By Andrew Scott
Hong Kong is a city famous for its shopping, nightlife, skyscrapers, and kung fu legend Bruce Lee, who spent his formative years there. It’s a city that mixes the old with the new – giant, modern skyscrapers tower overhead as you wait in line to take the rickety funicular up Victoria Peak that has been in operation since 1888. Spending two days in Hong Kong to see in the Chinese New Year comes highly recommended, but one should have the same mindset as if planning a polar expedition. January in Hong Kong is cold, especially if you fly in from Bangkok.
We arrived in Hong Kong the day before the Chinese New Year parade. Staying in downtown Kowloon, we tried to immerse ourselves quickly and painlessly into the city by taking a walk along Nathan Road to soak in the sights and sounds. The day of the parade was a public holiday and what became quickly apparent was that the Chinese don’t leave their homes on these days. The streets were not deserted but there was enough room to easily swing a cat, if one so desired.
Ambling slowly down Nathan Road and peering into shops that were open was a pleasant introduction. A shop stocked with Chinese herbal medicines, ginseng, dried seafood and traditional Chinese herbs caught our attention, more for the bright neon Chinese symbols above the shop entrance and distinct smells than anything else. The shop was full of weird and wonderful potions and jars filled with things to cure every ailment known to man. Mixed with the scents emitting from a nearby restaurant and you had a pungent test for the nostrils. Certain restaurants emitted hot blasts of air as we walked past, which was a bit of a blessing in cold Hong Kong. The smells that came with the steam from whatever was boiling/brewing in the cauldron was not.
Nathan Road is the main thoroughfare in Kowloon and it’s easy to navigate your way to different sights in the neighborhood from there. Finding our way to the ICC tower, Hong Kong’s tallest skyscraper, was a straightforward task. The sky100 observation deck on the 100th floor offers panoramic views and looks out across Victoria Harbour to Hong Kong Island. At the bottom of Nathan Road in the Tsim Sha Tsui area occupying some prime Hong Kong real estate, we found Kowloon Park. The park was abuzz with tourists taking photos of the pink flamingos, locals enjoying a relaxing stroll, children meeting friends to gossip and performers doing one last rehearsal before the New Year parade started later that evening. We whiled away a few hours at the park people watching and exploring in our little haven within the bustling city.
The Chinese New Year parade started in Kowloon at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Piazza in Tsim Sha Tsui and proceeded along Canton Road, Haiphong Road, Nathan Road and Salisbury Road, ending at Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel and Towers. We found a vantage point a good hour before the parade started to beat the crowds. During the parade, locals mingled easily with tourists and people climbed up traffic lights or whatever they could use to get a better view. The colorful performers walked past and some handed out fortune cards to the lucky few who were close enough to reach out.
The performers were a mixture of locals and international acts: local school bands, kung fu experts (obviously), Russian dancers, American cheerleaders, an Italian orchestra, Korean dancers and women from Amsterdam on stilts dressed and dancing like butterflies. As more and more performers passed by, the carnival atmosphere increased and with the multitude of brightly colored costumes we found the feeling of cold disappear, replaced by an odd warmth inside as the happiness of the people nearby started to rub off on us.
The next day we decided to indulge in what is a Hong Kong institution and takes place at the self-proclaimed oldest hotel in the city: afternoon tea at the Peninsula. It’s a long-established tradition that started as a means to soothe hunger pangs before dinner, and given the Chinese and British love for tea it comes as no surprise to see it still going strong in Hong Kong. The reasonable price makes it a popular choice. We had to wait 45 minutes for our table but were rewarded with a string quartet, selection of teas from all over the world, a three tier sandwich tray filled with delectable goodies, and a grandiose colonial setting in the hotel lobby.
Hong Kong means “Fragrant Harbor”, and there’s no better way to find out whether the name is truthful than to go out on the harbor and smell for yourself. We took the Harbor Cruise Bauhinia, a two-hour jaunt with a buffet dinner and live band and and the perfect place to enjoy the light show and fireworks. The buffet dinner was served in a room that looked like it was decorated for a wedding: Eight people to a table with name tags at each setting, fancy flower decorations on hand railings, random floral patterns throughout the room, and a live band belting out all the classics. All that was missing was the bride and groom. To people who think that this setting sounds awful, I would ask to please grow a sense of humor.
After the buffet, we were invited to take our drinks up to the deck and watch “The Symphony of Lights” and fireworks. Huddling together on the deck of the boat we gasped and oohed at the bright light show that exploded before our eyes. The sheer volume of color and noise that fired out of the tugboats and into the night sky enthralled the entire deck. Once the flash of lights and cameras ceased we made our way slowly back downstairs. After inhaling the fresh air and sipping on a few light beers we headed back home for the night, happy with ourselves for verifying the harbor’s fragrancy firsthand.
Sometimes you gotta get out of the city. Weekender is Coconuts Bangkok’s travel feature series on destinations that can be enjoyed on a weekend trip from Bangkok.
[JUICEBOX_GALLERY]
