View of Hong Kong from the Peak
Andy had recommended I see the 'peak' of Hong Kong, so that's what I did!
Set off c.10am, and headed down Nathan Road straight to the Star Ferry. Went on the upper deck (HK$2.20), a short ride over the waterway to the centre of Hong Kong but a little bit wild. The journey time was about seven minutes but it was quite a rough journey even so!
Strode quickly through the streets of Hong Kong Central, passing a few surprised tourists, especially since I was walking quite steeply uphill. I was in fact tempted to walk all the way up to the peak but I found the train station and decided against it; taking the train up there seemed a much sensible idea!
One of the tourists I passed along the way caught back up with me again as I reached the station and tried to find the way in. A middle-aged lady, seemingly on her own, friendly, and we started to chat. Her name was Margaret, she was a district nurse working with HIV patients somewhere in Oldham, and she was also doing a tour of China - not the same one though. She was headed up towards Shanghai, and was due to arrive in Beijing about two days after me.
We went up the peak train. The inside reminded me somewhat of an old wooden tram, like Blackpool or Lisbon; and it shuddered a bit, but it made it up. The hill was very steep in places, looking up the track straight ahead the hill seemed almost vertical!
Anyway. The peak tower. Four or five levels high (although we couldn't find a way to get to the very top, so we stayed on level four). We took a few pictures, although the city was covered in a sort of misty haze. This may well have been as a result of pollution. Then we had a look round the rest of the tower, although to be honest there wasn't a lot else there. There were a couple of touristy spots (Madame Tussauds, Ripley's Believe it or Not) but we didn't do those. Instead we had a drink at a coffee bar and checked e-mails.
Eventually we wandered back down the peak train and walked into Central. Maggie and I departed from each other; she had to go in search of a bank. I tried to find the markets area, and after a little walking did eventually (accidentally) find it. Bought lunch in the vicinity; chocolate croissant and a chocolate muffin.
I then came across the "mid-levels escalator", the longest escalator system in the world - although it's not one continuous escalator, but broken into many small segments, the whole distance from the bottom to the very top makes it the longest in the world. Of course I went the whole way to the top (stopping to eat lunch near the top), no views or anything as it ends on a built-up residential road, but hey I was only doing it for the ride ...
Looked at the map and made my plans for the journey down. It took me along a road called Peel Street, a long but narrow street with a very steep incline. All along either side were food stalls and the smell was pretty strong. It was also pretty busy, there were people everywhere, especially near the bottom as I entered the markets area and the Soho district. I had a quick look around again before I headed for the Star Ferry for the journey back (lower deck, HK$1.70).
My walk back to the hotel took me through Kowloon Park, where I spent half an hour or so looking round at some sculptures. Each one was kind of strange, modern-art-esque representations made from iron or marble. The most interesting was a sculpture of a large iron spider.
And then the tour started. Kinda. Upon entering the hotel I discovered a faxed message waiting for me telling me to meet up at 7pm in the lobby. I had a couple of hours to kill so I just went back into the room and flaked out a bit!
Went down at 7pm, met Jane (tour leader) who directed me to the bar (and what a better place to be?!). A few people had arrived already, including Andy, but everyone. So we all just casually chatted among ourselves as the others slowly trickled in. Not everyone had arrived by the time Jane started her spiel about the tour (which lasted approximately an hour, or two bottles of San Miguel), but they soon caught up once they did - well on the beer, at least!!
So on the tour there'll be 16 of us, including Jane, our tour leader from Australia. We've got three other Englishmen (Andy, Daniel, and Alan), an Irishman (James), two Odettes and a Louise from New Zealand, a middle-aged Swedish couple (Mona & Tom), Radka (an American Czech) Vivian (an American Malaysian), and three Swiss ladies (Kathrin and Valerie who came together, and Mirella, who came on her own and was very surprised to find two other Swiss!! Indeed they all even come from the German part of Switzerland!).
After the beers and the introductions, a few of us went to a sort of Mongolian Barbecue place right near the hotel. The Swedes chose not to eat there so I directed them to the place where me and Andy had eaten yesterday. Anyway this Mongolian restaurant was quite an interesting place; I've been to them before in Belfast and Birmingham and this was quite similar (you choose your food, give it to the chefs, and they cook it). The difference between here and the others I'd been to is that here, the chefs don't cook it in front of you, they do it in the kitchen then someone brings it out to you. A selection of foods were available, including sushi.
The night went on a while, eventually there were only five of us left (Jane, Daniel, Andy, Alan, and myself). Dan and Jane got progressively more drunk as the night went on. We left long after closing time (obviously, being a Tour Leader, Jane would know a few people in restaurants and bars etc, so they'll be more lenient towards her), and they went off to another bar. I was still a bit tired so I decided to head to bed instead ---> it was about 12:30am by this time!