A day in Hong Kong

I took a Saturday train to Hong Kong from Guangzhou. It was about 200RMB ($30USD) round trip. The trains are clean and efficient, and not too crowded.

From Guangzhou it's about 2 ½ hours to Hung Hom station. You do have to go through Customs, even though it's technically still China. Oh, and change money too.

Map of train route

Once at Hung Hom the fun begins. Taxi to Metro? I opted to get the all-day Tourist Pass. That lets me ride all day on one price. About 80HKD ($10USD). Some stations require multiple fares between transfers, so the all-day pass is worth it.

My first stop, as usual, was the Hard Rock Cafe. If you know me you know I collect the souvenir pins and drumsticks form these places. I have "several".  An extra bonus is that I got to have a real American cheeseburger. After weeks of rice dishes servers 'family style' it was a welcome break.
I was here in 2007, but they moved the HRC to a more hip, but less upscale, venue. Lan Kwai Fong (LKF to use the vernacular) is a party spot of 100's of bars. I wasn't there at night, and I'm probably better off for it.

Hard Rock Cafe

Lan Kwai Fong

 Hong Kong is an set of islands and a bit of a peninsula, but all mountainous. Getting to the center of the island means climbing up up up. Luckily they installed an ESCALATOR!

Hong Kong Central Escalator

Don't take it all the way up unless you want to walk all the way down, or wait until night when the reverse it. Yeah, it only goes one way.

Victoria Peak

There is a train to take you up the mountain to Victoria Peak (a mall is there, so you know you want to go!) Yes, I know - it's called a funicular. It's also calls "a long ass wait to get to board the damn thing".

Boarding the Tram

View from the Peak Tram

Old stop indicators

Once at the top, the hassle to get there was worth it. The city sparkles in the harbor like a gem. After seeing the underbelly in LKF, this view makes things a lot nicer to remember.

A look down the Hong Kong harbor from Victoria Peak

A view across the harbor to Hung Hom

The city view is exceptional, but the back door view of the South China Sea is amazing.

Simply stunning 

A fog rolls in over Hong Kong harbor

After the 90 minute wait for the tram to the peak, I had only about an hour to spend up there. Not nearly enough time. I had to get back to Hung Hom for a 6pm train back to Guangzhou. Long day for a burger!