Jeff Mills Coastal Vacations Club Blog

Photos Of Hong Kong

Hong Kong is renowned for its expansive skyline and natural setting, its identity as a cosmopolitan centre where the East meets the West is reflected in its cuisine, cinema, music and traditions. With a population of 7 million people but land area of 1,108 km2, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. The city’s population is 95% Chinese and 5% people of other ethnicities.

About 40% of Hong Kong’s land area is reserved as nature reserves and country parks, with less than 25% of the territory’s landmass developed. The city has many bays, rivers and beaches due to its long. irregular and curvaceous coastline.

Hong Kong has made much effort to promote a green environment, despite its reputation of being intensely urbanized. Hong Kong suffers from increasing pollution compounded by its tall buildings and geography and therefor the city shows a growing awareness of the environment.

The Climate

Hong Kong has a humid subtropical climate and is situated just south of the Tropic of Cancer. The most pleasant seasons are spring, although changeable, and autumn, which is generally sunny and dry. The city averages 1 948 hours of sunshine annually, with the highest recorded temperature of 36.1 °C and the lowest recorded at 0 °C.

Summers

Summer is hot and humid with occasional showers and thunderstorms, and warm air coming from the southwest. The summer months are also the time when typhoons are most likely to occur, resulting in flooding or landslides sometimes. 

Winters

The winter usually starts out to be sunny and only becomes cloudier towards February with occasional cold fronts and strong, cool winds from the north. 

The Economy

Hong Kong is one of the world’s leading financial centers and the currency used is the Hong Kong dollar. Hong Kong imports most of its food and raw materials because it has little arable land and few natural resources. Much of Hong Kong’s exports consist of re-exports, which are products made outside of the territory. At the end of 2007, the city had an unemployment rate of around 4.1% and 3.46 million people being full-time employed. 

The Architecture

Hong Kong has 7650 skyscrapers, making it one of the cities with the greatest number of skyscrapers in the world. The city has been rated as having the best skyline in the world. The lack of available sprawl space in the urban area results in the high density and tall skyline of the city. This lack of space causing demand for dense, high-rise offices and housing, has resulted in 36 of the world’s 100 tallest residential buildings being in Hong Kong. This makes  it the world’s most vertical city and has more people living and working above the 14th floor than anywhere else in the world. The International Commerce Centre is 484m high and is the highest building in Hong Kong at this stage.  

Getting to Hong Kong

Visitors from South Africa can go to BestFlights.co.za to book flights to Hong Kong

Transport in Hong Kong

Hong Kong has a highly developed transportation network, encompassing both public and private transport. With more than 11 million daily travels on public transport, the city has the highest percentage of use of public transport in the world. 

The Octopus card, a stored value smart card payment system, can be used to pay for fares on almost all railways, buses and ferries, and also for parking and purchases at convenience stores, supermarkets, and fast food restaurants.

Hong Kong Island’s Northern parts are covered by a tramway system and is the only tram system in the world that runs exclusively with double deckers. Routes with lower demand or roads with lower carrying capacity make use of single-decker buses. {Public light buses run the length and breadth of Hong Kong.}

The Star Ferry service operates four lines across Victoria Harbour, providing a panoramic view of Hong Kong’s skyline for its 53,000 daily passengers. 

The Peak Tram is used to get up and down Hong Kong’s steep, hilly terrain. 

Hong Kong International Airport is a leading air passenger gateway and one of the world’s busiest airports, serving more than 47 million passengers and handling 3.74 million tons of cargo in 2007.

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