‘Grande Dame of the Far East’ by Helen Betts

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1991-2000

‘Grande Dame of the Far East’

The Peninsula Hong Kong is a colonial-style luxury hotel located in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon. Opened in 1928 and expanded in 1994, the hotel combines colonial and modern elements and is notable for its large fleet of Rolls-Royces painted a distinctive "Peninsula green."

I don’t think we could have afforded to stay there, but I found the building interesting due to the colonial influence, which I don’t recall seeing many other places.

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I finally found my print pictures of all the foreign travel we did while posted with the State Department to Yokohama/Tokyo (1991-95) and our first tour in Turkey (1996-2000), including to Hong Kong, China, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, Israel, Jordan and Germany. Since we can't really do any vacation travel these days, it's a nice trip down memory lane to revisit all those places we saw so long ago.

Nighttime traffic, Hong Kong, posted earlier:

other sizes: small medium large original auto

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Denise J T Lee		16-Feb-2025 14:51
Great shot of Peninsula Hotel. The only thing missing is that their grand fountain wasn't turned on. I didn't even think of staying there, but their afternoon tea was what I could afford. As I remember, between 4 and 6 PM they had an excellent band playing Jazz and old popular music in the balcony overlooking the grand coffee shop in the lobby. In the old days, one side was frequented by the business men, meeting important clients, and the other side, movie stars, high-fashioned models, etc. Most people ordered the typical English high tea, for they served it with a whole 4-piece genuine silver tea set. You could sit there to enjoy their wonderful music, while watching beautiful people moving walking by. Now, I saw it in the news that tons of tourists (not foreigners) just go there to use their bathroom for free. ~V~

Julie Oldfield		16-Jun-2024 15:28
It looks very grand. I can see the colonial influence. V

Jeff Real		15-Jun-2024 13:16
This is a great composition of this wonderful looking building! It is Grand! V

janescottcumming		15-Jun-2024 11:12
It does look like it would have been expensive. V

Danad		15-Jun-2024 10:11
A beautiful colonial building ! V

Dennis Hoyne		15-Jun-2024 03:01
A lovely shot, and this grand hotel!

Tom Munson		15-Jun-2024 00:53
Nice shot, Helen. I really enjoyed Lis’s commentary.

Liz Bickel		14-Jun-2024 23:11
My husband and I have stayed here most of the times that we traveled together to Hong Kong. Besides being very upscale and historic, the Peninsula Hong Kong used to be waterfront & have one of the best views of the harbor. The Holiday Inn, a few doors down, had the same view. We stayed there once. Nice, but the Peninsula breaths luxury and quickly became my preference. 😉 Then, they filled in the harbor & built the Walk of Stars & the newer, luxurious InterContinental https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-china-hong-kong-kowloon-intercontinental-hotel-tsim-sha-tsui-waterfront-33372631.html directly across the street where it once was the water. When traveling by myself, I actually preferred to stay at the Intercontinental, which was also a luxury hotel: https://www.cntraveler.com/hotels/china/yau-tsim-mong/intercontinental-hong-kong In recent years, the Peninsula seemed to have become a mecca for tour groups. Plus, it is no longer waterfront. I can't speak for things in 2024, but in 2019, the Peninsula had tour buses everywhere. I only saw one green Rolls the last time I was there, and it was blocked in by tour buses. Nevertheless, the Peninsula still does remain the Grand Lady of Hong Kong with a long history. The old parts are particularly grand. Even the times I didn't stay there, I (we) always went out of my (our) way to have at least having one or more meals in the Peninsula's Chinese restaurant upstairs. Nice shot of the hotel. This brings back a lot of memories. Now, I'm hungry for good, authentic Chinese food. Thanks for sharing this. It's a classic.

Richard Chu		14-Jun-2024 22:24
Well capture of the Kowloon's landmark! I could not afford to stay there but took several pictures whenever I visited Tsim Sha Tsui ..V

joseantonio		14-Jun-2024 18:23
I didn´t stay there, but my hotel was not far away....V.

Dan Opdal		14-Jun-2024 16:52
Great Shot! V