Hong Kong from above, and Hong Kong at night

Monday morning we took the ferry across the harbor to Hong Kong Island. The ferry is very cheap and it's a nine minute ride to cross the harbor. So it gives you some great views from the water.

Hong Kong has a magnificent skyline!

It looked like it was going to rain, but it never did.

The Hong Kong Convention Center.

The north side of the harbor is the Kowloon Peninsula.

The other buildings are tall... until you see the really tall ones!

Another ferry coming in.

We walked along the harbor to catch a bus to Victoria Peak.

Everything I read said that you could tap and pay with a visa credit card when you board the bus. We've done this with our Canadian credit cards in a lot of cities around the world, including London, England.

So we got on the bus, and tapped. It wouldn't work. I tried three different cards... nothing. Frustrated, we tried to find a place around the terminal where they sold the "Octopus" Hong Kong transit card that would work. Couldn't find a place that sold them. Ended up going to an ATM and getting some cash, and then had to find change because the bus takes cash, but won't give you change. So if you overpay, you're out of luck.

What a stupid system in this day and age. I wrote them an email complaining. Hong Kong is an international tourist destination and the buses even say you can tap and pay... but apparently not with a Canadian credit card.

We took the bus up to Victoria Peak.

Taken from the bus window. Those two levels are actually a painting.

This is a 75 story apartment building. So thin it looks like a strong wind might blow it over!

View looking over the other side of Hong Kong Island.

This is the view everybody comes up Victoria Peak for.

On the way back down, we got off the bus early so we could go shopping for a new car...

This Rolls Royce was nice, but a little pricey.

Even the electric Rolls Royce still has the famous RR grill.

This is an old school gasoline model!

And then we stopped in at the McLaren dealership!

This fancy blue one sells for 4,000,000 HKD ($718,000 CAD, $510,000 USD).

These dealerships are both located on a busy street with lots of people outside. Yet Ruth and I were the only ones inside looking at the expensive cars. Maybe people are too intimidated to go in. But we've always found the staff happy to show us around and answer questions. Maybe they're bored. But they're quite happy to talk about the cars. For example, at the Rolls Royce dealership they average twenty sales per year!

This McLaren has 760 hp! And it is more expensive than the pretty blue one above.

Back on the ferry across the harbor and back to our room to relax for an hour because we were meeting relatives for dinner! Not really our relatives... but our son in law's aunt and her husband live in nearby China, and they keep a place here in Hong Kong so they came into town just to meet some fellow Canadians. Her husband was actually born in Hong Kong, but grew up in Northern Ireland!

Simon, Nadea, Ruth, and Kevin.

The brought us to a place that does roast pork.

And roast goose.

And rice noodles.

And green veggies.

After dinner we walked down to the waterfront with them to see the buildings all lit up.

We stopped in at the hotel where Queen Elizabeth used to stay when she came here.

The Peninsula Hotel.

The waterfront is all lit up at night.

Lots of other people out enjoying the evening.

We had a fun time with Nadea and Simon. Hope we bump into them again at some point.

Today, we are off to Japan... next stop, Tokyo!

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