5 of Hong Kong’s most unusual tourist attractions, from Noah’s Ark to a sewage works to a spooky museum
- Hong Kong is famous for its skyline and attractions such as the Peak Tram, Star Ferry and Big Buddha, but it has some more unusual tourist draws too
- You can visit a sewage works, a food waste biogas plant, a phallic pencil-shaped rock, a Noah’s Ark theme park and a medical museum
Apart from the Star Ferry, Victoria Peak and other well-known Hong Kong attractions, there are a host of unsung places to visit in the city that have all sorts of surprises in store. Here are five of the most unusual.
1. O Park1
Visiting O Park1 may feel like a school trip, but it’s presented in a light-hearted, fun manner, and it has the inestimable virtue of being free.
At O Park1, opened in 2018 a short hop from Sunny Bay MTR station on Lantau, food waste (176,000 tonnes to date) from businesses and government institutions is turned into biogas. This in turn is converted to electricity, some of which powers the plant itself while the rest is sold back to the grid.
You need to book a tour online and you’ll be conducted around the premises by a chatty, engaged guide.
The crux of the 90-minute tour is an animation featuring Big Waster, a pooh-shaped character who’s backed up by a four-strong chorus made up of Sushi, Mooncake, Cheesecake and Veggie – all of whom have been thrown away well before their eat-by date – with jiggling, winking garbage cans in the background.
The fast-paced action takes place mainly in the on-screen version of the recycling centre, helped along by Cantopop ballads with English subtitles.
