Tsim Sha Punch! (Part 3)

Lazier this AM. Some loud Chinese children with a giant group of smoking parents live on my floor and they got really confused when the door started to beep if it was open too long. As I started at them through my peephole, I saw them try to stuff everything in the room under the door to keep it open. I started passive-aggressively opening the door and shooting them evil eyes. I even got so irritated by the hideous stench that I wedged a towel into the crack underneath my door. So there’s that, but I also got some nice time sitting on my window seat and staring out over the mountains. And breakfast! Oh glorious breakfast at Cellinis!


No, no one joined me for breakfast…that second plate is totally mine. Tee hee!


Luxury view.


Hippest look in Hong Kong: laundry hanging from your window sill.

I boarded the shuttle again (this time with a 100% reservation!) and made my way into Central to board the ferry to Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon (aka the cheaper side of Hong Kong, across the harbour.)









Cheapest ferry ever! I mean, other than free. It was 3 HKD, or a wallet-busting $0.42 CDN. It was a wavy, no-frills ride, but when in Rome…(or Hong Kong, for that matter…)




Where I came from.





Right off the pier was a giant shopping mall called ‘Harbour City’, which housed one of the best department stores I’ve ever had the joy of picking through. Move over, Holt Renfrew, Barney’s, and Saks…the elderly-named Lane Crawford is where it’s at. (“a-boom-boom cha, two turntables and microphone…”) After dropping some serious coin on a panther-print Givenchy scarf, I sidled up to my usual coffee joint (does two days count as “usual”?), Pacific Coffee.



The mall was huge and doubled as a cruise-ship terminal. What I also found awesome was that the mall washrooms had designated stalls specifically for Pizza Hut customers, which was located down the hall. Lol…how would one enforce this?




Shown - the nicest Pizza Hut on earth.





After walking through a massive jade emporium whose salespeople were determined to sell me something, anything, I headed across the street to an Italian-like piazza for lunch, known as 1881 HERITAGE.



Of course, because it looks so European, everything costs an arm and leg. Since I had a small pile of HKD left, I decided to splurge at DG Café, an open-air delight on the third level.







Next up was Nathan Road…apparently the most famous street in Kowloon. Truly, it was the stuff shown in movies.











The annoying Indian/Italian/Egyptian/whatever men on this street deserved a swift kick. Every five feet I walked they were trying to sell me something and became quite aggressive. I, of course, became quite aggressive back. Don’t ruin my day by trying to sell me some hideous cheap pashmina! Back off! I also believe I tweeted something like this:

Just saw some Italian guy in a suit with his hands down his pants.#random

That about sums it up. I found escape in Kowloon Park.









Ah yes, that plaza. The most notable thing I remember about it was using the washroom here. And, continuing with the tweeting theme, I had this to say:

You know you've taken a wrong turn somewhere in life if you have to stop and wonder to yourself "I hope this isn't pee on my hand..."

And then there was this:

Good thing I can out-walk the old ladies of Hong Kong. They are aggressively fundraising for their retirements with loose change boxes.

All true. Good memories.





I had read about Temple Market in my tour guides, so I began the long (long!) trek up the road to the best night market in Hong Kong…at 4 PM.









Street photossssssssssssssssssssss

So I obviously got there way too early for anything to be remotely cool. It looked like the sad castoffs from Richmond’s Night Market. I did the thing though and wandered through, and then turned tail and headed back down the road. Ugh! I was tired and my feet were near death again, so rode the MTR up to the Avenue of Stars. Sounds super glam, right? I think it has something to do with Jackie Chan.




Weird army gear?





Avenue of Stars was right along the boardwalk and, as far as I could tell, nothing of any real interest? It drew people, no question, but since I’m not familiar with HK cinema, I just commandeered a picnic table and stared across the harbor until it started to rain.







And for our last rainy view, an Erin H heritage piece – the panoramic view (click the image to enlarge!...please ignore the fact that is really pixelized and blurry)






2008 Olympic Cauldron?



Little bits of Chinese New Year remained everywhere. The harbor front was loaded full of decorative stuff and I had time to kill before sunset, so I milled about…(there is always a lot of “milling” and “sauntering” and “trudging” in my blogs.)









Considering I had spent 220 HKD on lunch (sounds like a lot, right? ~$30 CDN), I went to McD’s for dinner. McDonald’s in Asia is always a pretty good place though.


Yes, I would like some fries with that ketchup.

The view of Hong Kong from Kowloon is one of the tops on earth. As far as skylines go (I love them), this one is pretty stellar and colourful. I spent nearly an hour at the waterfront, trying to capture that perfect photo.


Causeway Bay


Central. Awesome.



After walking along the seaside and taking in the views, I hopped back onto the ferry for the ride back to Hong Kong. Along the way, I also saw an ad with my doppelganger, Aaron Kwok (according to my friend Yimi).





Total resemblance.



I grabbed the shuttle back and packed up for my departure tomorrow. So soon.. What a joy it has been! I also took a bit of time to admire my purchase from Lane Crawford…


Best evarrrrrrrr

So tomorrow I leave for Singapore. The land of heat and sun. Oi.