Hong Kong: A View from Below and Above

Hong Kong: A View From Below and Above
by Martell

When myself and 40 or so of my classmates flew into Hong Kong International Airport, I was seated in the center section of the airplane. Or to put it another way, I was nowhere near a window. The airport itself is about 20 miles away from the city—and on the other side of a mountain to boot—so when we eventually left the airport and boarded our bus, I still had no idea what Hong Kong looked like.

This set me up pretty well for the bus ride across the Tsing Ma Bridge. As we came around the mountain, I could see dozens of high-rise apartment buildings, each at least 50 stories tall. We started to move around another hill, and slowly a few commercial high-rises came into view. Then twenty more. Then a hundred more. It was like the buildings were exponentially reproducing right before my very eyes.

It was at about this time that I realized two things: 1) I had forgotten to bring my digital camera with me on the trip, and 2) I would be buying another digital camera as soon as I got off the bus. Since the camera I already owned tends to go through batteries like Kobayashi eats hot dogs, this was a purchase I had been considering for quite a while anyway. This moment was simply the catalyst.

When we finally got off the bus, we were near the water in Causeway Bay (one of the districts on Hong Kong Island), and we had a fairly clear view across to the Kowloon (mainland) side. What we saw were hundreds more high rises; in fact, the whole harbor, for as far as the eye could see, was completely surrounded by them. It was mind boggling.

Slowly, some self-evident truths about Hong Kong began to crystallize in my brain. First, there must be a lot of people here. (Hey, I told you these were self-evident!) Second, there must not be much buildable land here, creating the need to go up instead of out. And third, if so many of these tall buildings are crowded around the harbor, the view must be an extremely important aspect of life in Hong Kong.

So that's what I have for you today: the view. Sometimes that means looking up at some behemoth of a structure; other times it means looking down from inside another behemoth of a structure (or, in one case, from Victoria Peak, the large hill right behind downtown that is higher than most of the buildings). Whatever the case, as you will see, Hong Kong is truly a vertical city, and I hope the photographs can do the city justice.

Hong Kong Island

Here's a view of the island from the 62nd floor of the Harbor View apartments over on the Kowloon Peninsula. That hill in the background is Victoria Peak. I know this picture isn't too clear, but it should give you a bit of an idea what the city looks like. The tall building on the left side of the picture is 2 Int'l Finance Centre, which is presently the 6th tallest building in the world (1352 ft.). A little bit to the left of that is the Bank of China building—it's a little bit hard to make out, but it's the one that has a white zigzag pattern. That is the 11th tallest building in the world (1209 ft.). Because of the angle, it looks significantly shorter than 2 Int'l Finance Centre, but it's not, as we can see from here:

In this shot, I am standing in the penthouse of the Bank of China building. I think it's a little easier to see how tall both of these buildings must be—the 35-story buildings on the left are completely dwarfed by both structures.

Also, on top of the Bank of China building there are two thin towers, which kind of makes it look like one of those things you use to eat corn on the cob. In Hong Kong, though, it has a nickname with a more local flavor: The Chopsticks Building.

And here is a western view of the island, also from the Bank of China penthouse. The building jutting out into the water is the Convention Centre, and the tall building in the middle is the Central Plaza, the 10th tallest building in the world (1227 ft.). Yes, Hong Kong certainly has its share of tall buildings.

In this picture especially, you can start to get an idea about just how many high rises there are here, especially if you look closely at the background. Faintly, you should be able to make out another wall of buildings on the other side of the harbor. They're everywhere.

The Hillside Escalator

Here is the view from the Hillside Escalator. It is the world's longest outdoor escalator, measuring 800 meters in length. It runs from Central (the actual "downtown" Hong Kong district) about halfway up Victoria Peak. This shot here is from about 1/3 of the way up the escalator. We didn't actually know how long the ride would be when we started our way up.

We learned that the escalator was built in the early 1990s so that people living in apartment buildings on the hill could easily commute to work without driving. Supposedly it has had quite an effect on traffic; reportedly, over 30,000 people ride the escalator each day. But in the middle of the afternoon, it wasn't congested at all, and we had quite a nice ride.

Oh, one other good thing to know: if you decide to ride the escalator, make sure you wear good walking shoes. That's because the escalator only runs in one direction. It runs down into the city in the morning, and up the hill the rest of the day. The walk down from the top can be pretty long. Perhaps this was something we should have considered earlier...

Victoria Peak

As you've already seen, Victoria Peak looms behind and above much of downtown Hong Kong. There is a tram that you can take up to the peak, where you can get a look at the city from the back side. This picture is a little blurry since we were moving, but here is a shot of that view at dusk:

You can see 2 Int'l Finance Tower in the center, and off to the right is the Bank of China building, with the neon white lights on it and the two chopsticks protruding upward. Here is another shot, this one a little bit later and from the top of the peak:

I was experimenting with some of the different settings on the camera and came up with this shot.

The Big Buddha

On our last day in Hong Kong, we decided to take a tour of Lantau Island, which is where "the World's Largest Seated Bronze Outdoor Buddha" can be found. I guess every time a new Buddha opens somewhere in the world, they have to keep changing the name. Our guide told us there was another seated bronze outdoor Buddha scheduled to be completed later in the year, but I can't remember what new adjective they are planning to add to the description.

Here's a view from the bottom of the hill. The thing is just enormous! There a full temple inside, as well as a floor that acts as a sort of museum of All Things Buddha. We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside, and this time, I decided to follow the rules.

One other amazing thing about the ride up was that it was so foggy, we couldn't even see the Buddha at all, until we were just about in the parking lot. Oh, and I mean the parking lot at the top of the hill. We couldn't have been much more than 100 yards away at that point, yet we still had no idea what we were even looking for. Fortunately, the fog lifted, and I was able to take this shot.

Now here's a view from the base of the Buddha, down into the plaza:

This was early on, when it was still a bit foggy, as you can see. That circular area was a common place for people to stand and pray to Buddha. Of course, this prayer was usually done in silence. It wasn't until many decades later that somebody discovered a strange phenomenon: when standing right in the center of the circle, you can hear your voice echo, as if you were talking in an empty hallway. It's quite bizarre. If you ever get to visit, you should try it.

Martell can be reached at martell@babblog.com.