Christmas-time in Hong Kong

 After a couple of days in Singapore we headed to Hong Kong for 5 days.  We stayed at the YMCA hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui, the main tourist area of Hong Kong which is full of malls, restaurants, designer stores and museums.  The city was decorated for Christmas - everywhere we looked there were Christmas trees and lights and every night there was a light show in the harbour.  The town was very busy - every day thousands of tourist from Mainland China come into Hong Kong to shop - there are always line ups outside of Gucci, Apple and Louis Vuitton stores.  Everywhere we went there were Chinese tourists snapping pictures so we decided to do some posing as well.

Myself, Kenna, Cole and Chuck with the Christmas Bear outside 1881 Hotel that is a Victorian style hotel and outside mall in Tsim Sha Tsui.



Kenna in front of a huge Christmas tree - one of many throughout the city.

The Peninsula Hotel decorated for Christmas.




We walked down the avenue of stars along the harbour - here is Cole comparing his hand size to Jackie Chan.  Most of the stars we didn't recognize as they were from Chinese movies.

We also visited the Andy Warhol exhibit at the Art Museum.  It was amazing to see all of his iconic work in person.  Interestingly when the exhibit goes to Beijing in the spring the paintings of Mao will not be included due to Government censure.

At night the harbour is full of Christmas lights and at 8:00 there is a 15 minute laser show set to music.  The large building on the right is 188 storeys!!

 

We spent the day at Ocean Park - a zoo, aquarium and amusement park.  The panda bears were amazing - they were huge and Kenna thought they looked like humans in Panda suits as they used their paws to eat with the same dexterity as we do with our hands.   

The Red Pandas were adorable and loved to pose for the camera!

This is a winter fox in the "Arctic Display" - it looks like a statue but it is real.   

There was a Christmas Display with 3 Santas - one from Holland, one from Finland and one from the United States.  Here we are with Sinterclaus from Holland. The Chinese Tourists love to pose for photos so we are all doing our "Asian Pose". 

There were also lots of Elves running about the park so we got a photo with one as well.  By the time we left Ocean Park we were all in the Christmas spirit!