A little star

No journal of Hong Kong is complete without a comment about the Star Ferries, the little green boats that criss cross Victoria Bay all day and night, from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon.

This remains a very popular mode of transport - despite the building of rail and road tunnels across the harbour - as it is such an inexpensive way to travel. It cost us a mere HK$2.80 (about 23p) for a single ticket. There are currently 12 ferries in the fleet, with delightful names like Morning Star, Solar Star, Northern Star...you get the picture, and they manage to transport about 70 000 people per day.

Here you can see Meridian Star against the backdrop of the Hong Kong skyline. I did not realise how Hong Kong is always either foggy or covered in a haze, so the skyline always appears as a blue silhouette, even on a sunny afternoon such as when this photo was taken.

The tallest building in the skyline is the IFC tower Two (International Finance Centre) - there is a much smaller IFC One, which can be seen on the right. It is currently the second tallest building in Hong Kong. The IFC's towers have appeared in several Hollywood films, including Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, where Lara Croft leaps off the then-under-construction 2 International Finance Centre, landing on a ship out in the Kowloon Bay, and The Dark Knight, where Batman leapt from 2 IFC to 1 IFC.