Tram -- Victoria Peak, Redux

So on our last day (Monday) in Hong Kong, we decided to finish out our list of things to do.

First up, we were going to tackle Victoria  Peak again.  This time, though, there would be NO taxi’s involved, NO switchbacks and (hopefully) NO plastic bags would be needed.

We were going to take the  incline cablecar to the top.

Much like those in San Francisco, this is, in fact a “Cable Car.”  The cars run on rails but are powered by a motor at the bottom with a big cable – probably 1 ½ inches or more – that runs up through the top, around a pulley (presumably – you don’t get to see that part) and then back down to hook onto the car.  It goes up or down depending on how the operator at the top has the motor running.

They run 2 cars at a time.  There is one place that they have two sets of tracks and have to pass.  Since they’re hooked to the same cable, they presumably can’t run into each other.

The system is pretty amazing.  Sometime early on, the territorial governor decided to move up the mountain to live presumably because it was cooler up there.  For decades, the governor was hauled up and down the hill in a Sedan Chair.

You’ve undoubtedly seen these before – four guys, one on each corner, one over-entitled aristocrat in a chair in the middle being hauled around.  It’s a wonder it took them until the 1920’s to put the cable car system together!

As with most new modes of transportation – highways, railroads, airports – new areas are open for development and more and more buildings were built up the hill.

There were originally four stops going up the hill.  It seems as though these may still be in use – a lady with a toddler stepped out to a landing about halfway down and signaled that she wanted a ride, although the driver waived her off.

(The guys at the top in the control room were obviously running the works.  I’m not sure why there was an actual driver in the cab, but there was – he moved from one end to the other so that he was always in the “front” of the car, depending on which direction it was moving).

This was a great trip.  We got there fairly early – about 10:30 in the morning, having once again climbed on the Big Red Bus with our pass and riding around – so there really wasn’t any wait although the lobby was full up by the time we got back.  It takes less than 10 minutes to ride to the top, and it’s a blissfully straight line.

The plastic bag stayed safely stowed away in my backpack.

True to form for virtually every tourist attraction in the world, you exit the ride into – A GIFT SHOP. 

We didn’t need nuthin’ there.

So we wandered around a bit, figured out it was about as hazy as it was the other day, so we went inside to get coffee.  It was a bit colder today than before, although still requiring nothing more than a light jacket.

After half an hour or so we figured we had seen everything offered today as well so we got back on the tram to go down – once again in a STRAIGHT LINE and at a CONSTANT SPEED – to return to the stop at the base.

Nothing of particular interest to report.  The adventure was a success.