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!

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!