Hong Kong
Introduction
I was in Hong Kong from July 31 to August 1, 1999 for roughly 23 hours. I was between Jyväskylä, Finland and Beijing, P.R. China. It only took 24 hours (plus or minus five minutes) to get from my hotel in Finland to my hotel in Kowloon.
I also took pictures during my visit in December, 2000. I was attending the First Hong Kong Mathematical Society and American Mathematical Society (HKMS-AMS) Conference.
I took more pictures in October, 2003. The second night I was in Hong Kong there was a large fireworks display (large for me, but it might be small for Hong Kong; I do not really know). It was by far the most impressive fireworks display I can remember seeing in person.
To see a bigger version of a photo, you have to click on its thumbnail.
Views from Kowloon in the Daytime
After a bath and a nap, I remembered to play tourist for a few hours before the sun set. I took a walk in Kowloon by the cultural center. This was across the street from the Sheraton hotel, where I stayed. The Sheraton is also across the street from the Peninsula Hotel on Nathan Road.
Hong Kong Central in the background, the cultural center in Kowloon in the foreground, and the Peninsula on the right (across the street). This was my hotel room view. The civic center that the British built for the hand over of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China. Hong Kong Central. Hong Kong Central and Victoria Peak. Victoria Peak. The tram goes to the saddle in the mountain (2X). Hong Kong Central (2X). The civic center (2X). Views from the Star Ferry and Hong Kong Island
I had never taken a ferry in Hong Kong. I have taken the metro under the harbour before. The ferry is quick and cheap (2.20 HK). I prefer the ferry over the train when starting the transit from near the harbour.
Looking back to Kowloon. The tower in the center (with the Culteral Center behind it) is by the Star Ferry terminal. The Peninsula Hotel is the tallest building. The Star Ferry Terminal in Central. The old British governor's building taken as the sun set. The Star Ferry boat that took me back to Kowloon from Central. A night picture of Kowloon. A night picture of the Peninsula Hotel and Hong Kong Island. My favorite building is blue and purple. The building changed colors in a delightful way (green, blue, red, purple, and yellow). At the Airport
Hong Kong opened a new airport in 1999. It is huge, very modern, and located a long way from where most of the population lives. It is a good example of what a modern airport ought to be like. There is express train service to Kowloon and shuttle bus service to various parts of Hong Kong. My hotel had me on a list at the airport (with the arrival time of my flight no less) and were expecting me. Forty minutes after getting through customs I was at the hotel.
I took both of these pictures from inside of my airplane (on my way to Tokyo's Narita airport). I was in seat 12a, upstairs on one of United's 747-400 airplanes.
A view across the airport to the mountains beyond. A view of part of the terminal as we lumbered off to the runway. December, 2000
I came back to Hong Kong for the First Joint Hong Kong Mathematical Society and American Mathematical Society Meeting. The weather was nice and the buildings on both sides of the harbor were lit up with Christmas designs using their normal neon systems. The conference outings was a boat trip out to Lantau Island and back through Aberdeen Harbor.
Tony Chan (UCLA) was part of my Ph.D. dissertation committee and is a former Yale Computer Science Department faculty member. The western end of Aberdeen Harbor. Junks everywhere. This is a collection of floating restaurants in the harbor. The Jumbo restaurant, which I ate in when I returned in 2003. The entrance of the Jumbo. Ocean Park is an amusement park at the eastern end of Aberdeen Harbor. Hong Kong's buildings change their lighting patterns for the Christmas season.
Wanchai: Christmas lights on the buildings. Central: Christmas lights on the buildings. Admiraldty: Christmas lights on the buildings.
Victoria Peak is always a nice place to visit, particularly going up by the tram and coming down to Central on the bus.
The tram near the top. A look stright at the tram from the top. A view part way up the tram line. Another view. The speck on the upper left is a mansion on the Peak. Rumor has it that these places go for about $500M HK (7.75HK$ per US$). The old British capitol building with the Bank of China looming behind it. The Chinese believed that if the capitol was in a shadow that this would lead to the British leaving Hong Kong. Superstition or not, that is what happened.
October, 2003
I lucked out on October 5, 2003. There was a fireworks display for the 54th anniversary of the current P.R. Chinese government's establishment. About 11 minutes of fireworks from the Kowloon side (by the Star Ferry) was followed by another 11 minutes from the Hong Kong side (Central). I only had to walk around the corner of my hotel to see the fireworks. What a display!
