New Years Eve, Hong Kong

Day 11- 31st Dec 2014 (I Continue from here...Kowloon And Hong Kong Island )

On 31st, we had to change hotels. We had our last breakfast at the youth hostel (The western breakfast without meat, without egg) and took bus 905 to Central. At Central, the bus stop was very close to the hotel Island Pacific where I had requested for a early check in. We checked into our semi harbour view room in the 12th floor. This place was half the size of the youth hostel room but more than twice the cost. 

We took the tram to one of the Indian restaurants called Clay oven. Had some good lunch and then set off on our exploring of the HK island. Trams are supercool. You can travel almost anywhere in the main business district for just HK$2.3, thats like incredibly cheap in HK. 

We directly headed to the Bank of China building. We sure di not want to miss the view for the third time. The view from the 65th floor is amazing. 

We continued on the Happy valley-Kennedy town tram to reach Jardine's crescent, a street filled with shops. The place was heavily crowded. We went to the time square but all the places were terrible crowded and that made me really uncomfortable. We took the tram back to Arsenal stop and then walked to the golden bohemian square following the sign boards. Somewhere midway I got some great captures of the traffic from an over bridge. I tried some low exposure shots here.

On our way, we also chanced upon a small park from where the buildings looked spectacular in their night look. 

At the Bohemian square crowds where slowly pulling in. We found a store inside and packed some bun for later. We picked a nice place to watch the fireworks. 

Form 7:30 PM to 12:00 AM there was lots of activity in the area. People started to occupy spots by 8PM. Next to me sat an Indian couple worrying how they had to wait till 12 and how they had not found a restaurant anywhere close. I suggested them to pack some food from the store inside the building behind the bohemian square. They did that. A westerner and his HK girlfriend sitting behind us were emptying one bottle after another. It was very cold out there but the crowd did not stop gathering. At 12 when the countdown began everyone got really excited and at zero there was an explosion of fireworks from he harbour. It was truly a mesmerising view. 

For 10 minutes the cracker burst from all directions. They were fired from some some launch tools in the water. By the time it was over, the entire sky was covered with smoke and took a while to clear. But what was shockingly surprising was that after the fireworks, the crowd began to walk out in great discipline. There were thousands of people there but no one touched one another, they walked following each other calmly. There were people bringing kids in trolly and dogs too and all walked without any issue. I wondered if this was in India, a stampede would have killed several. The cops had arranged the barricade since evening and the public neatly walked the designated path.

We walked the Metro and took the train to Sheung wan and walked few blocks to our hotel. It was a long but exciting day filled with spectral views. I had watched the fireworks several times in the US but i must admit that this was the best till date. As they burst in the sky, the reflection of them in the water create a scintillating view.

Continued Here  - Last Day In Hong Kong