Thoughts from the Director: Hong Kong

So after a big breakfast I headed out to look for the Big Bus stop nearby my hotel.

I soon realized that I wasn’t going to need my jacket today as the temperature was very warm and humid. I trudged up and down the Temple street area getting more and more frustrated at not finding the location.

Remembering that the stop was near a I temple I managed to locate the Tin Hau temple. I looked around and couldn’t see any indication of a Big Bus stop so I parked myself near a general bus loading zone to see what transpired.

I waited and I waited, as time ticked by. I was beginning to get worried that I was in the wrong location and was contemplating making a move to somewhere else but I was confident I was in the right location. I wasn’t sure exactly when the bus started running so perhaps I was too early.

As time passed a notice a few other tourist starting to congregate in the location. It’s not hard to tell a tourist. Typically they are older, greyer, wear white soxes, shorts, clean white sneakers, carry a back pack and what finally confirmed I was in the right location, they check maps.

Now that I had seen someone else pull out a Big Bus map I knew I just had to wait for the bus to arrive. As it turns out I was way too early for the bus in the end (I’ll know for tomorrow) but it finally came and I jumped on board.

The bus took us through Kowloon and down towards Victoria Harbour where I jumped off and bought a 2 day ticket.

I had decided that I wanted to visit the peak (even though the weather wasn’t clear) just in case it was raining tomorrow, so the next thing I needed to do was catch a ferry across to Hong Kong Island.

Luckily, the Big Bus ticket actually includes a return fair on the Star Ferry. All I needed to do was take a short walk from the drop off point, along the ‘Avenue of the stars’ to the terminal.

Along the way I snapped some photos of Victoria Harbour lookign across to Hong Kong Island.

The ‘Avenue of the stars’ celebrates the biggest film stars from Asia with pavement stars, hand imprint and if you are as big as Bruce Lee was

Your own statue!

View of the Convention centre across the harbour.

Near the ferry terminal is the Cultural Center and the Clock Tower. Which was the site that one of the major railways used to terminate.

I headed round to the ferry terminal, handled in my voucher and joined all the other people waiting to board.

I grabbed a seat on the upper deck and watched the traffic in the harbour as we chugged across.

After arriving on Hong Kong Island and locating the Big Bus stop, I had some time to kill so I snapped a few more shots.

I decided that I wanted to initially take the red tour, which would allow me to to visit the Peak. So I jumped on board and off we went.

If you want to see skyscrapers then Hong Kong is the place.

So the bus started winding its way through the streets.

Looking back across the harbour to Kowloon you can see Hong Kong’s tallest building.

The Hong Kong Conventions and Exhibition Centre.

At the front of the exhibition centre is a sculpture of a Bauhinia flower marking the handover point of Hong Kong from the UK.

Next stop was the Peak Tram for the ride up to the heights.

Waiting at the bottom terminal for the train to arrive.

When you hop on board you get a better view if you sit on the right hand side going up the hill.

It’s kind of hard to convey how steep the tram gets from these photos but it doe get very steep indeed.

This is the view back down the tracks from the top.

You end up in the Peak Tower which is full of shopping and eating places. At the very top you can pay about HK$25 to go onto the deck at the top level. Given that the weather was pretty hazy I didn’t feel it was worth it so headed outside to look for some other places to take some photos.

On one of the verandas outside the Peak Tower I grabbed these photos.

Outside the Peak Tower I turned left and headed down a trail and found this really nice balcony set up the local Lion’s Club.

I walked a ways down this trail but then decided it was taking me away from the Peak so I headed back.

I then decided to head up a road that lead further up the Peak. I can tell you that is was quite a hike and probably well worthwhile when the weather was clearer. Still worth the effort (just).