Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Not your usual Hong Kong harbor vistas (Photo-essay)


My heart fell when I caught my first glimpse of Hong Kong back on May 1st. This wasn't necessarily because it gave concrete proof to my having left my Malaysian homeland once again in search of greener professional and related pastures. Instead, it was because May 1st happened to have been one of those days when the Air Pollution Index (API) in Hong Kong hit Very High levels, making it so that the visibility was pretty low indeed.

Fortunately (and very much touch wood), since then, the air has cleared by a considerable margin. And, as the photos below provide concrete proof, there have been some wonderful days -- including treasured weekends, during which I've made it a point to be out and about (rather than stay indoors) -- when the skies have been blue and good views are to be had as well as healthy air to breathe... :)

View across Victoria Harbour
from Shau Kei Wan (more specifically,
the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence)
to the village of Lei Yue Mun and the area beyond

A broader view which shows that
Lei Yue Mun village may be sans high-rise buildings
but still isn't that far away from them
in the grand scheme of things!

View from Shau Kei Wan Typhoon Shelter
looking west across Victoria Harbour
towards the town of Yau Tong
(And yes, that is a large wild bird flying about in Hong Kong!)

Peaceful scene near the Brennan Torpedo Station
of what was Lei Yue Mun Fort
but now is the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence

The breakwater for the
Shau Kei Wan Typhoon Shelter

A further-than-it-may-seem view across the water
to Kowloon from the replete-with-small-boats
Shau Kei Wan Typhoon Shelter
over on Hong Kong Island

High rises south of
the Shau Kei Wan Typhoon Shelter

and boats resting within it

A quieter, more blue and greener vista
than many normally associate with Hong Kong


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. Those were some great photos. Such dramatic scenery, and so many different scenes.

I hope you have many more blue sky days.

Anonymous said...

Great pictures! Thank you for sharing and I too wish bluer skies for you :)


Here we have nothing but sun sun sun and the expected temperature for the weekend is 39 Centigrate!!!!

YTSL said...

Hi Alejna --

Glad you enjoyed checking out the photos and yeah, fingers crossed re there being many more blue sky days over here.

Hi "eliza bennet" --

39 degrees centigrade!!!! And I thought we were having it bad at around 27-31 degrees centigrade. Though we also have terrible humidity levels... ;S

Anonymous said...

My daughter and I visited the museum late one afternoon. We kept exiting the museum and finding ourselves on outside walkways which led back into different parts of the museum where we were told the museum was closing soon. Finally a kind employee led us to the main exit. We were so confused and tired we didn't go on any of the outside walks and thus missed seeing the wonderful views in your photos.

Anonymous said...

"The breakwater for the Shau Kei Wan Typhoon Shelter" looks like a scene in My Name Ain't Suzie -- Anthong Wong's first (or first major) role.

But, I could be wrong.

YTSL said...

Hi Glenn --

Alas, I've not seen "My Name Ain't Suzie" -- though I do have the DVD of the movie -- so don't know the scene you mentioned. Do you know what area of Hong Kong it's supposed to take place? As I understand it, like with "The World of Suzie Wong", the main location is supposed to be Wan Chai.

YTSL said...

Hi sbk --

Oh dear re your having missed the outside walks and wonderful views from the museum. If truth be told, they were major highlights of my visit to that institution! ;S