Hong Kong > Victoria Peak of Hong Kong

When we wake up, the cruise is practically over. The coast of China is already visible in the distance. For the last time we head to breakfast. Although we are not seated in his section, Charlie comes over to take our coffee order. He has served us throughout the entire week and enjoyed hearing that we had visited his home country, the Philippines. He will remain on board this ship for another month and then spend two months at home. After that, he hopes to begin another eight-month contract. At ten o’clock the Costa Serena docks at the pier in Hong Kong. From the outer deck we watch the final meters to the quay being completed. The weather in Hong Kong is beautiful and the skyline is clearly visible. We have a time slot of 11:45 a.m. to disembark. We enjoy another coffee and say goodbye to our table companions from the past week. Around half past eleven we decide we have had enough and leave the ship. Inside the terminal hall we encounter a long line for immigration. All passengers are checked and registered. The process takes more than half an hour. Afterwards we quickly locate our suitcases. We are planning to take the metro to our hotel, but I forgot to download the street map in Google Maps beforehand. As a result, it is difficult to find our bearings. Once outside the terminal this becomes even harder. People are everywhere on the narrow sidewalks. New guests are arriving, Costa excursions are departing, and passengers are leaving the ship. The metro station also turns out to be difficult to reach. Apparently we would first need to take a bus for one stop, since the metro station is located on the other side of the water. But how do you pay for a bus without local currency? It all sounds complicated and we do not feel like dragging our luggage around. We decide to take a taxi to the hotel instead. Unfortunately taxis only accept cash as well. At an exchange counter we change one hundred euros. The exchange rate is terrible; there is probably more than ten percent commission hidden in it. At least now we have money for the taxi. The driver is pleased that the Booking.com confirmation also shows the hotel name in Chinese. We set off. The hotel is located near Nathan Road, the busy luxury shopping street of Hong Kong. Traffic in the district around the hotel is completely jammed. The taxi driver advises us to take the escalator up to the street above. “Your hotel is there,” he says. Once upstairs we find ourselves in a street full of cafés and restaurants. But where exactly is our hotel? When I ask someone for directions, he points toward the end of the entertainment street. We walk past bars but still cannot find the hotel. The second person we ask apologizes because he does not know either, although he is convinced it must be nearby. Before we can ask anyone else, we finally spot the hotel ourselves. Although check-in officially starts at three o’clock, our room is already available, which is very convenient. In the afternoon we leave the hotel for a walk. The neighborhood is filled with local restaurants and small shops. The sidewalks are crowded. Eventually we reach Nathan Road. It is also busy here with shoppers, but the sidewalks are much wider. We follow the road toward the waterfront. When we arrive at the harbor we see Hong Kong Island and Victoria Peak across the water. We continue walking along the waterfront to the ferry terminal. At a ticket machine we buy tickets for the crossing. Shortly afterwards we board the upper deck of the Star Ferry, the oldest ferry service in Hong Kong. In the past this was the only way to reach Hong Kong Island. Within a few minutes we arrive on the opposite shore. From the ferry we walk toward Statue Square. The walking route follows numerous pedestrian bridges while the busy traffic rushes below us. Around Statue Square lies the financial district with its towering skyscrapers. The former colonial courthouse still reflects a different era. We continue toward Hollywood Road and Soho. Using the Central–Mid-Levels escalator we reach Hollywood Road, a long street lined with restaurants and antique shops. The steep side streets are filled with local eateries and boutiques. Farther along the road we visit Man Mo Temple. This Taoist temple is one of the oldest temples in Hong Kong and is dedicated to the gods Man and Mo. While walking back toward the Peak Tram, we stop for a drink at one of the cafés. Around half past five we arrive at the Peak Tram station. Our idea is to enjoy the view while darkness slowly falls over the city. Clearly many other people have the same plan. Long queues stretch in front of the old tram. There is nothing else to do but join the line. Even the queue for people with online tickets does not seem to move any faster. Every ten minutes a tram departs uphill. I estimate the waiting time to be around an hour. As we climb the steep slope, the lights of Hong Kong begin to glow below us. By the time we reach the top, it is already dark, creating a spectacular view. To our surprise the crowd at the viewing platform is actually not too bad. Where did all those people go? Once it is completely dark, we take the tram back down. We follow the signs toward Central Station, but somehow this does not seem quite right. We ask again and discover that we have already walked past it. We buy metro tickets at the counter, which seems easier than using the machines. But how do we know which direction to take? A passerby helps us and explains that we can simply board any train because Central is the starting point of the line. All trains travel in the same direction from here. Two stops later we get off again. We have passed beneath the harbor and are back in Kowloon. On our walk to the hotel we pass a pleasant local restaurant. There is a queue outside, so we join it. Ordering is done via a QR code, but that does not work for us. Fortunately we can still order directly from the waitress. The dish we saw advertised outside turns out to be a lunch special. A woman sitting at the next table kindly helps us with the order and translation. We order something called a combo, expecting two dishes, but it turns out to be just one. The same woman assures us that it is perfectly fine to share it. So that is exactly what we do. In the end the meal costs us just over ten euros, and it tastes excellent as well. From there we walk back to the hotel. Even though people along the nightlife street try to lure us onto their terraces, we head straight to our hotel room instead.