We visited Hong Kong back in March 2018 as part of an extension of our China Tour with Nexus Holidays. Fortunately, the extension was well worth it. We had a nice hotel and the benefit of a half day tour around Hong Kong Island.
In the morning, we were picked up by minibus and escorted to the base of Victoria Peak for our tram car ride up the side of the mountain. We arrived around 10:00 am and were greeted to this massive queue to get onto the tram ride. In the photo below, you can see how long the queue was.
As the tram car approached, we stood back and watched the eager would-be passengers hustle forward.
Unbeknownst to us and thanks to our tour guide, before even the first passenger got onto the tram, we were ushered to the front of the line and were the first people in. We rocked up late and somehow managed to get in first. I certainly bad, but I can’t complain. I was glad we didn’t have to wait in line.
The tour guide explained that he and his company had priority rights for its guests and customers. So if you want to skip the queue, you now know which company let’s you do it. Our tour guide was a funny guy. He was very patriotic to his city and its people. For example, when a US couple promoted their country, our tour guide reminded us all that Hong Kong had one of the best health care systems in the world and one of the lowest tax rates as well. He wouldn’t accept that there was a better place outside Hong Kong, even Singapore or Australia.
The tram car ride was mostly pleasant. The tram was an odd wooden tram that shook a lot. The ride up is a steep one. The incline is almost 45 degrees, so me and my wife, then fiancee, remained seated all the way up. It was a slow ride up and a scenic one at that.
At the top, when you arrive at the Peak Tower Station, you can shop around at the various stores. It’s a shopping center with museums, like the Trick Eye Museum, and restaurants. We had the chance to dawdle around the shops and explore the towers. We were just amazed that they had an Häagen-Dazs ice-cream store – don’t have that in Melbourne.
Outside the Peak Tower Station are crowds of people. It is here that you can wander around to capture a glimpse of the city on the other side of Kowloon Bay, e.g. Kowloon. We noticed a lot of jolly retired people striding around taking paparazzi photos of everything. It was more comical than annoying when they jumped into the photo unexpectedly.
I managed to capture some stunning photos of the city and also helped our other companions on the tour take photos of them with the city in the background. It was such a beautiful day out. Couldn’t have asked for better.
At the time, I knew the city did some impressive light shows over Victoria Harbour. I think watching it from this peak would be ideal. Unfortunately, I came during the day so I missed out on the night time affair. Oh well…
Notwithstanding everything that has happened and it’s a lot between 2018 and 2020, I still highly recommend visiting Victoria Peak in your life time.
Please support the website by liking the article or subscribing to the mailing list.
Here are some of my recent articles:
Discover more from Australian Sightseer
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
