Home UpHong Kong 2:From the Peak

The peak rises several hundred feet above the tram stop, and the very top is fenced off in a communications complex. Still, with a bit of fence-clinging monkey shines, you can get a huge panorama.

The first of three pictures panning right from the demure rooftop of the tram station. Kowloon in the distance; Central District at the foot of the slope.

The air quality (January 2001) was wretched.

It virtually obscured Wan Chai, the district to the east of Central.

Taken while clinging to the fence around the considerably higher Victoria Peak summit: container terminals are in the center, with Kwai Chung New Town off to the left.

Panning right, the port facilities of Yau Ma Tei come into view.

Next, the ocean terminal flanking central Kowloon.

Then, the Star Ferry pier and Victoria Harbour, fairly lost in the smog. Photographs from the mid-1920s show nothing in Hong Kong higher than five stories.

Looking up at the summit from which the previous pictures were taken. Despite stringent land-use controls, housing continues to march up the rugged slopes. Money demands its privilege.

Anyone fond of breathing can understand the appeal of living up top.

Alas, climbing the slopes doesn't guarantee decent air.

The atmosphere is crystalline in this developer's sign for a property very close to the summit of Victoria Peak.

And up top, across the street from the tram terminal, there is a shopping center. An odd location—at the end of a dead-end mountain road—but one indicating the proximity of a lot of affluent shoppers.