Caught a flight of just under 5 hours to Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific, I think this was probably the best airline we used on the trip with a great entertainment system and nice food (for an airline).
We took a taxi to our centrally located hotel and got up early the next morning to try and fit as much as we could of the city into one day.
The first thing we noticed is how busy it was, if you don’t like crowds then it’s not the place to be! It was also very hot and sticky.
The city has good transport though and we took the underground to Hong Kong island from where we were staying in Kowloon. We took in a quick visit to Victoria Park where we could see many people of all ages doing their morning Tai Chi sessions, I guess you need to have a calm and relaxed mind to cope with living in such a hectic place.
Our next stop was ‘The Peak’, a hill with great if a little hazy views over Hong Kong harbour. To reach this you take a very steep tram up the side of the hill (see website http://www.thepeak.com.hk/en/home.asp).
After this we headed back into the central district and browsed some of the many interesting shops there with many specialising in antiques. We also popped into the Man Mo temple with its gold statues and burning incence.
We then planned to visit a new cable car ride on Lantau Island that takes you up to a monastary but when we got there on the underground we found it was closed for maintenance… never mind, we returned to the main city and visited a huge shopping mall in the centre and some of the smaller shops outside, it’s a great city for the shopaholic.
It was starting to get towards dusk so we headed down to the ferry which took us back to Kowloon for the equivalent of 20p, a bargain! We tried to get into the famous Peninsula Hotel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peninsula_Hong_Kong)
for a quick cocktail but unfortunately we weren’t smartly dressed enough so didn’t make it.
We made our way to the harbour where crowds gathered for the nightly ‘Symphony of Lights’ where the buidlings across on Hong Kong island light up with a musical light and laser show.
