HONG KONG

                                                                    (kowloon to island)

It would be at least forty years since I was in Hong Kong, and one of my remaining memories was of the excitement of getting the Star Ferry. It was misty and drizzly, and the harbour was awash with crafts, and just after we left the Kowloon wharf the ferry suddenly shuddered into reverse as something else loomed out of the fog just in front of us, an every day occurrence if the ennui of the locals was anything to go on. I was enthralled and excited by the seeming risk of it all. Ferries plied endlessly day and night back and forth to the island, criss crossed by boats of all shapes and sizes moving up and down the harbour.

Things are a lot calmer these days, at least on the water. Well, only on the water, now with tunnels and trains servicing the mainland and the island traffic, though the ferries still run a regular service from Wan Chai, where we are staying, to Kowloon. 

Big cruise ships sail in every other day or so. Working rigs are about, but anchored mainly. A few junks parade about in the night. There's always some movement, but not the crazy I remember, or thought I did.

                                                                (wan chai wharf)

                                                     (convention centre looking to kowloon)

                                                                             (star ferries passing)

(junk behind ferry)

(night ferry to the island)

On land, it another matter entirely. The streets, the shopping plazas, the pedestrian foot bridges, the stations, the railways, the trains, the buses, and trams, are all chock-a-block. It's an ant's nest.

                                                             (electric double decker trams)