Hong Kah Secondary School's Hong Kong Trip Summary
By 8.00am, we assembled at the canteen in our school. After the attendance taking, we went up the bus and headed to Changi Airport. We boarded the Boeing 747, Cathay Pacific CX714 and had a pleasant ride as the plane was equipped
with entertainment and services that were provided to us were excellent. As we boarded the plane, we felt nervous as we did not know what was in stored for us in this trip to Hong Kong. Upon arrival at the Hong Kong international airport, we are impressed by the facilities of the airport and their innovative furnishing of the airport. The atmosphere rises as we are about to head on to this unfamilar country.
After leaving the airport, we boarded the coach. Our next destination was the Peak Tram. In the midst of the journey, we witnessed the great Tsing Ma bridge. Through our friendly local tour guide, we learnt that the Tsing Ma bridge is 2.7km. Everyone were busy snapping photos of the beautiful scenary of Hong Kong. In about an hour's time, we reached the foot of the Victoria Peak. We are required to take a 8 minutes ride through a tram up to the peak of 557m. The 8 minutes ride was filled with thrill as we saw many exhilirated faces in the tram while it was moving upwards. This ride may be short, but its definitely an eye-opener for all of us as we do not get to view such sight in Singapore. Once again, we were back to snapping pictures of the night scenary of the city, but this time, we were taking photos from the peak. The scene is indeed romantic and gorgeous. This thesis was proved correct as we saw many couples up on the peak. Next stop, Golden Bohemia Square.
The centre of the Golden Bohemia Square stood the statue of the Golden Flower. This signifies the hand over of Hong Kong from China on the 1st July, 1997. We checked into the Harbour Plaza Resort City hotel and everyone retired to their rooms for a good rest.
The next day can be described as a fun-filled day as we entered a land of fantasy. That's right, it's the DisneyLand! We were given approximately 5 hours to tour and explore the amazing DisneyLand. In the Disneyland, we saw extravagant castles and adorable Disney characters. We experienced many thrilling rides and had lots of fun exploring the place. During this 5 hours, we had learnt how to take care of one another as we were on our own and we had to manage the time properly in order to sucessfully enjoy all the rides and not be late. As the sun sets, we went to the busy and crowded Ladies Street. Everyone was extremely hyper because it means shopping for all of us! The Ladies Street is a place filled with eye-catching clothings and accessories selling at a very low price. That explained the crowd over there and also the countless shopping bags we are carrying. As its a very busy street, we must take care of ourselves and of course our belongings. We lugged our shopping bags up the coach then proceeded back to the hotel after dinner.
The third day was very educational for the all of us. We went to the Madam Lau Kam Lung Secondary School located beside a temple. The students greeted us with a paroxysms of giggles and were very friendly towards us. The principal of the school had presented slideshows introducing their school and the educational system of Hong Kong. Similar to us, they had 6 years of primary educations, however their secondary school consists a total of 6 years of education. They will then take the A level to decide if they are qualified to enter the tertiary education. Most of the subjects that they offered in the secondary educations are the pretty much the same as compared to Singapore, just that they had subjects such as Engineering and Technology. They took a total of 9-11 subjects and they have to be in school from 8.15 am - 3.45 pm. After bidding farewell to the students there in the school, we left for the Tuen Mum police station. During our time at the police station, we were given an introduction of the police system in Hong Kong. We understood that they had 3 types of uniform namely green, blue and finally white. For the green uniform, it is worn by the police that are in the special tactics force. For the blue uniform, it is worn by the police that are on patrol. Lastly, the white uniform are worn by police officers that are stationed in the respective stations. Every patrol officers wore a belt that carries 7 items. The items are, revolver, water bottle, speed reloader, handcuff, OC-4 , baton and radio transmitter. In total the belt weighs 50 pounds.
The officers had kindly allowed us to tour around the station and we get to even enter the cells that holds suspects or other crime offenders on custody. Leaving the police station, we went to the JPC( Junior Police Corp ). The JPC was founded on 1974 with total of 66 founding members. Now, there are 23 JPC clubhouses in the whole Hong Kong and you need to be of age from 9-25 to join the JPC. The JPC is similar to the CSSP, a youth partner programme, to spread crime prevention messages. At the JPC, we played fun games with the members and each of us had even walked away with a goodie bag.
The forth day was an exhausting day for all of us. Reason being, we went for a trek at the Dragon Back mountain. During the trek, we walked on rocky pathway with steep gradient. As we trekked, the surrounding starts to change from a green view, to a mind-blowing sight from the top of the mountain. We could see the island from the other end. Despite feeling tired, but we felt that it was worthwhile as we witnessed the grand view of lush greenary. The wind was extremely strong to a extent that we felt as if we were almost being blown off. Such a sight must be caught on camera as it was a rare sight to behold. We then descended and enjoy a good rest in the coach while we set off to our next destination. The Hong Kong History Museum showcases Hong Kong's broad and dynamic history. Great efforts have been made in collecting, conserving, processing, studying and displaying cultural objects which are related to the archaeology, history, ethnography and natural history of Hong Kong and South China. The Hong Kong Museum of History was established in July 1975 when the City Museum and Art Gallery was split into the Hong Kong Museum of History and Hong Kong Museum of Art. At the history museum, we get to understand more about the history background of Hong Kong through interestings short movies as well as realistic displays that provides us with crucial information. As we still had some time on hand, we visited the Hong Kong Science Museum. Since its opening in April 1991, the Hong Kong Science Museum has proven itself to be an ideal and unique place for learning science. Through presenting quality exhibitions and fun science programmes in an enjoyable environment, the Museum serves to popularize science to the public and support science education in schools. In contrast to traditional museums, visitors at the Science Museum are encouraged to explore exhibits in their own way and thus experience the fun of discovery learning. There are many scientific things for us to explore and find out, yet havng fun at the same time.
The fifth day is the last day of our trip. We had to pack our things and ensure that all our stuff are taken. We made use of every minute to take memorable photos with our friends. Other than that,we also took a group photo. After that,we proceeded to the airport, anxious as we were, we wanted very much to share our experience with our friends back in Singapore. As the plane touched down, the sweet smell of home engulfed us. I must say, home sweet home!
Publisher: Richard and Kelvin =)
