Hong Kong Laser Light Show

29 April Hong Kong
Hong Kong provides one of the most spectacular laser light shows anywhere. It takes place at 8 p.m. each evening, and if you go to the pier on the Kowloon penninsula side, you have the best view. They use the downtown skyscrapers as objects of light. Participating structures are lighted from top to bottom in an array of patterns that are played like a symphony. At the tops, laser light shoot out into the night sky and play patterns on the sides of structures on the opposite shore. In other words, the whole city itself becomes the light show! The convention center located on the bay is about the only more horizontal building, so its lights are arrayed like those in the space movie where the space ships play chords of light--Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Anyway, chords of various colors play the music as the rest of the skyscrapers literally dance with light displays. I've seen nothing quite like it. Imagine New York as one big laser light show! Or Chicago shooting lasers across Lake Michigan to the opposite shore (longer distance I know, but you get the idea.) Loud speakers play the music with a brief narration to begin the show. On certain nights, the narration is in English as it was last night. All in all, it was quite a show.
A ferry runs across the bay to Hong Kong Island. Yes, the city is built on an island. I am staying on Kowloon penninsula which faces it opposite. The best view of the city is from here.
I took the ferry across last night also. The cost is $2.20 Hong Kong Dollars or about 32 cents US. Not a bad ride. When you get across, you walk elevated walkways across the busy streets into the city. As you ascend the mountain behind the shore (all of Hong Kong is built on slopes) you can take moving sidewalks up the mountainside. The infrastructure of this city is amazing. It makes American cities look totally backward. You can get almost anywhere with fast, efficient, and clean public transportation. You just have to get used to a lot of people being around you all the time.
The sky continues to be overcast here. I am hoping to find at least one clear day to get good pictures of the city from this side or to take the tram to "The Peak" which overlooks the entire city.
The Olympic Torch is on the way here. It arrives the day I leave for inland China. Hong Kong will be the first Chinese city the torch visits. The countdown to the Olympics continues.