Hong
Kong was a new destination for us. Because we didn’t know the layout
of the city, by chance we booked a hotel smack dab in the middle of the
old city markets. The hotel entrance opened quite literally, to street
vendors selling meat, pastries, flowers, fruit, vegetables, and fish.
The smell of the fish was almost overwhelming. In a way this was good.
Once when we became disoriented (slightly lost!) it was the smell of
the fish that led us back to our hotel.
While
the stalls occupied one side of the street, down the centre of the
street were tram tracks. Every so often, a Ding Ding (a tram) would
scatter the local shoppers with their bags and wagons as they scampered
out of the way. We were surprised when on the day of our departure our
taxi was able to make its way through the chaos to pick us up at the
hotel door.
Taxis were plentiful and relatively
cheap. We were surprised the taxis we took only accepted cash for
payment, not credit cards. The Metro or subway, was easy to navigate.
Our major tourist activity was taking a tram to The Peak. Every first
time visitor to Hong Kong should do this at least once. The tram ride
was both good and disappointing. The steep incline of the ascent made
the high towers along side look as if the were leaning at a forty-five
degree angle. The view from the summit was spectacular.
The
disappointing part were the constant references to Disney and Mickey
Mouse. There was even a statue of Mickey at the summit. In the
background, Disney music played over the speaker system. I found the
number of up and down escalators in order to reach the summit was quite
daunting. They were steep and moved quite quickly.
Our
night time excursions with our friend John were super relaxing. We
took a ferry across the harbour, followed by a harbour cruise to view
the nightly 8:00 p.m. laser show. Next we walked through the lobby of
the famous Peninsula Hotel and finished up with a meal at an Irish pub.
All in all, we very much enjoyed our few days in Hong Kong.
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| View of city markets with tram tracks |
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| City view from The Peak |
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| Sue with Mickey and Minnie at The Peak |
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