Kowloon

We got an early start Sunday Morning. We walked from our Hotel to the Flying Pan, yes, a play on words, a small 24 hour eatery serving authentic American and English breakfast food. It was tasty. Their coffee is quite thick and bottomless.

Hong Kong is home to the world’s longest covered escalator. It’s actually a series of 29 escalators and moving sidewalks. It was built to accommodate commuters who live in the mid level, hence its name, Central-Mid-Levels Escalator, and work in the Central district. We jumped on Escalator, just around the corner from the Flying Pan, and were able to utilize the escalator in conjunction with Hong Kong’s unparalleled skyway system to get from the eatery to the Dock of the Star Ferry.

The Star Ferry is basically a bus on water. It is the mode of public transportation that connects Hong Kong Island with Kowloon. The cost of the ride is about 20¢. We arrived in Kowloon and were almost instantly solicited to buy watches and have clothes tailored. This was the beginning of a trend that seems standard in Kowloon. We immediately headed toward the Tsmi Sha Tsui Promenade. The Promenade is where the famous pictures of Hong Kong are taken; you know the ones, with the fantastic Hong Kong skyline sitting behind a sailboat with three very oriental looking sails. We tried to enjoy the view, but it was so very hazy that it was possible to barley make out the outline of the skyscrapers.

Directly in front of the promenade sits the Hong Kong Museum of Art. We entered the museum right at opening thus becoming, for a few minutes at least, the only patrons in the museum. My favourite installation was a series of about 10 mailboxes that the artist had “gathered.” Inside each mailbox was some sort of audio device. When we held our ear up to the mailbox we could hear the sounds that the artist heard from the location where the mailbox was found.

After the museum we decided to stroll up Nathan Road, the artery of Kowloon. Nathan Road is chalked full of shopping and on this Sunday afternoon was packed. I would compare Nathan Road to NY’s 5th Avenue but I feel that Nathan Road is quite a bit shabbier. We found reprieve in Kowloon Park. Also, very busy, but very nice. We relaxed our feet before proceeding to the Yue Hwa Chinese Emporium. The emporium is six blissful stories of crap. They had everything from dragons carved from jade to wheelchairs. It was a bit overwhelming. After taking in as much of the emporium as we could we decided to head to the Peninsula Hotel.

The Peninsula Hotel is apparently the oldest hotel in Hong Kong. It truly is elegant. Our main reason for visiting the hotel was to take high tea. At precisely 2pm we were sat at a small table in huge lobby of the hotel. We ordered a specialty cocktail, high tea for two and an order of spring rolls. My cocktail, I don’t even remember what was in it, was so completely refreshing I cannot describe it justly. The spring rolls were probably the best I have ever had. The high tea was very traditional. A tower of three platters was delivered with dessert on top, finger sandwiches in the middle and the best looking scones I have ever seen on the bottom. The service was impeccable. We relaxed at our tea table for two hours. We both decided that we need to hang out in Kowloon until nightfall so we could hopefully see the awesome view of Hong Kong Island at night.

We set out to explore Kowloon. We walked for a while until we came upon a small tranquil city park with a soccer field and a game in progress. After finding Nathan Road again we headed deeper into Kowloon in search of the Goldfish and Flower Markets. It took us a while but we finally found the block long goldfish. I can safely say I have never seen so many goldfish in my life. Along with goldfish it is also possible to purchase other household animals at the market such as dogs and cats. A block beyond the goldfish market is the flower market. His market extends for many blocks. After surveying what we think was the entire market we purchased a flower for our hotel room. Night had fallen by this point so we decided to head back to the harbour to enjoy the view of Hong Kong at night. Kowloon, at night, is set ablaze in neon. As we reached the harbour we were disappointed to see that it was still too hazy to clearly see Hong Kong.

Once again we jumped on the Star Ferry and headed back to Hong Kong Island. Kowloon is very vibrant and we really enjoyed our time there but both of us agree that we prefer Hong Kong Island.
We figure we put on about 20 miles walking all over Hong Kong. Our feet are still tingling this morning. Its about 10am Monday morning and we about to head out for dim sum. Today, we are going to take it easy and explore neighbourhoods closer to our hotel.