Casual on the Star Ferry, Hong Kong

A Star Ferry employee takes a short break before the run between Wan Chai and Kowloon. The 12 Star Ferries carry 70,ooo people per day, more than 26 million a year, across Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour.

The service stared in 1888 and is still a popular and affordable way to cross Victoria Harbour. If you visit Hong Kong a ride on the Star Ferry is a must.

It’s easy to take photos at sunset: At that point of the day most people are awake. Sunrise is something else entirely.

I’ve wanted to shoot Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour at dawn for a while. My problem has been not being in Hong Kong early enough. Arriving at 8:30 am via bus precludes any shots of the rising sun.

Near the end of July I had to spend the night in Hong Kong to complete the dreaded “visa run.” My guest house, in the infamous Chungking Mansions, was a hop, skip, and a jump for Victoria Harbour. Being an early riser is occasionally of benefit (although Mrs. Stevo would fight me tooth and nail on this point). I skipped down to the Avenue of the Stars, camera in hand.

I got lucky: I capture a great series. Photography is science but it’s also luck. You can plan for the perfect shot but you need The Fates’ assistance. I didn’t have a tripod (my tripod, in the patois of my youth, “blows” I will remedy this soon. I found a great carbon-fibre model with ball head while perusing the used photo gear shops in Sham Shui Po).

This sunrise is symbolic: The starting of my new life, post teaching ESL in China.

On the many corridors under the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defense, formerly the Lei Yue Fort. The British built the fort in the late 19th century to protect the eastern approach, the Lei Yue Mun Pass to Victoria Harbour, from the French and Russian navies. (Ironically, the fortification look incredibly similar the Chinese Shajiao Fort in Humen China – that the British stormed during the first Opium War.)

The centerpiece of the fort is the redoubt that was dug deep into a hillside. The corridors and storerooms, containing ammunition and gunpowder, were covered with earth, making the fort hard to spot. A trench around the area, with stone caponiers, protected the fort if invaders found their way to land.

The fort was never used in the way it was intended. A shot was never fired at Russian or French ships. During the Battle of Hong Kong, Lei Yue Fort was used by British forces in an attempt to unsuccessfully repel the Japanese assault of Hong Kong Island. Evidence of the fighting is still visible.

After the Battle of Hong Kong and the Second World War the British used the fort as a training ground until it was vacated in 1987. Hong Kong government agencies decided to give Lei Yue Fort a second lease on life and created the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence in 1993.

A permanent exhibit covering 600 years of military defence in the Pearl River Delta is on display in the underground rooms that once held thousand of artillery shells and tonnes of gunpowder. A historic trail leads visitors through the batteries, a ruined settlement (destroyed during the Battle of Hong Kong), and the Brennan Torpedo station carved into the rock at the base of the fort.

The Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defense is a short walk from the Island Line’s Shau Kei Wan MTR station.

Behind the outer security door of a Mongkok, Hong Kong apartment. Hong Kong and China have a low crime rate for major, violent offenses. Less serious crimes: B&Es, theft, and pick-pocketing, are such a concern that most windows are covered by bars, and most doors have an outer, vault-like shield.

Even in the small village of 200 people, my in-laws lock up everything if they are leaving, no matter the distance.

s

Many people think of Hong Kong as a bustling financial center, one of the Asian tigers. The small SAR is also a hub of international shipping. Hong Kong imports most of its goods as it has little in the way of raw materials. It also re-exports materials from mainland China and other Asian nations.

The city is one of glass sky scrapers and back-street markets, of big money and age-old traditions. A stark contrast, black and white, thanks to  Hong Kong’s colonial heritage.

While the city is a contrasted marvel, the harbour, full of dredgers and container ships, is not nearly as picturesque.

New here? Subscribe by RSS feed, or subscribe by email. Thanks for visiting!

s

s

How many modes of transportation can you take in one day? I tried many while in Hong Kong last Saturday.

6:45 – I left my apartment for the bus station where I boarded the public conveyance to Kowloon, Hong Kong.

The gothic, horror movie-esque Hong Kong Cemetery.

8:20 – After clearing immigrations and customs at the mainland and Hong Kong SAR border I found myself at the Kowloon MTR station. A subway train to Hong Kong Station, a brief walk to Central Station, and another train to Wan Chai.

9:30 – Hong Kong Cemetery. I like cemeteries. This one dates from the British conquest origins of Hong Kong. It’s gothic, much like an old 1930s horror movie.

11:00 – Back to Wan Chai, by foot, and lunch in a Burger King (a guy has to eat!).

11:45 – Hong Kong Park was once Victoria Barracks, part of the British Military’s Hong Kong garrison. The buildings have been converted to an aviary, a marriage registry office, and a tea museum.

12:45 – Running to Pier 4 and the ferry to Lamma Island.

1:30 – Arrival on Lamma Island, the main point of my super-secret trip.

3:15 – The reverse trip begins. Back to Pier 4 on Hong Kong Island, and the MTR to Tsim Tsa Tsui (I can’t believe I spelled that right the first time. If only I could say it.) A brief stop at a drug store and another at GNC.

5:15 – The bus back to Shenzhen.

6:30 – A taxi from the border to my humble abode.

I don’t want to travel anywhere for at least a week, unless I’m being carried. How did you spend your Saturday?