Stranded by a Typhoon?


Advertisement
Hong Kong's flag
Asia » Hong Kong » Hong Kong Island » The Peak
September 14th 2016
Published: June 14th 2017
Edit Blog Post

We set off for this morning's destination of Victoria Peak, which requires catching a Star Ferry across the harbour. I remember going on one of these when I was here as a nine year old, and they don't look like they've changed too much. We swap some cash for two plastic tokens which get us through the gates to the gangplank. The staff are all dressed in sailor suits, and look like oversized four year olds. The water looks dirty brown and full of rubbish, and I start worrying again about the man we saw swimming in the harbour in front of the hotel the day we arrived. Issy says that if he's still alive he must be immune to every disease known to man, plus a few others that haven’t been discovered yet.

The hotel concierge told us that we had to catch a 15 seat bus from the ferry terminal. There seem to lots of big buses here, but we can't see any smaller ones. We then happen to notice a large bus numbered 15C which says it's a shuttle to the Victoria Peak Tram Terminal. I seems I may have misunderstood the concierge; "15C" certainly sounded like "15 seat" when he said it. The bus driver says that he doesn't give change, which I suspect is probably a highly effective means of extorting large overpayments from unsuspecting tourists who don't have the right fare.

The Peak Tram is a funicular railway, which I also remember travelling on as a nine year old. It feels a bit like a roller coaster. Its slope is very variable, and we read that it's as precipitously steep as 27 degrees in places. We're just about the last people to get on, so we're two of only a handful who are standing up. The slope forces us to lean against the back wall, and in the 27 degree bits it feels like we're lying down. Because the track's so steep the high rise buildings we pass all look like they're leaning over. We read that this is a well known optical illusion that's been the subject of several detailed university studies. I wonder how you study an optical illusion. I would have thought all you could do would be to ask a whole lot of people whether the buildings looked like they were leaning over, although I suppose you could also ask them by how much. I would have thought you could have knocked this off in half an afternoon. I think Universities must be very good at turning simple issues into long and detailed studies.

The terminal at the peak is a massive building full of shops and museums, with a large viewing platform on the roof. It's a bit hazy, but the views are still stunning. We reflect again on the size and small spacing between the high rise buildings below us. It looks like you could shake hands with the person on the corresponding floor in the apartment block next door if you felt so inclined.

We see a sign stored away in the corner saying something about a Level 1 typhoon warning. I think I remember reading somewhere about Hong Kong being subject to typhoons, so we suspect they must bring these signs out of storage when there's one nearby. I also remember reading about typhoon defences that they put up to protect boats in the harbour. I'm not sure these are something we'd want to see in action first hand.

We set off on a three kilometre nature walk around the top of the Peak. It takes us along a narrow one way road through the jungle, and is very relaxing. We read that when Hong Kong was first colonised by the British, expatriates lived up here during the summer to escape the heat. The area then became very popular so they enacted a law that only expatriates were allowed to live up here, and if any of the residents wanted to go back down into Hong Kong city they got their personal uniformed servants to carry them there in sedan chairs. The mountainside is ridiculously steep, and it's hard to imagine how this would have been possible. I hope the servants were paid well, although I suspect they were probably barely paid at all. This all sounds it like it was only about half a step above slavery, and it's a bit sobering that it only happened about a hundred years ago.

When we get to the bottom the tram rebounds a few metres back up the hill, presumably as a result of the cable stretching. I wonder how often it breaks.

We prowl the backstreets of Kowloon near Nathan Road, where we're constantly hassled by Indian men trying to get us to buy suits and fake watches. I'm not sure why anyone would want to own a fake watch. The men are very persistent. One follows us and refuses to take no for an answer. He asks me how I can say no when I haven't even been to his shop to see the quality of his suits.

We've noticed a few interesting fashion statements on display here. Surgical face masks seem to be a particular favourite. We were given a notice on the flight here warning us about MERS, and it went on to suggest that we should avoid all contact with animals, particularly camels. Fortunately we haven't seen a lot of camels wandering the streets here. The notice also said that if you started to feel sick you should put on a surgical face mask. There must be a lot of people here feeling sick. We've also noticed lots of women wearing very large wide brimmed hats, presumably to protect them from the sun. They also however seem to wear them indoors and at night, so bright lights must also presumably be considered hazardous.

They drive on the left hand side of the road here, the same as they do in most former British colonies. We read however that they drive on the right hand side of the road in the rest of China. I wonder what happens at the border. I suspect that this would be worth watching, and I'm a bit surprised I haven't seen vision of it on U-Tube.

As we walk into the hotel we see another sign about a Level 1 typhoon warning. This one however isn't stored away in the corner; it's been positioned so that we can't miss it. It has a map on it which seems to show a typhoon heading towards Taiwan, and it's well within the 800 kilometre radius from Hong Kong which seems to be the trigger for warnings. I pick up a newspaper in the lobby. It says that there is in fact a "super typhoon" heading for Taiwan, and the typhoon warning level in Hong Kong is likely to go up to Level 3 tomorrow. It goes on to say that the warning level here mightn't get to Level 8. Mightn't get to Level 8? How reassuring, not. I suspect the whole place probably gets blown away well before the warning level gets anywhere near that. It seemed to be a bit windy outside, but not overly so. Issy looks very worried. She asks me to remind her again when we're flying home. I suspect she's not overly keen on the prospect of flying through a super typhoon, and I'm not sure I am either for that matter.

I swim, while Issy sleeps and eats all the snacks that I bought for us to eat. She then tells me that she feels guilty, and that I need to hide them whenever I go to the pool. We happen to wander past a Japanese restaurant. At least I don't need to think any more about where we might be eating tonight.


Additional photos below
Photos: 10, Displayed: 10


Advertisement



Tot: 0.058s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 15; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0281s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb