Day 8 Second Day in Hong Kong
As my knee was still very sore, I decided to get Medical advice and fronted up at the ship’s medical centre at 8:30. It turns out I had torn a ligament and as a result I am supposed to be off my feet with my strapped leg up in the air for the next 7 days. We are hopeful that I should be going by the time we get to Bali. So Jeanette headed off today on her own on the shuttle bus to Kowloon and here is an account of her adventures..
First stop was the Middle Road Park which is high above the road looking out toward the Harbour. It has an extensive collection of playgrounds for young children and was already busy with littlies running everywhere. I walked on to a platform looking out over the water and saw below the promenade where there is an Avenue of movie stars – this was my planned first stop. I found a statue of Bruce Lee and other Chinese movie stars totally unfamiliar to me, but it was a pleasant walk along the harbour’s edge. It was incredibly misty and difficult to see across to Hong Kong Island.
I ended up back at the Clock Tower – the only remaining part of the Kowloon-Canton railway line terminus station which was relocated to to Hung Hom in the 1970s. I was able to see the display of ‘Year of the Fire Horse’ installations up close in their beautiful colours. These had been spectacular all lit up the night before.
I was near Nathan Road which Brian was keen to walk the length of again so I headed off to get some shots for him. It has lost the old grotty shops and shacks of previous years and is now populated with a lot of the big end of town retailers. The entrance to the Sheraton was particularly pretty.
I passed a couple of very unusual staircases which were lined with quaint little cartoon-like characters. Unfortunately I did not venture up to the top and so missed out on a park full of many popular Chinese cartoon characters.
I did however investigate another staircase leading to Kowloon Park high above the street and found their Sculpture Park. A clean, pleasant place to sit for a breather and view the sculptures – they were quite uninspiring though.
We had walked over 13,000 steps the day before and today my feet and legs were telling me I had done more by this point. Not having one of those high tech watches I had no way of knowing – Brian is the tech man. I decided it was time to return to the ship so found my way to the shuttle bus.
When I returned to the Kai Tak terminal I decided to explore the Sky Roof Garden. There is an amazing series of gardens and scenic walking paths looking out over a boat harbour and all of Hong Kong. I did the circuit, taking in a very up close look at our Queen Anne docked alongside. A good day.
Our Ship cast its lines around 8pm and we slowly steamed out of Victoria Harbour through the lighted towers flanking the shore line. Hong Kong is a very special place and it was a particular thrill for me to get to see it one more time.
Hardys’ Travels 