Hi everyone! For the first day of our adventure, Jenny took me and her friend Ellie downtown to see the skyscrapers and lights that make Hong Kong famous. As you can see, it was very cloudy when we went - it is often very cloudy in Hong Kong! It rains almost 4 months out of the year! Even though the weather was damp, that did not stop us from sightseeing.
Here I am in front of the HSBC Hong Kong building. It is the biggest bank in Hong Kong. The building is famous because it looks a lot like a machine on the outside. Someone once said it could be taken apart, piece by piece, and then put back together again. That would take a lot of work! I like this building because of how it lights up at night.
This is the Bank of China Tower. Yes, another bank! Hong Kong has lots of banks. It is the most important financial city in Asia. Lots of people come here to do business. That's probably why everyone downtown wears suits! This is Jenny's favorite building in Hong Kong. It looks like a giant mirror in the daytime, and at night, it also has a cool light show.
This is the Legislative Council, or LegCo, Building. Hong Kong has a representative government, much like Congress in the United States, that is different from the Chinese government. Hong Kong is a very special city in China - it has its own government, its own currency (money), and even speaks a different language than much of the rest of China (Hong Kongers speak Cantonese while Mainlanders speak Mandarin). It's a very special place!
This is in Statue Square, in front of the HSBC Building. This gentleman is a British man who built several important banks in Hong Kong. Part of the reason why Hong Kong is a little bit different than China is that it was ruled by Great Britain from 1842 - 1997, over 150 years! In 1997, Hong Kong came back to China in what is called the "Hand-Over." Everyone in both Hong Kong and Mainland China remembers that day, July 1, 1997, because there were big ceremonies and lots of fireworks and celebrations! It was a very proud moment for China to have Hong Kong again, since the city is known as "the Pearl of the Orient."
These are some of the decorations for the East Asian Games, which are taking place right now in Hong Kong. These are like a smaller version of the Olympics, with all of the countries in East Asia participating: China, Hong Kong, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Taiwan, and Guam.
This is the IFC building behind me. It was featured in the latest Batman movie, "The Dark Knight." It is the fourth-tallest building in the world! It's so tall that sometimes the clouds cover up the top of the building!
Jenny took us out for "dim sum" at the most famous dim sum restaurant in the city, Maxim's Palace at City Hall. It was beautiful! "Dim Sum" is a type of Cantonese food that you eat for breakfast or lunch, where all of the portions are little bite-sized snacks. We had shrimp, pork, crab, fish, beef, tofu, chicken, and lots of other food! It was delicious!
Here is our friend Ellie eating dim sum with us!
Here I am with my plate of dim sum! These pieces of dim sum are: an egg tart (the yellow mini-pie), a fried sesame ball with sweet potato paste, a steamed shrimp dumpling, a fried taro dumpling (taro is like a potato), and a barbeque pork bun. It was sweet on the outside but had barbeque on the inside! These look small, but it fills you up fast!
All that's left to eat now is the dessert!
That's all for my first day in Hong Kong! Make sure to come back and check out my next post, where I get to see some of the Hong Kong skyscrapers at night, all lit up!
No comments:
Post a Comment