^The silhouette of the waiter holding the tea set in all meticulosity of posture is reminiscent of the olden, if not golden, days of the colonial Hong Kong when high tea was a very British privilege. Photography-wise, the different levels of grey certainly add a spatial feeling to the otherwise flat scene.
Hong Kong is not named one of the ten world-lifetime travel destinations for no reason. While maybe Macau boosts the oldness, Singapore the cleanliness, Shanghai the novelty, Japan the electronicism, Hong Kong is all of them combined with the complements of some pristine countryside hiking trails and, of course, the breathtaking beauty of buildings aglow with lights against the mountains and fronting the Victoria Harbour at night.
The fading glimpses of the presence of anything typical of the British could be the gem of any trip to this place.
^Scantly clad holidaymakers are working enthusiastically on their skin cancer on the sundeck. In Australia, people are more wisely aware of the sunburnt and skin cancer hazards under the sun. Just because there is an opening in the ozone layer there above doesn’t mean that the Aussies are therefore more cautious. They are just wiser about the nature I think.
For the more adventurous, head to the MacLehose Trail, which consists a dozen of hiking tails favourite to the longest serving British governor to Hong Kong, Sir Crawford Murray MacLehose. He himself was an enthusiastic hiker. Kudos to this past-time of his, there are a large piece of land in Hong Kong established as the Country Parks where the MacLehose Trail runs across.
^The fiddler on the mezzanine floor in the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong hotel plays music every afternoon. He makes the sheet music come alive and dancing around the dining place. He looks like nearing the age of 70. But you've to go there and see how swift and graceful his finger movement is.
For those prefer pampering yourselves, look for the right restaurants and hotel. For that matter, I would suggest one place which satisfies both wishes. It is the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong. Its location aside, which earned the praise as a "world-famous prestige" property by New York Times, the service is so meticulous that it could meet the imperial standards, which are associated with the time when the British called the shots in all aspects of life in Hong Kong
>The musician playing the double bass teams up with the fiddle to grace the place with great light classical music.
As I read from a autobiography of which the British author lived his childhood in Hong Kong, even a low-ranking officer in the navy supply department was housed by the colonial government in a big house and had the money to employ a family of servants. People from GB used to get the best everything in Hong Kong. They were made the, rightly or wrongly, the top echelons of the society and served with the highest standards.
Now if you get a chance to stay in the hotel, you will feel very welcomed and somewhat colonial as, to take for example, every staffer from the green bell boys to the sophisticated Eurasian managers coming along will be like sticking themselves on the wall to make way for your passage, adding to you an after-you gesture and kowtow.
<The Grand Club dinning room commands an exclusive 180° panoramic view to the Victoria Harbour
The best of it is the high tea. It is not exactly in the British fashion but you can taste the great food while imaging that you are the colonial shot-caller in the old days. After all, this hotel was where Bill Clinton stayed during his presidential visit to Hong Kong. The present Chinese president Hu also stayed in this hotel during his first visit to Hong Kong.
And the best place for high tea in Grand Hyatt Hong Kong? At the Grand Club on the 30th floor of course (they call it the cocktail). If you are staying in or upgraded to the room on the 30th floor, you have free admission to the unlimited food and drinks there.
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