I spent a day in Hong Kong earlier this year, a 12 hour layover on my way to visit Sanjiva and WSO2 for an in-depth look.  I’m just now getting around to posting them.  Better late than never I suppose!

[Written Aug 17th, 2006 10:30 AM, Hong Kong time.]

I’m sitting on top of Victoria Peak, over 1200 feet above Hong Kong’s dense glass-and-steel pongees. It’s 10:30 in the morning, but already a break in the shade, with a little breeze to combat the humidity, sounds great. Hong Kong is a vertical city, almost right from the waterfront, and when I arrived in Central Hong Kong this morning at about 7AM, I inevitably started climbing hills. I wandered a bit among the dim and still quiet canyons between the high-rises, at last finding my way to the Zoological and Botanical Gardens, themselves a terrace of manicured gardens with a few bird and monkey cages scattered throughout. A jaguar cage too, but they seemed to be hiding out at this early hour.

The gardens are full, not surprisingly, with middle-aged folks performing a variety of exercises, most of which appear to be a form of Tai Chi, but a few are jogging or doing a strange exaggerated walk resembling the swimsuit portion of a beauty pageant. Not actually a very pretty thought for these middle-aged housewives…

It took me a while to find the tortuous series of footpaths the few blocks to the start of the Peak Tram, although the roads are marked on the map, they often don’t have sidewalks, or the sidewalks are a separate path going over, under, and along other roads. I ended up on the wrong side of a gate of a church at one point and had to hop the fence to proceed.

The Peak Tram is a funicular, pulled by a single cable to a saddle and gleaming shopping mall at the top of the hill. It is so steep, that as you go up, as much as you try to compensate your perspective for the tilt, the skyscrapers appear to lean precariously. The north side of Hong Kong Island crowds below, and across a fairly narrow channel plied by junks, ferries, and all kinds of cargo vessels, Kowloon continues the urban density, quickly climbing into it’s own boundary hills.

I walked along the roads winding around the summit, admiring not only the views but the extraordinary measures taken to combat erosion. The roads are narrow, with steep, overhanging walls on the downhill, and spray-on concrete covering the upside. The concrete has small accommodations for trees to grow, and they seem fairly happy with the situation. Although there appear to be a few private residences up here, many of the buildings clinging to the mountaintop are multi-unit dwellings, some over a dozen stories high. Ever seen a skyscraper on the top of a mountain? Weird. But the real estate prices here must be simply crazy - my guidebook tells of a house nearby (which I couldn’t locate) which was completed in 1997 and the builder turned down an offer of $900 million HK ($120 million US) for it. But then the market crashed and it’s probably not worth even $50 million anymore.

I plan to descend the mountain using the old Peak Trail path, find some good Chinese for lunch, and take a Ferry to see the city from the waterfront.

[5:30PM]

The winding path down was steep enough in places to force me into little voluntary 5-step mini-switchbacks. And in the jungle, the air was still enough to bring the sweat out. Getting used to the humidity takes some doing - I’ve drunk about 4 liters of liquids today, and am still a little thirsty. I tended west at the bottom of the path, and managed to find the series of escalators that ferry pedestrians up the hills from the downtown/waterfront level, to the "Middle Levels". Of course, I was heading downhill, so I was still doing steps.

I started looking for a lunch place, but the area called "SoHo" for "South of Hollywood Road" is so international that local fare isn’t readily detectable among the multitude of interesting eateries. But after a few blocks I reached Gage Street, which looks just like San Francisco’s Chinatown, squared. Between the many fruit, herb, seafood, and meat vendors, I found a tiny place upscale enough to have air conditioning, and ordered the local special - Beef Brisket Noodle Soup. It came with a delightful iced Black Frothy Milk Tea with Tapioca Pearls that was so refreshing I ordered and downed another!

After wandering the streets for a while, enjoying the strangeness of a few of the items spread out under the colorful awnings, such as a bright fushia fruit shaped like an elongated kohlrabi named "dragon fruit", and the Durien which tends to catch your nose unawares with a tropical open sewer smell, I exhausted my interest and headed for the Star Ferry terminal.

I paid the $2.2HK (30 cents) you get the upper, premium deck, and the 10 minute ride gives you a fresh breeze, a great view of the Hong Kong skyline, and a closer look at some of the watercraft plying the waters. Upon arriving in Kowloon I found my way into an air conditioned mall which went on for about 10 blocks before depositing me next to Kowloon Park, where I rested in the Chinese Garden near a McDonald’s branded ice cream stand. A knock-off? Or a local adaptation?

I walked some of the "Golden Mile" which is supposed to be hopping, especially at night, but it was just store after store of the same westernized merchandise. I followed a parade for a bit, drums, cymbals, gongs, oboe-like horns and those little funky cellos made from a gourd. What a racket! A last panorama from the "Kowloon Western Promenade" which was a semi deserted car park in between undeveloped fields reclaimed from the bay, and I collapsed into the train back to the airport. Still thirsty, I ordered a drink of Sago (Coconut) with Tapioca Pearls and Mango jello slivers - another great combo!

In all Hong Kong is an interesting place. It does seem dense, and vertical, but not as huge or crowded as I’d expected. It is not intimidating, and fun to wander in, and I’ll look forward to my next visit.

[Entire photoset here.]