Hong Kong Island

I had completely forgotten that Hong Kong was an island. Getting there from Kowloon was easy and fun. You can catch a subway and go under the strait or take one of the frequent ferries plying the waters.......and there are different points of embarkation and disembarkation, so we went one way, walked our legs off on the island and returned from another. I really liked Hong Kong. It felt really comfortable even though it is a huge cosmopolitan city full of high business towers but it has a lot of character too and many interesting nooks and crannies. Many of the buildings were interesting architecturally and the old fashioned trolley trams in the centre of the road reminded me of Toronto. Unfortunately I forgot my camera on the first day there so don't have any of the impressive architecture to show.

We headed for the International Finance Centre, the tallest of the towers, and after handing in our passports, signing away our lives, checking the time in 12 different capitals and watching the monstrous TV screen in the lobby where world stock markets were reeling with the graphs changing faster than we could blink, noting the swish offices of the collapsed Lehmann Bros and the AIG tower, we were permitted to go to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority on the 55th floor. Here was a very interesting exhibition showing how their money is manufactured, at least 4 different processes for each note, and how to discover whether the notes are bona fidae by checking the several security features on each. However our real reason for going there was to see the great view over the city from all angles.





After coffee at McCafe, (MacDonalds a la espresso and lattes and capucinnos no less), and a look at this enormous sculpture of a person doing Tai Chi,

we headed up the Peak Tram (funicula railway) which climbs the side of a mountain at a gradient of between 4 and 27degrees. Pretty scary if you look back! At the very top we were able to see an even better view than from the IFC and we saw the harbour which I think must be one of the busiest in the world and the disappointing layer of brown smog floating above the islands and cities. Hence the greyness of the photos. Reminded us of our trip to LA 30 years ago when we saw the phenomenon for the first time.