There’s one tourist attraction that every visitor in Hong Kong seems to have to do: take the cable car up the steep hill and enjoy the view over Hong Kong and the harbor from Victoria Peak, or simply: the Peak.

I went there on a Sunday, which might have been a bad idea, but as the weather was clear and the skies blue I was banking on a great view, and bit the sour apple to wait for some 30-45 minutes until I could board the tram.

The rise is really breathtakingly steep, considering you’re only hanging on what is basically just a mid-sized metal cable, pulling you up.

Quite fast, as I could feel the pressure change in my ears. Did you ever experience that in an old open-air tram???

On top of the mountain, the tram spat us into… a big, massive shopping mall. I was flabbergasted. Really? You put a friggin’ mall up on your highest hill top?

Selling all the plastic crap that everybody has and no one needed in the first place? With all the brands and chain stores…?

I was less than impressed, to say the least. Luckily I had opted for the 80$ 360-degree-rooftop view. Otherwise I would have been really disappointed.

Up on the roof of the mall, the view really was nice, down on Hong Kong, adjacent Kowloon and the Chinese mainland on the horizon. A bit hidden in brownish smog, but ok.

We were actually not on the highest part of the hill, you could walk up the last few hundred yards through a lush forest.

To the south, a great view over the green forest that stretches over the hills of the Southern part of Hong Kong Island. It’s such a change from the bustling city on the other side of the hill.

My mood was softened a bit, but I still could not get over that mall. I took a few pictures, and then went down again.

Ok, maybe I should not complain about masses of tourists in one of the main tourist attractions. But it seemed I had indadvertedly stumbled offer Hong Kong’s Sunday afternoon shopping paradise…