Walking around Central, Hong Kong

I recently went on a quick work related trip to Hong Kong, which though very short in time gave me an opportunity to explore some beautiful nooks and corners of this island of numerous contrasts.

On my first day here I was running from one meeting to another all over the Central area, and came across some very interesting sights (which I would have never come to otherwise). This area is a mix of modern high-rise glass facade buildings and some buildings and monuments with old colonial architecture and gardens interspersed in between. Since Central is more of a CBD area and not much of a touristy place, there were no tourists around and I only had to share these places with a few people taking a break from work. This is my short photo essay on this walk.

I started my own walking tour from the Legislative Council Building or the Old Supreme Court Building. This building was designed by the same architect who designed a portion of Buckingham Palace and was opened in 1912. Today, it is the working chambers of the city’s small, partially elected legislature council.

Legislative Council Building (Old Supreme Court Building), Central Hong Kong

Across this building, is the HSBC headquarters which is a Norman Foster design completed in 1985 and beyond that is the iconic Bank of China building, a 70-story structure of glass prisms (you see this structure in numerous pictures of Hong Kong). There are also high-end shopping malls at the base of many of the buildings around here.

High End Shopping Malls, Central

Continuing from here, I reached the Chater Gardens. This is a small beautiful public park with some nice open spaces, uniquely designed fountains, seating spaces  and some monuments.

A Monument across the Legislative Council Building

A water fountain, Chater Gardens

Chater Garden

Charter Garden

Lovely seating, Chater Garden

Fountains around Chater Garden

Towards the end of this road is the way to the Peak Tram station.

Peak Tram station

All around here you also see these old trams that give Hong Kong an old world charm.

Trams, Hong Kong

This is a small snapshot of my limited time spent walking aimlessly around Hong Kong. I’ll definitely explore this area more on my next trip here 🙂