After a much better flight than our return to England from Colombia (where we had some particularly disruptive unsupervised children behind us) we arrived to Hong Kong.
Evening 1
My first time to the city and Dominique’s first time in Asia meant that we weren’t really sure what to expect. Being greeted by a 100 person long line for the bus into Tsim Shui Tsa (our home for the 5 days) and the foggy and humid atmosphere wasn’t the best start! We found our accommodation in the infamous Chungking Mansions, known for its cheap rooms and eclectic ethnic population and stores, some say the authorities would prefer it wasn’t so well known…After checking into our box sized room (twin beds with 1 foot in-between and a shower over the toilet) we set off to try out an authentic local restaurant.
Around the corner was the Spring Deer, which was recommended in a few places, with a particular note to try the crispy duck pancakes. We duly ordered the “whole duck” option and a while later two plates of sliced duck breast appeared (not exactly a whole duck!). The duck and pancakes were pretty different to our UK variation, with the outside of the duck skin nice and crispy but with all the fat still on the inside and throughout the meat. The pancakes where much bigger and doughy, not the rice paper like style we have. Suitably stuffed we made our way to the waterfront.
Every evening at 8pm the Hong Kong Island skyline dazzles and flashes for a 10 minute light show. Luckily for us that prime viewing point is Tsim Shui Tsa (TST) waterfront, just a short walk from our hotel. Getting there 10 minutes before the start we grabbed ourselves a viewing spot and watched as the biggest buildings opposite us went through a colourful transformation, flashing different colours pulsing spotlights and green lasers. Partway through we got up and continued along the promenade where we found that speakers played out accompanying music which made a huge difference to the atmosphere, so we decided to have a viewing from this location on another evening.
Day 2
The next morning we awoke to find the city shrouded in a hazy fog. We decided to chance it and go to the Tian Tan Buddha at Lantau, hoping that the weather would clear during the hour long metro journey. It turns out a few other people had the same idea as we ended up in a 30 minute queue to buy our cable car tickets to the base of the Buddha. The cable car has two option “Standard” or “Crystal” Cabin, the latter with a see through floor. We opted for a package which gave you a ride on each and took the “Crystal” cabin up. The 15 minute ride started over the ocean and continued for much longer than we expected over green hills. I don’t think we thought there would be so much nature this close to the city.
At the top there is a little square full of tourist trap restaurants (including a subway) and stores, with the Buddha perched in the distance. We reached the bottom of the steps and tried to work out if it was bigger than Christ the Redeemer in Rio, we think it probably isn’t as tall but being made of bronze it might well be heavier. Making our way up we stopped to get lots of photos before doing a complete 360 around the top. Here there is a little museum which explains the process of the nearby Buddhist Monastery coming up with the idea and how it was made and installed.
Next stop was the monastery with its huge incense sticks burning and a central hall with 10,000 miniature Buddha’s lining the walls (no photos allowed unfortunately). Before making our way back we found a Chinese restaurant slightly off the main route and had a noodle soup for lunch, rather than the options at the tourist square.
Our next stop was the Chi Lunn Nunnery back in Kowloon. The contrast between the traditional old building and the skyscraper apartments surrounding it was pretty unique. Just over the road from the nunnery are the beautiful Nan Lian gardens where we admired the Hong Kong horticulture, with the various bonsai’s being a particular favourite.
On our way back we went straight for the waterfront to catch the light show from a better spot, with the accompanying music. The crowd started building from about 7:30pm and by the time it started the whole of the raised promenade walk was packed. Seeing the show with the music made it much more impressive.
Arriving back at Chungking Mansions we decided to try out one of the Indian Restaurants in the buiding, the Delhi Club, supposedly among the best places to eat Indian food in Hong Kong. After being rushed in and ushered to a table underneath the full blast Aircon we picked a couple of soft drinks, curries and some naan. Despite not being in India they managed to master the indolent service style, when two Sprites arrived instead of one Sprite and a Coke the waiter’s first response was “well I’ve already opened it” expecting us to just accept the mistake, he didn’t seem happy when we responded “but it’s not what we ordered” and trudged off to get us our Coke. The food then took close to an hour to arrive but hats off to them it was a very good meal at a very good price for Hong Kong. An authentic experience indeed.
Day 3
The next morning we were meeting one of my old friends from university (Alex) and his fiance. Alex moved out to Hong Kong a few years ago and is fully settled in. With the weather hazy again our initial plans to complete a hike with views of the south China sea were cancelled. Instead we got the Star Ferry and our first visit to the “Central” district that until now we had only seen lit up at night. At 10am on a Saturday much of the area was quiet, they explained Hong Kong is a late city, so many places don’t get busy until after lunch. Starting at the escalators we went up through the centre of the city. The escalators (more like travelators) run for about 15 minutes, and save what would otherwise be a pretty long uphill walk. Mid way through we got off and stopped at a dimsum restaurant for lunch / brunch. Alex and Carman ordered us a never ending selection of buns, rolls, dumplings etc. There were no other westerners in sight, with many of the customers seeming to be pensioners. They explained that being such a traditional food style it’s where many of the older people go to meet their friends.
