In West Kowloon across Victoria Harbor from Hong Kong is the Hong Kong International Commerce Centre. The ICC is the tallest building in the Hong Kong Metro Area.
Google the Hong Kong ICC Building and be amazed at the Bedazzling amount of information at your finger tips!
A display (see photo below) at the top of the ICC shows the ICC to be the 7th tallest building in the world. Wikipedia shows that the Hong Kong ICC is the 8th tallest building in the world.
I would 'put my money' on Wikipedia. The owners of The ICC probably do not really want to revise their above display or to downgrade their magnificent building down a notch to 8th.
"Cap" said my visitors Jason and Eryn "Do you want to go to the top of the ICC with us?"
"Sure! I would love to see the ICC!" .. I replied thinking silently to myself .. "What on earth is the ICC!?"
Eryn is Patti's niece .. Patti's Princess! Jason is Eryn's partner. They are from Alaska and visited Hong Kong and some of the surrounding areas from February 7th to the 17th leaving on the 18th. Jason planned the Hong Kong Metro Area phase of their trip and Eryn planned the more remote back-packing and camping phase up in the Sai Kung area.
Way to go PATTI! You are well on the road to full recovery from your Gall Bladder surgery! You deserve two photos here!
Priding myself on now living here in Hong Kong I have the right .. like all residents of their own home town .. to NOT know what is going on in my town of residence!
SPECIAL NOTE FOR PATTI in the blue above : When we used to cross Victoria Harbor on the Star Ferries going from Hong Kong Central to Kowloon .. One building was always a literal LIGHT SHOW of light patterns all up and down the building. We were fascinated by the lights and amazing patterns! THAT WAS AND IS THE ICC!
With Jason and Eryn leading the way our first effort to go to the top of the ICC failed because a private party had rented half of the viewing area. I can not imagine what that would have cost someone! We certainly did not want to miss the full views available around a 360 degree arc that the viewing area is.
Did I just mention cost(s) of renting half of the viewing area for a private party. We priced the menu of the swanky restaurant at the top. One Entree was .. HOLD ON! .. One entree was priced at HKG$ 6,800. So one entree cost in US$ 877.42 (Eight Hundred Seventy Seven Dollars and Forty Two Cents) for ONE entree.
I absolutely can not imagine this. Others were in the HKG$ 4,200 range (US$ 541.93) and Oh YES .. Some were way down in the HKG$ 150 (US$ 19.35) price range. Maybe that was the cost of a dinner roll with butter being extra!
The second time we tried to visit was the night of February the 17th and it was a success. Jason and Eryn flew home to Alaska the next day. This time we made it to the top. Depending upon the source the ICC has 108 floors or 118 floors with 4 floors below ground level.
So here we go to the Hong Kong ICC Building.
Getting there is a first class mess of navigating yet another absolutely massive construction project here in Hong Kong. Just look at the below photos!
There she is! The Hong Kong ICC Building!
In the above and the below photos The ICC is the building on the extreme left side of the above group of buildings.
In the below photo The ICC is the building disappearing into the fog between the two tower cranes.
I snapped the above series of photos this morning the 28th of February.
I decided that since I had lost part of the Post last night I would revisit The ICC this morning and really do it justice. To put it mildly I was still upset this morning about the computer glitch last night. So I decided that I would REALLY SMOKE THE ICC BUILDING OVER BIG TIME!
Local residents have their little-bag-of-tricks!
Jason and Eryn and I paid for taxi service out to The ICC. Each taxi ride costing about HKG$ 30 (US$ 3.87) or close to that. I rode a 215X bus out to The ICC this morning at a cost of HKG$ 2 or (US$ 0.25).
I will say this. The Taxi Fare we paid was some of the best money we could have ever spent. Not one of us had one clue as to where on earth The ICC was! Until this morning neither did I? Being forced to do it alone and by myself I now have The ICC NAILED down tightly. I can now really DO THE ICC if ever called upon to do so in the future!
