Advertisement
Published: December 12th 2005
Edit Blog Post
Star Ferry
Sweethearts on the ferry Ok, so I'm waaay behind on the journals...
March 27 It’s Sunday and Tony finally has a day off - poor boy, he’s worked 13 days in a row. All that scrambling for a China visa for me, and we chuck the whole idea. We were up late. Drank wine. Watched silly television. Slept in. Besides I’m still under the weather.
Speaking of the weather I realize I haven’t spoken of the weather yet. So far it’s been very gloomy, cool, windy and not at all tropical. I am disappointed because LA was gloomy, cool, windy and really rainy this past winter and I was sooo looking forward to warmth & sun to bring some life into my reptilian-like circulation.
In chucking the China plan, we had to come up with a local replacement. Since I haven’t seen most of HK, it was pretty easy to find things to do.
Decide to go to Kowloon and see what the buzz is about shopping there, plus seek out a computer center that’s supposed to have big bargains. We are shopping for computer speakers. In hind site, something I should have brought along with me even if it would
Star Ferry
The ferry docked at the pier, Kowloon side have increased the baggage poundage.
Walked to the Star Ferry terminal at the harbor. Again I am wearing ill-advised footwear. It’s cold! OK, not cold, just that it’s only in the 60’s. Plus both pair of jeans I brought only work with 3 1/2” heels. Mental note: hem jeans. And it’s important to not look like a geek American tourist, the second worst dressed tourists in the world just barely ahead of the Germans. I am humbled by the sleekly chic Asian women here and insecure enough to torture my feet and make myself thoroughly miserable for the sake of looks. I’m vain. I need therapy.
The Star Ferry is very cool, an inexpensive and fun way to cross the harbor from the Island to Kowloon. Whizzed thru the gate using our Octopus card (only a couple of HK bucks) and crunched in with the other 300 Sunday shoppers and tourists in the waiting area. The hard working Star Ferry system has been around since 1898 - some of the ferries look that old too! We herd on to the top deck and scoot to the front. Seats are individual but all connected in the rows and the
Victoria Harbor
The sun tries hard to peak through the fog seatbacks can be flipped depending on which direction you are going. We sit towards the front to get the full, windblown view. (my feet look great, but my god, my hair!) A mere 10 minutes and we are there.
The terminal on the Kowloon side seems to be a political hub of sorts. You find posters and pamphlets being handed out about the torturing of Falun Gong practitioners, plus other incomprehisible causes. Fast forward: one day we saw a memorial service to those who lost their lives in Tiananmen Square (too bad no camera that day) all of it was in Chinese so we couldn't read about it. Hong Kongers still express their beliefs openly, I'm sure to the dismay of the Mainland Govt.
What a crowd! As if we didn’t just leave a crowd on the Island. I see why - there is a humongous mall right outside the ferry exit (such a surprise) - the New World Center, along with a gargantuan 5 star hotel in case you really want to spend your money all in one spot. We are in the Tsim Sha Tsui district and need to make our way north to the shopping
Tsim Sha Tsui
Star Ferry Terminal - Political material about what, who knows? & markets. Tony is getting uptight about the throngs and we try to find a less packed route. Good luck.
Meandering, window-shopping, generally heading north we hit Nathan Road, the center of it all. The atmosphere is much different than the Island, as if you’ve landed in more modern, well-kept India. It’s a bustling area with electronics, clothing, jewelry, street “salesmen” (got rrrolex, for you trrree hundrud), hawking and gawking, 5 star hotels, hostels and guesthouses, and the infamous Chungking Mansions - see a slice of it in the movie
Chungking Express. A quick tour through the mansions puts us back in India. A labyrinth of corridors with dozens of shops and food stalls - a bit seedy, but the food looks & smells delicious. In the floors above are many guesthouses, some of the cheapest digs in HK I understand. Hmmm, only for the truly adventurous, broke traveler.
Onward, up and down street markets crammed to capacity, we seek Kowloon Park for a bit of space. It’s off Nathan Rd, as we enter I receive a variety of catcalls and love messages from the ubiquitous Indian males.
As all parks in HK, it is used to its
Tsim Sha Tsui
On Salisbury Road just outside of the terminal heading towards Nathan Road fullest. A meeting place, family gatherings, dancing, mahjong, music making & playing, tai chi, picnics and just hanging out. It is quite large, having several sections with ponds, fountains, a small aviary, and a huge & sparkling clean swimming pool. Spurred to action by an outbreak of illness a few years back, the HK govt underwent a thorough cleaning of all its public pools, and have now instituted once a week cleaning, plus a stricter standard for bathers to follow.
Here’s an interesting site.
Through the park, we catch a bus on Nathan St to go up to Mong Kok. This is where the computer center is, on Nelson just a block or so east of Nathan. I had no idea what to expect. At first we couldn’t even find it because the jam scene on the streets was disorienting, walked past it once without knowing, then backtracked saw the sign and some brightly painted stairs splattered with logos and ads for computer gizmos. Being from the US where you have one giant mega store per block with a 10,000-car parking lot in between, I was taken aback by this mega mess. Oh, I didn’t expect a parking lot, not that naïve.
Tsim Sha Tsui
On Nathan Road - Chungking Mansions Three floors with hundreds of individual shops each about the size of a large walk-in closet with computer & electronic merchandise stacked floor to ceiling. Narrow corridors and too many people. Crunch, crunch, crunch. Listened to some cheesy speakers. Made a mental note of what each vendor has, the prices and the location of said vendor. You watch and see. Whew, then we were outta there! Bought nothing. Went to a regular indoor western type mall (can you believe we found a mall within a block) to get some java and sustenance.
After java, back to Tsim Sha Tsui and more walking around. Sought out the Temple St night market, but it was raining and many stalls were closed. Drippy browsing and umbrella bumping. The night market is kind of like the fashion district in LA, vendors with loads of product, t-shirts, fake designer purses, camera accessories, little doodads you might need around the house. Very cheap - and they do bargain. Bought nothing.
By this time I’m all turned around, but Tony steered us to the harbor where all the museums are and the entrance to the ferry. Completely exhausted we (that is, I am exhausted -
Headlines!
So they say... Tony never tires) headed home, cleaned up, and went out for a nice but very expensive, yet excellent pizza & wine at one of the club owner’s restaurants in Soho called Wildfire. Tony gets a 50%!d(MISSING)iscount so it wasn’t too bad, but still the bill was around $500. But I’m telling you; if you lived here permanently you’d need to be making the BIG bucks to afford it all.
**********************************
Visit our website:
Tony & Martha Dancy Visit my Ruby Lane shop for Fine Art and Funky Finds:
Martha’s Art Mart Visit
Martha's Squidoo Lenses
Advertisement
Tot: 0.188s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 65; dbt: 0.0666s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb