The Airwolf Journal: Hong Kong on a Shoestring! (The Peak, Star Ferry, Harbour City, 1881)

The Peak

After exchanging our USD into HKD at a Money Exchanger in Mirador Mansion (it's somewhere in the ground floor, I just forgot the name because there are actually a lot; rate was at 1 USD = 7.74 HKD), we paid Canny the 100 HKD key deposit plus the 1350 HKD for our 3-night stay. We have finally settled ourselves into the hostel. We decided it was already time for our lunch. It was exactly 12 NN at that time. The sun is up. And this was exactly the weather I have been praying for.

We went to the other side of Nathan Road, walked along Haiphong Road, and turned left into Lock Road and finally found a place to eat. It's a sort of like a Chinese fast food restaurant along Lock Road, we didn't know the name of the place as it was all in Chinese characters. And because we were obviously hungry, we forgot to bring our cameras and document this part of our day. Tsk tsk. So just to sum it all up, it is true what they say about the food servings in HK. It's "ginormous". Also, because we didn't really know what we we're actually ordering, we ended up finishing a super spicy noodle until the meal's end. Oh and the taste of it is still stuck in my memory. Too bad we have no pictures to show. Haist.

Moving on. After our weird but satisfying lunch, we thought it was time to... REST. And rest is what we did until around 4:30 pm. Actually, our original itinerary included a trip to Stanley after lunch. But we were just too tired from being awake for almost 24 hours. And so we bid the Stanley part of our trip goodbye, and said hello to 3 hours of sleep.

We left the Pearl Hostel at 4:30 pm. We rode the MTR from Tsim Sha Tsui to Central. It was our very first ride on the MTR, and I was just excited. MTR stations are full of signs and directions, you will never be lost even if that station has three levels of subway. As soon as we arrived in Central, we looked for the J2 Exit and finally got out on the Chater Garden. We chose to walk instead of hopping on BUS 15C at the Central Pier. We figured it would be more convenient and fun.

Bank of China Tower: View from the Chater Garden

Cross Queen's Road and proceed to Garden Road at the right side

Just follow the signs leading to the Peak Tram, it's practically everywhere.

St John's Cathedral: another landmark on the way to the Peak Tram lower terminus

Sights from across the street where the lower terminus is located

Finally, the Peak Tram lower terminus!

Queing for the Peak Tram and Sky Terrace tickets. It was a Thursday, around 5 pm and there was no long line.

We waited for another Peak Tram to arrive; the long queue was apparently at the boarding platform of the Peak Tram.

And because we were the last ones to board the Tram, we weren't able to take a seat. We were actually standing at the back, a major ordeal when taking good pictures. Hahaha.

And then up we go!

It was a good 5-8 minute ride to The Peak.

The Peak Tram actually slowed down at some points along the way, that's why we were able to take pictures of the stunning view of Hong Kong.

View from the window of the Level 3 of the Peak Tower, if I am not mistaken.

We availed the Single Trip Peak Tram and Entrance to Sky Terrace 428 at HKD 53/pax

The view from the Sky Terrace (photo from Galaxy Tab)

Another photo of the Hong Kong skyline (from a Sony digicam)

A walkthrough of the famous HK attractions

Outside the Peak Tower

We stayed at The Peak until 9 PM and decided it was finally time to go back to Central and head to TST via Star Ferry. Because we availed only of the Single Trip Peak Tram ride, a bus ride down is imperative. Hehehe. We took Bus 15 and went down at the very last stop: The Central Pier.

Bus terminus at The Peak

Star Ferry, Harbour City, and 1881

From the bus stop, we walked along the Central Pier to the Star Ferry terminal. The ride only costs around 2 HKD and we just used our Octopus Cards for this. Talk about convenience.

Ready to ride the Star Ferry

Inside the Star Ferry

A quick but fun Star Ferry ride

Honestly after getting off from the Star Ferry, we sort of got lost along the way. We were actually planning to walk straight to the hostel and buy 7/11 food for dinner, but somehow we managed to walk right into Harbour City. We saw the Tao of Laughter exhibit and thought of it as a photo opportunity. The heck, picture taking comes first before hunger. Hahaha.

The Tao of Laughter served its purpose, at least for me.

After the quick photo op, we saw a McDonald's on our way out of Harbour City. Surprisingly, the resto is located in the basement. Oh, I almost forgot, we're in HK! Everything is either way up or way down. I had their Chicken Burger which is very tasty plus I realized their fries are really plenty for a medium order compared to the ones we're used to in the Philippines. Dinner solved!