Published: 10.11.2024
On the advice of Oliver, whom I met in Chiang Rai, I booked two Free Walking Tours. The first was called 'Kowloon Market Safari' with guide Andy (Kowloon is the district where I was staying) and the second was titled 'Introduction to Hong Kong' with Summer as our guide.
Both tours were exceptionally good! Andy took us to ten different markets, the Tin Hau Temple, and an 'Insta'-spot from the Chinese version of 'Instagram' where you can photograph the red-roofed city buses from a skywalk. Instagram is blocked in China - except for Hong Kong - but this spot is apparently going viral on the Chinese Instagram equivalent.
Fun fact: While the Chinese are world champions in online shopping, according to Andy, Hongkongers prefer to go to a market or a store to look at the goods before buying. Hence, there is a Jade Market, a Fruit Market, a Sneakers Street, a Goldfish Market, a Flower Market, a Bird's Market,... and also many small shops offering specific items. I saw shops with technology (cameras and camera accessories, speakers, phone cases, vacuums,...), laminate, tiles, lamps, safes, bathroom accessories, coffins, and much more.
Summer showed us some historic landmarks on Hong Kong Island and illuminated some backgrounds:
One evening, I met up with Lara and Sebastian, whom I had met in Flores and who were passing through Taiwan on their way to New Zealand. We watched the Light Show at Victoria Harbour together, and otherwise I had picked a few sights for myself: Avenue of Stars, Clock Tower, K11 Musea, Victoria's Peak, Space Museum, Kowloon Walled City Park, Wong Tai Sin Temple,... It was quite a challenge to take a good photo of a Ding Ding! These are trams that somewhat resemble the buses in 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.'
Since I was flying out later on my last day in the evening and the airport is located on Lantau Island, I spent the day on Lantau Island. There I visited the Big Buddha and the monastery in Ngong Ping and watched planes taking off and landing. When I had checked in at the airport, exited, and gone through security, I still had 45 Hong Kong dollars left - exactly as much as a (quite overpriced) ice cream costs there. But it tasted good!