During my latest trip to Hong Kong, I discovered a wonderful waterfront park quite by accident. Thanks to getting a good night’s sleep on my first night in Hong Kong, I was up and walking around the city at 7:00am on my first full day there. After a brief MTR (Subway) ride from Kowloon to Hong Kong, I found myself walking around some of the early morning markets that open before most retail shops and attractions.

I do this on purpose so that I can experience a version of Hong Kong that most visitors miss. At this time of day, small fruit, vegetable and meat markets are open throughout Hong Kong’s various neighborhoods and it gives a visitor like myself a great look into the daily life of Hong Kong’s residents. When I tour these markets, I purposely do not take photos or try to be any more obvious than I already am, I try to be the fly on the wall and not disturb anything.

As I was winding my way through the streets and alleys, I came down towards the waterfront near the Western Market and Macau Ferry Terminal. In this part of Hong Kong (Sheung Wan), you’ll find a large variety of dried seafood and other dried goods for sale by a multitude of shops. In this vicinity, across Connaught Rd, stands the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Park with wonderful views of the Harbor and Kowloon.

This was my first visit to the park since I’m usually not the type to pause for long periods of time during my travels, but since I had an hour to pass before any of my favorite shops opened, I decided to take a break, buy a cup of tea and enjoy the park.

The park is named after a historic figure in China’s History. Dr. Sun Yat-sen is revered as the founding father and first President of the Republic of China. He played a pivotal role in the revolution that overthrew the Qing Dynasty. Though he served as President of the Republic of China for only 2 months, his legacy has endured and is he is revered throughout Asia.

The park is a wonderful combination of green space and paths that allow people to enjoy themselves in a very quiet surrounding even though the park is surrounded by Hong Kong’s Skyscrapers. The park also has a soccer pitch and a few basketball courts as well. Hopefully the following photos give you a sense of the park’s space and attributes.

The east end of the park is set next to the Macau Ferry Terminal

More of the Macau Ferry Terminal adjacent to the park

A wonderful pathway lines the harbor along the entire park

Plenty of meticulously maintained green space

The park's location affords fantastic views of Kowloon

The park also has great views of Hong Kong's skyline as well

An open plaza encourages people to meditate and practice their morning exercises

This gentleman was practicing his sword work.......

The park excels at wonderful views.

The Memorial Lawn is the focal point of the park

A statue of Dr. San Yat-sen is centered on the Memorial Lawn

A sports complex (swimming pool) is located on the western end of the park.

Several Park Directories are located throughout the park to aide visitors.

The next time that you find yourself in Hong Kong, I would encourage you to find and enjoy this park. Especially in the mid morning hours, it is fairly empty and very quiet. There are many benches where you can take a seat and enjoy taking a break from the fast paced city that surrounds you. It’s a short walk from the Sheung Wan MTR station, and is also fairly close to the Hong Kong and Central MTR stations as well.

No visit to Hong Kong is complete without taking a few moments (or hours….) to appreciate the city’s skyline. It’s perhaps the world’s most beautiful urban landscape (and this coming from a native New Yorker!). Even after 3 trips to Hong Kong in the last year, I am not tired of appreciating it and capturing as many photos as I can!

On my previous trip during the Christmas season, most of the buildings were adorned in festive lighting. This time only one building was already in the holiday spirit so I had the opportunity to capture images that were different than on previous visits.

Please note that I had to reduce the size of my original files to 1024×768 in order to upload them. If you would like a full size copy of the file, please let me know. I took these photos in RAW format so the photos can be processed to be as large as posters.

I don’t have much else to say since the view says it all. I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed being there to take them!

Government helicopter leaves from Hong Kong

The following picture is of The Peak Tower on Hong Kong as seen from Kowloon (with a bit of zoom!). The “Peak” provides an outstanding view from the “back” of Hong Kong looking towards Kowloon. I visited The Peak on a previous trip and was able to capture these images.

Beginning Of Sunset

Last Rays......

During The Nightly Light Show

Late next week I set off for a few days to Hong Kong. Over the past year I’ve been able to visit twice and it has become one of my favorite places in the world to see. Being a native New Yorker, I never thought I’d find a city that I enjoyed more than NYC, but Hong Kong has given it a run for it’s money as far as I’m concerned. There’s no one thing that I can pinpoint that makes the case for Hong Kong being a favorite. I think it comes down to a confluence of several things including ease of navigation, breadth of cuisine, cleanliness of the city and the extremely friendly and helpful residents. Being one of United’s best “cost per mile” destinations only helps the argument.

On my previous visits, I stayed at the Grand Hyatt and Hyatt Regency. This time, I’ll return to the Hyatt Regency simply because it’s location in the heart of Kowloon makes it very easy to reach most of Kowloon and Hong Kong. I love the fact that I am only a few steps from fantastic noodle shops, shopping and transportation the moment that I step out of the hotel.

Fortunately on previous trips I was able to take in several of the “Must See” places that new visitors are encouraged to see. This time I hope to expand my exploration to take in new places and sights. I’ve also been armed with a holiday shopping list by my wife that includes Chinese Puzzle Balls, Pearls, Tagua Nut Figurines and Jade Dragons so no doubt that will take a few minutes of effort!

I’m trying to actually do less planning for this trip in the attempt to do more things on a spur of the moment. I think this way gives me much more flexibility and spontaneity than sticking to a pre-meditated itinerary of places to go. The only “Must Do” on this trip will be Plane Spotting from the HAECO hangar area just off the airport campus.

For the outbound flight, I chose the traditional Grand Rapids-Chicago-Hong Kong route so that I can enjoy 16 non-stop hours in the bubble top of my beloved 744 and hopefully more great views of Siberia. However for the return flight I was “dared” to be a little more creative so instead of the easy Hong Kong-Chicago flight, I’m going to make my way from Hong Kong to Guam (yes Guam), then onto Honolulu and onward to Chicago and finally Grand Rapids.

In all, it’s a couple thousand more miles for the Frequent Flyer account with this more creative routing but I’ll have the new experience of stepping on Guam’s terra firma and perhaps adding a GUM stamp to my Passport. My understanding is that US citizens take care of Immigration in Guam and Customs in Honolulu. Something tells me I won’t find a Global Entry kiosk in Guam, but no matter, I’d wait in line for the stamp anyway.

Of course I’ll have my trip reports and photos to share once I return!

Related Posts:

The Diplomat Suite – Grand Hyatt Hong Kong

The Hyatt Regency – Hong Kong

Hong Kong Skyline Pictorial

A View From The Peak

Temple Street Market