A night in for us usually means a couple of logs on the wood burner and a hot chocolate before bed. Things are different in 2019 as, by 7th January, we have already had two nights out on the town! I’m clearly trying to shake off the ‘Methodist Minister’ epithet my staff at work have branded me with. It seems they are fed up of being lectured on the benefits of temperance!
And what a town this is! We are in the buzzing, brash and very glitzy city of Hong Kong and staying up impossibly late especially given the fact that we lost 8 hours on the way here from Manchester.
Yesterday, after the briefest of power naps, we pulled on our glad rags and took the MTR (Mass Transport Railway) over to the New Territories where we boarded one of the Green Minibuses that roar up and down the road to Hebe Haven Yacht Club. We had a dinner date with three folk we had never met but we knew of through our sailing Club - the OCC.
We had a perfect evening as their guests with lovely food in their clubhouse and swapped stories of sailing endeavours and of characters that we have in common. It was fantastic to be instantly connected with folk in this far flung and exotic location.
Having been back from Nepal for almost a month Sally was pining for the mountains. So we set off to do the opposite to what every tourist does which was to walk up to The Peak on Hong Kong Island and descend it by public transport. She tells me that the logic was to protect her knees but, to my cost, I am well aware that if Sally sees a hill she has to climb it simply to see what’s on the other side. Her Mum told me that she started doing that just as soon as she could walk.
Whilst legions of oriental tourist took the tram to the top we set off on a convoluted approach via Stanley and Aberdeen. But before we quit the Star ferry quay I managed to sneak an appointment with a genuine Apple Genius in an unsuccessful attempt to solve an emerging smartphone glitch. Whilst awaiting the opinion of the Genius we strolled through the Mall that was stuffed with premium branded shops and teaming with with wealthy Mainland Chinese. They were seeking top end brands that definitely weren’t fake. There is a LOT of money here!
Forgetting to collect any water we set off on our climb as directed by my Maps.me app. Up a track we went that climbed from the sea and past umpteen tower blocks whose tops were swathed in cloud.
Then came an extraordinary cemetery chiselled out of the mountain side with every grave sealed with concrete and capped with elaborate marble head stones. No pity here for the Church Warden who is spared the interminable grass maintenance that comes with the job back in Wales.
Up and up we went just like in Nepal and we were soon in misty rhododendron forest also just like being in Nepal. Sally was in her element.
Every now and then there was a picnic spot and a place for an impromptu foot massage and some shade to cool off. The instructions that came with the massage directed the foolish reader to remove their shoes and socks and walk along a 5 metre section of a path of pebbles that had been cemented in at an angle such that they inflicted the maximum amount of pain on the already footsore hiker. A quaint tradition that attracted Sally like a lamb to the slaughter.
Below us the dramatic landscape of mountain, forests and skyscrapers receded into the grey, misty murk to the even greyer sea.
Eventually the cooler mountain air came and we passed some splendid properties clinging onto the hillside below the mountain’s ridge. ‘Normal’ properties in Hong Kong cost millions. These must be worth zillions.
Finally we crested the summit and descended a little way to the Peak Tower where retail traps were set to woo the invading tourist hoards who had arrived, un-sweaty, by tram.
Mostly oriental many of the tourists walked with their iPhones in front and streaming live video to the folks back home. The screens of those phones displayed the folks back home so the tourists kept their eyes on their loved ones whilst their loved ones watched the view. A new form of vicarious augmented reality.
Inside the Tower the the retailers were taking money hand over fist. Hundreds of those queuing for Madame Tussaude’s posed next to the waxy figure of Albert Einstein. At least I think it was Albert Einstein.
Soon it was dusk and the lights below us came on. Everyone had their smartphones out as the folks back home lapped up the streamed images of spectacular city lights. Sally, complete with her beloved rucksack, posed for my iPhone and was soon gathering Facebook likes despite the fact that her beloved rucksack isn’t anywhere to be found in the Prada, Louis Vuitton and Dior shops that abound here.
After the mountain we were soon back on the sea and chugging our way across to our hotel on the Kowloon Ferry whilst the shimmering buildings behind flashed laser lights out into the mists of the night sky.
Not a bad couple of days for this ‘would be Methodist Minister’ in this exuberant city of excess and of glitz.
