Wandering around Hong Kong

Today was a full day touring Hong Kong, doing all of the touristy things that we could cram into a day.

First off it was a ride down to Tsim Sha TSui on the clean, efficient and quick MTR (day pass about £5). This area seems to be far more touristy than Mong Kok. Within a minute of coming out of the station i was being assailed by people wanting me to get a new suit fitted. We walked down to the harbour and caught the Star Ferry across to Hong Kong Island. I know it's a cliche, but the trip is one of the most spectacular trips you can do on public transport anywhere in the world. It's right up there with the Sydney - Manley ferry trip and it only cost about 20p (UK).

We wandered through Central until we came across Hong Kong park - a small oasis of calm and greenery slap bang in the centre of the city.

We'd been having trouble navigating the streets on foot, the city just didn't seem designed for pedestrians, few crossings, dead ends and scary traffic. The problem was we weren't looking up. It turns out that a lot of the pavements (that's sidewalks for you American types) are in fact set over the roads. Bridges span the road between buildings and you often end up walking though the lobbies of these buildings. The public walkways often go straight through private office buildings and skyscrapers. As someone used to London this took a little getting used to. We scampered through the first couple of buildings half expecting a security guard to stop us and chuck us out.

This kind of mingling of public and private space within a building is something I haven't seen in any other city, certainly not on this scale.

We had a good wander around the park and stumbled on a memorial to the medical workers who died during the SARS outbreak in 2003. A number of the workers were remembered with busts cast in bronze, their serene expressions forever fixed. The whole memorial was quite touching and far more powerful as it literally put a human face on the outbreak and the sacrifices made.

The park also contained a large aviary, which was free to look round. None of the birds in there looked particularly exotic or exciting, most looked like wood pigeons to be, but then I'm not a big ornithologist.

From the park we walked up the road to the peak tram (really more of a funicular). The trip up the peak opened up spectacular views of the harbor and Kowloon. It didn't seem to take very long, maybe ten minutes and we were at the top station. If you have any sense, get out of the station as quickly as you can, as it's just a tourist honeypot crammed with tacky shops and a Madame Tussauds.

We wandered across to the Peak Lookout restaurant (across from the station) and settled down in their garden for a long lunch. the food was quite good and the beer cool (the wine was frighteningly expensive).

After lunch we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the evening.

First off we caught the MTR to the Peninsula to visit the Felix bar at the top of the hotel. The bar was not at all what we were expecting. It was tiny, a single long table that could sit about 8 people and some standing room around the circular bar. What wasn't small though were the prices, don't go here if you're on a budget. The prices are somewhat justified by the stunning view of the harbor and Island. I'm sure a lot of people would say that New York has the most spectacular city skyline, but in my books HK blows it away. The combination of the harbor, skyscrapers and mountains really does blow yer' socks off.

Strangely though, the view is partially obscured by some annoying venetian blinds across the windows. When we asked about this the only response we got was that was how the bar was designed!

One other thing worthy of note are the Men's toilets, one of the few places you can have a pee while looking over a city.

We caught the ferry again (even better than in the day) and jumped in a taxi to Happy Valley as we were going to watch the horse racing. As tourists, we got access to the members enclosure (gate E, you need to bring a passport). As someone who: A, knows nothing about horse racing and B, has crap luck when betting on the races I wasn't holding out much hope when I put some money on Happy Harry. That soon changed when, a few minutes later, I was in the stand roaring him home in first place, at 16/1!

The races are a great night out. My advice would be to do it yourself rather than booking on a tour. Go for a few races, soak up the atmosphere, win / lose some money and then go somewhere nearby to get some food.

We went to a restaurant called Opia that the concierge at the Peninsula had recommended, and a great recommendation it was to. The food was amazing (particularly the red snapper in a lobster broth), the wine list good and the service efficient.

We left about 11.15pm and got a taxi to the star ferry terminal, only to find it locked up and closed for the night. Cue long walk to the MTR station and a ride back to the hotel.

When we got back we cracked open the sparkling rose we bought in the Hunter Valley and put a DVD of Coupling on the huge plasma screen. Then we both passed out.

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