I had chosen for my first excursion and introduction to take a view of Hong Kong by night. We drove first, in heavy Friday evening rush hour traffic, through the third and oldest tunnel built by the Japanese in 1972 (?) under Victoria Harbour from the Kowloon Peninsula to Hong Kong Island and the financial centre of this bustling city. The three road tunnels under the harbour have sadly almost wiped out the Star Ferry service, an institution in travel that has connected Kowloon and Hong Kong Island since 1898. It lost over £5m last year.
Although cars carry a 100% import tax – as our guide put it when you buy a car “you buy one for yourself and one for the Government” there are still plenty around but they are outnumbered by Leyland Enviro 500 busses – diesel electric driven to cut down pollution but much bigger double deckers than in London with twin rear axles. Even with this stream of buses and a highly efficient and cheap Mass Transport metro the traffic was horrendous.
As we approached the Peak Tram station our guide gave a groan – the queue was massive!! Noting that we might queue for an hour to get up and another hour to get down he suggested that we take the bus to Victoria Peak. It was either that or miss out on our Chines banquet. The response was a unanimous vote to take the bus. I didn’t mind anyway since my tour the next day included an accent by the Peak Tram in the early morning.
The central district of Hong Kong island is over-shadowed by Victoria Peak – a green swathed mountain on Hong Kong Island rising to 1,818 ft. And ascended by the Peak Tram – actually a funicular railway - which has been operating since 1888. A path was cleared to the summit of Victoria Peak in 1859 and road access followed in 1924. Described as impossibly steep but ‘believe it or not’ not the steepest in the world, an accolade held by the Funicular railway that ascends the Olympic Tower in Montreal and recorded in the Guinness Book of Records (See my Canada Eastern Seaboard Blog) - Peak Tram was completed in 1888.
The winding road up to Victoria Peak offered some spectacular views but nothing to compare with vistas from the Peak itself (See photos). This area has long been a residential retreat for the rich; the former British Governor had a summer residence here. Tall blocks of apartments rise up from the seemingly most precarious positions on the steep mountainside but presumably have deep foundations in the rock. South facing apartments on these slopes are highly valued offering cooling winds from the Southeast in summer and protection from the cold northeast winds in the winter. Hong Kong summers bring high temperatures – 35C and above – with high humidity in excess of 95% so air-conditioning whether natural or mechanical is a must.
We arrived just after dusk and it was a real thrill to watch the buildings light up literally as darkness fell, each one seemingly outdoing the other in terms of the colour and animation of the displays.
The photos are looking out over the financial district of Hong Kong Island and across Victoria Harbour towards Kowloon. Among the pristine skyscrapers lit up against the night sky are the Bank of China, the HSBC Headquarters and the International Finance Centre, the tallest building in Hong Kong. This last is the only one that you will positively be able to identify and for film buffs this is where the last Batman movie was filmed. Its apex is almost level with our viewing position.
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