Another lazy start to the day followed by a breakfast in the hotel. We emerged onto Electric Road soon after 11:00 and caught the tram to Central, with a little help from a local man who offered his assistance to Ian.
At Central we took the peak tram to 545 metres above sea level, the Peak Tower, via a steep incline of a maximum of twenty seven degrees. It felt steeper! The view from the peak summit was well worth a visit and we made the right decision to go today. The weather was better than yesterday and we could see the whole of Victoria Harbour and mountains in the distance beyond Kowloon on the mainland which we didn't know existed until today. It was very windy at the viewpoint. While we had a snack and drink at the Peak Tower I made use of the free fifteen minute internet offer and obtained a telephone number for Tokyo International YHA and read my e-mails. The descent back to Central was equally exciting and the views were stunning.
We then climbed a hill to reach the entrance to the botanical gardens where I took several more photographs of orchids and pitcher plants, amongst others. The gardens weren't terribly impressive and focused more on the zoological park which Ian and I disapprove of, although admittedly I photographed a jaguar and some flamingoes. We saw a tiny mouse deer which was very shy and cute, a racoon, many birds and plenty of monkey species, terrapins, a python and watched some orangutans for a while. The female of the group placed herself onto a closed plastic barrel and barrel walked along the fence. She knew exactly what she wanted to do and how to make herself achieve her goal. Other orangutans were using leaves to pick up fruits and ants from outside the cage by reaching through the bars. They were so determined that the small orangutan climbing over one of them and pulling on the arm of her ws no distraction to her. Instead, the young orangutan copied what she was doing and reached through the bar to pick up a fruit from outside the cage.
Our next visit was the Star ferry terminal which we reached by passing by many people sitting in the street in preparation for the Chiang Ming festival this weekend. We paid for our first class tickets for the upper deck of the Star ferry and waited to board. When we boarded we had to be careful as we walked across the gangplank which was moving around a bit. The ferry crossing to Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon was very good albeit a little bouncy and took only 6 minutes!
In Kowloon we photographed Hong Kong Island and confirmed the absence of the world's largest neon sign near the Macau ferry terminal, peered at the clock tower and visited the lobby of the Hong Kong Space Museum and the New World Centre where we had an excellent snack in the Vienna Cafe. We were offered antiseptic spray on arrival which I accepted. The teriyaki chicken sandwich and ceylon tea with lemon was lovely.
The strangest thing we have encountered in Hong Kong is the public toilets in the shopping centres. They have signs on them declaring that they are for tenants exclusive use making them restricted, not public. In addition to that most of them have the facility door locked preventing public access as the door requires a key. It's very odd. In these instances there aren't any other toilets available to use.
The people in Hong Kong are very polite and I feel very welcome here. The only exception to this rule was in Kowloon where for a moment, as we walked down Norman Road, we were harangued by people wanting us to eat in their restaurants and buy their suits. We must have stood out like obvious tourists, especially with me carrying my camera, but we had just eaten and felt quite claustrophobic. It reminded us of South East Asia and their infamous street vendors.
We took the MTR back across to Central on Hong Kong Island and ascended the mid levels escalator again to Staunton Street in SoHo where we had dinner in La Pampa, an Argentinian, before travelli g back to North Point by tram. The tram is excellent, providing a simple one fare ride regardless of your travel distance and destination.
Copyright 2003 Helen Fuller. All rights reserved.