Touring Hong Kong Island

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What’s a guy gotta do to get some sleep? I had yet another early wakeup. I think my body is just used to waking up before 6:00 now. Even the time change from Vietnam to Hong Kong (+1 hour) hasn’t helped. It’s no one’s fault but my own: no one has been noisy or disrespectful but it’s still really annoying.

Before setting out on my long walk covering the northern part of Hong Kong Island, I had my weekly call with my parents and breakfast at Café de Coral, recommended by Finn and Wendy. They had a mix of Asian and western breakfast. I went with eggs and ham (which was more like spam). The eggs were really good, almost seeming a bit creamy like they added milk to the mix.

My walk (pretty much designed by Finn) lasted the rest of the morning and well into the afternoon. I started out in the Central district at the IFC Mall and IFC Two building. IFC Two, built in 2003, is the world’s 12th tallest building. I had seen numbers five and six a few weeks ago in Kuala Lumpur and will see number two in a few days in Taipei. Interestingly, number four is also in Hong Kong SAR on the Kowloon side. I’ll have to check this one out, too. In any event, that’s quite a few tall buildings this trip.

From there I walked through some passageways that seem to link all the buildings together on my way to the HSBC building, home to the bank. I have an account with HSBC yet I didn’t realize that HSBC stood for Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation until just last week. I always thought it was British.

Next was a walk through the open air corridor under the building, up Battery Path through jungle like vegetation, past the Court of Final Appeal (I imagine it’s something like our Supreme Court) and St John’s Cathedral on my way to the Botanical and Zoological Gardens. Along the way, I also walked past the Government House and the United States Consulate. Outside the consulate were a number of signs by some woman claiming that the United States (specifically the CIA) has conducted mind reading and control experiments on her and her family. She asserts that the Agency input visions of “prostitutes, village girls, Americans, my mother and my son” into her mind when she was half asleep. Oddly, I always considered that to be dreaming but all along it’s been a conspiracy of mind-numbing proportions conducted by the very government that my tax dollars support (or at least supported when I was an income generator).

She went on to declare that the Agency is responsible for slips of tongue, electronics malfunctions, illness and cancer, the creation of wind power and animal behavior. Now that that’s cleared up, when I get home, I’ll be sending Leon Panetta an invoice for my dead laptop.

After a good laugh, I made it to the Botanical and Zoological Gardens. There I walked around for at least an hour, taking in the flora but much more so the various animals at the zoo. Some of my favorites were the Scarlet Isis, flamingoes, Spurred Tortoise, orangutans, and parrots, including a Yellow Crowned Amazon.

I then continued along on my journey to the nearby Hong Kong Park. There I found another aviary, complete with waterfalls and a jungle like setting, an unused Tai Chi area, Olympic Square (an area designed for staging activities) and a set of small lakes.

From there I walked through the Admiralty and Wan Chai districts along Lockhardt and Hennessey Roads, by chance coming upon the Bottoms Up, a bar featured in The Man with the Golden Gun. It looked nothing like what I remembered from the movie. The area it was in was definitely fitting, full of what appeared to be restaurants and seedy bars and nightclubs.

As I continued east, I decided to see the Times Square site and grab a quick snack from a semi-outdoor food stand recommended by Wendy. Times Square itself was not at all what I expected. It was really just a building featuring restaurants and retail shops. The area had an outdoor market, food stalls and more high end shops, focused on expensive watches; all of this I discovered when I wandered around aimlessly looking for the stand. I decided to give up and continue on my walk when I came upon exactly what she described. And they knew what I was talking about when I requested fish balls. They were good, tasting more like dough and sauce than fish. My shirt enjoyed a taste, too.

My last stop on my way back was Victoria Park. Outside the park there was a large flower show so admittance to the actual park was a bit tough. I eventually found my way in and walked through the eastern part before deciding to get a proper lunch.

