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Mal Beaton
After the bus day yesterday we decided to wander from the hotel up to the central district around Hollywood Rd. Karen wanted to see the Man Mo Temple on Hollywood Rd. We took a round about way of getting there, up bloody steep hills then curve around and come down again. We ended up walking through this really nice park where there was a statue of a WW II Soldier ( a Warrant Officer Class 2 no less )WO II Robert John Osborn VC in the defence of Hong Kong. This park was the site of Victoria Barracks before and during the war. We wandered down to the HSBC (Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation ) building. There are two bronze statues of Lions named Stephen and Stit (apparently named after two bank managers). The Japanese used these Lions for target practice during the occupation and you can still see all of the scars. Interesting to note during the bus tour they stated the population of Hong King was about 1.6 million prior to the war and 600,000 after (ok enough of the morbid stuff). We climbed some really steep steps to get up to Hollywood Rd and Man Mo temple (apparently one of the oldest buildings in HK), From the temple we followed Hollywood Rd back towards our Hotel. If I came to HK again I would definitely stay up into the Central district near Hollywood Rd, great mix of pubs, restaurants and markets. I came across some fantastically named pubs and restaurants, Ho Lee Fook Restauant, WTF Tapas House and in honour of my old army unit, The Drunken Duck Bar. Finally got to the end of Hollywood Rd and heading back to the Hotel when we came across the Peak Tram terminal (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_T ram#). This is a Funicular railway ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funicul ar) that takes you up to Victoria Peak for fantastic views over Hong King and Kowloon. The tickets were included in our big bus tour so we decided to head up. Murphies law came into effect when on the tram. It started raining when we hit the peak and within 30 mins visibility really sucked. Had some really overpriced drinks at Bubba Gumps up there hoping it will clear, no such luck so we headed back down. Low and behold rain starts clearing when back down in HK. Quiet rest of the night preparing to fly out
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