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Well, today was a sightseeing day and about 9am we headed off and had breakfast at a Pacific Coffee shop just around the corner from the hotel on Lockhart Road. This chain of shops is much like Dome or Starbucks and was pretty packed with people - mostly Westerners trying to find a decent coffee, something different from the iced tea and coffee the locals drink!
The coffee was good and we had a toasted sandwich before heading to the corner of Hennessy and Fleming Roads to get the "hop on - hop off" bus tour of the area. Unlike all the other tours of this type we have undertaken there were no bus stop signs for the tour and although assured by a local that we were on the right spot we waited a long while before the bus finally appeared. The first stop was for the "Peak Tram", which is a funicular railway track that runs up to the Peak, high above Hong Kong city. We duly caught the tram along with a hundred or so other tourists and were dragged by the cable drive up a very steep (maybe 60 or 65 degree) track to the summit. The views were amazing, although spoiled some what by the ever present smog. At least the air was fresh and there was a beaut breeze blowing instead of the muggy conditions at ground level!
We wandered the viewing spots and got some good photos and then had a look at the many shops in the precinct, before returning to the bottom and resuming our tour. The route took us through horrendous mid-day traffic and right through the centre of Hong Kong city, while we marveled at the multitude of name brand shops etc. and couldn't believe the squalid conditions of the back streets and hi-rise dwellings! Such a contrast!!!!
At the stop by the City Ferry Terminal we got off and caught a Star Ferry across to Kowloon. These ferries were built in the 1900's and a one way fare for the 15 minute trip costs about AU30c! Yep, that's all! The boats are old, smelly and don't look all that safe but hey! for 30c there isn't another trip like it in the world! The views of both the Hong Kong and Kowloon skylines are superb and it gives you a real perspective of what these cities are about - business!!!!
We caught another section of the bus tour in Kowloon which in about 90 minutes gave us a great insight into the fantastic shopping that abounds there. A number of huge multi storey shopping malls and thousands of street level shops of all types! Mindblowing is the only way to describe it! One area around Nathan Street has so many techno type stores that there is a street called Electronic Device Street - no joke!!!!
When the tour finished we caught the Star Ferry back to Wan Chai - oops! we should have caught it to City Pier - and so we missed the last bit of our first tour! By that time we were pretty pooped so we headed back for a shower and a rest before enjoying a great dinner at the hotel restaurant. It so cheap it was hard to believe - AU$48 for a main plus a buffet of all sorts of local delicacies including sushi, sushimi etc., sweets, cheeses and coffee! Plus 4 Coronas! Hello! How bloody cheap is that. I chose a lamb rack for my main and it was delicious!
Food and drink is just so cheap here, especially alcohol, so unlike Singapore where it was as dear as poison. Two stubbies of Stella Artois cost AU$3 yesterday at the little shop across the road!
Tomorrow we will make a final visit to the Hong Kong Electronics Fair and then later in the arvo will get the train over to Kowloon to visit Electronic Device Street to see if we can bag a bargain!! We can wait until later to view the much vaunted Laser Light Show from the harbour promenade!
All in all it was a great day and we saw a fair amount of this remarkable place.
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