Tourists and locals descended on Hong Kong’s premier arts hub in droves to celebrate Christmas Day, while others opted to enjoy an annual food fair selling gourmet seafood, snacks and other delicacies.
The West Kowloon Cultural District’s Christmas market and pop-up forest, boasting more than 60 trees and a 12-metre-tall (39 feet) centrepiece, proved so popular on Thursday afternoon that crowd-control measures were put in place for the more than 100 queuing revellers.
Many others chose to picnic along the harbourfront after buying delights such as pizzas, pastries, beers and speciality coffees from the market.
Some got into the holiday spirit by donning reindeer antler headbands and Christmas hats, while their dogs sported festive scarves.
Ellen Joy Arquero, a 30-year-old executive assistant from the Philippines, said she was visiting her mother and aunt, who work in Hong Kong, for the holiday and was having a wonderful time in West Kowloon.
“[The Philippines] has the festive decorations, but it’s only for houses, not like here, where there’s a village or an area here that’s intended for Christmas,” she said.
