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Having woken up
at 1.00 am, we eventually got back to sleep and
were awakened by a telephone alarm call at 7:15.
At the briefing after breakfast, Lizzie confessed
to arranging the early call. It was usually necessary,
she correctly said, and she would be arranging others
throughout the trip. This sounded ominous... The
introductory meeting was held in the hotel bar.
The rest of the group had arrived, and Lizzie briefed
us on the whole Odyssey. However, every time she
started to talk, the man behind the bar started
doing things with the ice machine and she couldn't
be heard. Whilst irritating, we all laughed and
at least it broke the, er..., ice. |
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Unfortunately,
a huge wave caught the ferry at its
moorings and the boat heaved and lurched
violently from side to side. Luckily,
none of our party were on board, but
some people already on the ferry were
thrown to the floor. The gangplank was
hastily pulled up and the ferry re-secured
to the harbour and a few minutes later
we nervously embarked. From the vantage
point of the ferry we could see the
whole harbour front and the many changes
since my last visit (and even since
Bruce's last visit eighteen months ago),
with many new office blocks of startling
designs. |
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We were taken
by Ricky wearing another (?) lime
green shirt (the same colour as the
gum he chewed) on the introductory
tour: we walked to the MTR at Mong
Kok and caught the train to Tsim Tsa
Tsui, thereafter a short walk past
the Peninsula hotel (why weren't we
staying there?) to catch the Star
Ferry to Central. |
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From the Central
Ferry, we caught the courtesy open-top
bus to the Peak tram station (it being
far too hot to walk) and then caught
the tram to the top of Victoria Peak. |
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At the top, Lizzie
treated everyone to a drink at McDonald's,
courtesy of Kuoni. |
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We then went to
see the stunning view from the peak over Hong Kong
harbour.
We also made a reservation for dinner at Café
Deco for dinner that evening. |
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Back to the bottom,
and a (slow) walk through the park with its tropical
plants and butterflies. A revelation to Bruce, who
wasn't aware of the park's existence, despite 15
previous trips to Hong Kong! |
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We walked through the
wonderful Pacific Place shopping centre to
a tram stop. |
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We all got on a 100
year-old, ex-Glasgow, tram which lurched and swayed
through the busy streets to Causeway Bay, where
we scrambled off and were led into a bland office
block and to the eighth floor, where a very unexpected
dim-sum restaurant was located. |
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We had an excellent
meal of at least a dozen courses, finished with
ice-cold,
lemon-flavoured, tapioca pudding (tasting much nicer
than it sounds). |
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At 2.00 pm we
caught the air-conditioned coach to
Aberdeen via the tunnel, where we
got on a sampan steered by a scowling
woman in a coolie hat. |
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We toured the harbour
and saw, at close quarters, the boats on
which many people live. |
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We managed to casually
drop into the conversation with Ros that we'd eaten
at the Yacht Club once or twice... |
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Back on the coach
and on to Stanley and the market. We saw a bag to
replace the one a large bird had made very lucky
recently. It was only HK$ 98 and Bruce refused to
let me haggle. As we left, they all laughed, no
doubt delighted by our ineptitude. You could imagine
them slapping their knees and saying, "98 dollars!
We can shut up shop for the rest of the day!". We
walked round and saw the same bag two minutes later
for HK$ 83...we stopped looking at bags. I saw a
leather belt I liked on a stall and decided this
time to haggle. I ended up buying two but getting
a 10% discount, which pleased me. And at least the
salesman, who was very nice, did not laugh (at least
while I was in earshot). |
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We then drove back
on the coach to Central along the coast road. It
was very scenic, with some spectacular views across
Repulse Bay. Back eventually to the hotel at 6:00
pm and collapse after a shower. |
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Later that evening,
we made our way back to the peak, this time using
the MTR to go directly to Central and not using
the Star Ferry. The trip back up to the peak on
the tram gave us a glimpse of the treat in store
- the night was clear and the views breathtaking.
Before the meal we had a short walk around to admire
the views. We were very surprised to see a man having
a shower in the Peak tram tower, with the windows
wide open, happily abluting and revealing all to
the amused spectators. The meal at the peak restaurant,
with its floor-to-ceiling glass walls and our well
placed table, was a unique and wonderful venue.
The meal itself (carpaccio, tender steak - no pudding,
aren't we good?) excellent. Home with a seat on
the usually-crowded MTR - and bed. |
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