Hong Kong 2019 - Day 2 Peak Tram and Star Ferry

[Melbatb]

The sun obviously hadn't got my memo this morning!

My night had been a bit mixed. I feel asleep immediately and then woke up three hours later. After about 2 hours I managed to get back to sleep and both O and I were quite surprised to wake up at 8.30 am. O had had 11 hours sleep!

We both had showers again and made our way down to the included buffet breakfast!

There was a lot of choice at breakfast - though much of it unrecognizable to us as breakfast fodder!

O started with cake and croissants and we both had a cooked British style breakfast. I had coffee and O had copious amounts of orange juice (another item of his missing list!)

The plan today was the Peak Tram - a team that dates from 1888. In normal circumstances I wouldn't dream of setting off to here at almost 10am as it is legendary for long queues. But everything I had read of late indicated that due to the demonstrations and subsequent fall in tourist numbers, it was very quiet.

We took the metro - with a change of metro along the way. It took about 30 minutes. It was then about a 10 minute uphill walk to the ticket desk. Only one family ahead of us even though it was by now heading towards 11am.

The tickets were HK$99/11 euros each including a visit to the Sky Tower.

We waited about 5 minutes for the Tram to arrive. It was certainly not full when we left.

It is pretty steep in places - though difficult to get a picture showing that. It took about 15 minutes to get to the top!

We went up the Sky Tower first. This is a 360 degree viewing platform. We didn't have the best weather conditions as it was a bit hazy but we still managed to see quite far.

It really is a high rise city!

Though lots of green too!

And very hilly!

And towards the China Sea!

On the way down, O saw there was a Bubba Gumps and as there was fish and chips on the menu (yet another on his list of desired food not often seen at the university!) we decided we would eat here. But we needed to build up an appetite!

We decided we would do the 3km circular hike around the Peak.

It was very flat thankfully and obviously somewhere the locals come to jog and walk their dogs!

An interesting type of tree!

And lots more views of the skyline!

The walk took about an hour. It was lovely to chat with O and find out more about life at the university.

We were not 100% convinced how hungry we were but decided to go the Bubba Gumps anyway.

O ordered fish and chips. It came with five pieces of fish. O could only manage two of them plus about 2/3 of the chips.

I had the Dumb Luck Coconut Shrimp - a bit more manageable but I still didn't eat all the fries!

We just had water to drink. It came to HK$340/40 euros.

We waddled out!

I was a bit worried that it would take ages to get on a tram on the way down (queues of 2 hours are not unknown) but we literally walked on to one, the doors shut and we were off!

It seemed quicker on the way down!

We (ok -I) decided we would get the Star Ferry across to Kowloon. It took us about 15 minutes to walk to the ferry terminus.

It was very cheap - I don't remember exactly as we just used out octopus cards but it was under an euro!

We had just missed one but another was along within minutes.

We sat at the front. The ferry wasn't very busy.

There are a lot of boats around! Including a cruise boat!

The trip across took about 10 minutes. We docked and walked through a very high end mall to the MTR station.

We got off at Mongkok station to visit the Ladies Market but O wasn't really feeling it (as he said - he has 4 years to visit and shop) but was willing to stay for me. However, I knew I had plenty of O free time over the coming days so I suggested we went back to the hotel as I knew O wanted to do some more studying.

To give O the peace to study I headed down to the mall under the hotel (there are malls everywhere! )

I started with a Starbucks. Then I wandered!

I loved the concept of this shop...

You baked a cake! They had all the ingredients there, bowls, mixers etc. A cool idea !

I also had a good look at the supermarket - I love supermarkets in other countries!

I went back to the hotel. O was hungry again (even though he had demolished the chocolate I had bought over from Heathrow! )

We wandered around the mall again - it was a lot busier. O decided he really wanted pizza again! Pizza Express again then!

He had a margarita pizza again. I had dough balls and...

A mango salsa salad! It was very nice!

O had the banana custard dessert again. It came in at just over HK$300 again.

We came back to the hotel. I left O to recite his Chinese.

We were in bed by 10.30pm but it took me about an hour to fall asleep!

I had walked over 15km - obviously not enough to wear me out!

[app]

New Photo Added by Melbatb - 27 Oct 19 10:25 AM.

[mick]

A great sightseeing day lovely views And wonderful photos

Joan

[dubletrub]

Just caught up on your journey over and your sightseeing day. So glad that you are having a lovely time with O 😁

[DisneyDaffodil]

What an exciting first full day, you certainly packed loads in. We found an interesting assortment of breakfast items in Vietnam this year, but tended to stick to English options or pastries 😀

The tram looked great fun and I love a sky tower, some great views from there too. Your lunch looks delicious.

I do love the idea of shopping malls everywhere 😀 The make your own cake shop looks great fun too.

No wonder you fell asleep quickly after all that walking 😀

[Melbatb]

Originally Posted by mick

A great sightseeing day lovely views And wonderful photos

Joan

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Considering we didn’t have the blue skies that have been here for weeks, the photos weren’t bad at all!

[Melbatb]

Originally Posted by dubletrub

Just caught up on your journey over and your sightseeing day. So glad that you are having a lovely time with O 😁

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Thanks. It is so lovely seeing him. He is still my same gorgeous boy 🥰

[Melbatb]

Originally Posted by DisneyDaffodil

What an exciting first full day, you certainly packed loads in. We found an interesting assortment of breakfast items in Vietnam this year, but tended to stick to English options or pastries 😀

The tram looked great fun and I love a sky tower, some great views from there too. Your lunch looks delicious.

I do love the idea of shopping malls everywhere 😀 The make your own cake shop looks great fun too.

No wonder you fell asleep quickly after all that walking 😀

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Thanks. There really are malls everywhere! One mall just seems to lead to another!

I have been adventurous with breakfast this morning 😂

[Mexy02]

Wow it’s so beautiful. So glad he is settled and you have got to visit him. Looks simply amazing ❤️

[Melbatb]

Originally Posted by Mexy02

Wow it’s so beautiful. So glad he is settled and you have got to visit him. Looks simply amazing ❤️

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He really loves it here which is such a relief for me! And such a stunning place to study!