A Jolly Hour On the Trolley

Despite the hassles over my visa, I did at least get to see something of Hong Kong while I was there. After submitting my visa application on Thursday, I took the peak tram up to the Peak, the second-highest peak in all of Hong Kong. The tram itself is actually a furnicular railway that has been operating since about 1880. Once you get off, you find yourself in--you guessed it--an upscale shopping area, but one with an abundance of reasonably nice restaurants and places to take in breathtaking views of the city and the harbor.

I dined at a place called Cafe Deco, on the peak, where I had pizza for the first time since leaving home. I know, I know, I should have had dim sum or something like that, but I can get that in Taiwan. Pizza exists here, but is usually covered in shrimp or kimchi. My adventurous appetite only goes so far.

That night, I left my bags in the hostel--I had been carrying them around all day in expectation of going home with a real tourist visa--and headed out to take the Star Ferry, a delightful excursion between Central (the largest business district in Hong Kong) and Tsim Tsa Shui, an area my guidebook describes as a "tourist ghetto" and former site of Hong Kong's airport, now moved to an outlying island. At night, Hong Kong's major skyscrapers all put on light shows. If you think New York at night is something to see, you need to ride the Star Ferry.

I crossed the ferry once and then came right back. What little I saw of Tsim Tsa Shui getting off the boat did not persuade to continue further. Two or three different men approached me to hawk their services in tailoring a custom suit. This actually is a major thing to do when you come to Hong Kong--have a custom suit made, as they're far cheaper there than in the West. But I had neither the money, the time, nor the inclination. I decided to cross back and get on one of Hong Kong's famous trams.

The trams of Hong Kong really are amazing. The city is crisscrossed by a network of double-decker trams that, I gather, will take you just about everywhere. And unlike in New York, where the busses don't seem to realize that everything else on the street is scared of them, the trams of Hong Kong seem to own the street. I was fortunate enough to secure a seat at the very front of the second deck, where I could see the city come by and catch the breeze as it came in.

I got more than a little lost. I kept thinking the tram was going around in a loop--the same buildings seemed to come by every so often--but I only sighted the spot where I could get off for my hostel once. Eventually I got off and cabbed it back to the hostel. But for about three hours, I took in the Hong Kong night.