Although we do like Hong Kong, we definitely do not like it this morning! On a lighter note today may become a PB for modes of transport in one day.
Early on we sing happy birthday to our fabulous concierge Kristine, much to her delight. Then we breakfast on our balcony overlooking the HK cruise terminal as we’re parked the opposite way to 28 days ago when our balcony faced the harbour.
It’s a lazy morning as we don’t get off until 08:45 which is fine as there are various people to chat to and of course give our thanks to Komang and Andy our cabin stewards.
We disembark easily and head up to the private car pickup for 09:00. The driver, having WhatsApped us yesterday isn’t answering today. We wait patiently for a while but meanwhile I contact the booking agents. They are equally perplexed and before long apologise for the mess.
A new driver messages us but cannot understand where we are, then a very pleasant young man from the terminal’s accessibility team kindly phones the driver for us now we have a number. A lot of faffing and photos of where we are later and our replacement driver finally turns up 48 minutes late.
It’s not the end of our HK woes, we arrive at the Shangri La to be told our reservation is cancelled, despite all the paperwork we have to the contrary! It takes the extremely patient check-in clerk and another colleague ages to get this rectified.
Eventually we’re free of our baggage and able to begin our last adventure for this holiday. We walk onto Salisbury Road and to the water’s edge, round to the Star Ferry Terminal. The iconic ferry takes us back to Hong Kong island where we use the elevated walkway to head as far inland as possible before dropping down to street level, past St John’s Cathedral and on to the Peak Tram station.
Of course it’s Sunday morning and half the world is here but we have already bought our ticket and skip some of the line, it’s not too long before we’re on our way. This incredible funicular has had several iterations since it opened in 1888 and the latest carriages are new to us.
In under ten minutes the climb is 400m with a few exceedingly steep sections, it feels like 45° but it’s probably somewhat less. Sadly Mickey Mouse doesn’t shut up but the distraction doesn’t take away from the spectacle.
Once at the peak we schlep up four more floors (not too difficult as it’s all via Mr Schindler) until we reach the observation deck Sky Terrace 428 presumably a reference to the platform’s height. After the obligatory photos we look for the way out, not the way back, but via the southern route.
We follow Peel Road (is this named after the original Peeler we wonder?) which is a delightful oasis away from the madness of tourists on the peak. We spot an impressive car park laden with top-spec BMW and Mercs, and later get a glimpse of the attached apartments which must have the most incredible views. The road becomes a path and we enjoy the silence, a commodity quite lacking in SE Asia. As we descend we catch glimpses of a stream but the vegetation is very dense.
We find a curious little diversion in the form of a foot massage. Pebbles are set in concrete with a barre and one is required to walk around massaging one’s feet. It’s a challenge not everyone can suffer! The family also torturing themselves assure me I will feel better later, and they are quite right.
As we descend we pass a disused school, and then emerge into a cemetery built into the hillside, and finally drop down into Aberdeen. We’ve not been here since 2001 so we cannot say we remember it well, but the claim to tourist-fame is the old Jumbo floating restaurant which was absolutely fabulous. Sadly now gone now, it’s demise surrounded in mystery and intrigue.
We look for lunch but fail miserably, the local eateries are not tourist friendly and although we could just risk it, we are scarred after too many (admittedly mainland China) eating traumas so are reluctant to experiment in non-tourist areas.
Instead we buy sustenance in the form of cereal bars from 7-11 and jump on the next 90B which will take us back towards the familiar areas we know. It’s been a long time since I got to go upstairs on a bus, and even longer since the front seat became available so we just have to move there to revisit childhood and watch as we thread around HK Island back to Central Pier.
It’s only a twenty minute journey and we alight a couple of stops early so we can scope out a restaurant. We find a lovely Italian with an oriental flair which looks nice and we enjoy a pizza and Tom Yam penne.
Then it’s the Star Ferry back to Kowloon Side and we wander back to the Shangri La, loving Mr Templar’s (The Saint’s) P1800 when we get back (the one behind it is so common here!)
We get our room key, and love the accommodations we only get to use for three hours, then get Spanish lessons done and a few admin jobs, and pop out for a final look now it’s gone dark. The Peninsular seems to be the biggest attraction, the pavement is completely clogged with photographers, but really those decorations aren’t that impressive!!
After a shower and change we get a message that our driver is early – after this morning’s bother it’s a relief to know this. We have a very quick drive to Lantau. I’m quite taken with Toyota Alphard cars, which we have a lot of this year in Tokyo, Bangkok and HK. Of course having a driver makes all the difference, and being able to sit in a fully reclining business class type seat is very attractive – not that we need one in Tenerife!!
Check-in takes about two minutes. As does security, no queue at all and we don’t have to empty out our devices (eight including phones) or even remove shoes and belt – fabulous!
The lounge has another thing that is great – a roving dim sum trolly. I also get chicken in mushroom sauce with truffle mash which is excellent.
We fly at 23:30 so in the day we have been in or on a cruise ship, a taxi, a ferry, a mountain train, a bus and an aeroplane. Add Shank’s Pony and that’s seven modes of transport! I suppose we should have taken a couple of stops on the tram and metro, but there’s always another time.
