I got my flight to America out of Hong Kong, so Kendra and I decided to spend the day in Hong Kong on my way. After lunch at a Hong Kong-style restaurant (which is a mix of Western and Chinese food), we headed to the Hong Kong Science Museum.
Some quick facts before I tell you about some of my favorite exhibits.
Hong Kong Science Museum address: 2 Science Museum Road, Tsimshatsui East, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Opening Hours: Every day except Thursday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. (Saturdays, Sundays until 9 p.m.). Holidays also have special hours sometimes, so check the website for specifics (https://hk.science.museum/en/web/scm/visit.html)
Cost: 20 HK dollars for the standard ticket.
Kendra and I spent most of our time in three different exhibits. We passed through the dinosaur exhibit, but there was a lot of speculation about fossils. The nice thing was that this museum usually showed which displays were copies and which ones were speculation, so that was helpful at least. We also walked through the food production and material exhibits.
My top exhibit was the Wildlife Photography exhibition. The exhibit was downstairs, and we ended up there during a show that we didn’t care to see. It was nice and quiet since most other people were probably watching the show, and the lights were dim. It was also quite chilly, so if you are looking for a cooler area, head down there.
The photographs were incredible. I wish I could show you some of my favorites, but that isn’t allowed for copyright reasons, so I’ll tell you about some of them. The colors were some of the first things that stood out to me. The winner for the plants and fungi picture was of an insect-attracting pitcher plant. The image was lit with a UV torch, and the colors were beautiful. The museum also displayed them very well with the dim lighting in the room that allowed the colors to pop out of the picture.
Another picture was a long exposure of the floor and tree tops of a forest. For the first few seconds, the photographer focused on the floor, and then he focused on the tops of the trees. The result is a combination of both scenes. Once I realized what was going on, I couldn’t stop looking at it.
I also loved the pictures of the animals. In one, a sloth clung to a fence post. In another, a European roller (small, colorful bird) chases an even smaller owl. In another, a lion and a cobra are in the middle of a standoff. I found myself wondering what happened in the moments after the picture.
Kendra and I spent at least an hour wandering through the rooms, commenting on the pictures and enjoying the beauty of our world. I enjoyed reading the captions of the pictures that explained how the photographer had managed to capture the shots. Often, hours and days of time were spent waiting for just the right moment. And that time was often in extreme conditions–heat or cold or early morning or in the middle of the night. But the results are breathtaking. Our world is full of delightful surprises for those who are willing to seek them out, and I’m thankful that I can enjoy those delights in a comfortable museum.
I also enjoyed the AI display, even though I have mixed feelings about AI. It can be a wonderful tool, but it can also be used in laziness. I also don’t want AI to take away the things that I love, like beautiful photography or art, amazing music or literature with meaning and depth. But we’ll see what happens.
But it was fun to explore what AI can do in this exhibit. One display had a camera taking a picture of whatever was in front of the display and then changing it into a famous painting. The paintings cycled through and Kendra and I stood there and laughed as our bodies and the room around us changed into The Scream or a traditional Chinese painting or Van Gogh’s Starry Night.
The exhibit also had a section where you could draw something simple with your finger on the computer screen. Then you could give the key words and choose a style, and the computer would create a painting. I am not an artist, but I can draw something resembling mountains. The final result was fun as it took my simple artwork and made something more beautiful. Kendra, who is an artist, also tried to do a Mucha-style painting, but the first time, the exhibit closed before the final picture loaded, and the second time, the computer got stuck. So I wasn’t able to take a picture of her final product, but I got a picture of her original drawing. I wanted to take a picture of my original drawing also, but I wasn’t fast enough.
The last exhibit that we really enjoyed was the mirror exhibit. The mirrors were set up to do all kinds of fun things. Some mirrors allowed you to see your back, other mirrors shifted your image sideways or upside down. One mirror removed your body. One mirror allowed you to levitate. And another turned your head into a kaleidoscope. We had a lot of fun looking at the mirrors and trying to figure out what to do and how it worked.
I enjoyed the museum, and I would recommend a visit! We spent a couple hours there, but you could also spend more or less, depending on your interest and your energy levels!