Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
This is: The Portuguese Connection (2012)
Octopus workout
The weather was much less promising today, but there was never any doubt about our intention to press ahead with visits to Stanley and The Peak. Once again, we would be using the flexibility of our Octopus cards to place Hong Kong's comprehensive public transport system at our disposal. Before that, though, the day started with breakfast in the excellent Executive Lounge as usual.
It was a very short walk down to Queensway to catch a bus to Stanley. A choice of routes was available, but we decided to take the first one that turned up rather than letting one go and then regretting the decision. Our 6X used the Aberdeen Tunnel rather than climbing through the spectacular Wong Nai Chung Gap, but we still had some good coastal views once through the tunnel. We had an enjoyable stroll through the market at Stanley and along the waterfront, both of which were probably as quiet as I had ever seen them.
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LEFT: A look around the village of Stanley, with its well-known market |
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 ABOVE: "Cabin View" on Citybus Route 973 (Stanley - Tsim Sha Tsui East) |
Instead of returning directly to Admiralty, we chose to take the Citybus 973 service to Kowloon - something that I had discovered on a previous visit. For the princely sum of HKD13.60 - a little over one pound sterling - you get a grand tour taking in Stanley itself, Repulse Bay, Deep Water Bay, Aberdeen, Pok Fu Lam, Kennedy Town, the Western Harbour Crossing (tunnel), West Kowloon and Tsim Sha Tsui. A good seat on the top deck provides interesting and sometimes spectacular views for nearly 1.5 hours, making it a superb and little-known bargain. Once through the tunnel, we passed close to a point that we recognised from our search for the restaurant the previous evening and got off in Canton Road, a short walk away from the Tsim Sha Tsui Star Ferry terminal. |
Rather than repeat the crossing to Central that we had made two days previously, we took the slightly longer route to Wanchai on this occasion.
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LEFT: Star Ferry from Tsim Sha Tsui to Wanchai |
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RIGHT:
A festive- looking Pacific Place |
We
then had a well-deserved dim sum lunch at the branch of Crystal Jade
in Queensway Plaza - the one that we had discovered shortly after
our arrival in Hong Kong on Sunday afternoon. This of course was the
Singapore-based chain that had served us well in the past, as
frequently documented in the course of these pages. Although the
food on this occasion was enjoyable enough, we both felt that it was
the least impressive branch that we had experienced to date. The
clipped, home-counties tones of four smartly dressed young men in
the adjacent booth tended to confirm a feeling that here in Hong
Kong, the expatriate community still seemed to operate on an
'old-school' basis (pun intended!)
All things considered, we felt that we had been relatively lucky during our morning explorations, as far as the weather was concerned. After a brief stop at the Conrad, we set out in rather less promising conditions for our afternoon visit to The Peak. We walked through Hong Kong Park and then tackled the brief, but steep, section up to the base station of the Peak Tram. Despite the daunting-looking queues, we only had to let one tram go before being able to board. The ride was interesting as ever, with some impossibly steep-looking sections, although the service had lost much of its vintage feel due to modernisation.
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LEFT: Hong Kong Park and the Peak Tram base station |
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RIGHT:
Nasty weather at The Peak |
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Unfortunately there was no point in hanging around
once we reached the summit, as the weather had turned positively
foul.
We returned to Admiralty using my own favourite method, the No 15
bus, which offered dramatic panoramic views on both sides as the
huge vehicle hurtled down the narrow and winding Peak Road.
After
a short break and customary visit to cocktail hour in the Executive
Lounge, we were ready to set off for dinner. Learning from the
previous evening's experience, we made doubly sure that we knew
exactly where we were going.
We did well to board the right bus, get off at the right stop and
quickly find our way to the correct side street. Almost
unbelievably, however, we were just starting to think that it might
be going wrong again when a voice said: "Excuse me, you looking for
The Chairman?" It was one of the restaurant staff, who had overheard
us talking as we walked right past the front door of the place! Such
is the challenge posed by Hong Kong's intricate maze of side streets, even to
two seasoned travellers who both reckoned that we knew this city
better than most visitors.
Although the atmosphere was informal, The Chairman proved to be an expensive and upscale choice. The food was sublime, fully justifying the prestigious awards and glowing reviews that the restaurant has received. I can safely say that it represented a standard of Chinese cuisine that I had never before experienced. Truly wonderful!
As the one-way traffic system in this area meant that we had no alternative but to walk down to Des Voeux Road, we took the opportunity to return to the hotel using one of the rickety old double-decker trams - a type that vanished from UK streets decades ago.