Tuesday 22 November 2011

Tue 22 Nov - Hong Kong

After breakfast in the room (as we now have all the ingredients to make our own), we decided that today was the day for Victoria's Peak, a kind of "must do" in Hong Kong.
We wandered down to the MTR at TST and there are instructions for how one is to stand on the platform when the train arrives. If in doubt, ask the bloke in the yellow shirt.

On to the train, it was still morning rush hour at 9.30am or so, people travelling from Kowloon over to Hong Kong Island and Central to presumably go to work.

Off the train at Central and uphill to the Peak Tram terminus. We took the tram up to Victoria Peak and headed up to the Sky Terrace (extra charge, but a "must do"). On the way we saw Forrest Gump sitting on his bench...

...Run Forest Run... but the best thing is the view.  Here are a few pictures with the view from the Sky Terrace.


We've been lucky with the weather, mild and a bit overcast, which is great for walking long distances.  So we started a walk around the peak with a plan to walk to the bottom.  Great decision - lovely walk called the Morning Trail. So we headed down and this is a picture of the Sky Terrace on the Peak from the beginning of the circular walking track.



View from off the walkway down from the Peak to Hong Kong, a bit further to the west on Hong Kong Island.

The total walk down is about 2.8km and midway down, there was an old defence setting called Pinewood Battery. There was a lot of old concrete constructions, but some were in pretty poor condition and there were warning signs everywhere. Never the less, all very interesting, with many information boards to tell stories and historical facts. Well worth visiting.

Back in "town", we headed through the grounds of Hong Kong University and we obviously had to see what's doing. This could have been UNSW or any other Sydney University. Even many of the buildings had that 70's University look.

We decided to eat lunch the Uni student way and we found a hamburger joint called "Freshness Burgers" (Since 1992) where we consumed a combo pack McDonalds style. It wasn't bad, but quite expensive for Hong Kong so we figured that the uni students who went there for lunch were the children of very affluent parents.

After lunch, we continued our walk down (it was a lot of walking down today) and then we stumbled onto "Champs Kingdom". For the uninitiated, Jeremy's nickname is "The Champ" or Champ or Champs for short.

Now into the local food shop districts west of Sheng Wan. Di was drooling outside this shop..

and fascinated by these ones...




Sausages hung up to dry on the railing of the street...

and then fish hung up to dry.

It all became clearer when we reached the road sign for "Des Voeux Rd West"- Ahh, we were on "Dried Seafood Street".

Back to B P International for a break after 6 hours of walking to get ready for the night shift...great things planned!

We got dressed up for our dinner at Jumbo Kingdom at Aberdeen and headed out for a public transport expedition to get us there. First MTR from TST to Central then find number 75 bus to Aberdeen.  In peak hour crowds it wasn't that easy but we are fascinated and go with the flow. 
It helps when you're a head taller and can see over most people!

On the bus we got prime position seats for our view of peak hour traffic from Central through Wan Chai towards Causeway Bay, then through the long tunnel to Aberdeen. 


Finally, we reached Aberdeen about an hour after boarding the bus and there it was, a "sensation" of lights a bit out in Aberdeen Harbour. We hopped onto the free ferry across to the floating restaurant that could happily blend in with Las Vegas.





The dedicated ferry...


No reservation meant we had a table outside on the middle deck rather than inside on the top deck, which was great as it was a lovely night and a bit quieter away from the groups of Chinese.

The menu was tough to choose from - nothing was cheap and some interesting ingredients.  We ordered whole steamed Tiger Garoupa Hong Kong Style (ginger, spring onion and soy). We named the fish Mr Wong in his honour (whereas in Australia all whole fish we eat are called Bob). Despite Mr Wong being very ugly he was delicious.  The squid we also chose was a bit rubbery but the French wine was fine (Bordeaux from Chateau de lay Pay to Tours - or something like that). 

 

A nice leisurely meal, lovely service and great company. Our waiter was a lovely young man from Kowloon who did not speak much English but he tried hard. Hans told him to call Di "the boss" so he did with a lovely smile. 

Home by taxi for HK$100 (about $15) and in 15 minutes, a LOT quicker than to get there (in rush hour). Good Night.










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