Hong Kong Island North - Broad walk Run

The broad walk underneath the elevated highway on the waterfront in North Point had been publicised with a lot of fanfare.  It does look rather interesting.  So I decided to give it a try last Sunday morning.  

Started out from the Causeway Bay entrance to Victoria Park, kind of early in the morning.  Some migrant workers were already staking out a place to spend their day off. But the place was still relatively peaceful and quiet yet. 

Lots of people were running along the the Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter.  They look young and fit.  Perhaps even more so than the usual crowd along the Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade on the opposite, northern shore of the Victoria Harbour.  

A huge metallic egg is jutting into the middle of the Victoria Harbour, linked to HK Island through a popular walkway.  At one point this was a popular “secret” place for checking-in.  This is actually a vent shaft for the Central-Wanchai Bypass - a tunnel under the harbour linking Central to North Point.  

Soon I am on the Broad walk.  Most of it is directly under the Easter Corridor - an elevated highway skirting the waterfront of North Point.  

The highway itself is an efficient route to transport vehicles from one place to the other.  But it is a real eyesore.  It also cuts people off from the waterfront, one of the greatest assets of Hong Kong.  Now, the broadway compensates somewhat for that.  It is popular.  Right now, it is rather short, but construction seems to be on-going to extend that.  

The broad walk, right now, ends at the North Point Pier, where one can still buy seafood at a number of vendors.  The place has acquired a certain reputation.  This is also one of the sites where Buddhists like to “set free” fish into the harbour.  Most of the fish are believed to be caught from far away places - not native to these waters.  Will they survive?  Will they eat up the local fish?  It has been rather controversial.  The Buddhists insist they are doing a good deed.  

Soon I arrived at another typhoon shelter, this one at Shaukiwan.  There are now much fewer fishing boats, and a lot more leisure yachts.   It is fun trying to pick out the landmarks on the opposite shore: Flying Goose Mountain, etc.  

We are also quite near the eastern exit to the harbour.  But the narrow channel is not visible.  Looking east, it is actually not easy to distinguish between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island.  

I turned south at the Tam Temple. 

Soon I ran past the big tree in the middle of East Main Street. 

And arrived at the terminus of the tram.  The tracks have not changed much for many decades.  But the scenery definitely has. 

It is roughly 9 kilometres from Victoria Park in Causeway Bay to the Tram Terminus in Shaukiwan.  Quite an interesting and pleasant experience.   I think I will do that again.