Christmas Day at The Peak

Hazy Hong Kong when we reached The Peak

Christmas Day has finally arrived, and a quick look out of the 30th floor window has confirmed that we won't be getting a white Christmas this year. On the bright side, we won't see Noel Edmonds or the Queen on TV either.

I made an early start on the Bombay Sapphire and we took the short walk to Laura and Scott's for the present opening. I'll spare you a list of the presents but we had an very enjoyable time and it did feel like Christmas - with a much better view than usual (but no log fire). After beer and champagne on top of the gin, I was in danger of peaking early, so I decided to slow down a bit.

The Peak Lookout Restaurant

In the afternoon we set of for our Christmas dinner. This involved taking the ferry across from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island, then 2 taxis to the bottom of The Peak Tramway. There we joined a huge queue of people waiting to take Hong Kong's most popular tourist attraction to the top of The Peak. I was amazed by how many people were here on Christmas Day and we had a long, but good-natured, wait to take the Tramway. Luckily we'd allowed plenty of time before dinner.

Santa (I preferred yesterday's)

Eventually we boarded the tram but never managed to get seats, so held on very tightly as the furnicular railway climbed at quite ridiculous angles up the mountainside. When we reached the top we walked through a series of tourist trap shops selling all sorts of tat, and walked outside to take some photos of the view. Unfortunately it was too hazy to see much of the city - it was also bloody cold and had started to rain slightly.

After a short wait we went to the Peak Lookout restaurant, which looked like a quaint and very well decorated restaurant in the Austrian Alps, and felt really Christmassy. We had party hats and noisy toys... and Santa came round for a photo op. We had a fantastic time and the food was great - I don't think we could have had a better venue here for Christmas dinner.

Hong Kong from The Sky Terrace at Night

Following dinner we took the escalators to the Sky Terrace right at the top of The Peak, to take some photos. Luckily the rain had stopped and the haze had lifted, and we did get some really fantastic views of the city, which made a fitting climax to the day.

We took one look at the queue waiting to take the return trim on the Tramway and decide to return by taxi, but the first taxi driver tried to rip us off, and we saw a bus nearby - so we took this instead. I wouldn't say the bus was a pleasant experience, but it certainly was an experience. The driver took us at breakneck speeds down the very winding roads - we had some fantastic views on the way, but Sally and I were feeling rather nauseous by the time we reached the ferry. We took the ferry back to TST (Tsim Sha Tsui - don't ask) where Scott and his parents went for a drink at the Peninsula Hotel and Sally, Laura and I took a taxi back to the apartments so we could talk to family back in the UK.

Location:The Peak, Hong Kong