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Published: June 21st 2010
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This is our last full day in Hong Kong so it’s flat out full time shopping and sightseeing.
Our first stop was to take a walk up Nathan Road to check out a few shops on the way to Mong Kok. We had to go into Chungking Mansions, a place of ill repute. There is a rabbit warren of shops in this building but a lot weren’t open early in the day so it wasn’t real busy. There are nearly 2,000 cheap rooms available here in various guesthouses. Have a look on Wikipedia for a lot more information about this rambling building. By the way, Mansions is a gross exaggeration.
We continued up Nathan Road looking into the windows and dreaming of being able to afford some of the items in the jewellers windows. Most of them had one kilo gold bars in the window and at about $US1,300 per ounce worth in the region of $US40,000 each. The vast array of gold items in each window must amount to well over several million dollars in each shop.
There were a couple of markets we planned to visit today, and the first was the Jade Market. These are
located in two sheds a couple of blocks of Nathan Road and contain upwards of 300 traders solely selling jade. There is also fake jade (agate) available as well and unless you know what you are looking at (like us) just negotiate as cheap as possible. Like most markets, if you go too low they won’t sell.
We bought a few items, as usual can’t resist a bargain, and decided to head for some tranquillity. Kowloon Park is located just off Nathan Road and is a green oasis away from the hustle and bustle of that major thoroughfare. The green lungs of Kowloon extend over 33 acres and has such leisure facilities as swimming pools, and aviary and is just a place for general relaxation. Whilst we were there, we watched a group of people doing kung fu demonstrations.
After this we headed back to the hotel for a bit of relaxation ourselves before heading off for the night’s activities.
Our plan for the evening was to watch the harbour lights show and then head to Temple Street markets. Our photos of the harbour from our room, though reasonable we not great and it is almost impossible
to get a decent shot while on the Star Ferry due to the movement of the ferry. We went down to the harbour early, just after 7 pm to make sure we could get a good spot. Even at that time, an hour beforehand, a good crowd had built up along the esplanade.
The show is really good, with all the lights choreographed to music and runs for about 13 minutes. Some of the photos turned out really well so the wait was worth it.
We then headed off to the Temple Street markets for some more shopping. Well, we went up Canton Road for the first time. This street is close the harbour and most of the shops on the southern section are up market retail outlets. Harbour City, which is part of the ocean port complex, is the largest shopping mall in Hong Kong. If you want it shoppers, it’s all here in all its glory.
After a good walk, we reached Temple Street but before we started our quest for bargains we went and had a really good Indian meal. This place sold Indian, pasta and pizza. Strange combination but good food none the
less.
We then headed into the market which stretched over about five or six city blocks separated by a temple. The goods on sale here are similar to the Ladies Market and the atmosphere is lively and entertaining. After about an hour of the place we had a big beer which only cost $HK20 and well and truly needed at it was about 32 degrees and very high humidity.
We stayed until around midnight and then headed back to the YMCA for our final night in this vibrant Asian city.
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