Weather forecast for today is quite windy, so I postponed the Star Ferry boat trip until tomorrow. Today is Kowloon day.
So we know I don’t go traveling to eat the food I can get or make at home, right? That means I’m not interested in the bacon, eggs, and hash browns on the hotel breakfast buffet. Nope. I head straight for the soup bar! The noodle soup with pork was very tasty. But the congee was disappointing- lacked flavor and salt.
From the hotel in Yah Ma Tei, I walked north on Nathan Road. So many buses! Until I realized I wasn’t seeing anything but buses, so maybe this main drag has been converted to a busway. Lots of locals enjoying their breakfasts. Long lines at the ATMs (very odd).
The Ladies Market was still setting up, so I kept on northward and stumbled across the Fa Yuen Street Market instead.
Continuing north through Mong Kok neighborhood, there’s Flower Market Street. In the old days, Europe did this too: vendors of like on the same street. (Check out the street names in City of London, next time you’re there.) So Hong Kong has (at least) four solid blocks of: cut flowers, flower bouquets (Mother’s Day is just around the corner), potted plants, bonsai starts, you name it. If it’s green and there’s dirt involved you’ll find it here.
At the end of that street is the Bird Garden. Hong Kong is famous for its cages of pet songbirds, and — you guessed it— you can find birds, bird cages, bird cage covers, bird seed …. The odd thing was, there were more birds outside than in cages, and they were all chirping happily away.
Then I headed northwest into Sham Shui Po neighborhood (for those of you map lovers) (note: this was off the edge of my city map, a fact important later) to reach Tim Ho Wan, a Michelin-starred dim sum restaurant. After a brief wait (joys of traveling solo), I was seated. The procedure here is to tick off your order on the menu sheet, hand it in, and hope for the best.
I ordered three dishes, trying to get a variety without overstuffing: a steamed shrimp dumpling (missing from photo), a steamed beef and veg meatball, and a deep fried pork and shrimp dumpling, with cold-brewed peach oolong tea. All for about US$15. Very tasty!
I got lost on the way back (since I was off map and guessing), wandered through the sheet metal products street, the masonry products street, and the electrical products street on my way back to the hotel.
After the canonical midday rest, I set out for the Hong Kong Museum of History, which was a top recommendation from Lonely Planet. What!A! Disappointment! First, the entrance is well-hidden and not signed (as in, they missed a half-dozen doors to hang a “Museum Entrance 200m ->” sign. Then, the only exhibit was a propaganda piece tying HK history to the pre-historic Chinese. Good thing the admission was free. Oh, and the place was so beset with noisy schoolchildren that they had docents posted every 50ft with signs “Please keep your voices down”. In short, not a good experience.
So in compensation I treated myself to a gin & tonic before afores in the Peninsula lobby.
… which constitutes dinner, and I couldn’t even finish it. My plans had not included Tea at the Pen, since I’ll be in London in December. But after the labors of the day (~16km) a reward seemed appropriate.
Lodging: The CityView Hotel, Kowloon
Kitsambler's Journeys 