This is our second and final year in an apartment that undoubtedly has one of the best views for anything that happens in Victoria Harbour. The sea is so close, I can literally throw a stone in the water from my window.
Last night was unfortunately also our final Chinese New Year fireworks display from this vantage point because we’ll be moving to another apartment after 3 years in this building.
Maybe I’ve become jaded but last night’s show, while it was great, did little to eclipse last year’s spectacular. Maybe the rain and bitter cold also had something to with it.
As usual, the hordes of pleasure craft started assembling about half an hour before 8pm and I could hear the merriment and jingling glasses from my lounge. Clearly the party-makers down below had enough ‘fire water’ on board to fend off the sniping 9-degree cold. Here is a clip of all the boats departing immediately after the display:
This year, the fireworks were launched from 4 barges parked in Victoria Harbour, more or less in front of the Starbucks outlet on the Avenue of the Stars. (Last year the organizers employed only 3 barges.) The fireworks display also coincided with the daily 8pm laser-light display, so in the clips below you will also see some of the multicolored lasers atop some of the Hong Kong Island skyscrapers ‘playing along.’
I put together a longer clip (filmed on my iPhone4S) of last night’s show:
The annual fireworks extravaganza to usher in the Year of the Rabbit, took place last night (Friday 4 February 2011) over Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour.
About 300,000 people gathered on either side of Victoria Harbour on Tsim Sha Tsui- and Central-side to watch the display.
Many more watched from boats and other water-craft parked a safe distance outside our apartment window as you can see from the first clip in the video below.
The fireworks display lasted for exactly 23 minutes and 23 seconds which must have some auspicious significance.
Below is a shortened clip of the 23 minute display:
Much like Norm in the classic sitcom “Cheers” every bloke should have a “local.” Especially in a city like Hong Kong where life can get rather hectic at times.
Mine is BullDogs Bar & Grill in the Tsim Sha Tsui East alfresco dining area next to the Kowloon Shangrila Hotel.
Not only is it within walking distance of our apartment in Hung Hom, but I’ve come to know the staff over the past few years, so much so that the barman pours my drink as I walk into the place! (don’t tell me Mom!)
I just came across a YouTube video-clip of the daily fireworks display that marks the end of a day at Hong Kong DisneyLand.
Hong Kong Disneyland (Chinese: 香港迪士尼樂園) is the first theme park inside the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort that also includes 2 hotels and vast public parks.
Hong Kong Disneyland is located on reclaimed land in Penny’s Bay, Lantau Island and opened to visitors on 12 September 2005.
With the daily fireworks show lasting around 10 minutes each, imagine the money that gets spent by die company on a yearly basis?!
Hong Kongers celebrated the National Day holiday yesterday as only Hong Kongers can… spending $3,5million on a 23 minutes fireworks extravaganza.
The National Day fireworks display lit up the city’s Victoria Harbour on Oct. 1 to celebrate the 61st anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
The local police force started closing off key streets on the Tsim Sha Tsui side of the Harbour from early evening as well as re-directing bus-routes. All this happened as thousands of locals made their way to vantage points all along the Harbour. Die-hard amateur photographers started staking out their spots along TST’s Avenue of the Stars from as early as mid-day.
Dozens of pleasure-craft of all shapes and sizes started positioning themselves in the waters just outside my window from about 30 minutes before the start. This time around they were so close that I could clearly hear the off-shore merriment taking place.
The annual fireworks show started at 9 p.m. with over 23,800 fire shells being discharged from 3 barges anchored in the Harbour for the 23-minute display. The entire show consisted of nine scenes of different themes.
The first scene entitled “A Unified Heart” features colorful and spectacular fireworks of “Red Sun”, “Red Stars” and “Bauhinia” to celebrate the National Day.
In Scene Five, the harmonious display of silver, green, red, golden and orange fireworks represents the theme of “A United World“.
The fireworks display reaches its climax at the last scene “Our Prosperous Motherland” with fast and rhythmic firing of shells in the last 60 seconds, wishing all the best to the home country.
Happy Birthday China.
生日快樂!
This is how I experienced the show from my apartment in Hung Hom:
Hong Kong tonight ushered in the Year of the Tiger in true Chinese style: with a HK$3 million spectacular fireworks display. While the lighting of fireworks remain illegal in Hong Kong, the annual New Year’s Day fireworks display is a major draw-card on the tourist calendar.
The 20-minute extravaganza was lauched from 3 barges docked 200 meters apart in Victoria Harbour opposite the Avenue of the Stars.
Some of the features of this year’s display included images of tigers as well as gold ingots that signifies the Year of the Tiger and prosperity.
Howzit-HongKong had it’s trusty point-and-click handy and we shot the following clip:
Though not as BIG as the fireworks display that welcomed the recent East Asian Games, Hong Kong ushered in 2010 in traditional style with a fireworks display over some of Hong Kong Island’s landmark buildings. The centrepiece building was the iconic IFC (International Financial Centre) in Central that sported an LED display with the numbers 2010.
Thousands of Hong Kongers crowded vantage points on either side of Victoria Harbour, some lining up for up to three hours to have the best view of the 4-minute fireworks display.
Howzit-HongKong.com wishes all it’s readers and supporters a very prosperous 2010!
