At the ferry terminal, still a bit messed up from jetlag (it's a good excuse!), I made my first entertaining mistake of my trip, managing to pay out $85 HK for a harbour tour (complete with humourless audio), instead of the $2 cross-harbour trip to HK Island I'd been aiming for. Not only that, but I didn't realise you had to tell the boat steward where you wanted to stop, so I missed the Central pier and ended up trapped on the boat for the full hour round-trip, learning a few facts about HK and catching some pretty good views despite the mist, but mostly getting pumped full of info on where was best to spend my dollars whilst in HK (I'd spent enough on the tour, cheers). When I caught the commuter ferry back across later in the day, it was so much better; open sides to the boat, a buzz of people, and, of course, no freakin' commentary!

Once I finally escaped onto dry land I caught the bus up to the Peak Tram terminus to take a ride up Victoria Peak, the highest point on HK Island (1,817 foot, if you're interested). It's where the super-rich of HK live and it's really, really steep - to think in the 1800s European settlers expected to be carried up the in sedan chairs! It was steep enough for the tram ride to even be a little scary at first, especially when the ground falls away to the right and you could see right down onto the top of the skyscrapers of the city. But the views were awesome; across the forest of skyscrapers. At the top (the actually summit is out of bounds) you step out of the wood-panelled tram and into the Peak Tower - which is basically a shopping mall (yes, with a Starbucks even, gotta have that caffeine fix...) with a viewing deck slapped on top! Nice.

Since I hadn't bought a pass to the desk, I went to the outside viewing areas. It smelt so green - the slopes of Peak are mainly covered in forest, and nature trails weave off around the area. I spotted a couple of eagles circling below the stone viewing area as I looked down over the buildings below. It was too misty to see further than the island city itself, but still pretty stunning, and to be out in nature after the city was great - real fresh air!

After riding back down, my next uber-touristy goal was the Man Mo temple on Hollywood Road (odd street name). The temple was built in 1842 and is dedicated to (can you guess?) the gods Man, God of Liteature, and Mo, God of War. It's highly traditional in style again, and nestles incongruously on the shopping street, opposite a childrens playground, with towerblocks and sky-scraping buildings towering over it.
Inside the incense smoke and smell is even more overpowering than in Tin Hau; after a few minutes your throat tickles and your eyes water. Here there are piles of oranges on the platforms in front of the statues of the gods, and the chairs which carry the statues through the town during the temple festival are on display in glass cabinets. Outside in a large open-sided fire are piles of burning paper offerings.

Returning to the ferry terminal I cut down steep side streets with market stalls (where an old man drags a heavily laden cart upwards, fighting the gradient), and then come into the business-district centre of HK - here you could be in any city, except for the bright red & gold Chinese new year decorations everywhere.

Tonight I returned to the Avenue of Stars on the harbour to watch the Symphony of Lights, where buildings on both sides of the harbour are lit up and some shoot lasers into the sky. It was pretty good, for the view of the harbour at night, if nothing else; a very urban type of beauty.

written by  LizIsHere on January 27, 2010 from Hong Kong, Hong Kong
from the travel blog: New Zealand & Australia 2010
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I was just thinking about Reply to "nice suit for you? ...um, no" and you've really helped out. Thanks!

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