When you are in a ferry in Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong, you will see the Peak on Hong Kong island and the Peak Tower at the mountain valley of the Peak. My impression of the Peak dated back to the 60s when I was a small child. I remembered that I saw the Peak when I was taking the Star Ferry to Hong Kong. The Peak tram was seen climbing slowly in the mountain. The Lugard Road meandering around the hill was the popular trail for the visitors to see the beautiful Hong Kong scenes. Now the stone forest has emerged tremendously, the Peak tram and the Lugard plank road are no longer visible. In order to view the beautiful scenes of the Victoria Harbor, I visited the famous Hong Kong Trail, starting from the Lugard Road at the Peak at noon. I continued my trip to Harlect Road and Hong Kong Trail to Pokfulam Reservoir. My planned destination was Aberdeen Reservoir. However, as I had not reached the destination of Aberdeen at dusk, I changed my journey before night as the mountain trail would be in total darkness! I was heading toward Pokfulam Road near Wah Fu Estate with the use of my iPhone flashlight for lighting. After struggling my way in 25 minutes, I finally got to the Pokfulam Road at 6:30pm. The end of the journey to escape from the darkness was exiting and unforgettable!
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Photo equipment:
Nikon D300s, Nikon GP-1 GPS
AF-DX 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6
Nikon AW-100 compact camera
iPhone 5
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The Peak ● 山頂
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| The Peak Tower and the square 凌霄閣及山頂廣場 |
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| The Peak Tower in 1972 had a Chinese, a western restaurants and shopping centre. The lower level was the Peak Tram terminal. The Peak Lookout restaurant was on the left (archive photo). 1972年的「老襯亭」，內有中餐廳爐峰酒樓、西餐廳凌霄閣及購物商場，下層為纜車站。太平山餐廳在左面 (檔案照片)。 |
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| The Peak Tower in 2012 as seen from the Victoria Harbor is viewed closely from the Lugard Road. 2012年在盧吉道近看凌霄閣背面, 也是在維港望見的一面！ |
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| An old peak team was displayed at the plaza in the Peak 山頂廣場放了一部舊式的山頂鑬車作展覽 |
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| Gazing out from the shopping centre 從商場外望 |
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| The Peak Lookout, a historical restaurant at the Peak and was accorded as Grade 2 status by the Antiquities Advisory Board of Hong Kong in 1981. The interior has been changed but the building remains the same. 山頂之太平山餐廳，1981年被列為香港二級建築。內部已改動得面目全非但整楝建築仍舊未變。 |
Lugard Road ● 盧吉道
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| Lugard Road 進入盧吉道 |
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| A singing bird found on Lugard Road 沿盧吉道漫步，鳥語花香。 |
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| Lugard Road meanders on the mid level 沿山腰游走的盧吉道 |
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| A section of the Lugard Road was a plank road as seen in the early days. 部份盧吉道以棧道形式建成。 |
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| The same section of the plank road was captured in 2012 同一位置的棧道攝於2012年12月 |
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| Strolling on the plank road 在棧道上漫步 |
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| A plank road built on the cliff 懸空的棧道 |
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| The lamp is barely visible as the plank road is immersed in the dense plants in the hill. 棧道在密林綠樹的山腰游走,祇露出路燈。 |
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| Green algae on trunk 綠苔綠樹 |
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| Colorful ships were sailing fast off the Western District of Hong Kong 遠望西環海面，彩色的輪船在飛馳。 |
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| An ancient and elegant lamp post 沿路的古雅燈柱 |
Harlect Road ● 夏力道
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| The park at the junction of Lugard and Harlect in panorama 夏力道與盧吉道公園 |
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| The cliff rock on Harlect Road 夏力道路旁岩石 |
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| A yellow flower 黃蕊小花 |
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| Lung Fu Shan viewpoint 龍虎山觀景台 |
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| The pill-box at the end of the Harlect Road. A number of batteries, pillboxes and shelters were constructed on Hong Kong island to defend against the Japanese threat during the war from 1936 to 1941. 夏力道盡頭處的機槍堡。為了防禦日軍的威脅﹐ 香港英軍在1936至1941年間港島沿岸建造防禦設施如機槍堡等。 |
Hong Kong Trail Section 1 ● 港島徑1段
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| The descending Hong Kong Trail Section 1 下山港島徑1段 |
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| Buildings of Queen Mary Hospital 俯瞰瑪麗醫院 |
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| The sea off the Kennedy Town of the Western District 西環海面 |
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| A distance post points at the Queen Mary Hospital 標距柱對著瑪麗醫院一帶 |
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| An ancient classic building on the hill-slope 半山古雅建築 |
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| Passing by a water supply plant 途經輸水站 |
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| Potfulam Reservoir 薄扶林水塘 |
Hong Kong Trail Section 2 ● 港島徑2段
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| Tranquil scene on the Hong Kong Trail Section 2 環境優美的港島徑2段 |
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| A panoramic view 全景照 |
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| Images of trees 樹影 |
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| Lamma Island at dusk 遠眺黃昏的南丫島 |
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| Gazing over the high rises at Pokfulam 遠眺薄扶林置富花園 |
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| The evening at Aberdeen city centre at 5:56pm 下午5時56分: 俯瞰香港仔市中心夜景 |
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| At 6pm, I was still hurry my way down from the hill before the coming of the night. 下午6時: 夜幕已低垂，我仍在半山趕路。 |
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| 6:04pm: It was totally dark on the trail. 下午6時04分: 天色已黑，沒有路燈的山路已是漆黑一片！ |
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| 6:07pm: it was totally dark within a minute! 下午6時07分: 不到一分鐘，已伸手不見五指。 |
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| 6:24pm: after struggling my way in the dark, I finally arrived at the Pokfulam Road in 24 minutes! 晚上6時24分，終於抵達薄扶林道近華富邨的出口了！ |
Click to open more photos 點擊更多照片》
View The Peak to Arberdeen in a larger map
It sounds exciting hurrying through the dark!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your photos.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your guidence escaped from the dark.
ReplyDeleteThank you for uploading these beautiful pictures that recalled my memory. Pokfulam Reservoir is one of the unforgettable places I missed in Hong Kong. I have been living in Pokfulam area over 10 years and used to have a morning walk to the reservoir almost daily. The trip started uphill from the hillside of Block 14 of Chi Fu Fa Yuen and went downhill to the reservoir. It took about an hour for the walk ending at the Public Riding School of Jockey Club near Pokfulam Road. Pokfulam Reservoir is the first reservoir in Hong Kong built in the year 1863 and the natural environment stays good there. Different kinds of birds, insects, animals such as squirrel and tortoise, and sometimes even porcupine and snakes could be found. I remembered that in one particular morning, when I arrived at the dam, a Chinese cobra for almost 10 feet long crawled across the dam from the upper water collecting reservoir into the bush of the main reservoir, it was scary indeed. So Peter, you were lucky by not stepped on a snake in the dark. Pokfulam was once a nice area to live in, however, when the coal-fired power station built by Hong Kong Electric Company on Lamma Island in the year l982, air pollution problem existed then. It was tricky that in day time, you could only see light smoke came out from the 3 big long chimneys of the power plant. According to my observation, the power generator might not be put into full operation during day time in avoidance of public critism. However, black smoke began to expel out from the chimneys into the atmosphere at night time and people could hardly seen. Especially in those days where southerly wind blew, people in Pokfulam area could smell the coal burned smoke and breathing in the polluted air while in bed. Air pollution is however a big issue to be faced by people in modern Countries.
ReplyDeleteAn informative and interesting reminiscence! Thank you David!
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