.
The picture is not clear, but the harbour does look very nice at night for walks and picture taking because the buildings are all lit, which provide a very nice background.
Since Hong Kong was a British colony, most infrastructure inherits the design and standards of Britain. Hong Kong is famous for being a leading financial center in East Asia, with the presence of local and some of the most recognized banks from around the world.
This is the Hong Kong Space Museum at dusk. The building across the road is the famous Peninsula Hotel. This area of the Kowloon district has a lot of hotels and shopping centers, and Hong Kong is also known as a shoppers paradise. It has become a famous go to place for shopping for the Mainland's affluent citizens.
This is Nathan Road, a major road in Tsim Sha Tsui. This road is lined with hotels and big shopping centers, and it could get pretty crowded at times.
I also took time to visit friends from my old church, where I worked for the last 3 years I was there.
This friend is a chef, who makes the most delicious Israeli foods. She always sends me hummus and pita bread when someone comes home to the Philippines.
This place is Stanley. It is a coastal town and a tourist attraction located on Hong Kong Island. It is east of Repulse Bay, where I used to live. When my niece first visited Hong Kong, I took her there and she liked it. Her husband meanwhile, has been going to Hong Kong since childhood but he has never been to Stanley yet, so we took him there.
A lot of expats live in Stanley, and a lot of foreigners also come to visit as there are good restaurants in the area, not to mention a nice beach and also a market where they sell branded clothes and other apparel at factory prices.
There are charming buildings as well, and as you can see in the picture, even couples come here for their prenup photo shoot. :-) Restaurants and pubs in the area are like the ones abroad, showing football matches and other sporting events when they are on, as in pubs abroad. So a lot of expats come and dine in the area.
This is the Murray House, a Victorian-era building in Stanley. It used to be the officer's quarters of the Murray Barracks, then it was moved to Stanley and used to house the Hong Kong Maritime Museum. After the museum has been moved to Central, the building is now home to restaurants and shops.
Murray house was one of the oldest surviving public buildings in Hong Kong. As with many of its contemporaries from the colonial era, it was designed in Classical architecture style as we see it here. A lot of people come here to take pictures as well.
From the Murray House, we overlook the Blake Pier at Stanley Bay, which is used by pleasure boats and a small ferry service to Aberdeen and Po Tai Island. This pier was also relocated many times just like the Murray House.
From the restaurant balcony we were in on the second floor of Murray House, we had this view overlooking the bay and the pathway, a relaxing place to be especially in the early mornings and evenings.
From the boulders, sometimes people try to fish, just for fun. I'm not sure if they catch any though.
While waiting for lunch, we took pictures of course. The baby was fascinated by some birds flying around and with the fixtures of the building as well. :-)
We had a great lunch, and after some shopping at the Stanley Market, we left and it was good to visit Stanley as it is just 15 minutes from Repulse Bay where I used to live.
This little boy had fun riding the MTR as we went shopping in IKEA. These days he's constantly asking to ride trains, buses, airplanes, and other modes of transportation he reads in his books. :-)
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