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Published: October 28th 2009
Maple Leaf Guest House
Our hostel in Hong Kong. We will be staying there again.We were planning on skipping our Chinese class on Friday to get a head start to Hong Kong, but were informed last week that our first exam would be postponed, and rescheduled for that same Friday. Plans change, we're used to it, or at least unfazed by it!
After taking the exam, and finishing class off by learning how to say certain body parts (Head, shoulders, knees, and toes, knees and toes!), we were off to the metro, taking a subway to the border crossing.
No problems getting into Hong Kong, and figuring out the transfer stops along the way. It took a bit over two hours to leave from class in Futian and arrive at our hostel in the Tsim Sha Tsu area of Kowloon Island.
Staci booked a stay for two nights at the Maple Leaf Guest House, within Chungking Mansions. At first glance, the mansions seem a bit sketchy, and they probably are, but we found our hostel on the 12th floor to be perfect for us. That is, once we were able to get into it.
Once we arrived on the floor of our hostel we found a sign that said something like
Office Tower
This was the building we took our other camera to get fixed at. It is still being repaired. this:
"Dear STACI TOGNAZZINI, if you have arrived and nobody is here to let you in, please call this number: XXXXXX....Sorry for the inconvenience".
Neither of us had phones that would work in Hong Kong. What were we to do!?
We tried knocking and ringing the doorbell several times to no luck. Well, thats not entirely true. We did get someone to come out, but not from the hostel. Next to the hostel's door, was someone's personal apartment, so our noises prompted the owner to investigate. She was older and not friendly. She made a few grunts at us through her metal gate and we motioned to the hostel door as if we were trying to get in and she nodded and headed off, but not before grunting even louder at me and pointing for me to step off of her doormat. It was kind of strange, being that a doormat is made to be stepped on and there really wasn't much space in the tiny hallway to avoid contact with her coveted mat.
Not sure what to do about the hostel, We were about to head down to the ground floor to find a phone,
Nigth Market
There's a night market every evening that is a must see. You can also find some very good deals. when all of a sudden the hostel door opened. No, it wasn't our hostel contact or employee, but instead a man and his two prostitutes from downstairs where you can also find shiny stolen watches and tasty vegetarian samosas. The gang of three let us in to use the hostel's phone and luckily we were able to get in contact with Lisa, one of the owners. She told us to wait there and she would be right up to help us.
What could have been yet another disastrous start to a vacation turned itself around, with Lisa arriving and showing us to a very clean hostel room with a bathroom and high speed internet (what else do you need!).
We settled in a bit and tried to figure out a place to eat. Aside from its prostitutes and watches, the Chungking Mansions offer over 30 places to eat Indian food. Some of them are sit down restaurants, while others are vendors in the various halls of 16 floors. In our travel guide, we read of a good place on the 4th floor of the C section called Islamabad Cafe. We couldn't find this exact one, so we went
Kowloon Park
The beautiful Kowloon Park, fairly close to where we stayed at the Chungking Mansions. to the first one we saw, and for a fairly decent price (much cheaper than in the main city), we enjoyed chicken masala (me) and a paneer dish (Staci). We also shared an order of naan bread and basmati rice. Yum!
Afterwards, we decided to explore the nightlife a bit, stopping at an Irish pub for a drink. We then found a Fortress, where they sell electronics. One of the reasons we chose to go to Hong Kong was to get our expensive camera fixed and buy a small, cheaper one. Fortress had a good deal, so we exchanged some money and now have a tiny digital camera that will be more convenient to carry around daily.
Upon our return to Chungking Mansions, we got sucked in to buy more Indian food. This time we each got a vegetable samosa from a place called, no joke, "Butt Fast Food". We'd bring our butts their one more time before leaving on Sunday.
Saturday morning, we woke up early to bring our broken camera to the official Nikon service and repair center a few metro stops away. Luckily, finding the place was very easy, and I even thought I
Flamingos
It was random, but Kowloon Park offered flamingos! was, at one point, being asked for directions by a native Chinese person. Staci quickly pointed out that they were actually making sure I knew where
I was going. The Nikon service center is in the Office tower of a very swanky shopping center. We where first in line, and it ended up costing us a non-refundable 200 RMB to leave it with them to determine the actual price for repair. Hopefully within the next week , they'll let me know how much it will cost to fix. Overall, I was very pleased with their customer service, and happy to get our camera to an official service center not too far away from us.
