My only trip on it was a round trip back in 2005. We took a morning sailing over from Kowloon to Hong Kong to visit the Stanley Market on the south side of the island, and then back again in the evening. A memorable experience.
If you ever go to Hong Kong then I insist you take the trip!
Hong Kong is something of a culture shock for the first visit. I had taken a three hour train trip from Guangzhou on the mainland to Hong Kong. At the time it felt rather like going by Tardis from the 19th century to the 21st century in less than half a day. The station at Guangzhou was crowded liked no other station I had ever seen. All the signage was in Chinese, so that was fun, trying to buy a ticket. Fortunately the railway staff were fantastically helpful and after purchasing the ticket we started to make our way down the wide concourse to the appropriate platform, offering our tickets to the first ticket collector we came across. It seemed strange to see that there were very few people making their way to the track or platform, and the ticket collector explained why.
It was forbidden to go to the platform until the train had actually arrived at the platform and been announced. So we stupid foreigners had to wait, with several hundred others.Notice I didn't say, 'wait patiently' - it seems to be contrary to the Chinese nature to wait patiently. They shuffled and gently pushed into each other and us as we waited. Finally the train arrived and we rushed headlong down the walkway onto the platform and eventually found our reserved seats on a very modern train. Very comfortable and light.
The trip, like all train journey for me, was a boring three hours until we eventually pulled into the station at Hong Kong. As I mentioned earlier, it was rather like going forward in time two hundred years. Hong Kong was just as crowded as the rest of mainland China had been, but the cultural difference was dramatic. As we were only to stay in the city for two nights on business the trip on the Star Ferry came on the second day when we had given ourselves half a day off.
Arriving at the ferry terminal was similar in many ways to the station in Guangzhou, crowded. The main feature however was a large crowd of young people, mainly young women, sat on the pavement outside the terminal. My first thought was that this was a demonstratin, but no, they were just waiting, noisily and colourfully. With tickets in hand we went to board the ferry. This was something else. From the bright new buildings of Kowloon we walked into a dark wooden tunnel to the fery. The difference was instantainous and dramatic. The floors and walls up to window height were made from dark, almost black, planks of wood, stained by years of use. Windows permitted you to see across the water and to the ferries as they approached the terminal.
The ferry arrived and we tramped further down a deeply worn gangplank to the ferry, stepping over the gap between dock and boat to find ourselves a seat, though it wasn't necessary really. There was plently of room for us to walk around and see the sights of Hong Kong in the distance and the receeding docks of Kowloon behind us.
The trip didn't take long and we were soon in Hong Kong for the remainder of the day. The trip back was quieter in some respects as people were somewhat queiter, but just as numerous. The lights though were somethign else. No doubt you have seen photos of the sea fronts of both cities, but the real thing is even more spectacular.
To have read in novels of the Star Ferry it was a wonderful experience to actually be on it and making the trip from Kowloon to Hong Kong and back again.
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