2. Hong Kong's Amazing Central Library

As we stay quite close to Victoria Park in Hong Kong, we are also very close to the Hong Kong Central Library that is just across the street - and it is an amazing place.



The Central Library is a modern high rise with 10 floors. Right inside the lobby, it has an open forum very much like the renaissance Center with escalators and elevators. There is also a mini cafe on the first floor offering drinks and sandwiches. But the coffee there is very expensive $20 HKD (~$2.80USD) and not very good.

The amazing thing about the library is that on every floor, there are carrels that have LAN outlets wired to the internet. Anyone with a laptop can plug in and use it for free, under air-conditioned and quiet surroundings. There are also plenty of PCs available for free; all one needs to do is sign up for it and you can use as long as you need.

That photo was taken when I was on the fifth floor looking out the window. The fifth floor is a particular favorite of mine since it has all the newspapers and magazines of the world available and also has an extensive map library. The covered walkway is an outdoor escalator that allows pedestrians to cross over the road without having to actually cross the road. Such outdoor escalators are quite common in Hong Kong.