The Peak

So Hong Kong Island has this ridiculously high mountain in the middle, called Victoria Peak (the harbor is Victoria Harbor, etc. etc. These British names are all from when it was annexed by the Brits back in 1842- or sometime around there.) The story goes that the govenor (appointed by the Queen of England, I suppose) decided one day that he needed to find a cooler place to live in the summers. So he decided to move up to the top of the Peak. Well, apparently it caught on, and all these wealthy British families decided to build houses up there. Getting up there was a chore, they had to have people esentially lug them up the hill, in which they built paths through the dense vegetation. It had to be a horrendous job if you were the one to drag these people up the mountain! It certainly didn't seem cooler up there to me, either! Well eventually they built a cable car system, and it has been updated over the years and is now the Peak Tram. Funny story about the tram- They used to reserve a seat for the Govenor until like 2 minutes before the tram left the station each time, just in case the Govenor arrived unnanounced. Then, if he wasn't there, someone could use that seat. There have also been multiple versions of the Peak Observation Deck from which we took these pictures. The newest one is about 7 or 8 stories high and it overlooks the whole island. Unfortunately it was really hazy the day that we were there, but we got some good pictures, nonetheless.

This is the view of Victoria Harbor and Central Hong Kong from the Peak. The tall building is the International Financial Center 2. The one under construction across the harbor is going to mirror this one. If you saw the latest Batman movie, this is the building in the movie that he jumps off to save the day. There is a smaller IFC (IFC 1) directly left and down from the IFC2 in the picture. It's about half the size with a measly 38 stories. (Which would probably make IFC1 one of the tallest if not the tallest bulding in San Diego, just for comparison's sake!) Looking across the harbor is the Kowloon side. This is actually the peninsula of mainland China. This area and the surrounding peninsula and islands were also annexed by the British and are collectively called the "New Territories". If it were clearer, you could see all the buildings across the way. That side of the Harbor is much flatter and even more densly populated than Hong Kong Island. There are ferries that run multiple routes between the sides daily and the subway also goes under the harbor.
We are lucky that these pictures don't show how truly sweltering it was that day. It was almost unbearable to be outside. You couldn't touch the metal railing, it was too hot! It was generally 93 degrees for the high the week that we were there, and about 100% humidity.
I wanted to share some of these images so that you can get an idea of just how densly populated this city is. It is unbelieveable. Most of the tall buildings are around 50 stories, and some are much more. The IFC2 is 88 stories.

Approximately 7 million people live in Hong Kong, which is just about a million less than live in New York City. Hong Kong is the 4th most densely populated country, behind only Macau, Monaco, and Singapore. The city is only about 60% the size of New York City, and has almost as many residents. The Peak Tram runs throughout the day, and it takes about a half-hour to get to the top of the Peak. The Tickets were HK$48, or about $6.50 each. This included access to the Sky Terrace, which is where we took these pictures. Inside it is like a mall, there are shops, restaurants, even a video game arcade. There is another mall at the top as well, but it was mostly restaurants. The shops at both were pretty souvenier-y so we didn't spend much time at them.
View from the windows of the tram going up...
This is the West side of the Island.
This is the middle of the island, the low building with the pointy front is the Hong Kong Convention Center.
Looking to the East side of the island.