"Hong Kong" a Hong Kong Travel Page by PeterVancouver

Anyone who flew to Hong Kong, prior to the opening of the new airport, was always struck by the often frantic approach to the runway at Kai Tak. It generally was a fairly high speed affair, heading directly into the mountain, with a last minute hard right hand bank, to try to align with the runway. From there on, it was odd to look along the wings of a 747 to see apartment blocks at the end of them, so close, that you could recognise the people watching from their laundry strewn balconies, which were at that moment, higher than the aircraft. With often a cross wind on the runway the landing was invariably "hard", but then it had to be, as the other end and fast approaching, was the lagoon. Almost as exciting as the arrival, is a thriving and vibrant city which hardly ever sleeps and where if you make the mistake of window shopping for more than a few seconds, the shop owner will be out on the sidewalk insisting you come inside to buy. Still a great place to get made-to-measure shirts, organised and delivered to your hotel the same day, at less than half the cost of a similar item in Europe.

Adjacent to Kowloon Park, the mosque used to be a worshipping place for the British Garrison's Indian Muslim troops.

It was originally built near the former Whitfield Barracks, which was constructed in 1892.

Since the Whitfield Barracks were later converted to Kowloon Park, and the number of Hong Kong Muslims has increased to in excess of 80,000, a new mosque was built in 1984 at a cost of HK$26 million.

This marble-domed building replaced an 1896 mosque constructed by the British Army for its Muslim troops.

The four-storey mosque occupies an area of 1 500 square metres, completed with traditional Islamic design with marble finishing, peach-shaped dome and minarets at four corners.

Being the largest mosque in Hong Kong, it has a community hall, three prayer halls, a clinic and a library and can accommodate a congregation of about 3 000 at one time.

There are two other Mosques in Hong Kong: Shelley Street Mosque and Masjid Ammar Mosque.

Just 10 mins walk from TSIM SHA TSUI STATION at 105 Nathan Road