Photo of the day No. 65 - Morons & Selfies at The Peak
Morons in HK risking their lives for a few clicks on social media
Me Jamie, your host, I am English and I have lived in Hong Kong since January 2nd 1972 - I know the place.
A blog post with a difference
Please do visit Hong Kong | Travel, Tourism, Tours, Tips, Daily Life and my personal thoughts on Hong Kong.
Hong Kong | Pearl of the Orient
Customised Private Tours & Experiences in Amazing Hong Kong
Pearl of the Orient
Private Tours Cultural Tours Walking Tours Sightseeing Tours City Tours Night Tours Transit Tours Shore Excursions
Carefully Crafted Personalised and Customised Itineraries by Jamie | Hong Kong’s Most Experienced Private Tour Guide For :
Solo Travellers Friends Families Seniors Couples Business People
J3 Group Hong Kong | J3 Consultants Hong Kong | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong
Creating Memories That Will Last A Lifetime
Book Now
Photo of the day No. 65 - Morons and Selfies at Victoria Peak
Morons in HK risking their lives for a few clicks on social media
Would you risk your life by falling 650ft to your death for a few thousands clicks on social media? there are plenty of idiots and morons that do - Victoria Peak Hong Kong
click on the image to enlarge
I am a pretty normal person and have led a safe and happy life in Hong Kong and yes, I was born around the time of Cuban Missile Crisis which was a very real threat to human existence.
Over the past decade or so I have watched incredulousy as social media is very quickly destroying the very fabric of society (Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok etc) and it is not a subject I am going to get into given it’s complexity and I guess all part of human evolution.
What is also apparent is a lot of people seem to be getting dumber courtesy of smart phones and it really impacts on Tourism in Hong Kong with young people in particular becoming somewhat obsessive about posting images on social mediam the more dramatic the image the better.
This image I have attached is not the first one I have seen of people standing on this rock, if you slip it is 650ft straight down to Conduit Road
I an expert on Victoria Peak having been up there over 6,500 times since 1972 I know the roads, the paths and I am familiar with the rocks and I am absolutely familar with the dangers.
This spot at Victoria Peak has become a magnet for morons and most of them are not Mainland Chinese Tourists but white tourists, mainly from Europe aged 20 - 30 who are looking for a thrill and a few thousand clicks on social media, the post will be instantly forgotten due to the tidal waves of posts overwhelming everyones feeds
I will digress for a moment, Hong Kong has a very famous place called Suicide Cliff in Kowloon and yes a lot of people have jumped from there (which I do not understand as it is a very difficult place to access) but it has become a magnet for thrill seekers who want their 10 seconds of fame and yes, many of them get trapped up there or fall to a very sticky end.
This spot on Lugard Road at Victoria Peak to me anyway is way worse on the danger scale, it is a 20 minute walk from the Peak Tram (basically a flat road) so eay to get to and yes there is a fence.
The Police do their best to warn people (see image below) but it does not work, people simply ignore the signs.
Me thinks, time for some barbed wire on this section of fence and some stronger worded warnings
click on the image to enlarge
Why is it dangerous, well if you are that moron on the rock which is not very wide at all you risk falling over 500 ft (at least) and there is no coming back from that
These rocks in the summer in particular get covered with a barely discernible layer of wet moss so they can be very slippery and if you do slip there is nothing to grab hold of.
These young people who attempt to get this selfie probably have no hiking or mountainering experience, they have no safety equipment to speak of (the smart phone in one hand does not count) all they have is this devil may care attitude of a lot of young people today who live for selfies, danger and clicks (and we have 3 boys aged 26,32 and 42 so I am familar with the mindset)
There is basically nothing the authorities can do, it is a popular walk but I think it is time they put some heavy duty barbed wire on that stretch of railing or even a small electrified fence with appropriate warning signs.
,,, oh and let me tell how dangerous hiking can be in Hong Kong which is very hilly (we have 579+ Peaks) in 2024 on safe hiking trails 19 people died and Emergency Services in Hong Kong have to work overtime on weekends as ill equipped people head off into the hills and end up needing a helicopter extraction.
I have now named this place Morons Rock!
Hong Kong Observatory Victoria Peak Cams
Check these before your visit to Victoria Peak to makre sure you are not wasting your time
Observatory Weather Cam | Victoria Peak Views looking towards the east:
https://www.hko.gov.hk/en/wxinfo/ts/webcam/VPA_photo.htm
Observatory Weather Cam | Victoria Peak Views looking towards the north-northeast:
https://www.hko.gov.hk/en/wxinfo/ts/webcam/VPB_photo.htm
They have 2 cams taken from different locations, links stated above or click on the yellow buttons below
I recorded the 4 images below on 21st February just a couple of hours apart and you can clearly see a visible difference and a few hours later they had gotten better again, if it is so foggy like the images on the left then you might want to delay going up there but at least now you have a reliable way of checking the weather at Victoria Peak
click on the image to enlarge | click on the links above for the weather cams
Let us hope that on your visit to Victoria Peak in Hong Kong you get GLORIOUS SUNNY WEATHER but if you are in Hong Kong for a day or two it is like spinning a roulette wheel when it comes to the weather and I must stress that it can go from stormy to blue skies in a matter of hours.
The Hong Kong Observatory weather cams that cover Victoria Peak can be accessed on your phone at any time and new images are uploaded every 5 minutes, so use the information to plan and potentially save a lot of time and money on a wasted journey!
© Jamie Lloyd | J3 Consultants Hong Kong | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong |
| 2010 - 2025 All rights reserved. |
Click on any image to enlarge to full screen
Current images from my Instagram feed
