Days 12-15: Hong Kong

Note: These are the more personal, non-work related notes to complement the blog posts to this work trip to China which you can find using the Viewsource tag.

Day 12

We’re off to Hong Kong. The border crossing seems a little awkward – you leave the country, sort of, and fill in another immigration card – but then we’re in Hong Kong in less than an hour.

We stay in south Kowloon, near Tsim Sha Tsui station. I picked that neighborhood because I had stayed here once before, about a decade ago. I was a student then, staying at Mirador Mansion, a run-down, somewhat sketchy block of cheap accommodation and sister building to the (then) more (in)famous Chungking Mansion, and was curious to see how it had developed since.

Chungking Mansion (2016)
Chungking Mansion (2016) as seen from a Starbucks across the street

These days, this neighborhood seems properly gentrified with tons of high-end brand stores along Nathan Road, and very touristy.

The evening is just for walking around the extended neighborhood and food, plus a final stop at a dessert place.

Day 13

A long night’s sleep, then off to explore. Swing-by at Mirador Mansion. Not as creepy as I remember it. Maybe it’s been renovated a little, maybe it’s because it’s day time, maybe my take on it just has changed. We discover an absolutely lovely-looking and super popular bakery inside. I still wouldn’t want to stay though, so we head on out to Hong Kong Island.

We take the beautiful old Star Ferry, and head on up the Escalators. It’s a charming, rickety system of escalators that was built to bring commuters from Victoria Peak down into their office and back up. It’s a network of short connected escalator hops, and seems like straight out of a time capsule. It was built in 1993 but looks a lot older. Fun! We jump off a couple of times to have a look around or stop for a coffee.

Escalators
Escalator signs

Escalators
Going up the escalators

Escalators
The escalators get commuters up and down the hill from and to Central

We stroll through the Botanical Garden, but when we arrive at the Peak Tram terminus the lines are too long. It’s Sunday, and all of Hong Kong is out and about.

Near Central, we see hundreds of Philippinas socializing in the long network of connected walkways: It’s their day off (see this article about Maid Day), and this is where you go to hang out. Out of cardboard each group has built a tidy little living room and people are laughing, eating, chatting.

Hong Kong has even more elevated walkways than I remember. All of them are protected from rain, you can get from pretty much anywhere to anywhere else without getting wet during rainy season. We’re lucky: It’s super sunny and nice out.

In the afternoon, off to Causeway Bay for some window shopping and a visit to the Cat Café.

neon
Old school Hong Kong neon lights

Evening is for Temple Street night market, which has crappy stalls but decent street food, then on to Butler, an excellent Japanese whiskey bar.

Japanese bars are the best bars.
Butler is a beautiful Japanese whiskey bar

Day 14

The morning is for work at Starbucks, the only place I don’t feel bad about using up sitting space for longer periods of time.

Then off to Central for lunch and some window shopping. Lunch at Kuroko Ramen (so so), followed by espresso at Coco next door (excellent!).

We check out PMQ, a design/artist quarter in a former police quarter. There’s two buildings full of (often locally design, sometimes well-curated international) design to be had: clothes, jewelry, prints, knick-knacks.

The peak tram takes us up to the peak. It’s totally overrun by the masses. Instead of taking it back down, we take a long slow walk down Old Peak Road, which is much more enjoyable.

Old Peak Road
Old Peak Road

Old Peak Road
Halfway down Old Peak Road, a view across the skyline opens up

By then, with excellent timing, Alper points out that the most excellent Tokyo-based Omotesando coffee has opened a Hong Kong branch: We head there right away.

Omotesando Koffee
Omotesando Tokyo, a few years ago

Omotesando Hong Kong <3
Omotesando Hong Kong

At so-called “toy street” next door, where there supposedly used to be a lot of old school toy stores from back in the day when Hong Kong did manufacturing, we find only one tiny (!) toy store left, next to a lovely (and equally tiny) barber shop. I can’t resist an early 1980s metal wind-up dinosaur.

Toy road
Tiny toy store is tiny

A viewing platform is on the way, so we head on up there before hunting some more Szechuan food, then on a whim decide to go for rooftop drinks at Wooloomooloo rooftop bar. Hong Kong does skylines and rooftop bars really well.

Wan Chai night view
Hong Kong does skyline really well

Day 15

We follow the same morning routine: Work from Starbucks office in the morning, then delicious dumpling lunch.

We buy small gifts, then head on over to the site of the former Kowloon Walled City. Today Kowloon Walled City Park is just a beautiful park. The history of the walled city is super interesting, though, a story about living in interstitial zones, bottom-up organization, and historic anomalies. (There’s a fascinating interactive online project that gives a glimpse into Kowloon Walled City.)

Kowloon Walled City Park
A model of Kowloon Walled City inside the park. Estimates vary wildly, but inside Kowloon Walled City there lived somewhere around 30-50K people. According to the plaque, this model is based on a (Japanese?) research team that went in and did in-depth research about the place just before it was torn down.

On the way back through Kowloon, we pop into a game arcade (m88). As arcades go, this one isn’t in great shape, but we do play a few fun games at about a million decibels.

At Sino Centre we discover a proper nerd mall. Only after we leave Hong Kong do I learn that the NES Classic consoles I saw there were real and that they’re sold out all over the world. Ah well, missed that one.

We look at 1950s Mido Cafe, but opt for bubble tea in the park. Beat from the day, we opt for a massage, dinner, some last minute shopping, then head to the airport with time to spare.

Airport tipp: At terminal 1, “Goods of Desire” is a local design brand that has some cute (and small, hence easy-to-transport) last minute gifts.

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