Vantage viewpoint

· 377 words · 2 minute read

So evening of my first stay in Apple guesthouse I went to see the HK skyline from Victoria peaks. You basically take the subway to Central, follow the signs (Beijing, Shenzhen and HK are all very good at that, signs) to the peak trams. There, there is a 30-45 minute wait until you get to board the tram, which costs 65HKD both ways including entrance fee to the viewpoint (Terrace 428, which I would recommend, it's a nice view from there). Remember this if you go here: sit on the right side of the tram (seen from the queue). I was smug about having caught a windowseat on the left side only to realize that all Chinese sat on the other side. Ooops. They got a great view over the city, but I saw some trees so I'm happy anyway.

I saw on Google that the sunset would occur at 1828, so I tried to time it but got a little late. According to a nice Spanish guy I talked to, I didn't miss much due to fog and air pollution. One sad thing was the (chinese) lady at the tram entrance that was convinced that the CIA made brain experiments on her and that she would soon become a moron [sic]. She had big posters and walked up and down the queue talking to people and handing out flyers. Kind of surprised it wasn't tinfoil hats she was handing out, or that she wasn't sitting in a Faradays cage on a Segway or sth, like a cooler version of the Popemobile.

Anyway, the light/laser show wasn't much to call home for. Probably better view from the other side of the water. I ended up staying there more than two hours, freezing my ass off due to the strong winds. But it was worth it, and I found a technique for taking 0.6-1.2 s exposures with only rudimentary camera support, w minimum blur (and it was not related to the freezing thing).

After that, I went for a walk, found the Apple store and got to bed not that late as I wanted to get up early for a day in Shenzhen! :)

This is what I got.

Poor crazy lady. By the Victoria peaks tram queue.