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Published: November 27th 2011
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Home Sweet Home
Where I stayed on Kowloon. After 18 hours of travelling I was pretty beat and touch down in Hong Kong couldn't have been more welcome. Obviously the months’ worth of preparation before had endowed me with a plethora of knowledge on the local area and customs and so I knew exactly where I was going and what I was doing. Ah, but wait... no, that's right, not a Scooby-do. A quick investigation of the budget guide to SE Asia and I was taxi-bound (good backpacker fare) to Nathan Road, a bustling tourist trap in Kowloon, where people who live there still consider themselves to be 'Hèung Góng' and not 'main-landers'. My destination - Chunking Mansions, quite possibly the most dangerous place to stay in Kowloon (I learnt this after my stay there), rife with drugs and crime and not uncommon for the odd backpacker kidnap. Suffice to say the place I stayed - the Taiwan guesthouse - was a far cry from the internet pictures I viewed some days before in the Deansgate STA travel (note to self to pay a visit on my return to the UK!).
A dingy hovel of a room with two bunk beds crammed in, no room for luggage or
Kowloon
So many neon billboards... personal space and a box room for a bathroom where you had to sit on the toilet to have a (cold) shower - minding the cockroaches of course. No air conditioning in the sweltering Kowloon humidity meant that in the morning, the condensation from the previous night’s exhalations had formed a nice little perspiration lake on the floor - a certain deathtrap for those jumping down off the top bunk to seek refuge in the cold toilet shower.
Check-in was somewhat delayed so I took the opportunity to head out into Kowloon in search of the local Chinese market for my first taste of 'real' food. Navigating through the crowded backstreets, most illuminated by gregarious neon signs, I found a small street-side cafe near Temple Street Market that served fresh seafood. A quick inspection of the produce and the customer's told me it wouldn't kill me to eat there so I tucked into some pretty awesome king prawns in chili and garlic sauce.
Once checked in I had not much better to do than head to the bar to catch up on what I should have done months before - figuring out what to do with the next
Just Chillin'
A small park on Kowloon, where local Chinese men would come to play board games and read the daily's. 6 months of my life! I meandered on over to Knutsford Steps, a quaint little pit stop lined with several bars and restaurants for ex-pats. A good few hours in and with some beer in the belly I noticed an English guy sat on the next table that I vaguely recognised. Lo-and-behold it turns out we both went to the same college (KGV) back home in Southport. Tom Grek was his name and while we were fairly unacquainted in college, a familiar air of home was a welcome sight so far from it. Tom is working as a lawyer in Hong Kong and lives there with his girlfriend Sona, who joined us shortly after. A few beers in and a curry, we were hitting the lights fantastic in seedy Wan Chai on Lockhart road, sampling the many delights that HK has to offer, including the infamous 'Dusk til Dawn' (thanks Douggie!).
A good night had and one hell of a hangover in the morning, I managed to crawl out of bed only to meet two new additions to my temple of squalor in Chunking Mansions, Winne and Irene, two Dutch girls from Appledorn. Their first impression of me was
Enroute to Temple Street
Off to get food at Temple Street Market, more examples of the neon signage. certainly not a delight but they afforded me some grace and we took off to get food and drink. Outside however we were greeted by a torrent of rain - as it turned out, there was a Typhoon in Kowloon earlier in the morning (that I slept through)... braving the downpour we got some dim sum (I'm not sure what 'mixed meat' is supposed to be).
After a fleeting trip to Starbucks for the free 20 minutes of Wi-Fi, we headed out to the 'Avenue of the Stars', Kowloon's answer to Hollywood's 'Walk of Fame'. After 'Mr. Tit' and a few other comical names, we found a few more familiar stars - Jackie Chan and a statue of Bruce Lee. There we took in the HK skyline for the first time and watched the sun set over the bay while Junks made their way to the port.
All the trekking built up a thirst so a Star Ferry ride over from Kowloon to HK and we made our way over to Lan Kwai for drinks. I am normally proud to be English, but sometimes on my travels I do feel some shame and indeed Lan Kwai was no
Horse Chestnuts?
Although this guy looks like a crack addict, he was actually selling roasted horse chestnuts, cooked in hot sand from a wok. different from the streets of Malaga. British teenage drunks vomiting in the street made for some light entertainment and a crash course in Dutch (koetjs en kalfjes) with my 'bitches' and a new nickname to boot (Giant), we headed home to our cesspit. A fairly sleepless night convinced us to switch accommodation to the Hong Kong guesthouse in Mirador Mansions which was sheer luxury by comparison.
We spent the next several days together trekking around Kowloon to Mongkok and the market (nice goose and chickens feet on display), walking through the many small parks where local Chinese would play board games. Breakfast at the 'Bread House' (yum), the Ladies market on Tung Choi Street (devoid of ladies of any discernible taste), the Goldfish market (not to eat, but goldfish in plastic bags and puppies in glass cages), the flower market (rubbish), sneaker street (as the name implies) and the computer centre for some hard bargaining for SD cards.
In the evenings we meandered more towards Hong Kong island for food on Wellington Road (after getting lost in giant rat alley and drenched in yet another downpour of rain) and had drinks on Knutsford Steps (the Big Tree Pub
Yum
Goose feet. Nice. and Bahama Mama's for dancing) back in Kowloon and in Delaney's Irish pub (cheap beer, free Wi-Fi and a big screen for the football).
One evening we took a ride on the Peak Tram, which is a rickety old tram line built onto the Hong Kong mountainside. It transits you up to the top of the mountain where you can take in the whole HK and Kowloon skyline. When we got there the main viewing deck was closed so we snuck around the back to take a few snaps (before getting caught!). The view was pretty impressive and a low cloud clung to the skyline, making a pretty cool contrast between the black edges of the skyscrapers and the grey-lined clouds. We stuck around for a little while taking a few snaps before heading back down on the tram and heading home.
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xcapee
Khoi Pham
cool photo =)