Full set of Photographs – http://www.iesphotography.co.uk/blog/travel/london/

A few years ago I took a trip around Japan, at the time I had edited some photos but never blogged them. Here is a little taster of upcoming blog article on Japan, travelling from Fukuoka to Tokyo via Hiroshima, Matumoso and Kyoto.

Well its been a week now since getting back from Hong Kong. Caught a bit of a cold on my return to the UK so not been doing much in the way of photography last week. Although I did edit a few more images from my trip.

Playing with my tripod and flash on some trams after dark in Central Hong Kong

People on the MTR (Mass Transit Railway) which is the underground in Hong Kong

Friday night in Mong Kok, very busy scenes here as people come after work to shop, eat and drink. Mainly a younger crowd from what I saw.

So that wraps up my trip, all images can be seen on my flickr page – www.flickr.com/iesphotography I hope you have enjoyed this series of posts.

Firstly Happy Birthday to My Wife Ying who is back in the UK, sorry I cannot be there with you but I hope you like the flowers.

Keeping it short today as I’m knackered.

OK well today was a busy day, took a trip on an open top bus around Hong Kong Island. Trams, Boats, people and night photography all today.

Fish Curry in a local restaurant for dinner was great.

A few pics, but rest on flickr

now its 1am and I must sleep!

Today a lie in was the order of the day, so at around 11am I woke up and looked outside and there it was..The famous Hong Kong Haze. Visability wasn’t great but I decided to still crack on with my trip to Stanley / Aberdeen and Lamma Island.

So I jumped on the MTR as the guide book said the bus leaves from Central Station. I got off the MTR and found the bus station and jumped on a 260 to Stanley. I watched as the bus drove up the road and stopped right outside my hotel! Great, I wasted about 25mins there! still we worked our way through the traffic and went via the Aberdeen tunnel and came out on the other side of Hong Kong Island. Repulse Bay looked nice in the haze. Finally we skirted the coast line and arrived at Stanley.

I had a wander round, lots of tourists here, a few bars on the seafront and the main attraction was Stanley Market. Unlike the Ladies Market in Mong Kok the sellers here don’t hassle you, everything has a realistic price marked.

After leaving Stanley again on the bus, I think it was the number 73 I arrived in Aberdeen. More locals that toursits here, I had a listen to what they were saying but no one spoke scottish in this Aberdeen.

I took the Sampan across the water to the took look back on the boats as the sun was in my face and the haze made everything white. When I got off the boat there were a couple of sampans with locals selling fresh fish. The people at the top could see down onto the boat, choose a fish, the man would weight it then kill it. Bag it up and pass it up in his net. The money would then be put in the net and brought down to him. He was doing good business.

The view from across the Aberdeen Harbour.

After a short walk down the promenade I came to what I thought was a kids playground, but the only thing was it was full of elderly people on the apparatus. I then noticed a sign saying it was a elderly person exercise ground. I think if that was in the UK all the elderly would be sat in the corner smoking fags and drinking diamond white!

Anyway I jumped back on the sampan to the other side where I caught the ferry to Lamma Island. It was a small boat and the journey was 30mins. Boats are not my favourite mode of transport as I usually turn a pale shade of green when on them, however there is no other way to get there other than helicopter and there weren’t any of those in the harbour.

We left the harbour wall behind and could see Lamma in the haze infront of us. What I could also see if what seemed to be a very busy shipping lane full of huge and I mean huge container ships. We were travelling steady in a straight line and I could see this container ship heading towards us were looked like we were going to cross in front of it, however the more I looked and did the angles in my head there was no way we were going to make it in time. I thought this was it! Lucky for us this is probably quite normal for these guys who do this everyday, he backed of the gas and let the container ship slide by. We got hit by some pretty big waves as it did.

Finally we arrived in Lamma Island harbour where one of the trawlers was dropping its catch off to a smaller boat.

I disembarked the yacht onto terraferma and had a walk around Lamma Island until it got dark. The trail is quite hard work and after 2hrs of walking I headed back to the restaurants which line the harbour front. I ordered Steamed Fish and Salt and Pepper Prawns, washed down with a Tsingtao beer.

So suitably full I got back onto the boat, which this time was a larger and faster ferry. I think I fell asleep on the way back as Central seemed to come around in no time.

So after being stuff and on a boat I decided to walk back to the hotel to get some fresh air. On the way I walked past the IFC building and a couple of others which made for some nice photos.

After this I saw one last flyover close to my hotel where the trams went under. There are lots of elevated walkways in Hong Kong so great for these type of shots.

So finally back to the hotel, played with the photos you see here and now its 00:45 and time for bed. Who knows what I’m doing tomorrow!

Was up early again and straight on the MTR underground and then the KCR to Sha Tin Station to visit the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery (Man Fat Tsz) a Buddhist temple in Sha Tin, Hong Kong.

n 1951, Venerable Yuet Kai (Ch. 月溪法師, Yue Xi) founded the Monastery, coming to Hong Kong in 1933. He preached Buddhism in a local monastery. He planned to establish a Buddhist college when he accepted an estate from a pious Buddhist who was also a rich merchant. The Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery was constructed at the beginning of 1949. Despite his old age, Yuet Kai carried the buildings materials personally from the foot of the mountain together with his disciples to build the monastery. It took eight years to complete all the buildings and another ten years to finish the 12,000 Buddha statues. construction was finished in 1957. [1] Today, his preserved body is presented in the main hall of the monastery in a glass case, often the main attraction of the temple.

To get to the temple you have to walk up a lot of steps, its not that difficult as all along the route the sides are lined with buddhas

You might even see some of the wild monkeys that live in the area.

