Hong Kong Harbor, Victoria Peak, and In-between (HONG KONG)

I've been to the mountaintop, or, at least, to the top of Victoria Peak, overlooking Hong Kong Harbor.  The first part of my adventure was to cross the harbor since I am staying on the Kowloon side, and "The Peak", as the locals call it, is on Hong Kong Island.  I used the Star Ferry Line to cross the harbor.  It was just as much fun as it was 20 years ago when I used it for the first time.  Rather than taking the famous Victoria Peak Tram to the top, I rode on the upper deck of a city bus, No. 15.  It had all of the thrill of an amusement park ride, similar to taking the tram to the top of the peak.  The road to the peak is VERY steep and narrow, some of the turns are hair-pin, and as you look out the window of the bus, you soon see that the bus is so close to the edge of the road with inches to spare from a sheer drop of several hundred feet.  Once on top of the peak, there are only spectacular panoramic views of Hong Kong.  I used the tram to descend.  The tram's track is almost a vertical drop at some points!  What a rush!  I returned to Kowloon by ferry, just in time for a late lunch.  Today's photos are from my "peak" experiences of today. 

A big rubber ducky was perched next to the ferry terminal.

Entrance to the ramp leading to the upper deck of the ferry.

The upper deck of the ferry.

Now you see me....

...now you don't!  (The photo of me was taken by a British family who were seated behind me.  I took this photo from my seat.)

Central Pier, Hong Kong Island - where the ferry docks.

All of the ferry crew wear "Navy" uniforms.

Bus No. 15 is a double decker bus which goes to Victoria Peak.  The next several photos were taken from the window of the bus where I was seated on the upper deck.

A Sikh Temple, at this point the road to the peak becomes more steep and the landscape beneath us along the road more lush.

The road will eventually curve, continuing up the hill, and will soon be much higher than the height of the solitary tall building!

Now we are gaining some altitude, still on the double decker bus!

As you can tell from this and other photos, it was a very hazy day.

We have now reached the top of Victoria Peak.  This is a model of a vintage tram car on display near the observation deck.

What a view...of Hong Kong!

One of the observation platforms.

There were 2 Madame Tussaud's Wax Museums at the tram stops, one at the top and one at the bottom.  Bruce Lee (I think!) was at the one on The Peak itself.

And the former President of China was there to greet you at the museum at the bottom tram stop.

The modern tram cars.

Inside the tram as we go down seated backwards.

A view as we descend.

One of the many souvenir shops at the tram station.

Taken on the bus ride back to the ferry.

A ferry approaches Central Pier.

The skyline of Kowloon is less dramatic than that of Hong Kong Island.  I took this photo on the ferry ride back to Kowloon.

...and now we are back to where we started our excursion to Victoria Peak.