Victoria Peak

Victoria Peak is a lush mountain overlooking Hong Kong. It is a little cooler up top, which is why the British Governor had a residence built up there. I say cooler at the top, but not so cool to climb up there. Which is why the British built a cable-car. (Amazingly, before that the colonists had coolies carry them up - the toil doesn't bear thinking about.) However, after a large lunch Thibault decided we should walk it off by doing the climb. Oh boy.

Obviously one starts amidst all the modern skyscrapers.

One of the great things about living in such high-rise flats is the view. And if you build flats halfway up a mountain, you have a head start. So on the way up you pass all these extremely prestigious developments, some of the most sought after in Hong Kong.

 The climb however, is pretty steep, although not stepped. Add in the heat and humidity (if it was much more humid we would have been under water), and the fact that we made one climb only to find it was dead-end (because they were doing works to essentially try to ensure that the sides of the Peak stay there and don't fall into all that expensive real estate), and you can imagine what it was like. At the start of the climb Thibault was wearing a light blue shirt. By the end he was wearing a dark blue one.

 There are little buses that go up. Here was a stop, but we weren't waiting for a bus - Thibault was just waiting for me to recover a bit before going on. "Do we have to?" he asked as I called for a breather. Given the alternative was me having a coronary I felt it was in both our long-term interests.

 I could however mask our breaks as photo-opportunities. The views, as well as the climb, are breathtaking.

 And with apologies to any arachnophobes, but we also came across a huge spider, similarly enjoying the view. And rather more static than the large tropical butterflies that fluttered past us.

Obviously if you are going to live in an expensive block they need to fit in a swimming-pool somewhere to complete the effect.

 But for all the climb (and the only others who seemed to eschew the cable-car were those fitness types who ripple muscles as they jog up) the views make it worth it. The best I have seen anywhere (although maybe that was tinged with relief at having made it!)

An old cable-car has been converted into a tourist information kiosk.

 At the top there is an unnecessary viewing platform and a bit of a retail complex, which we explored after an emergency ice-cream stop. Trust me, it was an emergency.

View down the other side isn't as exciting.

 We sat ourselves into an elegant bar and ordered the beers which we have never previously so deserved. The views from the bar were just wonderful. For that we were well prepared to pay slightly over the top prices. Really wasn't at all bad value given the setting. Chatting to Thibault with this as the backdrop - and a slug of rehydrating booze - was just a pleasure beyond description.

 As you can see, it was ever such a classy bar

One more photo-opportunity - well with that view one can't resist.

Note, with air-conditioning Thibault's shirt reverts to pale blue. Have I mentioned how hot and humid it was? Yeah? Well it was worse. But all worth it

So obviously having climbed up we took the funicular railway down.

One last bit of sightseeing for the day - the Man Mo Temple. After the temples in China this was distinctly disappointing in size (although big on incense)