Howzit-HongKong.com often gets invited to attend functions all over Hong Kong.

Sometimes the events take place at venues that afford one such spectacular vistas of this vibrant and beautiful city, that it would be amiss not to snap away and post the pics on our Flickr album here.

I attended one such event on the 26th floor of the Park Lane Hotel in Causeway Bay.  South African Tourism hosted a successful workshop to introduce some of the product offerings available to local visitors to our beautiful country.

In his opening address to the workshop today, South Africa’s Minister of Tourism, Marthinus Van Schalkwyk mentioned of his slight concern at arriving in Hong Kong in the midst of Tropical Cyclone Chanthu.  However, upon arriving in the territory, he was greeted with beautiful blue skies and hot weather.

Well Mr Van Schalkwyk, while we were fortunate to have missed the chaos of the storm, as you can see from the pictures below, the beautiful blue skies are (as they say back home) part and parcel of typhoon season, both before and after the storm.

More about the tourism workshop later.

The Park Lane Hotel is located in the busy shopping district of Causeway Bay, adjacent to the lush Victoria Park.

The view from the 26th floor affords one some glorious vistas across Victoria Park towards Tin Hau MTR station in the direction of North Point.  Kellet Island, home of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club can be seen in the foreground with Kowloon Bay and the Eastern Harbour Entrance in the distance.

Hong Kong’s Victoria Park (Pic: Mike Jansen)

Turning the camera slightly to the left, more of Victoria Harbour and the yacht basin come into view.  On the other side of the Harbour you can see (from left to right) Tsim Sha Tsui East, Hung Hom and Whampoa Garden.  The “Howzit” indicates my apartment where Howzit-HongKong.com is produced.

Victoria Harbour & the yacht basin (Pic: Mike Jansen)

I’ve always been baffled by the response I get when asking tourists if they know where the Avenue of the Stars is here in Hong Kong.  The conversation often gets to that point when I try to explain to them where I live, where the Bruce Lee statue is or where the best spot is from where to watch the fireworks or nightly laser-show.

It has never really dawned on me that maybe they don’t know because they haven’t been able to find it!

Maybe I should also add that it didn’t  dawn on me because whenever I visit a new city, I always do thorough research about what to see and how I could get there.  Blame it on the Boy Scout in me.  I have spent many a year following the teachings of the good Lord Baden Powell.  I also have a ritual of “doing the walk.”

Huh?

Well, whenever I visit a new city, and I have the opportunity to wake up in said city, I make it my mission to take a pre-dawn walk to experience the city waking up.  It just gives one another perspective of the place and in my opinion, the early-morning experience makes exploring it during the day less daunting.  I had some memorable mornings in London, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Amsterdam, to name but a few, a couple of full-moon parties ago.  My early morning in San Antonio, Ibiza will (for obvious reasons) remain a BLURR! 

I had the opportunity to do the walk here in Hong Kong a few years ago, before it became my home-away-from-home.

But again, I digress.

Reading a story in this past weekend’s HK Magazine, it became clear to me just why tourists don’t know where the Avenue of the Stars is located.  It’s just so damn difficult to get there!

In short, the Avenue of the Stars is separated from the Peninsula Hotel/Nathan Road-side by Salisbury Road and other than the Star Ferry-corner, there is no above-ground way to cross Salisbury Road to get to the Avenue.

If you do want to get there, you have to take one of three underground routes which could be both time-consuming as well as baffling to tourists.

So what do the time-constrained tourists do?

They make their way to the Star Ferry area, watch the nightly laser-show from there and go back to their hotel, etc.  In the process they miss out on a great walk along the Avenue, right up towards Tsim Sha Tsui East where there are some great restaurants and entertainment venues.  (I know this area intimately because I live on the Eastern-end of the Avenue of the Stars.)

This it what they could miss during the day:

Or at night:

Nice movie, great soundtrack! (Video from trabeller on YouTube)

Continues below. SA readers please click on the banner to support Howzit-HongKong:

Please read the story that appeared in the HK Magazine on Friday April 16, 2010:

(You can click on the story to read it full-size)

Click on the pictures below to view HK Magazine’s 3 detailed routes to the Avenue of the Stars:

In the light of the approval of funding for the City’s first high-speed railway, Howzit-HongKong.com decided to take a walkabout around the West Kowloon precinct to see what it looks like before the bulldozers roll in.

I took the  new ‘pink’ West Rail Line of the MTR (Hung Hom to Tuen Mun) and got off at the brand-spanking Austin Station.  A brisk walk of about 10 minutes along Austin Road will also take you to the Elements Mall in West Kowloon.  Elements also operates a free shuttle-bus service from Hankow Road in Tsim Sha Tsui (TST, between the Peninsula Hotel and the YMCA).

The area earmarked for the new high-spreed train station is still just a vacant plot as the go-ahead for the multi-billion dollar controversial project was only received a few days ago.  I also noticed that the City Golf Club driving range is still operating, although after the go-ahead for the rail system was given, it will probably be shutting down soon.

After about 15-minutes from Austin Station I reached the entrance to the West Kowloon Cultural District.  This area can be seen from HK Island and can easily be identified by the yellow and blue MTR ventilation buildings.

The proposed District is planned as the arts and cultural hub of Hong Kong. Located at a wedge-shaped and waterfront reclaimed land west of Yau Ma Tei, the district will feature a new modern art museum, numerous theatres, concert halls and other performance venues.

When I visited there, I noticed a few people enjoying the tranquility of the area that is located on the waterfront along the western channel of Victoria harbour.  I also saw some beefy blokes running along the cycling path. 

If you walk all the way through the District, the boardwalk takes you to edge of the Western Cross-Harbour Tunnel.  A pedestrian footbridge then takes you either into the International Commerce Centre (ICC) or the brightly- coloured (orange) Elements Mall.

The base of the ICC is still being finished and construction workers can still be seen all of the precinct.

While the visit to the West Kowloon Cultural District this morning can best be categorized as a tranquil stroll through one of the hidden gems of Kowloon, I shudder to think how the area will transform once the construction companies roll in for the construction of the many arts & cultural facilities that are being planned, as well as the new high-speed railway interchange across Austin Road.

However, when all the work is done, the West Kowloon precinct should surely boast some pretty impressive structures.

Have a look at some more pictures I took this morning on our Flickr-Page as well this video:

Below, Hendersen Land’s proposal for the West Kowloon Cultural District. Read more about the West Kowloon Cultural District here