We spent the next bit of time determining what we should get to eat. First, we decided to go to Mcdonalds, not for food, but for their coffee. Staci LOVES McCafe, as it is a bit cheaper for blended goodness than Starbucks. After the caffeine fix, we headed out for our first dose since being here of Thai food. I enjoyed Pad Thai and Staci, veggie fried rice.
We had read about a temple to visit, so that's where we headed next. One of
Bruce Lee
Statue of Bruce Lee near Victoria Harbor the many Tin Hau temples is located within Yung Shue Tau Public Square. We didn't go in, but rather, sat in the square under a large banyan tree, people watching. We had been walking a lot, so this provided a lot of shade and relaxation.
Off to the jade market!
Something I've wanted to buy while here is some jade. Hong Kong has a section where hundreds of jade sellers congregate. Of course, there are no listed prices, so you have to really draw a hard line while negotiating a price. Additionally, who knows if what you are getting is actual jade! No matter to me, I was able to get a few items at decent prices (I think...).
Off to the next market!
The famous Temple Street Night Market was just a few minutes away, and an absolute
must for anyone visiting Hong Kong. Blocked off to car traffic during the evening hours, this area offers shopping of all sorts at bargain prices that should still be negotiated. Staci ended up buying a nice blouse that she got down to 50 RMB from 180.
Our next goal was to make it back to the
Food
Upon our return to Shenzhen, we stopped at one of our favorite restaurants, a vegetarian place we will be going to a lot. hotel for that last snack at Butt Fast Food, rest a bit, then head to a light show. On our way back, we came across a most delightful park, Kowloon Park. There, the colors were strong, and views spectacular. The park had multiple tiered swimming areas, flamingos, turtles, and laughing families. Nothing could be better.
We finally made it back to the hotel before quickly taking off again for a nightly light show at the harbor. Victoria Harbor is also a must see for any visitors. Every night at 8pm to the tone of music, the skyscrapers and buildings across each side of the harbor blast colorful lights into the night sky. There's even a statue of Bruce Lee. The show is free and the views fantastic, so if your in Hong Kong, this is a must see.
Going to Hong Kong = trying to answer all of your unanswered craving's calls of the past month. We've been craving nachos. We knew the TGI Friday's had some, but upon sitting down and looking at the menu, it was all very expensive to get a good dinner, so we left and headed down the street where Shakey's, the famous pizzeria joint also had nachos on their menu, and the rest of the food was much more affordable. Perfect. We'd get our nachos and then some!
Wrong.
As some of you probably know (not us, because we don't have Shakeys in WA state), Shakey's offers Mojo Nachos. When our waiter sensed what we were really after, he informed us that "Mojo Nachos are nachos without the nachos...just mojo". I gave him a generous courtesy laugh, thinking he was joking, referring to "mojo" as a type of fun-fueled energy. Nope, no joke. He explained it to us twice, and basically these nachos were battered and seasoned potatoes smothered in what nachos would be smothered in. Heartbroken, we still ordered some, but they totally, in no way whatsoever, answered our craving...which still lingers on to this day. The rest of our meal of pizza was very good, so in one respect, we left full and happy. We finished off the evening at the Irish pub drinking German beer.
We woke up the next morning, checked out, and found Pacific Place Coffee, where they have amazing blended coffee drinks, AKA Staci's life support. Our last agenda item before headed back home was to see the Hong Kong Museum of History. Another decision well made. We found it absolutely fascinating--especially learning about the Japanese invasion and several year occupation. We also randomly ran into another teacher in our program, Andrew, whose parents were visiting. They are from Olympia Washington, so we flew into China with him back in August.
To finish up, we had a nice lunch of sandwiches, something that you cannot find easily in the mainland. No problems getting back into Shenzhen, where we continued our vacation eating at the most wonderful vegetarian restaurant near our bus station.
What a wonderful weekend vacation. We can't wait to go back--hopefully soon when our camera is repaired.
Speaking of cameras, stay tuned as we do have a new camera with some new pictures to share with you. It wont be until early November, as we are going on another vacation!
Sorry for the length, but thanks for reading.
~Martin
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sofia
non-member comment
Food?
I wanna go to Butt fast food. It sounds like something they should have in the states.