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Published: November 24th 2008
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Chung King Mansions
Not as bad as it looks...honest It is easy to be blasé about Hong kong, after all we have been here together before and I have been here more than a dozen times since 1994; we have “done” Hong Kong so there's nothing left to see, nothing left to say...is there?
Well, accommodation first off; I mean I have always stayed in business class hotels. When Sue and I were here we stayed at the rather plush Royal Pacific next to Kowloon Park with harbour views.
On the other hand Chung King mansions (Chunky mansions according to Sue) where we had a room booked was slightly different. One night at the former gets you one week at the latter.
The entrance to the inaccurately named building is through an arcade of small businesses most of which seem to be Indian so you run a gauntlet of guys trying to sell copy watches, copy bags, their restaurant or hotel rooms. Polite refusal works but show any interest and you get a feeding frenzy response.
When we arrived at Tom's guest house on the 8th floor there was nobody around; except for an ageing American being led along the corridor by a young Chinese girl. He looked
Our first room
Tom's Cat House! a bit sheepish but had a grin on his face. You got the impression you could book a room for just an hour (or maybe 20 minutes!)
When someone eventually arrived we were given a choice of 2 rooms the better choice was still pretty dire. We dumped our bags and went off to find an ATM and an alternative hostel.
We somehow found ourselves on 11th floor and the comparative luxury of The New International Guest House (They deserve the capitals!). You have to face facts, space is expensive in Hong Kong so room sizes are small, very small. Providing you are not too tall and don't need wardrobe space these 6' X 9' rooms are ideal and our hostel was recently refurbished with tiled walls and floors and a chrome framed 4' double bed; it was en-suite and conveniently you could take a shower and sit on the loo at the same time!
The bed was high enough off the ground to store our rucksacks and there was free wi-fi, a fridge, television and telephone. we really didn't need more. We swiftly retrieved our bags made our excuses and changed hotels.
We were lucky because Hong
Our second room
Compact and bijou! Kong was bright and sunny most of the time so we decided to explore the beaches. You can travel by bus from Admiralty around the west coast to Repulse Bay, Deepwater Bay and Stanley which has a beach and the famous market.
That took care of one day and on another we went over to the west coast; Big Wave Bay and Shek O village.
Shek O is a quaint former fishing village with a soft sandy beach ideal for a BBQ or picnic. The sea has rolling waves breaking on the beach, ideal for body boarding (thought of you here George) and we even got out for a swim!
Lantau Island is another popular location and we went for the breathtaking cable car ride and on to see the awesome giant Buddha both quite new attractions that you have to put a day aside for.
Other daytime destinations were Hong Kong park (an island of greenery, paths, lakes and fountains floating amid the modern skyscrapers.) and Wanchai market; (if only we had a kitchen ,fresh fruit and vegetables, meat (from joints to entrails, heads to feet) and very alive fish that keep jumping out of their bucket to get
Hong Kong streets
Aerial walkways keep you away from the traffic into your shopping bag!) The vast malls like Pacific Place (all designer shops a bit like Bond Street, a good job we have no money) and IFC on Hong Kong.
Nearby Kowloon park is another oasis of green in the sprawling metropolis with a lake housing a flock of Flamingos and noisy aviary filled with tropical birds; we even watched a kung fu demonstration one afternoon. That was on a Sunday just after we had a superb and inexpensive lunch of Dim Sums in a nice restaurant overlooking the harbour with views over Hong Kong island.
Evenings were spent shopping in the narrow Jardine Street market; people watching in a bar in Wanchai (had to laugh at the drunken Brits getting dragged into the clubs by Mama - she certainly showed the young girls how to work the streets) at least their wallets wont be as heavy when they leave!
Gazing at the Harbour Lightshow from The Avenue of Stars (almost tripping over people with their hands in their favourite movie stars hand prints; or bumping into a life sized statue of Bruce Lee!); Shopping in Temple street before eating seafood at tables set up on the street (just before
the police moved in to arrest Sue and tell the owner to clear the street!) and eating noodles in the various noodle bars located in the Tsim Sha Tsui backstreets.
We left Hong Kong by Fast-Cat from Kowloon arriving in Shenzhen just a short shuttle bus journey from the airport where we boarded our plane bound for XiAn and the next chapter.
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