A Visit to Hong Kong Island and The Peak

A Visit to Hong Kong Island and The Peak

(Saturday 18 April, late morning, and afternoon)

View from The Peak

If the weather is going to change then a visit to The Peak is in order. Along with the view from Kowloon, the guidebooks rate this as a “must see” experience, and it’s easy to see why. Victoria Peak is 552 metres high, and the much photographed view is spectacular, with views of the island skyscrapers below, the harbour across to Kowloon City and beyond into the New Territories and China on a clear day.

I’ve got a rucksack of drawing books, brushes and my camera. There’s no way I’m walking up there as it’s a pretty steep climb without all this stuff, so I’ll be a proper tourist and go on the Peak Tram, a real piece of colonial history. I am stunned by the view skywards as I emerge from the Central MTR station. It’s the sheer scale of the immensely tall buildings crammed together into this space. I can’t help but walk along with my eyes craned upwards, an incredible vision, and it makes me feel very small and solitary indeed. The space in Kowloon seems airy and open in comparison. I make my way to the Peak Tram Lower terminus. If I thought I was just going to hop on, I’m very much mistaken - the place is heaving (and I mean heaving) with tourists, slowly snaking their way along a zigzagging path towards the ticket kiosk, and then there’s a wait for the tram itself, an estimated 45 minutes; I may well lose the will to live by then, but there’s no choice, so I endure the heat, humidity and noise until it’s my turn to board and make the journey up to the Peak Viewing Station. At the top you disgorge into an air-conditioned viewing station with shops, eateries and souvenir outlets. I need a cup of coffee so I stop for one in a coffee shop that must boast one of the best backdrops in the world (shame it sells the worst coffee!). 

Japanese tourists with "selfie" stick

Drawing here, near the viewing station is almost impossible. People here look over your shoulder constantly which I can live with, but I do mean literally about 6 inches from your ear, for what seems like an age. I don’t think the Cantonese see invading your body space as an issue! I decide to take a walk - there are lots of old railed promenades through the lush and dense tropical forestation of the upper slopes, so actually it’s fairly easy to get away from the crowds and find some space…

The weather is overcast so the view isn’t as good as it might be, with the iconic towers of the Bank of China, and the Central Plaza swirling in and out of view like huge ghostly apparitions. I can’t see the top of the International Commerce Centre, Hong Kong’s tallest building as it’s upper storeys are (today) permanently enshrouded in the cloud ceiling. It all looks rather beautiful and mysterious though, the reduced visibility creating a strange kind of almost claustrophobic closeness that you wouldn’t get on a clear day.

Eventually I return to the throng at the viewing tower - glad I didn’t pay for a ticket to go up to the upper viewing platform as it would have been a complete waste of money. There are enormous queues of people waiting to make the return journey, so I decide to go back on foot - at least I’ll be lugging my kit down, rather than up!

Barker Road Station - no crowds here! Great view while you're waiting for a tram

And I’m glad I did - if you want to beat the crowds this is the way to make your way back down into town, the views are great and you go along some beautiful old parkways and walks. I can hear the tram rumbling down the slope somewhere overhead and I follow the sound, emerging onto an old station platform some 120 metres below the upper terminus, and with only a handful of people around - a perfect place to draw. Whilst I’m there 3 or 4 workmen turn up and stand around smoking, talking loudly and laughing amicably. I wonder what they are doing there and then when the next tram is descending one of them puts out his arm and hails it, like a taxi! They all get on… and I decide to as well - we have to stand but I don’t care, it beats the queue up at the top, and the view from just behind the driver’s head is far better than on the way up - there are heart in mouth sections of track that we negotiate on our way back down to the lower terminus. 

Walking is definitely the best way to see this city - you can take the MTR to get you to central, or the starting point of your excursion, but most of what you want to see is accessible on foot if you don’t mind putting in some legwork.