Wandering the Wonders of Whampoa.

I know I probably sound like a broken record, but the weather in Hong Kong recently has varied between unbearably hot and torrential rain, so I have been spending a lot of time indoors. I have not been taking many photos, but I liked the flowers below which I passed on a rainy day walk.

Flowers in Discovery Bay on one of the few rainy days when I ventured outside.

Today, I finally got to go out. Yippee!! I returned to the Whampoa area of Hong Kong to spend the day with my friend, Iris. I remember originally coming here years ago, shortly after Peter and I arrived for his assistant education officer post in 1996. Then a few months ago, I returned for a legal matter, but on that occasion, I only had a very brief look around, as it was pouring with rain. So, when my friend, Iris, and I were looking for a place to explore and photograph, Whampoa popped into my mind and I am very glad it did, as we have just spent a lovely, relaxing day here.

Before meeting Iris, I took some photos in the MTR station. I love the fact that Hong Kong keeps adding more and more art to its underground and the artwork in Whampoa reflected the area's history and ship building past.

Whampoa Sign.

Art in the MTR. Rural village to housing estate.

Before the development of the shipyards this area was a village where people would have farmed the land.

Whampoa has gone from a boatyard to a residential area.

This shows the old Hutchinson Whampoa Dockyard building which has long since been demolished.

Iris and I met at exit C2 of Whampoa MTR station, so we could have a look at the Whampoa boat. This concrete boat, surrounded by housing blocks, is actually a shopping centre, but its nautical design reflects the fact that this whole area was once the Hutchinson Whampoa Ship Building Yard. The boat is permanently moored, shall we say, on the the former site of Dockyard One. Around the boat there are some colourful structures to walk through and there is an old cannon which was abandoned here during the refit of a British naval vessel.

The Whampoa surrounded by houses.

The Whampoa Ship.

Iris and I at The Whampoa Mall.

Iris in the archway.

Seahorse decorations around the door of the shopping centre.

Old cannon in front of the boat.

Colourful structures surround the boat.

Iris in her rainbow.

On my last visit I had not realised that it was possible to go onto the top deck of this ship, but Iris enquired about this at the information desk and found out that we could get there in the lift.

View from the top of the ship.

On top of the ship.

On top of the ship.

When we were done with the boat, we headed off to the nearby Hutchinson Park. On the way we passed more malls and lots of artwork that has been added in recent years to beautify the area.

Archway.

Effort has gone in to beautifying this area with artworks dotted all around.

Entrance to one of the many malls here. This one is called Treasure World.

Hutchinson Park is a small Chinese style park and, because it was a Sunday, it was filled with Filipinas enjoying their day off. This park first opened in 1991. It centres around a pond and some streams. There are lots of little bridges to cross and several shady pavilions to sit in. There are traditional Chinese moon gates on all sides. These are guarded by a variety of styles of Chinese lions. There are lots of beautiful trees with hanging roots, colourful flowers and more turtles than I have ever seen in my whole life. I'm confident Henna on Trek would like it here, as she likes turtles. There's also a tai chi area, some children's play areas, elderly exercise stations and toilets. This park was a relaxing place for Iris and I to catch up on all the gossip and on what we have been doing since we last met.

Entrance to Hutchinson Park.

Iris at the entry gate.

Lions and cubs.

Moon gate.

Iris at the moon gate.

Me at the moon gate.

Bridge and stream in Hutchinson Park.

Looking down at a bridge.

Buildings and ponds.

Clouds reflected in a pond.

Turtles everywhere.

Turtles in Hutchinson Park.

Pavilion on a hill.

Iris with a giant tree.

Me under a tree.

Iris likes trees; I like flowers.

Colourful flowers..

This pavilion was so loud with so many maids chatting on it.

When we had seen it all, we decided to go and have lunch. I got to choose the type of food we would have and so I opted for Chinese. I love eating Chinese food with Chinese people, as they know exactly what they are doing in those huge cavernous Chinese restaurants, while I really do not. We decided to treat ourselves to some delicious dim sum.

We went into the Laguna Verde Mall and ate in the Celestial Palace Restaurant. After our visit I looked at reviews of this mall and found many people did not like it, as they said it was too empty and just had a supermarket and places to eat. For me all these things made it perfect. I hate crowds, am delighted to find places to eat and drink you don't need to queue for and, although I didn't go into it, find the idea of a supermarket with no queues heaven on Earth. I'd come here just to shop if it wasn't so far from my home.

A Chinese meal always commences with the diners thoroughly washing all the plates and crockery that are already positioned on the table, in a basin of hot water which is provided for this purpose. I have not come across this custom elsewhere, but I guess it makes perfect sense and has probably saved many people from tummy bugs.

We ordered jasmine tea which was very refreshing on such a hot day, shrimp dumplings, which were my personal favourite of the dim sum we had, choi sum, a leafy green vegetable, which was lovely and crisp, beef meatballs, noodle rolls with a vegetable filling. This one was crunchy, which I wasn't expecting, but it was very pleasant. Finally, we had Iris's favourite dish which was actually a kind of spiced sponge cake. It was absolutely delicious. The restaurant had a great view over Victoria Harbour. We had a look at the view before taking our seat, as our seat wasn't near the window. I reckon that was probably a good thing as it got us out of the very bright sunshine for a while.

View from the restaurant.

Inside the restaurant.

Iris preparing the utensils.

Healthy Choi sum.

Shrimp dumplings, choi sum, noodle rolls, meatballs and cake. A very tasty meal.

An excellent lunch.

Iris and I in the restaurant.

When we were finished eating, and by that time I personally was utterly stuffed senseless, we went for a walk along the waterfront. I reckon this would be an expensive area to live in. There are beautiful flats which must have fantastic harbour views. The first place we went to had modelled itself on Saint Mark's Square Venice, complete with bell ringing statues and bridges. We later passed a lovely infinity style swimming pool, which I felt pretty tempted to try and gate crash. That pool belonged to Laguna Verde, but there was a large public pool nearby. We couldn't see it properly from where we were, but I bet it would be worth a visit.

Did we just walk as far as Venice?

Laguna Verde.

Me in front of the bridge at Laguna Verde.

Iris in front of Laguna Verde.

Harbour front viewed from Laguna Verde.

There were a couple of ferry piers in this area. We noticed that one seemed to offer lunch and dinner harbour cruises and even a cruise in which to enjoy the sound and light show. We also noticed someone was swimming in the harbour. I have seen that before, but it always surprises me, as the water is unfortunately quite dirty, quite rough and plied by many boats.

I think this old pier isn't used any more.

Ferry on the Harbour front.

Me at the waterfront.

Iris by the waterfront.

On the waterfront.

Harbour front walkway.

Unfortunately, there was a lot of rubbish in the harbour after all the rain we have had.

This boat does lunch and dinner cruises.

Fishing on the waterfront.

Once again the area had been beautified with art work. This time it was jungle themed. On our first visit many years ago this area was quite drab without all the artwork.

Jungle by the waterfront.

After enjoying the harbour front it was time for me to head home and for Iris to head off to visit her brother who lives nearby. It had been a lovely relaxing and memorable day.