Wendy had recommended dim sum for lunch. Apparently these places have someone pushing around a cart and patrons pick the items that they want and pay for what they bought at the end. With no real recommendation, as I walked back towards the hostel I kept looking in windows to see if any of the places fit this description (with mostly Chinese writing on display, it was unlikely I would just see “dim sum”).

Failing miserably, I went back to the hostel and looked online for a place. I couldn’t find a thing so I went to the reception and asked the guy for a recommendation. He recommended a place one MTR station away. I asked how I would find it. He said walk down King’s Road (which is the road the hostel is on) and go to Tin Hau Station. I asked him once I get to the station where do I go?

“No no no. No need to take MTR.”

“I will walk, but I need to know which place this is. I have no idea what to look for. When I get to the station and come out as if I just got off a train…”

“You can walk.”

“I understand but I need to know where the restaurant is in relation to the station. Otherwise I won’t find it. Does it have a name?”

“It is in Chinese.”

“So how will I find it?”

“Go to Tin Hau Sta…”

“I get that. But what do I look for there.”

“Name is in Chinese. Here.” He took a business card, printed two Chinese letters and handed me the card.

“This means dim sum. Look for this in big letters.”

Defeated, I left with my card that had one letter that looked like a box with an asterisk inside and tentacles below and another like a deformed smiley face, complete with a mole on the left cheek. I placed the odds of finding this place at 1,000 to 1. The odds held out as after a walk out to the station and 15 minutes of searching around I decided to find something else. About the only thing I could have done is handed the card to a local and pointed at the letters. That would have made for another good story, I’m sure. Even better would be if, as I pulled the card from my pants, I said “Scuse me while I whip this out”.

On my way back I came upon a Maxim’s Cake shop, another Finn and Wendy recommendation, where I grabbed a small cake as a holdover. I finally found a Chinese fast food place where I had BBQ pork over rice.

I briefly went back to the hostel before setting out on my evening activities. With all the food recommendations I have, I decided to head over to Kowloon for dinner. I caught the MTR and the ferry across the bay to Kowloon and made my way to Macau restaurant. Macau’s food has a reputation as a blend of Asian and Portuguese cuisine and, since I won’t be going to the actual island of Macau, I thought this restaurant would be a nice culinary substitute. At the restaurant, I had fried noodles with shrimp and scallops - a chef recommendation - and a cold milk slushy like drink with red beans. I think this is the drink that Barbara had mentioned to me a few times and Wendy as well. The food - a massive portion of noodles - and drink were very good. The drink is the first one I’ve had in a long time that wasn’t water, tea or beer.

After my dinner, I went to a nearby bar called Ned Kelly’s Last Stand. Ned Kelly’s, named after Ned Kelly, the Aussie bushranger, who I first learned about in Melbourne, was recommended to me by my brother-in-law, Paul, numerous times. He had been here with the Merchant Marines a few years ago and loved it. Though the pints were $6 during happy hour - beer prices I haven’t seen in a long time - the Tetley’s I had bordered on magical. It has been a long time since I have had a good beer.

After two rounds - one for me and one in Paul’s honor - I headed back to the hostel. I am absolutely exhausted. Between a total lack of sleep and busy days my body is punished. I have no idea how I used to do what I did when I worked a lot. Maybe tonight I’ll finally get the rest I need.

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Photos

IFC Two
Looking up at the fifth tallest building in the world.

Skyline
The skyline in the overcast morning.

Signs
These strange signs were posted near the US Consulate.

Orangutan
An orangutan at the Zoological Gardens.

Waterfall
A waterfall in the Hong Kong Park aviary.

More buildings
Some tall buildings viewed from inside Hong Kong Park.

Another waterfall
This one behind a small bridge by the lakes in Hong Kong Park.

Dinner
A hearty plate of noodles with seafood and a red bean drink that is popular here.

Ned Kelly's Last Stand
Here I had my first good beer in a long time.