Hong Kong - 2

Never very good at being an 'early bird' tourist, I woke up at around 10am on my second day in Hong Kong. Since there's no time constraint, we decided to take the double decker tram. For a mere HKD2 regardless distance, it's definitely a must try experience. Cruising through the busy city on a nearly 130years old track in one of the individually colourful decorated (with advertisement) tram body, enjoying the breeze, feels very relax compare to taking MTR.

Ding-ding

I enjoyed the ding-ding ride very much, gives a very good view of HK's daily life while cruising through the busy streets. The only disadvantage is that there's no notification on which stop the tram stops, so it's all up to your own building recognition skill ;) Then again, the tram stops are very close to one another (hence the long tram ride) at about 250m interval. Missed one? no problem, just walk a bit.

What can be done when there's no customer? cutting vegetable, apparently :s

Stopped somewhere in central, good thing about HK, the streets are never too long or too difficult to find (unlike Macau) if you have a map. Walking the small steps up Pottinger street with small stalls on both sides and seeing a couple's pre-wedding photo shoot, makes me feel like I'm living the life of TVB drama series character's. 

Arriving at Tsui Wah, loud, bold, wildly popular and perhaps Hong Kong's busiest quick service chain restaurant to try its famous food and also blend into the local dining scene. Were there slightly before lunch, but the restaurant is already starting to fill up. Quick menu browsing, quick order, quick serving and I had a very nice bowl of rice noodle with special made fish ball & fish cake (潮州魚蛋片頭米粉), tasted their famous silky milk tea and the butter condensed milk toast bun (奶油豬仔包). 

It didn't take long before we were requested to share our small table with 2 more diners during peak lunch hour. It's interesting when one can totally understand the conversation of the other party yet behave like they absolutely didn't exist. I think it's a skill developed over long time of table sharing culture. Well, at least it's an efficient way of utilizing the restaurant's free seats and reducing patrons waiting time by sacrificing 'just a little' privacy ;) We then move on to our wonderful walking tour suggested by HK Tourism Board with a little adjustment.

a small park with little green, very art nouveau

Passing through the busy business district, we took the mid-level escalators up to Staunton Street and the SoHo district. Watch out for one of the MTR discount counter, simply scan your Octopus card and get a HKD2 instant rebate when you take your next MTR ride. The ride offers excellent view of buildings alongside and any time you wish, just jump off one of the side street to experience some local food stall or watch some local trade being carried out.

Central-Mid level escalator

Walking down Hollywood street and trying not to follow map (there's pink & blue signs almost every junction indicating next nearest tourist attraction) and let our legs take us where it wants to, we found some nice fleet of staircases, ultra 'slim' buildings and some exotic shops worth browsing.

Streets of HK (island side)

Funny boxers in G.O.D.

Eventually we reach the famous Man Mo Temple. Unfortunately, tonnes of other tourists also found the same spot so we skip the temple visit. It's just 'funny' to see an old temple tucked in among some of the tallest residential buildings in Hong Kong, amazing. 

Man Mo Temple

Taking a turn down from Man Mo Temple, reaching to Upper Lascar Row 摩罗街 (also called Cat Street, wonder why) which is famous for curio and antique shop, we found the one quiet street in Hong Kong. Perhaps it's not tourist peak season, or perhaps the hour is oddly afternoon, shops & stalls are operating but the street is rather empty, giving us sufficient space to slowly roam the streets and enjoy the little tranquil oasis in one of the worlds busiest city.

Continue walking downhill (see, that's why my walk is better than HK tourism board's suggestion because instead of going up hill, our route is towards downhill, same scenery, half the energy ;), we reached the Western Market, an Edwardian style building which is originally the waterfront harbour office, now a historical monument with themes shops.

Western Market

Nothing much inside, lots of cloth, I mean raw cloth shops, souvenir shops, antique shops, a restaurant occupying a whole 3rd floor and then I spotted this Honeymoon Dessert shop which is on my 'to-try' list. Taking a foot rest in the famous chained dessert shop, we ordered a mango pancake and 杨枝金露 (a uniquely Hong Kong dessert with mango, pomelo, sago, coconut milk etc), delicious. I later found out that apparently their durian dessert is even more famous, sigh...next time, next time.

Honeymoon dessert

We then took the tram to go back to mid-Central district again. Honestly, it's not that far but I just can't miss the tram rides :). Busy busy busy, tall buildings, historical looking buildings, none stop traffic and then we found the only four gas street lamps remaining in Hong Kong

HK streets

Duddell street steps and gas lamp

If you watch Hong Kong TVB drama series, or maybe even some Hong Kong movies, it's not hard to find yourself familiar with the famous Duddell street steps. At least in my memory, almost half of the drama series that involved couples getting back together (or breaking up) happens here. Lovely steps, except it's also adjacent to truck loading / unloading on Ice House street, so...

Feeling tired, we took the tram (again, yes) to our hotel, take a few hours nap and then depart later in the evening for a great dinner in YungKee (see next blog for it). Right next to Wellington street where YungKee is located, is 'night-owl's popular pub/clubbing area - Lan Kwai Fong. Recently, however, some 'night-owls' have moved on to SoHo area so LKF seems a bit deserted.

Lan Kwai Fong

Not much of a fan for clubbing, we walked down the central area. An area that is filled with people and traffic  during business hour is now only empty buildings (literally) and reasonable traffic on the road. Makes the area feels more 'approachable', at least that's what I think.

And then I made a mistake by walking into Sasa looking for nail polisher remover. I'm totally impressed with the selling skill of Hong Kong sales person. I only wanted 1 item but ended up buying nail polisher, facial masks, and hand lotions on top of what I originally wanted (luckily I still remember what I wanted, haha).

So, here's second day in Hong Kong, more to come...slowly...