Our first day is in Hong Kong, and it’s been a few years since we were here last. In fact the last time we were here together was back in 2009 with the boys, and my last trip here was probably a decade ago while still working for Ricoh. It hasn’t changed much in that time, but the technology to get us around easily certainly has.
Probably the biggest change has been the Octopus card to pay for public transportation, which we used just a few minutes after getting off our flight from Sydney. Straight out of the terminal and jumping onto the A21 CityBus to bring us within a stones throw of our hotel; the Holiday Inn Golden Mile on Nathan Road. At $35 HKD ($7 AUD) it was really good value for the nearly one-hour bus trip from the airport to the city.
Today we made use of the Octopus to get across the harbour on the Star Ferry, https://www.starferry.com.hk/en/home, an absolute must for anyone visiting Hong Kong. With a fair at a little over $1 AUD this is a great, fairly slow, trip across the harbour. All up it takes about seven-minutes.
Thats’s not a picture of the Star Ferry, but a picture from the Star Ferry.
Next we re-visited Victoria Peak, getting to the top of the peak via The Peak Tram. The weather today was a to better than it was last time; last time we have a picture that really just shows cloud!! Victoria Peak was quite busy, and the funicular was full on both the journey up and the journey down. Fun fact: the funicular’s incline is 27.5 degrees.
On the way back to the hotel we wandered here and there in Central and went to the Goose bar for a quick beer. The Goose bar, as we discovered once we had beers in front of us, is actually American.
In the evening we met with an old work colleague of mine who was my opposite number in Hong Kong while we both worked for Ricoh. The last time we met was in Hong Kong about 10 years ago after he had left Ricoh. We had a great night with Gary and his son, and his choice of restaurant for our first full day in Hong Kong was fantastic. https://www.jadegarden.com.hk/en At this meal we had our first Peking Duck of the trip, it was delightful.
The evening ended on a sad note though as I received a message from the UK that my stepfather had passed away. It wasn’t unexpected news, but at the same time it marks the end of yet another of life’s chapters. We will most probably attend the funeral back in the UK, so that means our travel plans will change. As we make arrangements we’ll update the information on this site, and the travel map.
