Hong Kong heaven

So we said goodbye to the Peninsula Hotel and Port Douglas and headed back along the coast road to Cairns for our Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong. John was delighted that they had mini pies with ‘sauce’ (tomato ketchup) in the lounge and was able to indulge in a final splurge on Aussie pies before we left! It was dark by the time we got to Hong Kong but it meant a great view of the skyline on our ride in from the airport. I’d got us a great deal at the City Garden Hotel so I was a bit anxious about what the hotel would be like for under £100 a night including breakfast and complimentary aperitifs. It was really nice and we were on the club floor at the top with a pretty spacious room for Hong Kong. I think it was the location that made it so much cheaper than the usual suspects – the other side of Victoria Park from Causeway Bay in a very Chinese residential district but that made it all the more interesting. There was a little garden outside the hotel with blossom trees – strange to go from autumn to spring in 7 hours, where people walked their dogs and school children hung about. The view was mainly of the residential tower blocks, festooned with washing (clearly a Chinese gene somewhere in the Chambers make up which makes us so keen to do laundry all the time) but we did get a small slice of harbour to watch the boats go by and a glimpse of the taller towers above the flats.
Next morning was a beautiful spring day with hazy sunshine and low humidity so we set off to walk through Causeway Bay and all the way to Central. Hong Kong is such an interesting place to walk around, though quite tricky with such high density buildings and endless flyovers and walkways above street level so it took quite a long time to walk relatively short distances. We walked the length of Lockhart St which is clearly where you go if you’re renovating as every shop offered doors, tiles, bathrooms, light switches, flooring and every conceivable item of household fixtures and fittings. Once we’d had a wander round Central we took the Peak Tram up the hill to enjoy the view during the day. It was a bit hazy but very pleasant and relatively quiet compared with the bustle below. We had some absolutely fantastic Sushi with soft shell crab and avocado in the maki rolls before getting the tram back down and the walk back to the hotel. We walked through Victoria Park which is lovely – blossom trees, azaleas and grasses as well as bowls, tennis, an outdoor pool, a pebble walk, jogging track and people doing tai chi or just sitting eating takeaway noodles or dim sum. After so many hours of walking we decided to eat in the hotel since they boasted an ‘award winning’ Cantonese restaurant. It was tremendous and rightly deserving of award winning status. We had some prawns and then shared a duck, which they carved at the table and then served with pancakes and also minced with lettuce leaves.
Next day we headed out to Kowloon trying out the impressive MTR metro system – I love the interactive on train maps with flashing lights to tell you which direction the train is going in and the interchange stations where you change lines by walking across to another platform. After Kowloon we went up to the viewing platform in the Bank of China tower, there was some kind of demo going on outside but by handing over our UK driving licences they let us in and up to the 43rd floor for the view of the city and the harbour. More Sashimi and Sushi in a small Causeway Bay canteen before the stroll back through the park. We fancied dinner with a view and booked the restaurant in the Excelsior where we had a window seat looking across the harbour to Kowloon and along to Central. A really great spot for dinner and the food was lovely as well. We watched the boats cruising the harbour and also coming in for the night into the sheltered moorings below.
We booked the hotel for another night, even though we were leaving for the airport at 8pm, to allow us to make the most of the final day of our trip, rather than checking out at 11am and then doing a lot of hanging around – the last thing you need before 18 hours of travelling! We took the MTR to Lantau Island and queued up for the cable car at the end of the line. It was all very efficient with timed boarding and a very well organised system. The cable car is terrific, over 5km long, crossing 2 bodies of water and swapping twice onto a different cable as it climbs the hills and swoops back down to the village. As well as the view of the island and the coastline you also get a bird’s eye view of the airport with the planes landing and taking off below. The ‘heritage’ village is very touristy with lots of gift shops and tacky souvenirs and unauthentic looking food outlets (including the ubiquitous Subway). We walked through it to the more subdued and calm atmosphere of Po Lin monastery where the air was scented with incense and blossom. I persuaded John to climb the 200 steps to the giant Buddha which is pretty impressive and has a great view. Then we retraced our steps down on the cable car and the MTR to Kowloon.
We had promised ourselves afternoon tea at The Peninsula and arrived at about 2.30pm. We hadn’t reckoned on that being a popular Saturday choice for everyone else visiting Hong Kong and had to stand in the queue very patiently till nearly 4pm. It was worth the wait though with a tiered cake stand of sandwiches, savouries, cakes and scones. We took the champagne option as well as tea since we felt we’d earned it after all the queuing! One of the UK’s most successful and long lasting exports – the British Empire may be long gone but wherever the Brits were you can still take afternoon tea!
Replete, we headed back to the hotel for the final case packing and bath before taking a cab to the airport for the very last leg of our amazing journey. A 13 hour flight to Heathrow and the short hop to Manchester.