This morning the sunrise penetrated the bedroom curtains and the harbour came alive. One member of the party heard the dawn chorus – not of birds, but of engines of ferries starting up.
After breakfast we moved to the Star Ferry and Ocean Terminals at the western end of Salisbury Road. We were in time to see the arrival of the daily ferry from the nearby islands of the Pearl River Delta. We witnessed the arrival of a Star Ferry from Victoria Island before walking along the Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade with views over the harbour and preparations in hand for the Lunar New Year.
At the eastern end of this promenade we rendezvoused with a Hop-On Hop-Off bus.
Shortly we were passing the Peninsula Hotel which is a very grand example of 1920s colonial architecture. At the time of building the location was not thought to be attractive but it was adjacent to the terminus of the Orient Express and the Trans-Mongolian via Beijing as well as the docks for the ocean liners. Royalty and members of HM Government stayed here and the hotel’s fleet of Rolls Royce cars is still in good condition. It was here, no doubt, in the best room possible, that the Brits surrendered to the Japanese in the Second World War.
Our journey continued along Nathan Road to King’s Cross. It is here that virtually anything can be bought and if you didn’t think you needed it there are plenty of hawkers prepared to convince you that you do! There is even a hawkers market where all these people are encouraged to assemble. We gave that a miss.
We passed the Temples and Mosque of Haiphong Road
before passing through more shopping areas with interesting, and in many cases, 1920s neon lighting.
Continuing our journey we arrived at the Hung Hom Railway Station and retail complex where the newly built high-speed trains from Beijing arrive. It was here in 2017 that we arrived by train from Beijing but it took us 24 hours!
Some of the photographs above are a product of two round trips on the bus but the ones that follow, such as the Ferrari we only managed to capture once.
We arrived back at the hotel in time for tiffin!
