108 Thoughts I Had When I Was At The Peak
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The Peak. The place that has the best view of buildings and the best night view in the world — or so I was told since I was a child. I had always known it as a tourist trap — they’ve got a Madame Tussaud Wax Museum there; it seems pretty obvious. Although I have lived in Hong Kong for 28 years, I had never actually been to the place.
Whoever was in charge of naming this place was not creative with the naming either — even in Chinese, the name of the place literally translates to “hilltop” (山頂), which sounds pretty unfun.
Other places in Hong Kong that offer a nice view also have pretty unfun names, but they are all easier to reach compared to the Peak. I have even had the chance to visit those places multiple times for free. Not so easy when it comes to the Peak — the roads that lead up to it are so limited and narrow that they had to build a special tram just for getting people up and down this specific hill. It’s hard to get there and even harder to leave. Such a setup makes The Peak a perfect corner to siphon money out of tourist’s wallets.
All textbooks introducing The Peak always use a photo of the watermelon-shaped Peak Tower, which looks like an architectural mistake.
I had always told myself that I would never visit the Peak unless somebody took the time to drag me up there. Last Sunday, a friend, who was an Urban Studies major and had somehow once dragged me on a 6-hour hike that spanned from Tsuen Wan to Sheung Shui (23.4 km / 14.5 miles according to Google Maps), finally dragged me up the Peak. The whole trip was more fun than I thought it would be.
What to expect in the following, other than the obvious:
- Photos that my friends described as “nice”, taken by me
- Monopoly Dreams Hong Kong (apparently the first themed attraction of Monopoly the board game)
- Surprisingly nice spots around the Peak, other than the famous view of Hong Kong skyscrapers
I hope you’ll stick around.
