Shopping and a trip up the Peak

Tuesday 24th June 2014

Blog post by the mother

Mission for the day - shopping!  We have not done a lot of shopping on this trip for both budgetary and luggage reasons.  We have been saying that we will wait until we get to Hong Kong and now we are here with no more reasons not to shop.  We set off in the morning with a list of places that were recommended for budget shoppers.Our first stop was Harbour City over in Tsim Sha Tsui. 
Suffice to say that Harbour City is HUGE!!  The father managed to purchase a new suit and we picked up a few bits and pieces for people having birthdays.  As always, we managed to spend far more time than was necessary in a bookshop and took time out for a long lunch.  By 3pm we were all shopped out and shattered.  Yes, we are shopping light weights! Back to the apartment we went on the MTR to unload our purchases and then head out again for the evening.

Our great plan was to catch the Peak Tram up to the top, enjoy the view and then maybe head back down to the harbour and go out on the Star Ferry to watch the nightly light show.  An hour in line for the tram soon put paid to that idea.  Contrary to what the photo might lead you to believe the tram terminus was jam packed with people.  It was so incredibly humid and crowded that we had to send the father off on an emergency fizzy drink purchasing trip while we waited in line - I was concerned that I was going to have children starting to faint from the heat and the crowds.

After a bit of a bun fight to make it onto the tram we finally secured seats for everyone and away we went.  The tram is the steepest funicular railway in the world and the views on the way up are incredible.

The views from the top are also incredible. We decided to stay up and watch the light show from the observation deck.  Unfortunately there were no fireworks but it was still pretty amazing seeing the city light up below us with all the neon lights.

By this time it was nearly 8.30pm so we succumbed to a dodgy dinner at McD's and then went to get the tram back down to Central.  The line to go down was almost as long as to come up - thank goodness the rain held off while we were queuing! When we got back down to Central we decided to catch one of the 'Ding Ding' trams back to the apartment.  The ride was great fun and Miss 9 thought the trams looked a bit like the Knight Bus from Harry Potter.