Singing Buildings

Today was our first full day in Hong Kong, and we chose to go museum'ing. First stop was the Hong Kong History Museum, which Alson says is the most visited attraction in Hong Kong. We spent a couple hours going through the Hong Kong Story, which is a marvelous permanent display that would fill most museums in their entirety. It has wonderful full sized walk through displays that remind you of New Orleans Square in Disneyland. It does a great job of putting the history of this territory in context and has great sections on the Opium Wars and the Japanese occupation.


Ralph and Alson are ready to board a 19th century boat in Hong Kong Harbor

Next we stuck our heads in the Science and Technology Museum. It seemed mostly educational and aimed at kids. Then, we decided to walk to the Space Museum. Walking through the small stories on the street, at least 12 guys offered to make us suits, interspersed between the six guys offering to sell us Rolexes. Our guides previously warned us to buy the Rolexes on the last day of the trip so that they would still be working when we got home. I wonder if that advice also applied to suits made by street vendors.

The Space Museum was typical of those found elsewhere. It is not up to date with the latest discoveries. Most displays seemed about 6 to 8 years old. No recent robotic spacecraft missions got mentioned. Pluto is still in the planet section, but the text was modified to reflect the IAU’s decision. The show on the Dawn of the Space Age was a well produced animation which entertained and held your attention.