Monday 15 April 2013

Tuesday 9:00 to noon (The Peak)

I start for the second Must-See of any city I visit.  The WATER I have visited this morning, not it is time to visit the HIGHEST POINT, and that is made easy in Hong Kong; it is aptly named The Peak and there is a tram going up there ;-)

And as usual, getting here is half the fun:  Double Decker Trams:  You see the city; you smell the city; you see the people of the city; price is HK$ 2.30 (30 Canadian cents?) for a journey along the entire distance (I never took it to the end; it takes more than one hour)










Contrary to earlier indications:  Some signs should be noticed! I assume that these wooden double-deckers were not designed with Westerners in mind, who seem to prefer air-conditioned transportation.








And as can be seen in this picture of this particular Westerner: there is only negative space left between my head and the wooden beams.









                                                                                                                                                                                    When the previously full tram reaches Central Station, the business centre and transfer station to Kowloon, it
becomes very empty.  If that was not enough, the visitor can recognize they are at Central, by various expensive stores on the street, Armani, Gucci, etc etc, the pictures of which are irrelevant since they look the same all over world, and by this particular weird buildings, which literally seems to have bells & whistles on its roof.
Given that the air in Hong Kong during the winter months comes from the North, this station probably has its work cut out for it, but not much it can do. Evacuate 7 Million people just because China is being particular dirty today? Not likely.


Also encountered along the way:  The tram does not actually have to wait for these people.  They only work when the light for the tram is RED, then they have to jump for safety.  Also note the low-tech approach to
water-cooling the jack-hammer drill ;-)










Walking around Hong Kong reminded me why I like this city so much: It is sooo green. 













 
And the buildings are actually fun to look at (My 5 year old pseudo-nephew Mika would think he's in Lego-Land ;-).














Did I mention green? OK, also a tad steep!
















Green! (and maybe my Dream-apartment ;-)














This is a playground above the Peak Station. Playground! Is it necessary to mention Green again?














My dream apartment is for rent!

















And I'm afraid to write a comment for this one.  Let's leave it at: I had no idea it was recyclable!














Green?
















Flash-Gordon flash-back?
















Did I mention architecture?

















And how do we build this architecture?
















Another one for Mika!  Note active fire hoses on small boat and on land ;-)
A water battle!















Not sure Mika would like this one:  In the dried-seafood wholesalers district.















I like the signs that leave absolutely no room for error ;-)  Maybe they should add:  "The arrow is the arrow-shaped thingy above" ?
















And the Chinese Phrase of the day is:    Mei fiet huat  (my feet hurt)






















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