Augie in China: Last day in Hong Kong

A day after our scrimmage game in Hong Kong against Hong Kong Baptist University, we got a whole day to do some sightseeing. As a group, we went on a boat tour through Hong Kong harbor. This harbor goes right through the middle of Kowloon and Hong Kong Island.

Augustana with Hong Kong Baptist University players.
Augustana captains Kyle Nelson (left) and Bryant Voiles on a boat cruise in the Hong Kong harbor.

The tour took us up and down the harbor and we were able to see the skyscrapers and other buildings that made up the business district of Hong Kong. The boat also sailed into the shipping container district. This was a massive area of large ships dropping off and collecting containers to take to all parts of the world. This was something unique to see since this is one of the world’s largest and most productive shipping yards that caters to the entire world.
 
Once we got back to land it was a quick lunch and the team was off to explore Hong Kong Island. Up until this point we had spent all of our time on mainland Kowloon. We boarded the Star Ferry to take us across the harbor to the port on the island. Once on the island we walked around the business district looking at all of financial and other business buildings. It was amazing how many people were walking around, as every sidewalk was packed. We then boarded a bus to take us to Stanley market so we could do some shopping. The bus took us up through the mountains of HK Island and past all of the expensive houses and ritzy clubs that were in the area.
 
After spending a few hours at the market, we got back on the bus and made our way back to the main area of the harbor. The team split up into two groups at this point. One group took the ferry across the harbor again to see the light show that the buildings on HK Island sponsored. At 8:00 p.m. every night, the buildings have a choreographed light show to music that you watch from the other side of the water. The second group took the subway underneath the harbor back to mainland Kowloon to our hotel.
 
Just outside of the hotel at 11:00 p.m. at night there was a game for some outdoor basketball league taking place. The players had jerseys, officials and a clock and we watched a couple minutes of the game.
 
We are headed to board a train to take us to mainland China, specifically to Dongguan. We play our first game in China against the best team from the NBL (the National Basketball League), essentially China’s equivalent to America’s NBA Developmental League. We are then on the Guangzhou for one night to prepare for a stretch of five games in nine days.
 
Off to China!
 
– Kyle Nelson