The outside of the temple in the main square, a lot of work is being done to renovate the site but don’t let this put you off its well worth the trip

Inside the hall the four walls are covered in small buddhas

After the temple I descended past the buddhas again

After the temple is was back on the train to TST where I wander round a few of the shopping areas on the way to the Star Ferry. As its the first of Dec here is Xmas Hong Kong Style. I think this is the hottest I have even been whilst looking at an Xmas tree in December!

I ended up in TST and got a Star Ferry to Central on Hong Kong Island. Whilst on the ferry an old junk sailed past the ferry.

Once on the island I stayed on the harbour for a while to see a few boats and the Macau helicopter go by

After that I took a trip to the Golden Arcade which is a big computer market, got a couple of items for the laptop and headed home to change before going out in the evening for a chinese meal with some friends.

Tommorow I plan to goto Stanley, Aberdeen and Lamma Island…

Was up early today to go out to catch some photos of the famous Hong Kong Trams. Started off outside the hotel on Hennessey Road while the morning light was right down the road before it was hidden by the tower blocks later in the day.

Then I took a tram to Tin Hau to visit the Tin hau Temple.

Firstly before I got there I had to have a crack at a busy crossing photo from the front of the tram. The tram was stopped while people get on and off but the tram rocks about making it hard to keep the camera stready.

Tin Hau is a small temple, very old with todays blocks of flat now surrounding it.

After Tin Hau it was back on the Tram HK$2 anywhere you like, bargain! This time it was further away from Wanchai to see the retired and dry docked Hong Kong Fireboat Alexander Grantham.

Fireboat Alexander Grantham, the largest in the fleet of fireboats, was built by the Hong Kong Whampoa Dock Company Limited in 1953 and decommissioned in May 2002, after 49 years of service.

Measuring 38.9 metres long, 8.8 metres wide, 15 metres tall and with a loaded displacement of 511 tonnes, it has taken part in numerous fire-fighting and rescue operations, including the Seawise University fire in 1972, the Eastern Gate fire in the 1980s and the New Orient Princess fire in 1993.

Whilst on the Fireboat an old boat called Jimei left the harbour.

Guess what happened next……yes your right back to the tram! Stayed on this tram until the end of the line at Shau Kei Wan

Just across from the tram stop was a food market selling fruit, fish and well any part of the animal you can imagine including my particular favourite Chickens Feet. yummy! I obviously took the pic and moved onto the next stall which had freshly cut up fish. On closer look you the fish were sliced in half and you could still see the heart beating, not something you see everyday in the UK, although something you probably do see in Hong Kong.

After this it was back on the tram to Wanchai and get some lunch and a rest.

In the Evening I went to Kennedy Town and Happy Valley on the tram, been on more trams today than enter in my life!

It was dark now and rush hour slow was a long journey through Central Hong Kong and the tram was packed.

Then that was that…one the way home some famous restuarant I think called Lung Moon in Hong Kong is closing down, lots of press and people taking photos, I haven’t a clue so you chinese speakers will have to help me out. Anyway I joined in the mass photographing session!

and that concluded Day 3. Tomorrow Ten Thousand Buddhas and other stuff which is yet to be decided.

Woke up about 5am with jetlag, got to sleep again and headed out around 10am. First stop McMuffin! Send stop the MTR to Diamond Hill then a short walk up to Chinlin Nunnery 志蓮淨苑.

The Nunnery is split across the main road with a overhead walkway linking the two sites so easy access.

The golden temple in the Nunnery

The Nunnery is nestled amongst the high rise blocks of Hong Kong.

At the far end there is a waterfall and a waterwheel

On the other side of the road are the temples where you can pray to Buddha, there are also 4 ponds containing Lotus and other plants

After the Nunnery I headed back to the hotel to grab the tripod and have a rest as the jetlag was getting to me. 7-Eleven to the rescue, lots of gatorade and water.

so I set off out again on the MTR to Central then walked up past the Bank of China to the Peak Tram. Queued for a while as it was quite busy. Got off at the top and walked up to the Peak, quite a long way up. Lots of people with Tripods and a camera club also had an outing up to the peak. It was a bit hazy so not ideal, I shall have to return on a clearer night if one happens.

So the usual view from The Peak

After the Peak I walked down to the Central Area just outside the MTR station. There is a display on at the moment as Hong Kong is hosting the East Asia Games next week, The HSBC building has a big neon sign on the sign of it promoting the games.

Outside the HSBC building is a display of drums for the games

After this I did a few tram trails then headed back to the hotel on the MTR.

I departed Heathrow at 6pm on Friday night on a Cathay Pacific flight bound for Hong Kong. Managed a bit of sleep on the plane as it was an overnight flight. Touched down at 13:00 local time in Hong Kong. Once through the customs I picked up an Octopus Card and jumped on the Airport Express to Hong Kong Station. Changed to the MTR a couple of stops down the blue line to Wanchai where I found my hotel about 2 blocks from the station. So the location is great, right in the heart of Wanchai, I’m on the 9th floor and its still a little noisey on the main road, do I ask for one of the 14th floor?

Once unpacked I took a stoll into Wanchai and took one of the elevated walkways to the seafront. Firstly I wandered past the Star Ferry terminal at Wanchai where people were fishing off the pier.

I then walked round past the exhibition centre to watch the sunrise against the backdrop of Victoria Peak and the Hong Kong Skyscrapers.

After than I wandered back to the MTR via a local “restaurant” so for satay noodles. On the way back found a bridge, next time I’ll take the tripod.

After food I took the train to Central where I met a friend. Found a bar named Bulldogs, a British Bar in Lan Kwai Fong, had a few beers, the US Navy must be anchored somewhere as there are a lot them in town. Finished the beers and took the MTR back to the hotel and slept, so all in all a good start to the trip! 5am now wide awake!

Think I might go to Stanley!