August 22, 2022
Hong Kong undeniably has the largest number of high-rise buildings and skyscrapers in the world. That's the first thing that marks anyone's mind when they think about this rich and well-developed country. Due to its geographical location and a fast-growing country, it has become a center of trade, finance, and commerce that attracts more business personalities. No wonder why a lot of billionaires are found in Hong Kong.
Among the top commercial skyscrapers of Hong Kong is ICC or International Commerce Centre. It is the tallest building in the country and gained the 12th spot among the world's tallest buildings in terms of height, standing four hundred and eighty-four meters above Victoria Harbor. Anyone who'll visit Hong Kong would definitely want to reach the top of this iconic landmark.
The ICC was opened in 2011 in the West part of Kowloon after 12 years of construction. Initially, it was marketed with a hundred and eighteen floors, but due to some reasons (Chinese beliefs perhaps), some floors were omitted. Officially, it has a hundred and seven floors above sea level and four floors below the ground. A famous five-star hotel is located in this building with swimming on the very top floor. Source I wonder what the swimming pool looks like up there.
But among the offices and commercial establishments housed in this building, the most visited part is the Sky100 Observation Deck located on the 100th floor of the ICC building.
Getting in isn't as easy as you think it is. After booking online beforehand, I thought everything was fine and I just needed to show my itinerary to them. As I got there, that's when I saw a very long queue for claiming the tickets. After more than 2 hours of lining up from the very beginning of the queue, I finally claimed our tickets and entered Sky100. We opted to visit the place in the afternoon as our purpose was to stay there until night to see a more stunning and glimmering HK city. By the way, we got a discounted price of HK$66 for the ticket from its regular price of HK$99.
The amazing part here is that getting to the 100th floor would only take 60 seconds using the fastest high-speed double-deck elevator. Don't freak out if you see the buildings below your feet, it's not real and only images, lol. You might just experience tinnitus while speeding up to the 100th floor temporarily. That was pretty uncomfortable though.
As we stepped out of the elevator, we proceeded through a seemingly tunnel with spectacular animated lighting effects.
Before entering the observation deck, we were greeted by a world-class designed corridor with glass walls and floor and a Hong Kong miniature city stuffed underneath the glass floor that glitters, especially at night.
Safety precautions were applied while in the area. Wearing masks the whole time was strictly imposed. Those who'll violate might be penalized, especially since the place was too crowded as it was the weekend.
The observation deck offers spectacular panoramic views of the big cities on Hong Kong Island as well as other outermost islands, especially on a good day. Lucky we were that the weather was very fine that day.
However, some parts of the glass walls seemed to be painted with dirt that wasn't removed over time and kind of blurring the scenic view outside. Yet, we were able to capture some stunning photos of different HK cities.
The capital city, Central, can be captured well from atop along with more iconic skyscrapers of Hong Kong and Victoria Harbor. The tallest building in the photo below for instance is the second tallest building in HK adjacently facing the tallest ICC.
On the other side is the spectacular view of cargo ports and different vessels and boats kept coming and going of the glistening waters.
Hong Kong is just a very small country, so all residential buildings and other establishments are certainly high-rises. Cities are very dense with distinctive architectures that are shown in the photo below. I still love the mountain skylines backdrop though and the greenery in different parts of the city. At least it isn't all dull-colored buildings.
Below is the West Kowloon Cultural District of Hong Kong and its urban art park which I featured in one of my travel blogs. Just click here if you want to read about it. More iconic buildings and museums can be found in this district.
There is a lot more to do in the sky 100 apart from taking photos of breath-taking Hong Kong cities.
Dine-in at Café100 by the five-star hotel in the building while facing the stunning view of HK city and its harbor. That's even more romantic and nostalgic at dawn.
You can read books and shop for souvenir items and collect souvenir photos in its photo corner. There is a photo booth on the second floor before entering the Sky100 premise for those who want to get souvenir photos of the stunning HK city as a backdrop. Unfortunately, we didn't take it as it costs HK100. However, we realized in the end that we should have just taken the souvenir photos, lol. Moreover, there is an interactive wall exhibiting different stories that kids would love.
Enjoy the VR Fun experience at 5G Lab. However, due to a huge number of visitors that day, the time limit was shortened and we didn't really enjoy the VR Fun as it only took a minute. It's virtual fun exploring different parts of Hong Kong including gliding through oceans, the rails, HK life, traditions, and culture.
A Smart Health is also installed in 5G Lab for emergency purposes. For a better view of the city, Sky100 binoculars are available in some parts of the area.
We experienced more fun at 5G Lab when we connected to its wifi to install an application for AR Photos. Following the given procedures, we virtually parachuted throughout the harbor and had a chance to take photos with two of the tallest buildings in Hong Kong along with some AR effects in the background.
As planned, we stayed until the sun went below the horizon and we waited until the city glowed in different colors of light.
As expected, the city is truly spectacular at night, indeed a world-class attraction.
One more thing that people like waiting in this place until the night is to catch the light show effects and fireworks displays, especially at special events. With or without a real fireworks display, there is always a virtual fireworks display with sound effects that people would think it's real.
However, on special events like Chinese New Year, you can definitely catch fireworks at Sky100. It is also the best spot to catch the popular Symphony of Lights of Tsim Sha Tsui city.
Another wonderful travel experience was achieved by my travel buddy and me on our bucket list.
It was indeed a day full of fun and entertaining at Sky100 and our HK$66 was truly worth it. Someday, I'll visit the place again to take a souvenir photo at the photo booth virtually standing on the top of ICC with the glimmering city of HK at night as the backdrop.
That's all for today's travel blog. See you!
(This travel blog was posted on Pinmapple via ThreeSpeak. All photos are mine.)
(P.S. I accidentally pressed the "NSFW" button when uploading the video on 3Speak, can anyone tell me how to edit it? 🙈)
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