Today is the day we join our cruise ship.  We were up early and watched the Seabourn Quest glide into Hong Kong.  It was very hazy and smoky so it was hard to see it at first when it came around the bend in the harbour but still very exciting.  I took a time-lapse video of the arrival which is very hazy but you can see it on Youtube here if you are interested.

After breakfast we caught the cable tram to Victoria Peak to see the view but it was hazy and not as impressive as I remember it from years ago.

After doing Victoria Peak we decided to check out the Mid Level Escalator, an outdoor escalator that travels about 900 metres and makes getting up the steep inclines from the Central area a bit easier for pedestrian traffic.

The escalator is actually a series of escalators.  Unfortunately the lower few escalators were going down as it was around the end of the morning commute into Central so we had to walk up the stairs until we found the start of the “up” escalator.  Once we got to the end we started walking down the stairs but by the time we got to the sections that would have given us a free ride down, it had changed direction and was now coming up!  Oh well, the exercise was good for us!

On the escalator route we go to see some of a less touristy part of the city – it is a lot for the senses to comprehend.

Just after midday we checked out of our hotel and had a car take us to Ocean Terminal to join our ship.  Baggage check-in was quick and uneventful and we were soon on board the Quest having lunch in the Colonnade, sitting on the deck looking out over the harbour to Hong Kong Island.

After lunch we did some window shopping in Harbour City immediately adjacent to the cruise terminal and I collected some optical sunglasses that I had asked to be made the day before.  Amazing and efficient service – less than 24 hours and I had new sunglasses made.  The company is Whittle Optical and the proprietor is Stanley Tsang in case you ever need that service (he is 19-20 Ground Floor Star House, Salisbury Road, right opposite the Star Ferry Terminal – ph 2317 1070).

In the evening, from the ship, we watched the Hong Kong Symphony of Light which is a nightly light show which was spectacular.  We had seen some of it the night before from our hotel on Hong Kong Island but the show is best observed from the Kowloon side of the harbour.  Unfortunately my photo doesn’t do it justice because I didn’t have a tripod to allow longer exposures – I had to leave some gadgets out of this trip and the tripod didn’t make the cut!

For more Hong Kong photos go to here (opens in a new window)