We wanted to see some views of Hong Kong from a lookout point in Kowloon. A lot of photos of the old airport were shot from the Lung Cheung lookout point, off of Lung Cheung road. The famous pictures of aircraft flying over the building tops by just a few hundred feet, and the aircraft lining up with the runway from a steep bank, were all shot from this part of Hong Kong.

Old Kai Tak airport closed back in 1998, to the chagrin of many aviation enthusiasts and photographers alike. It was built into the harbor like a long pier, and planes had to fly right over the city to land on the runway. It was a challenge for pilots and really wasn’t the safest place to build an airport, as the traffic increased into the airport and as Hong Kong grew. Building heights had to stay below a certain minimum and with only one runway, there was no potential for growth.

In 1998, as Kai Tak closed, a new airport was opened about 20 miles away, Chek Lap Kok, and is one of the newest airports in the world, and one of the most amazing. It’s new Terminal One is breathtaking and there is food and shopping all over. The airport, as land is at a premium in Hong Kong, again like Kai Tak, was built by reclaiming land off Lantau Island. Even Cathay headquarters and the hotel we are in, is on land that was reclaimed and built up into the harbor. The new airport is away from the city, so there are no views of aircraft coming in to land just over the tops of the buildings. Too bad, but that is what progress does, I guess.

There is a video at the bottom of the post shows that I am not joking about it requiring some skill to land at old Kai Tak, especially when the crosswinds were high. Not all the pilots could do it, or at least smoothly and safely. All Nippon Airways, or ANA, is notorious for having pilots that struggled when landing there. Korean Air had one of the worst, though. This 747 was one of the worst captured on tape, in posterity, for all to see. The pilot landing in this picture dragged the far left engine (number one) and it had to be overhauled. Wild stuff, to say the least. I just wish I had an opportunity to try it.

Now, all that is gone. From our lookout point, we could see the old runway that is now a go-cart center, a drag strip, bowling alleys, and more. The view of the city was pretty amazing and we could see all the growth that exemplifies Hong Kong. The view wasn’t as wild as our view from Victoria Peak, but it was still pretty cool.

We then walked to the train station to catch a ride down to Victoria Harbor. Every night at 8 p.m. in Hong Kong, they do a light show with the buildings across the Harbor blinking and set to music. Some nights they set off fireworks, but every night there is a narration that introduces each building and as that is done, each building’s lights blink as it is introduced. The narration is done in several languages, one per night. This night wasn’t in English, but we still enjoyed the show. Laser light, strobes, and flashing lights on the buildings were pretty cool.

It was dark enough that I wasn’t able to get a lot of shots that weren’t blurry, so next time, I’ll have to buy and bring a tripod. Every visit to Hong Kong needs, at a minimum, to see the light show.

Click on the picture at the top of the blog entry to see more photos from our day and the views of Hong Kong. Click below for the landing movie.

To post comments and more, visit TobyLaura.com