I've never taken the stairs all the way to the roof. Until recently, that is. Up till then, I had assumed that the door to the roof was locked. But then I discovered that it's open. It turns out that the roof is actually a "fire refuge". I don't know what that means -- perhaps a helicopter will come by to pluck us off the roof if we manage to make it up that far? Hopefully I'll never have to find out.
I didn't really think about that question until much later, because I was blown away by the view. In all directions, the city lay glittering far below. Thanks to the cool, crisp air, there wasn't any haze to dim my view.
This photo is looking north, directly across Victoria Harbour:
And this photo is looking west, toward Tsim Sha Tsui, at the tip of Kowloon:
I'm amazed I didn't have to retouch or edit these photos in any way. Click on them for the larger version.I was struck by how quiet it was up there. Nothing but the breeze, no traffic or street noise at all. I don't think I'd heard that kind of silence since I moved here. I've become so used to a constant level of noise, it was a jolt to have it suddenly disappear.
After I recovered from the giddiness of my discovery, I ran back down to our flat, grabbed Andy, and grabbed my camera. Returning to the roof, we wandered around excitedly, took pictures, and tried to identify landmark buildings. We couldn't believe our luck that we found this view, and made plans to return another day, with a cocktail or two.
But then we were busted when the night concierge, Mr. C., popped out of the stairwell while doing his rounds. He was rather surprised to see us, and told us we weren't allowed on the roof for liability reasons. That's too bad, because that rooftop is just begging for some deck chairs and a grill.... At the very least, I would have loved to return during the daytime to see what the view is like then.
Andy now has penthouse envy. When our lease expires, he's going to see if we can move up to a much higher floor. He won't get any resistance from me.
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