Strange dreams. A restless night. A raging thirst. Drinking too many cocktails on our first day in Hong Kong had taken its toll on me.
Graham had it worse, lying awake for three hours, which meant jet lag was still punishing us several days after landing in the Far East.
Fresh from our stay in Macau, we arrived in Hong Kong on the efficient ferry. In the former British Colony we’d booked into the Hotel Icon, run by a polytechnic that trains its hospitality students there. Modern and stylish, the hotel stands in an otherwise lacklustre part of town at Tsim Sha Tsui but we found its staff to be young and friendly. Our room was compact but had an amazing view of the harbour. We grabbed a quick lunch in the ground floor Green cafe and bar and then spent a few hours by the pool up on the ninth floor, with its amazing views of Hong Kong Island, the setting sun and the night-time illuminations over the water.
Later, we went back to Green and consumed far too many cocktails, spending a fortune in the process. We ate in the hotel’s celebrated 28th floor restaurant, Above & Beyond, with its modern take on traditional Cantonese cuisine. Neither of us were that hungry and, being rather pissed, we didn’t get the best out of it. Still, what I had was utterly delicious and, again, the view of the harbour was stunning. I knew we were going to like Hong Kong.
So we had a late start to our first full day in the city because of all those cocktails and we missed the standard breakfast in our hotel, opting instead for a la carte. That, in turn, meant enough fruit and pastries to feed a small village.
The sun was shining as we left for Tsim Sha Tsui station in the hotel bus, ready to catch the metro over to Hong Kong Island and Victoria Peak. We emerged from the ever so clean and terribly efficient Central station to the island’s forest of skyscrapers, a truly extraordinary experience that put even the mighty blocks of New York City to shame. With the towering hills as a backdrop, it felt more overwhelming and much more enclosed than Manhattan.
We found the the Victoria Peak tram and a queue of monumental proportions. Perhaps we shouldn’t have been surprised – the peak is, after all, one of the territory’s biggest attractions, the island’s highest point. Getting there on the old funicular railway is the romantic way to do it and, fortunately, the queue moved fairly quickly. At the top of the funicular the crowds were out in force in a street that’s tourism with knobs on, lined with coffee shops and garish fast food takeaways.
The trip gave us our first glimpse of this remarkable city from on high, and an opportunity to see what Hong Kong is all about. Every square foot of usable space has been exploited to the maximum, the skyline full of towers, cranes and building sites. Only the sharpest of hills and mountains lie untouched, doubtless because building on them is an impossibility. We stopped for ages, surveying the landscape and some of the more audacious of the modern towers. Ferries and other vessels, big and small, chugged through the channel between Kowloon and the island.
We turned away from the crowds and fast food joints on to a circular walk around the peak, amid lush vegetation and with excellent views of the harbour, Kowloon and Lamma Island. Sadly, the heat haze took the edge off what we could see but there was no denying the grandeur of the cityscape. Around us were a mixed bunch – Chinese tourists snapping away on their phones, elderly folk out for some exercise, expats jogging and chatting, a couple of loud Aussie women walking their dogs.
We decided to walk on up to the Victoria Peak Garden, a steep climb that left me panting and perspiring in the heat. These were the grounds of the old governor’s mansion, which has long since been demolished, and were quieter and cooler. We saw photographers taking pictures of married couples (real or models we didn’t know), and a group of odd folk with yappy small dogs that were being treated like children.
Lazily, we got a cab back to Central station, unwilling to wait for the bus or to walk down to the busy funicular. And only then, as we descended back into the forest of skyscrapers, did we realise how far we’d climbed. Down at ground level, in the heart of the business district, trillions of people were out shopping or making their way home.
We went back to Kowloon for a walk along the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade, with its wide-open views of the Harbour. Half the population of Hong Kong had chosen to do the same walk at the same time, and 99% of those were obsessed with taking photos of pretty much anything that moved – animal, vegetable or mineral. A section of the path is devoted to the city’s film stars and movie industry, and a statue of Bruce Lee was surrounded by adoring fans. It was pretty bonkers so we found a bar in a nearby Italian restaurant – Spasso – and grabbed a beer. Or two.
For an evening meal we opted for the same Italian, and some surprisingly good food. By the time we hit a German bar a short walk away for beers, we were both completely exhausted from the ever-present jet lag.
Time for bed…