Days: 3 (11 June 2017)

Total distance travelled: 17,753.17 kilometres (11,026.81 miles)

Breakfast was a small selection of baked goods from what could only have been the Hong Kong equivalent of ‘Bread Top’ (this is an Asian style bakery chain back in Australia, selling egg tarts, etc).

I’ve trust in that statement, as even the colours and font used in the name of the bakery were identical… I just can’t for the life of me recall its name!

Anyway, with the sun shining, we walked our way again down to the harbour, jumped on a ferry and were shortly back across on Hong Kong island.

Our short term goal. To crest Victoria Peak while the sun still shone and before the heat got too oppressive.

Another advantage of hitting it up first thing, was that the queues for the funicular (our means of reaching the top) were a little shorter.

Despite this, by the time the old red car clinked its way into the station, there was a fair enough crowd and the cabin was filled in short order and our ascent began.

Initially, we were surrounded by buildings, but their presence soon felt slightly less enveloping. That’s not to say they disappeared, as in this city, they’ve done an incredible job of building a fair distance up the mountain side.

Still, we eventually broke free into sunshine, lush undergrowth on the mountain side of the car, and ever improving city views on the other.

We passed two or three smaller stations during the climb, but I can only recall stopping at maybe one of them, before got to the final, and our stop, Peak Tower Station.

It was an odd, sort of place.

Built like some sort of shopping mall, with stores and a few eateries, most of which were closed, we found it funnel us to a series of escalators which gave access to the viewing platforms at the top, and the much sought after city vistas below.

This was Sky Terrace 428 (we’d bought a combination tram and terrace entrance ticket).

Immediately, we could also feel it was already hotter.

The views were really impressive as well, allowing us to take in Hong Kong below, Kowloon across the harbour and even to the south, with us being able to spy Aberdeen in the distance past a sea of green trees.

There were even a few condos or apartments on the peak which came as a surprise, and some complex that looked either military, astronomical or meteorological (or possibly a combination of them all) sitting even higher.

It wasn’t long before the city views below started to get a bit hazy as well, making us glad we’d come up when it was at least somewhat clear.

As we made our way back towards the tram to head back down into the city, the terrace complex threw a series of walls at us, that were akin to one of those illusion art places, where you can pose in scenes that look 3 dimensional.

Probably works better for families with kids (or we could just have been in the wrong mood, or spoil sports), but posing with some Kung Fu Pandas or flying Peking Duck just didn’t seem to get us excited.

For the record, we do love Peking Duck…

Which is the perfect Segway into where we were headed, lunch!

We had a specific destination in mind, which at the time was considered the cheapest Michelin Star restaurant in the world, Tim Ho Wan in Central (basically another mall above Central metro station).

Now here’s the thing… there’s actually a Tim Ho Wan restaurant in Melbourne! Only, our local one isn’t the one with the Michelin Star, so here we were, standing in a queue to enter a place that wouldn’t look out of place in any shopping mall food court in the world.

At least we were just a pair, so it was going to be a shorter wait for us, than for a larger group that stood in wait. It wasn’t the sort of place where you sat and indulged in a bottle of wine over a meal either, so most people were in and out reasonably quickly which certainly helped.

A short time later, we were seated at one end of a table, with a shiny menu on the table in front of us, and a slip of paper on which we made our order.

Fortunately written in English as well, the system was simple. You put a quantity beside the item or items you wanted and once collected, it was all delivered rather promptly.

Famed for their Pork Buns, they were a non negotiable in our order, and we tried a few other random items which we washed down with a can of soft drink each (no booze on this menu).

Given that they’re something we normally love, we actually found the style of Pork Bun here all that amazing, but the dumplings and stuffed peppers we ordered to accompany them, were all delicious.

Inside half an hour, and we were in and out of the cheapest Michelin Star restaurant in the world, with the ridiculously low bill that it comes with!

Full bellies had been the only short term plan we’d had for the rest of the day, so it became a question of, what now?

We hit the streets and did a bit of a wander by foot (certainly nothing unusual for us), eventually finding our way to the colonial but sadly rather inactive western market.

Exploring the building, we did end up inside a reception hall, seemingly decked out for a wedding, but we were there well before any party had started.

This area of the city, every half block or so, you could really get a sense of the hillside on which the neighbourhood was built, with sloped streets, and a series of stairs cutting between buildings at regular intervals to allow access to higher, or lower tier of the city.

We even passed another restaurant (this one right up our alley, with the window chock full of crispy ducks), that claimed to have been in the Michelin guide, in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017!

Away from a lot of the big commerical high rises, there was a lot more grime, chipped tile, and cracked footpaths (sidewalks), but it felt a lot more real.

We found our way to the Man Mo Temple, so thought we may as well pop in for a bit of a look.

Within, it was far brighter than expected. Natural light found its way in through narrow skylights in the stepped ceiling, beams of light catching the wisps of incense as they meandered upward from huge coils that hung from the roof.

In addition to the natural light, there were walls of lanterns, and the odd candle planted in bowls of sand, all of it reflecting off golden columns, pots and urns.

Given all this, the place surprisingly didn’t feel like it was lit up like a beacon… in fact it still felt oddly dark.

It was certainly peaceful, with only a few other people wandering about.

By now late-ish in the afternoon, we ferried ourselves back across the harbour, and had a bit more of a wander around our local neighbourhood closer to our hotel.

Of an afternoon and into the evening, travel in pretty much any direction, and you’ll find one of the side streets, closed to traffic and hosting a market spanning at least one (but often many) block.

All manner of cheap clothing, electronics, plastic toys, knock off Lego sets (I was almost tempted by some of those), CD’s or DVD’s, all sorts of junk and treasure… usually made of plastic!

Enough eateries also plied their trade taking advantage of store, so we took a perch on a small table to grab an evening bite, chill with a cold beer and indulge in a little people watching until it got dark.

We weren’t whiling away the time until we retired, rather, until we made our way back to the Kowloon waterfront.

Tonight, we were going to indulge in the harbour light show!

As long as the weather is suitable, this event (which even has a name, A Symphony of Lights) takes place EVERY day, at 8pm, so it was certainly by no means late as we made our way down to the harbour.

Apparently there are over 40 buildings involved (we didn’t count, I had to Google this info after the event), and there is apparently some choreography involved… to me it looked like a few flashing and dancing lights.

It was interesting enough, but another one of those things I’d hazard is more enjoyable for families with kids.

There’s also audio commentary as well, usually in either English or Mandarin, but our day, being the Sunday was in Cantonese so was of no benefit to us (not that Mandarin would have been any better).

We watched for a little while, soon had our fill (it was surprisingly busy by the time we left), before wandering back to our hotel to retire for the night.

Notes:

* Our return flights between Melbourne and Hong Kong were FREE utilising Sarah’s boss frequent flyer points.

* MTR’s Airport Express set us back $174HKD per person for a return fare.

* A ride on the Star Ferries cost us $3.40HKD per person one way on the weekends, or $2.50HKD weekdays (we later learned it was cheaper still on the bottom deck).

* A combination return Peak Tram ride, as well as entry into Sky Terrace 428 (known as a ‘Skypass’) cost us $90.00HKD each.

* Our meal at Tim Ho Wan set us back the ‘princely’ sum of $115HKD