5 degrees cooler... and is that fresh air I'm breathing?

This last weekend we headed up to Victoria Peak to get a little more sightseeing under our belts and see the city from a prime vantage point. To get here we had to take a bus to Central (on Hong Kong Island) and then take a tram that goes at times 45deg up the side of the mountain. Getting on the tram was a little adventure in itself because there were people from all over, tourists, that were trying to get on as well.

A little digression - in Hong Kong everything is fairly orderly, people queue up for lines and wait patiently for the subways, buses, atm's and such. We have been told though that in Mainland China it is nothing like this, there is no order, it is push or be pushed and you have to fight your way through in lines and there is no sense of personal space. It is not that they are rude, there just never was any reason to think this is impolite, it is just natural for them.

So, when we were getting on the tram we assume there were some mainlanders because it sort of turned into a free-for-all getting into the tram doors. An elderly german couple almost got knocked to the ground, we both took some shoves here and there and an elbow or two to the chest and made it on to the tram to find no seats left and only standing room. There were grooves in the ground to position your feet on so when the tram made it's steep incline you wouldn't fall over. When we made it to the top, we had to navigate through a massive mall at the top of this mountain - which is set up so you pretty much have to go through it (not unlike IKEA) before you can get outside.

Upon exiting there is a great view overlooking all of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, and it was a clear day so we could see far. (We attempted to go to the peak maybe 2 other times, but it was too cloudy or smoggy out to go, there was little point in going then.) We arrived while it was still light out and stayed until it got dark - watching the light show from the opposite side this time. We met up with some other exchange students at the peak and had some dinner before heading back down. It was a full 5 degrees celsius cooler at the top of the peak than down in the city which made it very appealing for spending hot days up there. We are looking forward to coming back up in a month or two and hiking some of the trails that are accessible from the peak, it should prove to be a very nice hike.