When I arrived in Hong Kong it was around 5:30 PM local time on Christmas day meaning that I had almost completely missed Christmas due to the time zone change. After getting my bags, I headed for my hotel via Hong Kong’s iconic taxi service. The hotel I booked, The Royal Garden, is the same hotel that my family and I stayed at 14 years ago. The area looked equally familiar and unfamiliar, although it had undoubtedly changed a lot since my last visit. The buildings had since been built up meaning this hotel no longer had a view of the famous harbor, although I could see part of it including the Iconic Bank of China Building through a gap in the buildings from my hotel window.
Since it was Christmas, I expected that the Symphony of Lights show would be special so after checking into my hotel, I walked down to the Avenue of Stars on the waterfront of Tsim Sha Tsui to watch the show. There were so many people out there, everywhere I looked there were seas of people. The show started at 8 PM, but even before that, the Hong Kong skyline was lit up nicely for Christmas across Victoria Harbor. When the show did start, it was great to see it again and even featured fireworks on one side of the city. It was just how I remembered it, although more buildings had been built and participated in the show.
Walking back from the show took ages, so by the time I got back it was already quite late.
