Hong Kong Day 1

Statue square is where we met the Hong Kong Free Tours guide. A lovely young lady who took us on a two hour walking tour of the CBD. She explained the purpose of the main buildings in Statue square, near Central Station. Competition between the British Bank HSBC and the Bank of China lead to a contest to build the tallest building. In this photo, HSBC is on the right, built in 1980s, the old Bank of China to the left, built in the 1950's and the new, more recently built Bank of China on the far left. She explained the history of Hong Kong, how people came to settle there, the conflict with British forces during the Opium Wars and the subsequent colonisation in 1898. This lasted for 99 years before Hong Kong ceased to be a British colony.

The tour was interesting also because she described rising prices, high property rentals and the economic problems faced by the ordinary Hong Kong people.

The coty is clean, not as busy tiday as usual because it is still a holiday, celebrating the Lunar year and the year of the dragon. We travelled on part of the longest escalator in the world, 800m

We visited the Anglican Cathedral of St John

The younger members of the group were shown whete to go for the night life. She took us to a bakery and small restaurants to give us an idea of traditional foods.

Our tour ended opposite a holy temple where many queued to make offerings in the hope of being able to maintain good health and financial wellbeing.

An excellent way of starting to explore Hong Kong.