Hong Kong 2024 - Wanchai Causeway Bay

One of my favourite things to do in Hong Kong was to ride the trams on the upper deck. It was for me the best form of transportation if you are not pressed for time - you get to see what's going on on the streets and yet still move along at a civilized pace.  I never get motion sickness on a tram as I often do on a bus in stop and go traffic.  And of course, it helps that the tram has its own dedicated lane and traffic is usually not a problem.  Another bonus is if you're not sure where your stop is, or if you just want to make an impulsive stop because you saw something interesting from your window, the slow pace of the tram allows you to be undecisive for a bit longer and usually allows you enough time to scramble from the upper deck down to the door.

So every time I visit, I would make a point of riding the tram at least part of the way.  Obviously the underground MTR is much faster but you don't see any street life along the way, whereas on a tram, you could fill your senses with the city vibe, especially on a dry day when all the windows are open on the upper deck.  Grab the front row of seats if you can and you will have a 180 degree view of what's around you.  The caveat is this has to be done on a weekday and preferably not in rush hour.  Weekends tend to be very busy on the trams as all the nannies are on it - it is afterall the cheapest form of transportation at $3 HKD (40 cents USD?) per ride.

I was on the tram a couple of times on this trip and what you see below are my shots (many of which are from the upper deck) of the area from Wanchai to Causeway Bay, the busiest part of the island with shops and restaurants all along the way.  There were a number of flat iron buildings in this area because of the many converging streets.  The most photographed ones are the ones on Johnston Road and also Hennessey Road.  I didn't have time to do a night ride on the tram even though it was on my agenda - it would have to wait for the next trip.

As my focus this time is on the streetscape, I did not take many photos of the actual shops along the way.  But a ride on a tram taking you into the local neighbourhoods could bring many closeups of shops as the streets are narrower and sitting on the tram you could get quite close to the shops or restaurants.  Another project for another time.

The Chinese Methodist Church on Hennessey Road - original church was built in 1936, demolished in 1994 and rebuilt with the addition of a tower block. 

May Wah Building, Johnston Road

Chung Wui Mansion, Johnston Road

I like how the sign has the phone number for you to call for an inquiry - intriguing

Hong Kong Mansion on Yee Wo Street, Causeway Bay (Google Lens is amazing as usual!)

I love how colourful the trams are now.  They used to be a uniform green in the old days.

Trams all lined up - they are all going to different places, some could be going all the way to the end of the island, others could be making short turns into the local neighbourhood.  

Converging streets and tracks from three different directions

An interesting circular pedestrian overpass that connects several buildings over several streets

How's this for a bike lane?!  While we're on the subject, I actually don't recall seeing any in the city at all.

I can just picture this crossing at night with the neon signs.  I took a photo when I was here last in 2017.  Would like to come back for more.

SOGO Crossing at night  (2017)

View of the newly built apartment blocks - you can tell from the height they are from various decades.

Gloucester Road, Wan Chai business district - no trams here, traffic is much faster and street life is negligible.

A building under renovation or construction - notice bamboo is still being used for scaffolding.

Stalls around Wanchai Market

And in the middle of this - a mercedes in front of a green wall!

This cute building is the old Wanchai Post Office, built in 1912, the oldest surviving post office building in Hong Kong.  It is now an environmental resource centre.

While the sun was still out, it could be deceptive.  The typhoon signal #10 was expected to be hoisted in a couple of hours, so I had to hurry back to the hotel - no more tram rides, the MTR is the way to go.  The underground is a great place for people watching though.

And he's photographing the photographer!

Just try to get past that!