Hong Kong Cyberport

I think some of this would depend on the distance from which you want to photograph ships. You can see the big ships going up and down the Lamma Channel from many places on the Peak, for example. (The Lamma Channel is the same piece of water which Cyberport faces). These would be distance shots, but you can get an idea of how huge these ships are against the big islands they are passing.

A harbour cruise may work, note that the cruises which stay in the channel between Hong Kong Island and the tip of Kowloon are unlikely to give you shots of the large container ships or tankers, as these do not come into that channel; and most harbour cruises seems to stay in this channel. For shots of ships in the channel between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, the esplanade on the Kowloon side may serve just as well. (There is a Starbucks on the far western end with an open upstairs seating area which might be a good place.) You might also try the outlying island ferries running between Hong Kong Island and Lantau or Lamma; however some of these do not have outdoor seating areas any longer, or their outdoor areas are shut off with plastic blinds. (My assumption is that you want to be outdoors to get the pictures.) You may be better off on the smaller wooden kaido ferry boats. You might try the one that runs between Aberdeen and Lamma, this is all open and I would think you would get better shots. You might also just sit on the dock at Mo Tat, which is the first stop on the ferry from Aberdeen to Lamma, and take shots from there as well. For info on this boat, see http://www.ferry.com.hk/eng/service.htm.

There are often cruse ships tied at the piers in Tsim Sha Tsui at the tip of Kowloon, you can photograph these from the Star Ferry, the Star Ferry pier, or from the viewing points or the 4th floor restaurants in the Ocean Centre/Harbour City Shopping Mall. The open parking deck of the Marco Polo hotel next door to this also may offer some vantage points.

You might also try the Aqua Luna, go to www.aqua.com.hk, which is an open wooden junk, and they have a cruise out to Stanley. This would put you in the Lamma Channel for most of the trip. You can also usually see big container ships while just sitting at the waterfront restaurants of Stanley or walking the beach at Repulse Bay.

I also think that if you go to Aberdeen, you could hire a small boat who will take you out into the Lamma Channel where you could get closer to the big ships (or as close as you are comfortable getting, let’s say.) A boat tour of Aberdeen harbour itself may be interesting to you.

I would also suggest you consider the Museum of Coastal Defense, which sits on the Lei Yue Mun channel at the eastern end of Hong Kong harbour, and you can often see smaller ships with tugs going in and out of this channel, and there is an esplanade at sea level which is part of the museum where you can take photos closer-up. You can also walk around the shipyard which is next door and there is a small typhoon shelter here too. See http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/Museum/Coastal/en/index.php. The Museum itself has a lovely viewing position up and down the harbour, and is rather interesting (and I have no interest in navel history, if you do, you may find it even more interesting.)

You might try the viewing platform for the Tsing Ma bridge, as there are often ships passing under that. See http://www.info.gov.hk/archive/napco/visitors.html for information. I know that there is public transport to that area or near it, and there are some tour agencies run tours which include it. See the Hong Kong tourism board website for information at http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/. (If you take a taxi to or from the airport during the day, you might ask the taxi driver to stop off at the viewing platform. You have to cross this bridge to get to the airport.)

You might also see if you can take a tour of the container port in Kowloon or elsewhere, I have never enquired, but see something like http://www.pdc.gov.hk/ for information or take a look at the Hong Kong tourism board website.

You might also try walking the waterfront in Tsuen Wan, which is one of the container port areas. Not sure what you would see, but might be worth a stroll. You can take the subway/West Rail to Tsuen Wan West, which is on the waterfront. Again, you might find a small boat who will take you out into the harbour area. (There is a ferry from Hong Kong Island to Park Island which might be interesting for views of ships in the Tsuen Mun area, and this goes right under the Tsing Ma bridge, however there are no open areas on this boat at all so taking good photos on the moving boat indoors could be an issue. It does give some of the best city views of Hong Kong Island that I have ever seen, however. It departs from the central ferry piers quite often, as Park Island is a huge residential development. Parts of the island area still boatyard, and might also be worth a stroll. See http://www.pitcl.com.hk/eng/html/ferry.htm for the ferry schedule.)

Good places to see the ships going up the Lamma Channel from high elevations would include the following (i) the Peak; and by this I mean the actual Peak and not Victoria Gap where the tram stops, to get to the Peak you have to walk uphill up Mt Austin Road for about 20 minutes, there are some viewing platforms there which look over Lamma Channel, you could also take a taxi there in about 5 minutes from the Peak Tram area if you don’t want the walk with equipment; (ii) High West Barbeque/Picnic site which is off of Lugard Road on the Peak (iii) High West viewing compass which requires a stiff uphill climb of about 400 stairs but is worth the view IMO (I can e-mail you walking directions for both High West locations). All these are also very pretty at sunset. Another very good place to see the big ships is from the Dragon’s Back walk near Shek-O; again this would mostly be more from a distance.

For info and links to all public transport in Hong Kong, see http://www.td.gov.hk/en/home/index.html.

I have a list of restaurant recommendations for Hong Kong which is now 40-pages, which I would be happy to e-mail it to you if you want to send me a message at ciceronehongkong@live.hk. It is broken down by view, no view, area, price and food type/region.

Bel-Air, by the way, is not an area of Hong Kong. It’s just the name of a residential/shopping development in Cyberport. (Andy Cypberpot is just a big developemnt in Pok Fu Lam.) It’s actually called, quite confusingly, Bel-Air on the Peak, although it is not on the Peak.