Hong Kong: Spiritual Afternoon and Happy Valley Races

Did a spot of shopping in Causeway Bay, which is basically shops in every direction and mall after mall. This place would be my brother's worst nightmare! 

Met Pete briefly in TST to go to his tailors to get his suit altered. The shop we went to offered us beer and had made suits for the likes of Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson. The salesman then tried to get me to get something made, but I don't really want to spend all my money just now on one suit jacket. Maybe I will go back one day. 

Decided to venture further into Kowloon, and took the MRT to Diamond Hill. Here lies the Nan Lian Garden, which is connected to the Chi Lin Nunnery. It was an absolutely beautiful day, but still quite chilly being winter here.

What struck me was the impeccably kept gardens, and the vast presence of workers with straw hats pruning the leaves of the trees in such a careful manner. The garden is situated near a highway, but was completely quiet and serene. As you walk through you go through a series of themed gardens.

In the background there is the Song Cha Xie, a traditional tea pavilion. I wasn't allowed to take photos, so you know it was quite a special experience. I was asked to take my shoes off, and was given comfy slippers. I was then shown through to my own table with a view of the pond. The waitress then recommended a tea and some dim sum for me to try, and showed me how the table worked. It was fascinating how practical and technological it all was. She then performed a tea ceremony for me, and encourage me to replicate it. I can't remember which tea I chose, but it was a fruity Chinese tea. The dim sum was sweet buns with red bean paste, and were the best I have had my whole visit. The table even had a bell to summon the waitress for anything you might need. It was quite pricey, but I felt, when in Rome... :)

Watching my time, I made my way up to the Chi Lin Nunnery, and managed to look back at the gardens.

The Nunnery was very impressive. This is the initial courtyard, which had ponds with Koi carp and lilly pads. Further up, you go into another courtyard, but this time no photos are allowed as this was where all the deities were being worshipped. Fair enough. I find it awkward enough going into temples, not knowing the customs and taking snaps of everything.

Back to the MRT, and one stop down is the Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple. This place was mental. I have never seen so many people bustling about, holding loads of burning incense and wafting it at each of the deities. Chinese New Year is just around the corner, and it looked like the temple was already gearing up for this with red bows everywhere.

With a bit of spare time I headed to TST East Promenade and went to the Art Gallery. It was great because I was able to get free wifi all the way along there, and so I Skyped the parents whilst watching the sunset.

After getting some ridiculously expensive but amazing sushi, myself and Yan went off to the Happy Valley Races. We got the tram there, which was really cool but cramped as they are really thin, and also some 8.4s (cheap but strong alcopops).

The races are only $10 HKD, so around the £1 mark. Inside we walked along the front and then headed up to the top floor. In summer months this place is packed, although it was busy when we went. We put a bet on, I bet on the Wrath of Fire, which came in third. I bet to win, so lost out :( It was really fun to watch, and seemed to be a place where everyone can go and enjoy themselves.

After the races, we headed into Wan Chai for Ladies Night. This happens every Wednesday and all females are given free drinks all night. I managed to sneak drink into Yan's glass too, so we were equally as drunk.

We ended up in Carnegies, where people dance on the bar. Of course, I was dragged up onto it. Here is a shot from up there.

All in all, this was probably my best day in Hong Kong.

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.

Hong Kong: Cable Car to Big Buddha and Avenue of Stars

On Monday, myself and Jonny decided to head over to Lantau to see the Tian Tan Buddha, aka The Big Buddha. Taking the more scenic route, we queued up for the cable car at Ngong Ping 360 for more than an hour. We ended up sharing the car with a group of Bristolians, who kept complaining it was too cold. The weather was a bit hazy, and the ride was about 20 minutes long, but the best bit was going over the last hill and seeing the Buddha in the distance.

When you get off at the Plateau, you are faced with what seems like hell on earth. Souvenir shops EVERYWHERE, Starbucks, Subway, you name it, they had it. I felt that this entrance ruined our first impressions of the place, and we just powered on through to find the Buddha. And it was difficult... especially with signs like below...

So off up we climbed to the top to get an even closer look. Turns out it hasn't even been there for that long, since 1993!

This is the view of the rest of the island. Despite all the tourists, I can imagine this is a very peaceful place.

We then ventured down to the Po Lin Monastery, which the majority of it was a building site. I have become fascinated with the use of incense for prayer, and these are the biggest I have seen yet!

You can go and see more things on the island, but as we were pushed for time, we decided to head back to the mainland. I'm not so sure I would encourage people to go out of their way to see this place, but if you have plenty of time, it is a good activity to keep you occupied.

Back onto the trusty MTR, we stopped off in Kowloon and got a taxi to the Tsim Sha Tsui East Promenade to see the Avenue of the Stars, which as my guidebook describes is sort of like the Hollywood of the Far East.

View of Hong Kong Island.

The main attraction along this strip is the Bruce Lee statue. When we went on our bike ride, we passed the place he was born. There were so many people crowded around, but we managed to nudge in and pose with him.

We only knew about three of the main stars, Jet Lee, Jackie Chan and of course Bruce Lee. Felt a bit guilty for not knowing the rest.

Back to Central, Jonny went off to get his bags for his flight back to New Zealand, and I chilled in Statue Square. This is right next to Pete's work.

Just before Jonny left us for good, Pete told us about the story of the lions in front of the HSBC building. One of them has clear gun shots on it, which is from the time the Japanese used them for target practice. It is said to be lucky to rub their paws when you walk past them.