Hong Kong: Kowloon Markets and The Peak

Met Yan for lunch at Tsui Wah, a Hong Kong institution. We ordered the chicken with rice and pork cutlet. Another Hong Kong favourite is deep friend bread with lots of butter and sweet sauce. Kind of like French toast.

Then I was off on an adventure, to try and walk through most of the markets in Kowloon. Pete had kindly printed me off a map, and it suggested the walk would take about two hours. I got off at MRT stop Prince Edward and got a bit disorientated, and walked around the streets pretending I knew where I was going. Eventually I made my way to the Yuen Po Street Bird Garden. You walk up a series of steps to get there, and this is the view of the Flower market below.

All the way along this walkway are cages full of exotic birds and their owners who seem to hang around all day chatting and playing games. These birds were from Goa in India.

There were lots of little cages with birds, and at first I was in awe of them all. Even found some budgies. Then I got upset, especially seeing magnificent birds like the Macaws tied up. They looked miserable and as if they had been like that for some while. Some of the cages were so tiny, and the birds didn't have a lot of space to move. Even if they are bought, they are transferred into a slightly bigger cage.

I decided to get out of there as soon as I could, and head down to Market Street to see all the flowers. I used to live near Columbia Road in London. That has nothing on this place. Shop after shop full of colourful and exotic orchids and lots of special plants for Chinese New Year on offer.

Crossing the road, I ventured down Tung Choi Street, and managed to miss the Goldfish market as I was trying the evade a flower salesman who had taken a liking to me. Then it was onto the Ladies Market, where if you want fake Mulberry bags, they have plenty. They also had these weird water speakers and general tat like I Heart Hong Kong t shirts. I didn't like taking my big camera out in the market, but using the walkways, I was able to get some nice overhead shots.

I also love all the street signs, it reminds me of the Channel 4 advert where the signs form into the 4 at an angle. There are so many, and I have absolutely no idea what most of them say!

Further down the track is the Temple Street Night Market. I was walking through as they were setting up, and all the workers were eating their dinner in preparation for a night of trading. Further down there is also a Jade market.

That is the cool thing about Hong Kong. If you need something, there will be a whole area dedicated to that particular thing. There are areas for lighting, cookery ware, antiques, dried seafood, jade. You name it, it will be there, and in plenty. It is almost overwhelming.

Next to Temple Street Market is the Tin Hau Temple, which is quite small. Inside it had spiral incense burning away and lots of people were going to pray before dinner. I felt a bit uncomfortable in the whole area, so made my way to the nearest MRT and went back to Central.

As it was a clear night, I decided to make the trip up the Peak. Having taken my guidebook's advice, I waited for ages to board the Peak Tram. The queue was ginormous, and I wouldn't say the experience was worth the wait. I also didn't get a seat so nearly fell flat on my face when the tram began the incline. As it was so busy, I couldn't even appreciate the full history of the tram, as they had exhibits to the sides. 

When we eventually got to the top, this was the view we were provided with. I will never get over how amazing this view is. I still look in awe when I am in taxis at night. It is an incredible city.

Back to Pete's flat, I moved all my stuff to Causeway Bay to start the second half of my trip staying at Yan's flat. Breaking Bad is currently the flat TV series, and I was more than willing to watch it with them reliving how awesome the series is.