Photo Essay: Sunday, March 28th
Megan Conlin, Danielle Croegaert, Stephanie Davis
Jeffrey also took time to explain the economic climate in the regions they focus on. China has a steady double digit GDP growth, BUT it has created a society with 2 poles, the rich and the poor. Jeffrey explained that 1 in 1,700 people in China has wealth of 10 million Yuan, and the other 1,700 people are most likely classified as the poor.
However, Jeffrey explained the fastest upcoming area in Asia is the Southeast, which he labeled the "Asean Countries." With a population twice the size of the United States, Jeffrey predicts this is where the upcoming markets will emerge within 10 years. Singapore is part of the "Asean Countries," and it's the most modern and closest to the rest of global retailing.
We were delighted that the Fangs could share all of their knowledge with us, and we greatly appreciate them taking the time to share with us the retailing atmosphere on their side of the globe.
After the presentation, we began our sightseeing adventures by traveling to the other side of Hong Kong by bus. Our friendly and lovable tour guide, William, provided us a brief history of Hong Kong as well as many interesting facts about the island on the long bus ride to our first stop.
During the ride to Lantau Island, we drove away from the bustling city and witnessed Hong Kong's very beautiful scenery and vegetation.
We were all very surprised to see the nice amenities of Hong Kong's prison, including a luxurious tennis court. William said that prisoners enjoy living here.
Finally arriving to our first destination on Lantau Island in Hong Kong, we were awed by the sights of the Tian Tian Buddha, better known as "Big Buddha" to locals and tourists alike. This Buddha is one of China's largest and was built in 1993.
We were also very fortunate enough to be able to travel to see Big Buddha up close, but had to travel up 268 steps in order to view the beautiful 112 foot bronze statue.
The long hike was well worth it!!
At the top of the steps, we witnessed six smaller bronze Buddhist statues, making offerings to Big Buddha, and then had the opportunity to go inside of Buddha to shop and view the many offerings (including oranges and trinkets) that loyal Buddhists leave him everyday.
Following our trip to the top of Big Buddha, we had the opportunity to roam around the grounds surrounding the statue. Several people chose to shop the market in the area.
Others chose to travel to Po Lin Monastery, a Buddhist temple established in 1906, just steps away from Big Buddha.
Inside the temple were much smaller and intricate Buddha statues surrounded by ornate religious details and decorations. We were impressed by the serene, yet powerful atmosphere of the religious sanctuary. This is most certainly something that we don't witness everyday at home.
Although Big Buddha and the Po Lin Monastery are fairly new monuments in the history of Hong Kong, it is safe to say that we all felt a sense of pride for the historical value that this location provided in our overall cultural experience on the island. This stop on our tour was only the beginning of our amazing tour through the sights and cultural destinations of Hong Kong.
Our next destination on our sightseeing trip was Stanley Market. Stanley Market is an outdoor shopping area with people selling a variety of things in booths that line both sides of the streets in the area. Things that you can find at the market range from silk ties, handbags, hand carved name stamps, all the way to t-shirts. Many students bought the hand carved name stamps for themselves or for family members as gifts.
The market is very culturally different from any shopping places we have in the United States. Not only are the items available for sale different, the way transactions are made is different as well. At the market almost nothing is a set price. Bargaining at the market is a skill many of us had to learn in order to get a good price. We had a lot of fun at the market and wished we had more time; however, we had more exciting destinations to get to. Our next stop was Victoria's Peak; a mountain in Hong Kong also called Mount Austin that overlooks Victoria Harbor. The view from the peak was amazing; we could see the harbor and all the impressive buildings of Hong Kong that line the harbor.
After experiencing The Peak, one of Hong Kong's most popular attractions, we went down to the Harbor to view the Symphony of Lights. The light show was a spectacular view of lights on more than 40 sky scrapers around the Harbor, as well as laser beams and searchlights that dance around the sky synchronized to music.
We ended the night with more exciting adventure. A boat ride around the harbor in what looked to be a pirate ship.
The boat took us on a 45 minute ride around Victoria Harbor as we lounged on the comfortable couch like chairs on the boat. The boat ride was the perfect end to a great day of sightseeing and seeing the most popular cultural sights of Hong Kong.
No comments:
Post a Comment