We decided to follow some of the guided walks on the tourist brochures, and we took the Star Ferry over to Hong Kong Island, to explore the historic district of Wan Chai. When you get there, it's pretty hard to see that this is one of the first parts of Hong Kong to be settled back in the 1840s, because pretty much anything over 20 or 30 years has been knocked down to make way for a modern skyscraper or mall. In fact, for the first 200 yards or so inland, you're walking on new territory that's been reclaimed from Hong Kong's harbour over the years – it was interesting to see on the map, how the shoreline kept receding over the course of the 140 years of British rule.
As we wandered, we stumbled across the odd Victorian building that's managed to survive the relentless march of modernity, and the odd street market selling unrecognisable body parts of livestock, to remind us of times gone by.
This being Hong Kong, we did an obligatory spot of retail therapy as we walked back to the Central District, to get the ferry back to Kowloon and the ship.
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