Exploring Kowloon

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Sunday July 1

Today we explored parts of the Kowloon Peninsula- the neighborhood we are staying in is Tsim Sha Tsui. We started at the Hong Kong Cultural Center and walked along the public peer to the Avenue of Stars, which is a promenade along the harbor dedicated to Hong Kong movie stars. The area was starting to be cordoned off with barricades for crowd control during the fireworks display this evening. There were people there at 9:30 AM claiming their spots for an 8:00 PM display. There must have been 100 camera tripods (I’m serious) bicycle-locked to the barricades along the water - no people, just the tripods claiming a “spot”. We ended the walk at the Shangri-La hotel - Melissa told us to check-out the buffet in the Kool Café. Place is gorgeous, so we made dinner reservations for 6 PM.

The MTR stations are really underground street complexes, complete with moving walk-ways. You can literally cover 4-5 city blocks, and it is air-conditioned with no car traffic - much better than walking above ground. We went in the KCR East Tsim Sha Tsui station and walked underground to the Nathan Road MTR station. (You can’t call the MTR a “subway” like we do in the US - a subway in HK is an underground pedestrian by-pass of a street intersection - amazing what you learn when asking for directions) We took the MTR to the Mong Kok area.

We spent several hours walking around (and getting lost) exploring the street markets. We went to: the Tung Choi Street (Ladies Market), Sai Yeung Street, Fa Yuen Street, and the Flower Market. Really interesting and fun - but we did not buy anything - Nancy is starting to get “picky” about what she wants. The weather was partly cloudy, humid and about 90 - there were a couple very brief showers - just enough to make the merchants scramble to cover their merchandise with plastic. We got back to the hotel by 3 PM.

We took a taxi from the YMCA to the Shangri-La. The dinner buffet was amazing - there were separate Japanese, Cantonese, Chinese, Indian, and Western style buffets, and also a salad and desert buffet. Well worth the price - it was expensive. We then had to walk back to the YMCA because all the streets were blocked-off to vehicle traffic. There must have been a 100,000 people for this fireworks show - and I think we saw all of them in the 1.5 mile walk. We were in a hurry to get back to the YMCA in time for the show. We got back to our room with about 5 minutes to spare.

Having been upgraded to a Harbor view room really paid off. No crowd problems - we just sat in our chairs and watched the show from a nice, air-conditioned room! Really a spectacular show - lasted about 30 minutes. A much different style of display than what we normally see for 4th of July. Very artistic, with fireworks coming from five barges in the harbor. Very happy we got to experience it.

Tomorrow we leave for Bangkok - our flight is at 2:15 PM. We will probably leave the hotel around 10:00 AM.

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Photos

Harbor Prominade
Water front walk by Cultural Center

Avenue of Stars
This part of prominade is dedicated to Hong Kong movie stars. Like in Hollywood, with stars in embedded in sidewalk. Special section and statue for Bruce Lee.

Tripods
No kidding - this went on for a 500' stretch. Must have been at least a hundred tripods.

MTR Station
Each station has 8-15 exits. Some are really "streets" that go for blocks. Good way to get around.

Sai Yeung Choi Street
This shopping street was mostly camers and electronics.

Produce Vendor
Saw many "new" things that Nancy did not know or recognise. Although we did eat some of them later at the Shangri-La buffet.

Flower Market
Whole street and area dedicated to cut flowers and plants. Very beautiful and interesting.

Ladies Market
This was on Tung Choi Street. Nancy did not find anything.

Fireworks
Picture from our room at the YMCA. This was very start of show. Really specatular

Comments

[Mike]

Sounds wonderful!
Really pleased to hear about your grand adventures in HK. Good wishes for Bangkok!