Page 22 - Kyalami Issue 2 2025

Kyalami Estates Corporate Brand Bible Design 26
3.0 Folder (Inner)
TRAVEL
Dinner on the
open deck

security system, resulting in grandparents of its British colonial past are everywhere
often living with the younger generations of to be seen, including very British “keep
their family, and all in the average sized Hong left” road signs, as traffic drives on the
Kong apartment of just 40 square metres. left side of the road unlike in mainland
China where one drives on the right. Red
Our tour then took us down to a jetty London style busses form part of the ex-
where we boarded a sampan with space cellent public transport system which also
for a dozen people. This small boat is a includes the MRT underground railway,
typical means of transportation around although some sections are above ground.
the busy waterways. High-rise apartment
buildings overlook the water on all sides One of our favourite places that we visited
and many small motorised pleasure craft was the Nan Lian Garden, a quiet refuge
were parked in orderly fashion alongside away from the continuous bustle of city life.
the numerous jetties. Birds seen here Set out in classical Tang Dynasty style, the
included Great Egret, Little Egret, White 3.5 hectare garden features the Pavilion of
Wagtail and Great Cormorant. Absolute Perfection, the red Zi Wu bridge,
various trees, rocks and water features.
That evening on board the ship we had Birds seen in the gardens included Oriental
Pavilion of Absolute Perfection the option of dining on the open pool Magpie Robin, Red Whiskered Bulbul, Spot-
and Zi Wu Bridge deck, which afforded us the opportunity of ted Dove and White-throated Kingfisher.
seeing Hong Kong stunningly displayed at
night. We also saw the nightly laser show Another highlight in Hong Kong was the
at 8pm emanating from the Sky Tower and 100 story Sky Tower which is situated very
other tall buildings around the harbour. near the harbour. The observation deck
th
on the 100 floor affords a 360 degree
The next day on our tour we visited Stanley view of the city, where one can see the
Market on the southern side of Hong Kong hundreds of very tall apartment blocks
Island. Here one finds many small, fami- and commercial buildings, as well as the
ly-owned stalls selling all kinds of fruit, veg- latest land reclamation projects being
etables, spices, live chickens, silks, clothing undertaken.
and souvenirs. Large supermarkets as we
in South Africa know them, are few and far Our stay in Hong Kong was just two days
between in many cities in South East Asia and our cruise then took us on to Vietnam,
and the average person buys their grocer- Cambodia and Thailand, all of which were in-
ies from the open market stall. teresting places to visit. However, we wished
we could have stayed longer in Hong Kong as
Because of the topography of Hong Kong, there is so much more to see! For us, Hong
Spotted Dove many of the roads are quite narrow. Signs Kong truly is the “Pearl of the Orient”.

22 Kyalami Estates • CONNECT • Issue 2 • 2025