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Published: December 12th 2005
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The Peak
Where Lugard, Harlech, Mt Austin Roads meet at the base of the tower March 28 Woo hoo! Tony has another day off! It’s Easter Monday here in HK.
We get our normal late start, but what the heck, I’m retired. For the moment.
Destination: Victoria Peak, 552m (let me get my calculator out - about 1820ft), highest point on HK Island.
It’s a fabulous day, puffy clouds and blue sky above, warm with a pleasant breeze - first decent weather since I arrived. Walk towards Central and on to catch the
Peak Tramway (est. 1888) off Garden Road next to Hong Kong Park. Woah! The line is snaking out the door for tickets. Yikes! We forgot that it’s a holiday. A dreaded holiday. Sundays and holidays always mean loads and hoards of people at all the typical tourist stops. Tony’s not taking this lying down. He goes up to the ticket counter and asks if we can bypass the line if we have an Octopus card. Well, of course we can - we are “Octopied!”. This card is beginning to make me feel like a V.I.P.
Have I made my point yet about the Octopus card? Here it is: as soon as you get to HK, buy one.
Getting on the next
run’s a breeze, hated squeezing that old lady out of a seat, the tram only holds 72 passengers. Underway, it steeply climbs the mountain to the Peak Tower, a disembarking station where you can get spectacular views (on a clear day) of HK, the outlying islands, and Kowloon. The tower is spectacular in itself. There are several levels of shops & eateries and a rooftop deck where you can take pictures of the clouds encasing Victoria Peak. Didn’t notice it because we were single-minded, but the travel guides say there is a Ripley’s Believe It or Not, a Madam Tussad’s, and a motion ride. The Peak Tower is perched on four enormous columns and is a sort of Kandinsky-inspired boat like shape. From any angle it is an architectural beauty.
And guess what? A great big mall is right outside the tower - The Peak Galleria - with a sprawling multi tier veranda leading to restaurants, a grocery store, and expensive shops. There is also the most expensive real estate in HK up here. Don’t get me wrong; it is very, very nice. In fact, if I could buy a house on Victoria Peak and live here I could
The Peak
I want to live here... be pretty happy.
We lunch at the Deli France, the aforementioned alternative to local cuisine that won’t break the bank and is consistently consistent, before we launch on our hike. Then we take a spin around the mall and verify that the prices are sufficiently high, and finally start off in search of trails.
Tony knows the area because this is one of his regular running routes. Taking the tram was only a fun touristy thing to do - he normally simply runs up. I’m not in shape to walk up, let alone run, and then be expected to hike further up and around the various hills and dales and then back down and home.
Victoria Peak has picnic areas, children’s playgrounds, gardens, and plenty of walking paths. The initial part of the hike involves dodging the hundreds of other hikers, walkers, dogs, baby carriages, runners, and entire four-generation families clogging the first section. Once past that, we cut off on a paved path leading to Victoria Peak Garden, then further up to a summit with a lot of communication towers - is this the Peak itself? Dunno. Striking view of the south side of HK Island
The Peak
View of the harbor from the trail to the radio towers and of the waters and islands beyond.
Back down and around my runner shows me a quiet trail that is little used. That’s because there are 500 paved steps up to the top - in typical HK efficiency they are numbered. Huff, huff, the first 50. Huff, huff, 50 to 100… At least it gives me goals. End of the steps lead to a second peak, High West, where we enjoy a panorama of the north, west and south. There are three high points up here but we’re not sure which one is considered the actual peak - we don’t have a map.
At the top, we meet Tom, or is it Tim, an expat who has lived here for several years. Apparently, he’s a used-to-be salesman of sorts who is getting into an import/export biz. Code word for in between jobs? No comment. I’m in between something too. Interesting though, he’s from Minnesota so we chit chatted about MN and WI, weather, and local things there. Approx our age (meaning younger…everybody is younger these days) we talk about music & the Midwest back in the 70’s. Nice guy. Exchange info. Never heard from him again.
Also
The Peak
Looking east at the summit is a cute young HK couple, Antony and JoJo, who attend the university. We all exhaust our knowledge of the others’ language quickly but smile a lot and then we are on our way. I think they want some privacy. They are young, we are old and don’t think of that stuff anymore.
The fog is rolling in thickly now and, as with all of our hikes it’s starting to get dark.
Making our way back we take Lugard Road around the peak, level easy strolling here. Amazing views of the city and harbor below as the lights on the skyscrapers flick on. We make the circuit, and then start down. Down, down, down, cramping calves - ouch! Eventually we make it to the bottom, of course, easy for Tony, as he runs this every other day, but for out of shape me, it’s tough. But fun. I always love the challenge. I especially love the frosty beer at Dublin Jacks in Soho afterwards! So I’m sweaty, windblown & fuzzy-haired - too pooped to care.
p.s. Zoe (my daughter) & I talked - I find out that her employer is buying a r/t ticket
The Peak
Peak-a-blue! to HK as a bonus for nannying (a word?) with them for a year. Fun for us! Mainland here we come!
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Craig N
non-member comment
Sweet
wonder pics, when are you comming home? I like the pics, but hearing about them would be nice. Peace, Laterz, Craig N