Hong Kong and Kowloon

Dave and Gary are going for a Thai massage this morning to prepare themselves for a day of sightseeing. While they are gone Steph and I have a leisurely breakfast on their rooftop terrace, from the top here it’s a beautiful and fascinating view. The house is in a pedestrian only village surrounded by a bowl of forest so it’s really quiet. The surrounding houses have higgledy piggledy rooflines, some with terraces on the roof, others with nothing, none of it is the sterile urban development we’re used to seeing in the west. Steph takes me on a stroll through the village and surrounding area, past small holdings growing all sorts of crops from bananas to salad leave, past the wet market which is just finishing and along the seaside front of the bay. It’s a lovely area to live in.

Brunch is taken at their local restaurant, China Bear which does excellent food and juices the choice is huge. And then there is the slow ferry ride to Hong Kong, this time we can sit outside and see the sights as we chug along on our journey. There’s the emerging islands with little sandy bays, the widening expanse of the bay as we go round the islands, all the different boat traffic – huge container ships, slow ferries, fast hover jet ferries, traditional junks – and the ever impressive skylines of Hong Kong and Kowloon. The extent of the high rise development is amazing and soon we’re walking through it along walkways at 1^st and 2^nd floor level. All along the walkways is cardboard city, today is Sunday and it’s the maids of HK only day off, they’ve come to the centre of the city to meet up with their friends. There’s hundreds of them, chatting, eating, sleeping as we make our way past.

Our first must do is “The Stairway to Heaven”. It’s a series of escalators that connects the rich city to the richer apartments at the top of HK, they go on for seemingly miles, as there is only one it goes down to the city in the morning then in the afternoon the direction changes to go up the hill. All the time we’re passing rich and poor shopping streets, looking down on the lives of ordinary folk.

Next must do is the tramway to Victoria Peak, the queue looks huge but our tour guides assure us it will move quickly and soon we’re at the front of the queue waiting for the next tram, when the doors open it’s like a giant game of musical chairs and we lose out and have to stand. Now this turns out to be a really good thing as the views are even more impressive and we appreciate the steepness of the climb even more. The Victoria Peak Park at the top is heaving with people but a short way into the circular walk around the peak and they’ve all disappeared. It’s a beautiful walk through semi tropical jungle with occasional view points of the surrounding city which changes as we walk round the Peak. At the end, back to the mayhem and time for some refreshment, The Peak Café is the oldest on the Peak and seated at a table beside a huge banyan tree with great vies of the city at night I can see why it is so popular. A bottle of prosecco and “Tapas” of smoked salmon on nan bread, prawns in filo and calamari, along with good conversation is a great way to end on Victoria Peak.

Now for the taxi ride down to Star Ferry, a twisting and turning ride before we catch the ferry to Kowloon. Gary and Steph have timed it well for us as we catch the light show from the ferry and the observation deck at Kowloon. Another tick in the box. On to Temple Street Market – a night market selling seemingly everything always at a good price. And finally the ferry back to Lantau and a drink back at China Bear where we started, this feels like deja vue, as we sit at the same table. Did all that just happen or did I dream it, if I did it was a great dream!!!