Exploring Hong Kong Island
Up early, a quick breakfast, and then transferred out of my nice accomodations at the Renaissance Kowloon to the West Hotel a bit further north but still in Kowloon. Settled in here for a bit and then headed out to catch the MTR Subway over to Hong Kong Island proper. Wandered a bit to get my bearings after coming out of the MTR station in the maze of towering skyscrapers that stretch to the sky around me (I always find it difficult to situate myself on exiting a subway station for the first time - except later in Beijing which had excellent maps depicting the station orientation). I know that I need to head uphill to find the Peak Tramway for the ride up Victoria Peak so that helps somewhat in giving me a direction to follow and quickly I find some street signs that correspond to my map and I'm on way.
Buy a round trip ticket and wait in line for the Tram to head to the top (relatively speaking) of Victoria Peak. Take the ride up on something like the 5th generation Tram over the last 100+ years that a tram has been in operation in this location. At the top are many restaurants, shops, and amazing views out over the expanse that is Hong Kong and Kowloon. I explored for a few hours, eating lunch at one of the small restaurants in the Peak Tower and then returned back down the hillside via the Tram.
Instead of returning to Kowloon via the MTR, I walked to the harbor and caught the Star Ferry across Victoria Harbor to Kowloon. Then walked up Canton Rd to my new hotel. Met some new people that I would spend some time with in China over the next few weeks. Then went to dinner and visited the Temple Street Night Market, walking through the stalls selling mostly useless trinkets. When I had been hassled enough by the proprietors of these establishments and other street hawkers, I returned to my hotel and crawled into bed to sleep.
The hotel is situated in the central area of Kowloon a bit away from the main tourist area but still close enough to the main action (Temple Street Night Market is very close by).
There is a small lobby area for checkin and then the rooms are situated about 6 to a floor in a small high rise. Elevators are very small and cramped (and only two of them so you might be waiting a bit if there is a crowd). Second floor (or first floor depending on if you don't consider the ground floor the first floor) has a small lounge with 2 computers with internet access.
Rooms themselves are sparse and small but comfortable... except for the beds that is. Not sure if it was my bed or all of them but the mattress was like a solid brick.
The bathroom like the room was quite small (I actually had some difficulty trying to close the door behind me when I entered. And the showerhead was defintiely not designed for a 6'1" westerner.
All in all you could do much worse though than stay here. The staff spoke some English so it wasn't too bad to check in/out and they had left luggage service so I could go out for a while before having to catch the train and leave my stuff behind.
