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Published: June 20th 2010
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Today we decided to spend most of the day on Hong Kong Island as we had previously only spent a short time there.
First off all we got the MTR to Central and then walked up these big hills to the base station of the Peak Train. This is a funicular railway which goes up to the Peak, a bit of a misnomer as it’s actually in a pass between two hills. There have been a lot of changes here in the last 12 years as there are now a lot of shops and the ability to go to the top of the Peak Tower. The Sky Terrace is 428m above sea level and the view all over the island is amazing. It was well worth the additional HK$20 to go to the top.
We spent a bit of time here admiring the scenery before we headed off down the hill, this time by bus. It’s actually quite hairy going down the hill as the roads are narrow and winding. On the way we went past Happy Valley and its famous racecourse and a cemetery that is terraced above the racecourse. Quite a strange sight.
We arrived back
down at the ferry area and then tried to find a bus to go to Stanley on the other side of the island. Confusing as it seems, there are actually two bus stations here and we had to go to the other one to get the bus. All sorted and off we went again going past Happy Valley and through a tunnel to Aberdeen.
After coming through the tunnel, we went followed the coast around past Deep Water Bay and Repulse Bay before arriving at Stanley at about 4 pm. We could not believe how wooded this side of the island is - all the steel and concrete on the north and the concrete jungle of Kowloon, and this forest on the south of Hong Kong Island is refreshing. Even the sky was blue, no pollution to speak off.
We stayed around the market area for over two hours just browsing the stalls and trying to negotiate deals. Twice, Gina made an offer for some items and the vendors turned their backs on us and walked away. This has never happened before; it’s normally us that walk away if we cannot get the best deal. There’s a first
time for everything I guess. We bought a few items but missed out on some more, but that’s what happens in markets.
Once we finished we got another bus back to Tsim Sha Tsui. Instead of going through the tunnel, this bus went through Aberdeen and the eastern part of island, through Kennedy Town and under the harbour to Kowloon. Due to the lateness of the trip, it took about two hours to get to Kowloon due to the huge amounts of traffic on the roads.
We dumped our purchases at the hotel and then headed off once more on the MTR. We had been to the Ladies Market yesterday and decided to go back once again. It had been reasonably busy during the day but of a night, Mong Kok and the markets were just heaving with people.
We started at the beginning and worked our way through the stalls once again. There are so many stalls, selling so many different things it was hard to make decisions on purchases. As we did at Stanley, we bought a few things to take home but all at reasonable prices.
It’s been another long day again, but
we have succeeded in making some buys and we look forward to our last full day in Hong Kong tomorrow.
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