Completely stuffed we continued up the escalators and on reaching the top we decided it was clear enough to go to Victoria’s peak. We got dropped off near a trail which led us on a one hour walk to the top. I spent the time catching up with Alex (who was probably the first person I ever met at University as he lived in the room next to me). Every so often there would be a break in the foliage and we could look out at the skyscrapers rising across the city.
When we reached the top we were inundated with tourists but managed to get a few snaps at the main viewing point, although they weren’t much better than the ones we had from our walk up. I’m not sure there is a city in the world which has the same volume of skyscrapers as Hong Kong, even New York seems small in comparison. Next up on our tour was to take the “Peak Tram” back down to the city. The old tram is packed with people and whizzes up and down the hillside as some pretty steep angles, it reminded us of the funicular in Valparaiso (or Folkestone) but it doesn’t run on a counterweight system which makes it feel more like a runaway train!
Reaching the city Alex took us for a quick tour of the Bloomberg offices, where we saw the TV studio and got to stock up on some free snacks before we said our goodbyes and made our way back to TST.
On our way back to the ferry we noticed lots of women sitting around on pieces of cardboard. At first we thought maybe they were queuing for a shop opening, a release of a new phone or something. But as we continued we noticed them everywhere, and nowhere near any shops. I asked Alex about it who said they were Philippino maids who typically have one or two days off at the weekends. Not having any where to go, and with limited public spaces they sit in walkways, squares. He also thinks it’s one of the reasons there aren’t many benches and chairs dotted around the city. For such a wealthy place it is a bit depressing to see women sitting around or resting on pieces of cardboard.
That evening we tried out some of the Street Food options in Mong Kok. The chips and cheese was nice (although perhaps not that authentic) so tried some sort of noodle dish where the whole menu was in Chinese, which was authentic but not that nice…so we finished off with a local favourite of French Toast and condensed milk. We then made our way to the street market. A single long street with stalls either side and a narrow space to walk between. There were a few paintings and tea sets, but the majority of stalls focused on selling “designer” bags, shoes and watches. Dominique was happy as she managed to pick up some bargains!
Day 4
Feeling like we had done the main tourist sights we decided to find out a bit more about Hong Kong’s history, so we spent the next morning at the history museum. It was interesting to learn about the British invasions, portrayed fairly matter of factly. The gist seemed to be that Britain didn’t like the restrictions on trade the Chinese were putting in place (particularly on opium) so started a war over it. Having won once, they didn’t like the treaty terms so started another war a few years later with the French supporting and got themselves some better terms. Conversely the Japanese occupation during World War II was much more graphic in terms of the horrors faced by the locals until it was eventually relinquished following heavy US bombardment (and the dropping of the A bombs). The final display was a video of the ceremony when Britain handed back control to the Chinese. It was good to have some context to the place we were visiting.
In the evening we went back to central to try out some Michelin star dim sum at Tim Ho Wan. A restaurant underneath a metro station didn’t seem that salubrious but the food was great. Our favourite was the char sui pork buns but the most interesting was a sort of floral flavoured jelly for dessert. We had 4 or 5 dishes and it came to £15. Probably the cheapest Michelin meal we will ever have!
After dinner we took a walk around the central area at night. Revisiting the escalators and some of the street art. We noticed how it seemed very western, either tourists or expats and talked about it being a place we wouldn’t mind living. One of the other observations is that Hong Kong is built for pedestrians. Throughout the downtown area there are raised walkways connecting throughs malls, hotels and offices to allow pedestrians to move separately from the traffic. The only thing I can compare it to is walking around Canary Wharf! Before getting the Star Ferry back over we stopped at the waterfront to see the light show from the other side, being underneath the buildings and without the music made it much less dramatic than watching it from TST.
Day 5
On our final day we had planned on trying to do the Dragon’s Back walk, but again the weather was hazy so instead we opted for the Temple of 10,000 Buddha’s. This was undoubtedly one of the strangest temples I’ve been too. In the middle of a non-descript suburb you reach the bottom of a path lined by golden coloured “Buddha” statues. Winding its way up the side of the hill for about 400m there are statues placed every metre or so on both sides. But none of the statues actually look like the typical versions of Buddha that you see…on reaching the top there is a temple which is filled with thousands of tiny Buddha statues. Quite interesting, but being privately built in the last 50 years or so it was not quite as impressive as the longer standing temples.
For our last evening we had a little bit of luxury lined up. First up was going to Yardbird restaurant. Recommended by a couple of Dominique’s friends it specialises in chicken skewers of all kinds, but also has a number of other dishes. We got there for opening at 6pm as we heard it fills up fast and grabbed ourselves a prime table, with a view of the kitchen.
We took the waitresses advice and ordered a couole of cocktails and a selection of dishes including; corn fritters, chicken meatballs, two versions of chicken thigh skewers, cucumber salad, duck fried rice and KFC (Korean Fried Cauliflower). The highlights for me were the KFC (and I don’t even like cauliflower) and one of the chicken thigh skewers (I don’t remember which).
To end the evening, we headed to another recommended spot for a drink, Upper House. 49 floors up it has a fantastic bar right in the centre of the city, giving you an up close and personal view. We managed to get a spot by the window so got to appreciate the Hong Kong skyline with a drink in hand. A great evening to finish our trip.
Next up is the start of our Philippines adventure!
Tim
thequayelife 