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It only takes 5 minutes or so to get from Kowloon Tong to the main Hung Hom terminus.  I left the platform and took the exit for the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade, that runs about a mile along Victoria harbour, from Hung Hom to the Star Ferry.  I know of few nicer walks on a sunny (or even hazy) day.  It’s views like this that will get me on a plane to Hong Hong anytime, at any notice, despite the jet lag.

Of course, being Hong Kong the promenade is far from empty, and there’s plenty to see, what with the Japanese tourists, sweaty Westerners out jogging and local families having an afternoon out.  Part of the promenade now has a ‘Walk of Fame’ – hand-prints of local Cantonese stars in cement in the pavement.  I was ashamed to find that I actually recognised one or two names.

As you near Star Ferry, you come across the only remnant of the old Star Ferry terminus – the elegant clock tower.

And so to Star Ferry itself.  Star Ferry, crossing from the Kowloon Peninsula to Central District of Hong Kong Island, remains the best value entertainment in the world.  There were riots in the 1960’s when they put the fare up (and it was the main way to get across the harbour).  In 1981, when I first visited, the fares were HK$0.60 top deck / HK$0.40 lower deck.  It’s risen to HK$3.40 for the top deck now, but at 30p sterling, you can’t really complain.  There’s plenty to see in the harbour, including this warship moored to Ocean Terminal.

The flow of ferries is constant, and even as one is leaving, the next one is waiting to approach the jetty.

After a leisurely lunch with an old friend in the café above the ferry pier, I spent a few minutes looking at trams passing through Central district.

And finally I travelled back to the hotel by the quick way – 3 MTR lines.  It was nearly time to pack, and to head for the airport.

Saturday was my last day in Hong Kong.  I got up late, making the most of the opportunity for a lie in, and after breakfast set out for Hong Kong Island and an early lunch with an old friend.  The weather this week has been much better than forecast.  Saturday was a lovely sunny spring day, with temperatures up to 28C, and a cool, refreshing breeze. Changing trains from MTR to KCR at Kowloon Tong, gave me a chance for a few photographs.  I like Kowloon Tong, as it’s a ‘regular’ sort of station.  Looking towards the Hung Hom terminus, the tracks curve away to the south.  It’s a normal busy Saturday on the up platform – the down side looks a bit empty as a train has just left.

Looking north, there’s an interesting double crossover for flexible wrong-road running, the tunnel portal through the Kowloon Hills, and some interesting signals and other lineside furniture on display.  It’s a very ‘green’ spot, despite being heavily urbanised.

I was beginning to be told off by the station staff for standing over the yellow line to get this shot – they kept playing the ‘keep behind the yellow line’ announcement in English rather than in Cantonese.  I guessed it was aimed at me, but got this video of a train coming south.

And a nice view of trains waiting in the station….

I was hoping to get a video of the Hong Kong to Guangzhou through train coming south – I’d checked the timetable before setting off and one was due.  But a small lady was sent down the platform to tell me to move behind the yellow line – and tell me very nicely, I must say.  So I was about to give up on the China train, when I heard one coming from the opposite direction.  Obviously the timetable had changed.  So I got this video instead, without getting anywhere near the offending lines!

At this point it seemed prudent to leave Kowloon Tong before the station staff got too unhappy.  So I jumped on the next train south.  More in the next post…..

Back in Hong Kong for a week, but despite having a weekend here before starting work, I haven’t got around that much.  The temperature is a pleasant 23-26C, but 85% humidity makes walking around like wading through soup (not that I know what that’s like….)  There’s a bit of light rain mixed in, and thunderstorms and rain are forecast this week.  OK, it’s typical HK spring weather when there is a maritime airstream hitting the coast.

So Saturday was spent pottering around locally, and resting.  Sunday, I took the MTR train down to Kowloon for church at St Andrews, then had lunch with three old friends.  Did I really first meet Peter 35 years ago, and Tim and Usha 31?  When I first met Tim he was a junior government lawyer – and now he’s a High Court judge!

After lunch I strolled through Tsim Tsa Tsui to the main heavy rail terminus at Hung Hom.  On the way, I took these photos of Hong Kong Island, across the harbour.  I think the weather is self-explanitory!

Hung Hom itself is undergoing considerable rebuilding (like the rest of HK, nothing stays built for long) to take in the new rail lines planned.  I had hoped for a photograph or two of the China cross-border express train, but these were well hidden behind the immigration areas.  So I dropped down to the heavy rail platforms.  I had a choice.  I could take East Rail up to Kowloon Tong and change onto the Choi Hung MTR line and back to the hotel….

Or I could try out West Rail out into the New Territories to Yuen Long, Tin Shui Wai and Tuen Mun…..

West Rail it was.  Interestingly, these two trains leave the station in opposite directions.  East Rail goes north(!), but West Rail indeed goes west.  Hung Hom has become a double ended terminus as there are no through services.  No photos of West Rail, I’m afraid, as it was difficult to get any shots out of the tinted windows.  But the train took me through some of my old (and new) engineering projects – Yuen Long, where I am looking at flood defence, Tin Shui Wai where back in the 1980’s I carried out all the preliminary design for the new river channels and the urban drainage, and Tuen Mun, where the station is built along and over a river, and I looked at the flooding impact of the station on the river.

The aerial photgraph below shows Tin Shui Wai new town in its first phase – the development is larger and more mature now.   The site is on an extensive area of fishponds, and during construction, the site office offered the best lunch for miles around (except the all-day breakfast at Fanling police barracks) – fresh duck, fish and lotus plant as vegetable of the day. Yuen Long is the town in the background, and West Rail passes through the ‘right’ or south of both towns.

Having got to Tuen Mun, I got back on the same train for the return journey.  But instead of going back to Hung Hom, I changed from West Rail to the Tsuen Wan MTR at Mei Foo (quite a walk between trains), then just across the platform at Prince Edward to get back on the Choi Hung line and back to the hotel.

I was back in my hotel room, for a welcome bottle of water at about 5pm.  It’s been a pleasant afternoon exploring HK’s railways, old and new.