Park Island, Ma Wan, Hong Kong

The Tsing Ma Bridge is spectacular, not just from a design and engineering perspective, but also when viewed from multiple angles, both day and night. At night the bridge is lit up with soft-toned lights in a range of mellow colors, making it lovely structure to view, whether from the beach or from one's balcony (if you are facing that direction). 

The iconic Tsing Ma Bridge, which can be viewed from Park Island, Ma Wan, is the longest bridge ever built in Hong Kong.  The Bridge has a centre span of 1,377 meters and crosses the marine channel between Ma Wan and Tsing Yi.  The main cables supporting the Bridge were made up of some 27,000 tonnes of steel wires. The total length of these wires is sufficient to stretch round the world 4 times. The Tsing Ma Bridge forms a major part of the essential link in the expressway and airport railway connecting the Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok.  On Tsing Yi, the Bridge links directly to an interchange with connections to the urban districts and, via the Ting Kau Bridge, to the Northwest New Territories. On Ma Wan, high level viaducts extend from the Ma Wan end of the Bridge and cross the island to connect directly with the Kap Shiu Mun Bridge across the Kap Shui Mun channel. The Tsing Ma Bridge Tsing Ma Bridge

I've written on the topic of car access to Park Island for residents before and it is always a topic of interest, both to Park Island residents who prefer not to have car access (due to wanting to limit public access/noise/pollution etc) to Park Island, and those who prefer to have cars, due to both the convenience and the likely significant boost in property prices that would undoubtedly result (welcomed by owners, but no so much by those of who rent apartments on Park Island.). See:  http://parkislandhongkong.blogspot.sg/2010/11/will-private-cars-ever-be-allowed-on.html I recently received an interesting "unofficial" update today from a senior Hong Kong Transport Department official that I will now share. As some of you may know, in the past, one main reason cited for not allowing private cars for residents of Park Island has been that the Transport Department had concerns about the effect on traffic congestion over the Tsing Ma Bridge and...

My recent post post about the history of Ma Wan  History of Ma Wan  inspired a friend of mine who came from overseas in Hong Kong, to take a big hike around Ma Wan Island. I took a bunch of photos during our walk, some of which came out really well, and if I do say do myself, some are actually quite artistic. I am going to post these up in various parts on this blog, along with my comments. I hope my photos will encourage people to come over and spend a day hiking on Ma Wan. There are really some quite spectacular and unique things to see! Hiking up Ma Wan Island This is the path we took to the top of the Peak on Ma Wan. It's quite an easy walk. You go under the Tsing Ma bridge from Park Island, and find your way up the mountain.  I spotted this dog, which at first thought was a wild dog as it was timid, but I then saw its owner coming the other way. I actually saw only very few people during most parts of the walk. Park Island Estate You can see her...

Ocean view from Park Island Here is a quite impressive Park Island photo (I took from another website) of a night view from Park Island across the ocean. Really quite stunning on a clear night. If you are after an apartment in Hong Kong with ocean views, consider Park Island as a very  affordable option.

Recently there has been talk of an MTR station at Park Island. It seems MTR Corporation may soon conduct a feasibility study into providing an MTR station at Park Island. Primary factors, I would think, are customer demand and profitability, and also whether a station is physically possible to build. See here for the proposed location of the Park Island MTR station: Location of station . Both the Airport Express and the Tung Chung line go though Tsing Ma Bridge above Ma Wan so the proposal seems to be building a platform on Tsing Ma Bridge and then building a ststation with a lift up and down to the train line. My feeling is that both Ma Wan residents, and Hong Kong residents in general would overwhelmingly support having an MTR station at Ma Wan. Whether it would be profitable I am not sure. I presume MTR would have a financial model that calculates not just trips to and from Ma Wan, but also the increased use that residents would make of the...

"...on a blanket with my Baby - that's where I'll be..." Or at least that where I was until she got bitten by a mosquito :) Here are some pics taken of the bridge the goes over Ma Wan. Most people from Park Island never venture this far across the island, but its actually quite a fun walk.  Under the Tsing Ma Bridge on Ma Wan  Tsing Ma Bridge

One of the spectacular features for some of the Park Island apartments, is the view of the Tsing Ma bridge, which supports not only motor vehicle traffic in Hong Kong, but also into which the MTR airport express train is encased. (The trains runs along the underside of the bridge, although it is encased in a kind of "tunnel". Imagine how awesome the view from the train windows woud be without the "tunnel" under the bridge. Anyhow, the bridge at night is all light up in the evenings (much like many international bridges are), and really is quite beautiful to look at. But, I have never actually seen the lights come on. Until today, when at exactly 7pm, the lights all come on one by one, starting at both sides of the bridge, and meeting in the middle. Not sure if its always 7pm, but if you ever want to see the light coming on, I think 7pm is the time it will take place! A few photos below. I took these with a camera phone, so if you have a better quality photo, plea...

I got this article below from a property magazine in HK called Square Foot. It was published in 2008. I have made some additions of my own ( in bold italics). Background In the early days, most Park Island purchasers were investors looking to make a quick profit, but today 90 percent are buying for their own use. The property market is still behind that of other parts of Hong Kong but it is moving up slowly. My observation is that this is as correct in 2010 as it was in 2008.    By way of an introduction, for those not familiar with it, Park Island Estate on Ma Wan is best described as Discovery Bay's baby brother. It has also been described as "Like DB but more Chinese" and "Like DB but classier and cleaner". Brought into being by Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd in 2002, it covers over 1.3 million square feet, and is now into its 31st phase. The final phase of apartments is due to be launched in Q1 or Q2 of 2011. After that, no further supply of apartments will be...