Fireworks just on the other side of the cultural center in Kowloon. The Peninsula Hotel is on the left. Unfortunately with a digital camera, still shots at night are somewhat random in what you get. This picture is just to get you to click on the Movie hyperlinks below. Movie A MPEG file of the fireworks. Make certain you have sound when you play it. Movie A second MPEG file. This is a little better than the first one. Taken October 12 by Deng Li (see below) after I went home. The first fireworks display (on the 5th) was coordinated by American and Japanese specialists. The second display (on the 12th) was coordinated by mainland Chinese and Hong Kong specialists.
Hong Kong Island is one of the great sights in the world. I made two small movies on this trip. The one at night was taken from a boat in Victoria Harbor. The one at dusk was taken from near the Cultural Center in Kowloon.
Movie Dusk view. Movie Night view. Aberdeen has been a long time interest of mine. I passed through its harbor on a boat tour in December, 2000. The floating restaurants looked intriguing. I had a free night before going out to the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology to give a lecture, so I signed up for a boat tour of Victoria Harbor, dinner at the Jumbo floating restaurant in Aberdeen, and a trip halfway up Victoria Peak by bus. It was delightful.
You have to take a transit boat over to the floating restaurants. We went to the Jumbo, which can be seen in between the lit piers. The transit boat and restaurant. Another floating restuarant behind the Jumbo. The entrance with dragons guarding the door. We started with a tour of the kitchen boat, which is separate from the one we ate in. They are connected, but if the kitchen catches fire, only it burns and sinks. There were several large tanks with interesting looking fish swimming inside. Our tour guide and another member of the tour pick up lobsters. The lobsters looked quite different from the ones we have in Long Island Sound near home. The central staircase was lavishly decorated. At the far end of our dining room (on the third floor) was a throne-like area. I could have gotten dressed up and photographed by the restaurant staff, but I decided against it. It was fun watching others do so. A traditional Sampan drifted by while we waited on the transit boat to fetch us back to Hong Kong Island. This is from Stanley Road, which is about halfway up Victoria Peak. It is close enough to the buildings to get a really interesting view. This shows Central and Tsim Tam Tsui (in Kowlooon). The latter is the line of lights on the upper right. The real reason for my trip was to participate in ICPACE 2003, held at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in Shatin, New Territories. The university of about halfway to P.R. China on the KCR train line. The university sits on the side of a steep mountain, which seems much taller and steeper after attending 8 hours of lectures and carrying a heavy briefcase.
Looking out a window from my Yali Guest House room. One option back to Kowloon was to take a ferry. The other option was to take the KCR train, which ran along the river. You have to walk 15 minutes down the mountainside, however, and there was no shortcut that any of us found. A view of the bay beyond the river from my room. Breakfast was at this building every morning. It was almost at the bottom of the mountain. To get to the conference center, we had to walk around another sports area with a nice pond and pagoda next to it. This was part of the park. A stream came down the mountainside and went under the raod to the pond in the last picture. There is a hidden staircase up the cliff that was a significant shortcut up the mountain. I huffed and puffed and definitely did not blow the mountain down (nor the house). A view of the KCR University train station and parts of Shatin on the other side of the river. There are no roads over, under, or through the mountains in the background. It would make a significant shortcut to the Clear Water Bay part of the New Territories, where HKUST is. Some of the buildings further up the mountain from the conference center. The Yali Guest Houses are small towers on the right in the middle set of buildings. The lower right building is where breakfast was held. A slightly different view of the buildings up high. A few of the people at the conference.
Chun Ock Lee from Korea and Gundolf Haase from Linz. This was taken on the second floor balcony of the conference center, which is by the bottom of the mountain. Gundolf, Deng Li (Japan), and Tai (Bergen, Norway) after we went to the top of the mountain to see what was up there. Gundolf demonstrating how to sit on a bucking bull or was he extolling the virtues of disco? Deng coming out of one of the Yali Guest Houses. Gundolf Haase and I went to Kowloon one night after the lectures. As you can tell, I really like the view of Hong Kong Island, particularly at night.
Gundolf is checking an image just taken with his HP 812 camers (identical to mine). Dusk settling on Hong Kong Island. The tall building is not quite complete, but was the fourth tallest building in the world that day. Night has settled in. I like the building with the red and purple neon. Sorry, I shook. I still like the same building with the green and blue neon. Central at dusk. Wanchai at dusk. Beyond Wanchai at dusk. Wanchai after nightfall. That is me by the Chinese dog in the Peninsula Hotel (where we stopped for refreshment before dinner elsewhere)... and Gundolf Dinner was in the Chinese restaurant in subbasement level 2 of the Kowloon Hotel (behind the Peninsula, but owned by them): Peking duck. The first course of two. It was really good. Regrets to Donald.
