The first night in Hong Kong was packed with activity. We took an 'optional' night time tour of the city's attractions that included dinner, a visit to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum and Victoria Peak. Price: HKD$320. Dinner was so-so. Naturally, it was at a Chinese restaurant, this being Hong Kong and all.. As we had muslims in our group, there was a hurried conference with the restaurant manager to substitute some dishes with more acceptable ones. Nevertheless, every dish with meat in it was still nervously approached.
Muslim guy 1: *waves chopsticks at the dish* What meat is this?
Indian guy 1: *pops it in his mouth and chews thoughtfully* I think it's chicken..
Muslim lady 1: *stares at him* Are you sure?
Chinese guy 1: Ummm, I think you should eat the prawns first.
Muslim lady 2: *directs look of horror at her plate* Alamak, I took some already!
Chinese ladies 1 & 2: *muttering to each other* Aiyoh, they rugi-lor like that, cannot eat half the things we can..
After dinner, we were taken via bus to Hong Kong's tallest mountain, Victoria Peak (also fondly referred to as just 'the Peak'). I was reminded of family trips to Genting Highlands as the bus negotiated the curves of the road up the mountain. The lights inside the bus were turned off as we cleared the foothills and we were treated to a spec-TA-cular view of Hong Kong's nightscape. The occupants of the bus seemed to gasp breathlessly and reach for their digital cameras as one. In what seemed like a synchronised action, my night-vision was blasted to smithereens when all those digital cameras went off together. Flash-light exploded inside the bus and bounced off the darkened glass of the windows, ruining everyone's shot. I sighed and closed my eyes for the next 3 minutes until the camera-happy people realised that:
1. They cannot get a good night-shot from inside a moving vehicle.
2. They cannot get any shot AT ALL with the camera flashing on the glass directly in front of them.
3. They should just sit down and enjoy the view since they cannot capture a good photo at all.
When we arrived at the Peak, I was surprised to see that it boasted a high-end shopping complex and multi-storey car park! I got a bit confused as I had pictured a simple gravel clearing where vehicles can park and where lovers made-out, like in those HK movies. Apparently, I was misled. In the words of the tour guide (directly translated from Cantonese),
"They making romantic movie mah, include so many tourists where got romantic? So they film in the side road lor.."
Orh, I see.. The shopping complex had fancy restaurants galore, tacky souvenier shops as well as luxury goods and jewellery.
Madame Tussaud's was on the 1st floor of the complex and the viewing platform was located on the rooftop. Madame Tussaud's was interesting, with a lot of the wax effigies looking remarkably like the real thing. Some were a bit 'off', but you could still guess who they were meant to be when you squinted from certain angles.
The exhibits included some cute touches; Andy Lau's statue possessing a heartbeat, a floaty white dress and blonde wig visitors can slip on and pose in next to Marilyn Monroe, a stage with podium that visitors can make mock speeches from, flanked by Bush and Clinton. My brothers who were most reluctant to visit ended up having the most fun with all the props and statues.
It was a long escalator trek to the viewing platform on the rooftop but it was worth it. Defying the light drizzle, tourists posed and snapped away against the dizzying backdrop of Hong Kong's famous skyline. I wished I had a tripod as the nightscene necessitated long exposures, which was difficult to hold the camera still for. The slightest wobbling / trembling would result in a blurred picture. In the end, I put my brothers to good use by getting them to stand still and steadying the camera against their heads.
At the end of the night we were deposited at our hotel and promptly fell into bed, knowing that Disneyland awaited us on the morrow.
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