Then I rode an Airport Express K3 Shuttle Bus out to The ICC for FREE at NO COST WHATSOEVER.
Here we are at the In-Town Airport Check-In counters above and the elevator to the Airport Express Train below.
Then turning to my right from the elevator in the above photo .. Up the below escalator and turning left off to The ICC I trotted!
Below you clearly see the relationship of The ICC (the tall building on the right side) with the Airport Express Kowloon Station! The two of them are 'kissing-cousins' right beside each other.
We have arrived at the sky100 Ticket Counter!
The poor employees had absolutely NO business because it was fog-city at the top of The ICC!
Below is the full message that customers are able to view on the display board above the ticket counter.
Visibility 100 METERS NOT 100 miles !
As I point out again below the ticket prices were very fair in my opinion.
Self Service Kiosks are available when the lines are long!
The cost of admission was quite reasonable. HKG$ 168 (US$ 21.68) for Jason and Eryn and HKG$ 118 (US$ 15.23) for myself a 'Senior'.
The below deal is also quite reasonable .. Well I think it is!
THANK YOU JASON AND ERYN FOR THE TREAT!
Thank Goodness I had several photos taken during a sunny and clear day.
When I snapped the below photos neither Patti nor myself had any idea whatsoever that I was snapping The ICC let alone that it is such a special building!
"What's that 'Zilla?" ..
"Which building is the ICC?" ..
"The tallest one 'Zilla is the ICC!" ..
"What would I do without your interesting questions my friend!"
The ICC is tall enough that you need to get over to the Hong Kong side of Victoria Harbor to get it all into a balanced photo.
There it is in the distance behind the Kowloon Hong Kong Cultural Centre.
November 23rd 2014 above and February 28th 2015 below!
Photos taken on March 1st 2015 follow below.
"Captain! The Post is dated February the 27th."
"I know. I came back and slipped the below photos that I took March the 1st into this Post.
The more I look upon The ICC .. The more beautiful it becomes!
The time has come The Walrus Said for us to go up to the viewing area at the top of The ICC for a look-see.
The below eleven (11) photos ending with the fireworks display were snapped of a giant television screen that rotated through many assorted scenes.
Now we are back to live photos that I snapped of the decor at the top of The ICC.
Have any of you seen or heard of a long ago movie circa 1967 titled .. 'Bedazzled'? The plot concerns a so called hapless loser who sells his soul to the devil for seven wishes. Dudley Moore was the star that I most recall.
No matter how Dudley Moore worded his wishes .. The Devil won because The Devil was too smart for poor Dudley.
He actually got what he wanted BUT what he got was NOT what he wanted!
One wish was for a perfect woman with great virtue and morals and looks etc. He got her all right. She was a nun in a religious order called the Leaping Berillians who spent all of their time jumping up and down on trampolines and she had no time for poor Dudley.
Now back to The Devil and Bedazzled!
"Captain!" ..
"Yes Devil?" ..
"You said you wanted photos at the top of the ICC. I see that in the above photos you certainly got them Captain!" ..
"Captain!!!! You did NOT tell me that you wanted good photos looking out from the top of the ICC down on Hong Kong below did you Captain?"
Geez!
There was a drizzly foggy mist on the windows!
There was also a disarming reflection back into the camera lens.
The below photo is about the closest I came to a fair photo.
Look at the dratted reflection on the right side of the below photo!
"Captain don't you see yourself in the below photo? You don't appreciate seeing yourself Captain?"
/s/ .. Laughing to himself .. The Devil ..
What fun it all is! Good photos and not such good photos!
Living life large in Hong Kong!
One Last Time Before I Again Press PUBLISH ..
Thank You So Much Jason and Eryn for getting me out and about!
Without the two of you I don't think that I would EVER have .. as in FOREVER .. visited The ICC!
I just don't really 'roll that way'.
Much Joy .. Cap ..
