China, Hong Kong SAR, South Island MTR Line - Wandering Around Without Fixed Plans

By -
For me, travelling is a holistic experience. I do not travel to a place just to visit its most famous tourist attractions or world-renowned sites. Of course, I do love visiting those much-talked about attractions and sites. However, I usually prefer to keep a day or two of my trips free of any plans.

On these days, I would simply wander around without any fixed plans. Taking in the sights, sounds and experiences that I serendipitously chanced upon. And these were often the moments when I felt that I had truly visited the destinations. Some of my friends said I was wasting precious vacation time and limited trip days doing just nothing. But for me, these moments of wandering around without fixed plans were reflective of the wanderlust in me, the travel bug.

A cute poster interspersing a pig's head with the Chinese character for Fu (good fortune) on a noticeboard inside South Horizons Station of the South Island Line, Ap Lei Chau, Hong Kong SAR, China (2019)

Despite having visited Hong Kong numerous times, I have yet to visit or experience many areas in this wonderful city. In my recent trip to Hong Kong, I decided to take one of the MTR lines that I had not taken before.

Stopping at every station of the line, I exited each station and walked around the neighbourhood of that station. Simply to enjoy the sights and to take photographs as digital mementos of my visit and mini explorations. Needless to say, I absolutely loved that experience. In that single day alone, I probably covered more of Hong Kong than in most of my other trips to the city combined. Here are some photographs I took around the Aberdeen, Ap Lei Chau and Wong Chuk Hang areas. 

The famous Jumbo Floating Restaurant, Shum Wan, Aberdeen, Hong Kong SAR, China (2019)
Update (28 July 2022): This tourist icon was decommissioned and towed out of Hong Kong sometime in June 2022. While on transit in the South China Sea, it reportedly experienced bad weather and capsized.

Skyscrapers in the background and bum boats in the foreground, Ap Lei Chau, Hong Kong SAR, China (2019)

Bum boats near the Aberdeen Boat Club, Aberdeen, Hong Kong SAR, China (2019)

A block of skyscrapers near the Aberdeen Boat Club, Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong SAR, China (2019)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Japan, Takayama - Dining on Wasakana

By -
Image
The city of Takayama is also known as Hida-Takayama and is located in the mountainous Hida region of Gifu Prefecture in Japan. A popular dish in Takayama is Wasakana or river fish. There are many species of river fishes in Takayama but the ones that are regularly served as part of the local cuisines are Ayu ( Plecoglossus altivelis , ) a.k.a sweetfish and Iwana ( Salvelinus leucomaenis ), a species of river trout.  Wasakana (River Fish). This fish was pickled and then grilled. I am not sure of the species of this fish which was caught in the river behind the Ryokan where I resided during my stay in the mountains. Takayama, Gifu, Japan (2014) The fishes are usually marinated with sea salt and grilled. This method of cooking the river fishes is most popularly shown in pictures or on travel documentaries. During my visit to Takayama in October 2014, I finally got to savor the delicious tastes of the Wasakana prepared in authentic local styles by the locals....
Read more

Singapore, Horsburgh - Deep Sea Fishing

By -
Image
Horsburgh Lighthouse (or Horsburgh) is located on an outlying small island (a.k.a Pedra Branca meaning "White Rock" in Portuguese) near the entrance to the east of the Straits of Singapore. The lighthouse was named after Cpt James Horsburgh, who was a hydrographer with the then East India Company. Horsburgh is located about 54km (34 miles) east of Singapore. It was raining in the morning as we set off for the long anticipated trip which was planned as far back as 3 months ago in August 1998. There were four of us; YK, Kenneth, CC and myself.  
 Soon, we were on our way to the suppossedly rich fishing grounds near Horsburgh Lighthouse. This locale is considered a good fishing ground for recreational fishing because commercial trawling is supposedly not permitted.  
 We reached our first fishing spot at exactly 5.00 pm local time. Looking around, we couldn't see actually any lighthouse but who cares, it was the fishing that we were coming for, not a visit to so...
Read more

Estonia, Tallinn - Palace of Ungern-Sternberg

By -
Image
I was awestruck by the grandness and magnificence of this building during my walking tour of the Old Town of Tallinn. While there, I had no opportunity to enter the building itself. Thus, admiring its facade and photographing its structure as I walked around its perimeter had to suffice.  The  Palace of Ungern-Sternberg, Tallinn, Estonia (2017) Without knowing what this building was, its history and its name, the photographs I took allowed me to conduct basic research on it after the trip.  Based on my rudimentary research into the building long after my trip to Tallinn, I was to discover that it was built in the year 1865 by the German architect, Martin Gropius. Also known as the Palace of Ungern-Sternberg, the building is today the home of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. The Academy is a group of scientists whose aim is to promote research & development and scientific cooperation as well as knowledge dissemination.  The main build...
Read more