Chapter 37. HONG KONG WALKABOUT

Stanford Hotel (Mongkok)

We stayed at Stanford Hotel for USD $132 per night. Hotel rooms in HK are definitely pricey. (And we're only in Kowloon, not HK island itself) Stanford Hotel had great locality, to shopping and great food.

Mongkok shopping area

There are so many retail shops in Mongkok shopping area that we spent quite a large amount of our time here. We did most of our shopping here as we probably couldn't afford the large shopping complexes.

Note: (Cosmetics & beauty products are cheap here)

Authentic butcher below flats

Flats are practically all over the place. (aka mushrooms after the rain)

The old Hong Kong

Hong Kong is such a fascinating place. Apart from the hustle and bustle lifestyle of a metropolitan, you can find peace and relaxation in certain nooks and cranny around the island. It has everything for everyone.

HK Museum of History

HK Science Museum

FYI we didn't enter the museums. It only costs a paltry sum and I'm actually a fan of museums, but we skipped it due to time constraints. (Time not enough!!!!!!! ) ;o(

Near the museums (Tsim Sha Tsui area)

Tower clock at Kowloon Pier

Hong Kong has great similarities with Singapore, another island city. Efficient public transport, superb education system, limited space (actually HK is much more dense and cramped) to name a few ....

The Shaolin 3 dots

Tiffany & Co

Central Area

The drawbacks of Hong Kong is the ultra speed pace of life. Everything's fast fast fast. Even the escalators are faster. Another would be the high cost of living, which actually leads to good service.

Go shopping in HK and be amazed at the distances the sales ppl would go to secure your sales, for the commission. But some will get edgy and pushy if you consider for too long and might even scold you if you decide not to buy.

The HSBC lion

Open top bus

After the peak, we took an open top bus to Lan Kwai Fong. Too bad the top was full so I just went up to take a photo.

Lan Kwai Fong area

Main street

Lan Kwai Fong is mainly a clubbing area that's so famous it has became an icon by itself. A lot of TVB dramas were filmed here. Basically everything we know about HK comes from TVB dramas. ;o)

Signboard

Popular TVB location

This is another spot that's frequently shown in the dramas. It's just 2-3 blocks away from LKF. We walked from LKF to the Hong Kong Mtr station, about 20 mins walk.

Along the way we strolled past a very long escalator, which I've just found out online it's the world's longest escalator. LINK.

Hong Kong MTR Station

In my humble opinion, Singapore is too organized, everything's so well planned that life becomes boring. (Everything is in squares) KL is too disorganized, everything is in a mess it's a headache to figure out the mess.

Hong Kong is like a combination of Singapore + KL. It's efficient and organized, but walk around the city and you'll never know what suprise you'll find behind the corner. The weather is quite nice here too, with warm & cooling seasons.

I wouldn't mind relocating here for a few years.

Beijing Olympics countdown

Miramar Shopping Center

Day 2 Hong Kong. After our steamboat dinner, we walked from TST area towards Jordan area, heading for Temple St Market. There are also lots of retail shops around the entire "Mongkok-Kowloon-Jordan-Tsim Sha Tsui" strech.

Food stalls

It's a night market that sells souvenirs and clothing. Much like our Chi Cheong Kai, Temple St. Market is also infamous for its vice and gangsterism. It's one of the more rowdy areas so keep in a group and stay away from dark alleys.

We had wanted to try "drunken prawns" but the customers at the stalls are all foreigners. So we'll definitely be "cut throat" if we dined there.

Shop selling porn DVDs

In Chi Cheong Kai they show you a book and pass you the "porno" after you've made your selection. Here? It's all out in the open. Only thing missing is the red carpet inviting you in.

Temple St. Signboard

Hong Kong is definitely a fun place to explore. If only we had more time to visit other areas such as Lantau Island, Shek-O, Disneyland etc etc.

We had struck off a majority of main attractions on our "To Do" list. We stayed a total of 4D & 3N, definitely insufficient time. But how I wished we had more time ....

I *heart* the city of HK, where gold literally lined the streets. ( 满 地 金 )


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