Hong Kong birthday

What a day. Started with coffee & presents in bed

All while admiring the amazing view over Kowloon & across to HK island, where we were headed for the day. We caught the MTR down to Tsim Sha Tsui. A beautiful sunny clear day - 33 & humid. Next to the Star Ferry terminal we had dim sum (yum Cha) for breakfast in an old fashioned ornate room in the cultural centre, & overlooking Victoria Harbour. Delectable morsels & not a tourist in sight. Actually most of the tourists here are Chinese.

The old Star Ferry then took as across the harbour - last time I was here 25 years ago there was no metro under the harbour & the ferries were jammed packed all the time. It looks like the same boats well looked after, & only 50c!  We caught a groovy double decker skinny tram where you get on through the turnstile at the back and pay on the way out at the front. Everything seems more expensive than it is because there's 5 HK dollars to 1 NZ dollar, so I'm constantly doing the maths in my head.

Next the Peak tram - OMG the queues. It used to be public transport to get up and down from the upmarket apartments but now it's a major tourist attraction. Throngs of tourists crammed into an enclosed space waiting to board the tram. I think we waited about 45 mins - the worst part of the day. Amazingly steep journey and you have to sit facing up or you'd slide out of your seat. Mind you,we weren't actually lucky enough to get a seat on the way up - our elbows weren't sharp enough!

The view from the peak was pretty impressive- once you fought your way past the stalls, restaurants & up all the escalators.

We didn't loiter because I wanted to check out the worlds longest outdoor escalator. It goes up in stages all through the residential area and for 4 hours in the morning it reverses to get all the workers down. But of course after going all the way up we had to walk back down seemingly hundreds of flights of steps! We were a bit hot & shaky at the end of that! 

Back to the fabulous Langham hotel for a swim- and guess what was waiting in our room- a birthday cake with a present of a free cocktail at the bar. Champagne & cake, followed by the light show over the harbour. Then cocktails, sashimi, and a spa - what a day!