Had a pretty good night's sleep last night. The bed is quite comfortable and there's a choice of pillows and the room is a good temperature. Woke up at 3am (6am our time) and worried that I wouldn't get back to sleep but managed it ok. In fact we both slept til about 7:30am.
The view from our hotel room this morning
Hazy sunrise photo from our hotel room window
Lazed about and I did some photo stuff and then we got ready and went up to breakfast. We got a seat near the window for some lovely views of the sun rising over Hong Kong. The breakfast buffet was pretty good too. I had a bit of a mix of "east" and "west" breakfasts.
Breakfast at the hotel, with a stunning view behind
After breakfast we wandered down to the waterfront and walked along the Avenue of Stars. I found the only ones I'd heard of - Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, Chow Yun Fat and Jet Li.
Found this moth in an underpass near the Avenue of Stars
Statue at Avenue of Stars with Hong Kong Island in the background
The Peak, which isn't actually at the peak!
Stu at the Avenue of Stars
Looking towards Hong Kong Central
Jackie Chan's star
Statue of Bruce Lee
The old Kai Tak runway is now an international passenger terminal for cruise ships
These lights are used during the Symphony of Lights shows
This Clock Tower is the only remaining remnant on the site of the former Kowloon train station
Then we caught the Star Ferry across to Hong Kong Island. A very pleasant trip.
On the Star Ferry going across to Hong Kong Island
Central Ferry Pier from the ferry
Expo building from the ferry
Looking back towards Kowloon
It was pretty hot, so we decided to catch the shuttle bus up to the tram terminal. For $4.20 HKD you really can't lose.
Buildings in Hong Kong, on the bus going up to The Peak Tram station
Lippo Centre buildings
At the Peak Tram terminus it was a bit of a shemozzle. It wasn't really clear which lines were which. We had Octopus cards, so didn't have to worry about buying tickets at least. During the wait, a western couple (American? - the woman was chewing gum) tried to jump into the "special" fast line, but they were spotted and told to go into the main line. Sadly they weren't forced to the back of the main line, that would have been funny. We ended up waiting forty minutes for our ride up.
The Peak Tram station
An old Peak tram in the tram station
This was the tram we took to The Peak
The tram ride is very cool. And very steep in places (up to 27 degrees apparently).
A stair way follows much of the lower part of the track. It gets a lot steeper than this!
Hong Kong buildings from part way up the tram
At the top we wanted to sit down, but you come out in the middle of what's essentially a shopping mall. There's escalators going up and up and before you know it you're at the entrance to the observation deck. So we went up with our octopus cards. There's a few seats at the top but no real shade, but a nice cool breeze. They give you audio guides that look like they're being played off iPods which you can use to get information on various city highlights. The view was nothing short of spectacular, definitely worth it. I'd love to do it again at night, but the thought of facing a forty minute queue again fills us with dread.
Hong Kong from The Peak!
Looking towards Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter and Sky100 building (you can go up that)
Looking towards Tsim Sha Tsui. Our hotel is right in the middle of the frame (the darkish bluish building)
A tram passing by the Lion's Pavilion
Looking towards Admiralty, Wan Chai and Causeway Bay
The Peak Galleria shopping mall (yes there's shopping malls *everywhere* even on tops of mountains!)
A Black Kite. These migratory raptors swell in numbers in Hong Kong over winter. We saw them everywhere.
We still really wanted to sit down for a while, so went to the adjacent shopping mall (every where you look here there's shops.. shops shops shops ..!!) in an attempt to find some lunch. The requirements: air conditioning, seating, not McDonalds or a spaghetti house. So of course we walked for ages, didn't we? Eventually found a Vietnamese place and Stu had some cold rice noodles with pork and I got a mixed appetiser platter that we shared. Was very yummy and quite a large meal.
The Peak - shopping mall with observatory on top
Hello Kitty store in The Peak mall
Mixed appetiser platter in Pho Yummy in The Peak Galleria - it was delicious!
The sweetie with his noodles and pork
Wandered down to the lion lookout, then came back down the mountain.
Lion's Pavilion. This place has just as good a lookout as The Peak, but is free and a bit less crowded (especially downstairs)
Buildings in West Kowloon
We were both pretty tired (and hot and sweaty) and it was getting later in the afternoon, so we walked back to the hotel from the ferry terminal. I had a shower and then we chillaxed for a while.
This was the Star Ferry that we caught back from Hong Kong Island
Expo building and other buildings in Wan Chai
Pond and fountains in front of the Clock Tower in Tsim Sha Tsui
View from our hotel window. I couldn't resist more photos.
After it got dark I was itching to head out again, but Stu wasn't feeling up to it, so I braved Hong Kong by myself. Walked to Tsim Sha Tsui station and caught a train up to Mong Kok. Then went out and walked all the way down (and then back up) the Ladies Market. Much like you'd expect from a market really. Lots of handbags and wallets and luggage, phone cases, USB bling, speakers and headphones, jade jewellery and lucky charms, clothes, a few toys etc etc. I ended up buying another hand bag holder (because they don't last all that long and it was only $3 AUD) and some earrings (also only $3 AUD). I really really wanted a green laser, but the smallest one was 200mW, which are 200x times the legal wattage in Australia so I decided not to get one. The largest one they had was 1000mW (!?!) which was huge and could probably blind pilots flying in planes.. oh wait.. that's *why* they're banned in Australia .. grumble grump grumble .. idiots ruining things for the rest of us .. grumble grumble..
Wandering through the Ladies Market
Then I hopped on a train and headed back to Tsim Sha Tsui. Picked up some snacks at a 7-Eleven and back to the hotel to eat and drink and blog.
Platform markings at Mong Kok station. People actually followed the directions too in most cases! Navigating the subway system for the first time all by myself was pretty easy.
They even try and keep the crowds moving by getting people to stay on the left when moving through the stations
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