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Looking down at Hong Kong from Dragon’s Lookout, Victoria Peak.
Oct 232009
A wonderful place to get lost, browse and enjoy the chaos of street markets throughout Hong Kong.
ummm….. no thanks
Oct 192009
Sure can’t resist in this town;
Black Stump Australian restaurant brought a wealth of seafood, steak and chops to our table for us to work through while people watching in trendy Knutsford Terrace.
We spent today exploring the streets of Hong Kong on foot to see what treasures we might come across. The first stop we made was a district referred to as SOHO (south of Hollywood Road). A district full of restaurants and bars from every corner of the world. Amidst the smells of the grille, clinking of glasses and the boisterous toasts coming from every patio, we found the Mid-levels escalators. It is the longest outdoor escalator system in the world. It begins in downtown Hong Kong and extends over the surface roads and 800m up the hills, snaking through malls, the eateries of Soho and up into the residential towers nestled onto the hill.
From wikipedia;
The escalators are 800 metres (2,600 ft) long with a vertical climb of 135 metres (440 ft). The total travel time is twenty minutes, but most people walk while the escalators moves to shorten their trip. Due to the geographical situation, the same distance is equivalent to several miles of zigzagging roads if travelling by car. It consists of twenty escalators and three moving sidewalks. According to Guinness World Records, these escalators together form the longest outdoor covered escalator system.
As the day progressed, we wandered through shops, markets and malls, taking in this wonderful city on foot. The books are useless at this point, having exhausted the main tourist destinations over the last 2 years, but we were still finding new areas to explore. It was a good day to relax and live as a local, without the shelter of a train or tour bus window to keep us from trodding down any number of random streets.
Evening brought us a new experience. Hong Kong Rush Hour. We’ve seen it’s effect on the MTR (train system), the Star Ferry boat for getting across the harbor, but today was our first opportunity to experience it in downtown. Well, all I can say is everyone that drives here, whether bus or private transport, is either really lucky, really aware of their surroundings or, just completely bat shit crazy.
Now, I’m not a saint when it comes to the road, but, I do have a self preservation instinct that kicks in rather early. Last year, we saw the gong show of wanna-be racecar bus drivers. This year, we had the (mis?)pleasure of riding in a cab in rush hour. Asking to go to the highest point on the island. As fast as one can go. Rush hour for me means stop and go. Rush hour for these guys is stop and die, go, go go and only go. I guess you could say they have balls. The bus previously took almost 40 minutes to get us to our destination on Victoria Peak, the cab driver, well, he did it in 10 minutes. 10 minutes as in passing an Aston Martin 10 minutes. As in passing a heavily modified Skyline GT-R and finally getting into a drag race with another cab because the two lanes worked down to 1 and someone had to budge. I guess you can say they have balls.
Once we got to the top, we had a chance to relax from the traffic ordeal and were treated to an excellent view of the city below us. Really not a bad way to spend the evening winding down.
Today, we embarked on another pilgrimage to Tian Tan today to pay our respects to Buddha and visit the monks at Po Lin Monastery.
The Ngong Ping Skyrail is still one of the most breathtaking journeys available. Stretching 25Km over the ocean, mountainous terrain and finally descending to the Buddha site, it’s a wonderful way to experience both the futuristic metropolis that is Hong Kong as well as appreciate the city’s ability to retain green spaces and recreational areas while finally demonstrating that in the middle of such a large urban area, there exists a place of worship and spirituality like no other. Strangely enough, both Maegan and I felt really peaceful and there was a calming presence in the Monastery which offered a nice tranquility away from the city.
We then took in another Hong Kong site – the House of Ten Thousand Buddas. Situated farther out in the New Territories, it’s a 45 minute journey over 3 train lines and certainly far away from the cultural influence of British Hong Kong. Certainly not a standard tourist destination.
From National Geographic;
High in the hills just northwest Sha Tin sits the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery founded in the 1950s. It’s a steep approach with over 400 steps to reach the upper pavilion via a snaking stone pathway. This large complex actually contains more than 13000 representations of Buddha with each one set in a different position to demonstrate the many facets of emotion. Dozens of golden statues also line the steep incline leading to the complex.
We finished our day by visiting the Kowloon Walled City Park. Now a peaceful oasis in the middle of the city, the park is built in a traditional design and sits on the grounds of a notorious and mythladen complex that sat unpoliced for almost 40 years as neither the British nor Chinese wanted the plot of land. Read about it here.
We started our shopping day at the outlet malls. I think the first 12 sentences out of me were “holy @!#$ that’s cheap” or some variation of. United Colors of Benneton had their collection on for up to 80% off, Maegan got giddy at Coach & Ralph Lauren with their 30-50% off sales and we both went wild at the Puma outlet snagging 3 pairs of shoes for a lowly $80 CDN. Can’t go wrong with that! Architecturally, North America has some catching up to do in terms of spicing up their shopping centers – this is the view from the main hallway of the outlet mall;
City Gate Outlet Hallway
Shopping has always been a Hong Kong strong suit, but nothing prepared us for Langham Place. Under construction last year, we made our way through and both agreed it would be worth returning too once it was complete. Well hell, it’s finished this year and it majestically rises 15 stories high with two of the world’s tallest escalators. Definitely not for the faint of heart.
Looking down from the top of Langham Place
From Wikipedia;
Due to the high land price, and the higher yield on retail property, Langham departs from the common western model of the flat shopping mall. The Langham mall is the second “vertical mall” in Hong Kong. Its 600,000 sq ft (60,000 m2). of retail space is configured over 15 levels, with 60,000 sq ft (6,000 m2). of space from the second basement level to third floor; from the fourth floor upwards the floor area is 40,000 sq ft (4,000 m2)[8].
Entering Langham Place
Randomly in the middle of the hallway @ Langham Place
We also got back into the open market mood by visiting the Ladies and Night Market to take in the bric-a-brac, random cool crap and general tourist wares available. It seems the hottest fashion accessory is various iPhone skins and covers while knock off hand bags have once again overtaken copy-cat designer jeans as the main stall feature. Take the attendance of the Calgary Stampede on a busy day, squish it down onto a single street over 8 blocks and you get the following;
Ladies Market @ Tung Choi Street
Don’t push and shove your way on the train…. there’s baton weilding ladies will do it for you! Yep, we waited til after the rush hour 
Please don't hit me
Hotel
Main article: Langham Place Hotel
The Langham Place Hotel is located at 555, Shanghai Street. Managed by the Langham Hotels International, it is the only 5 star hotel located in Mong Kok. Its 42 floors house 665 guest rooms, of which 280 “deluxe”, 284 “executive”, and 101 “Langham Hotel Club” rooms.
[edit] Shopping mall
 Langham Place “Xpresscalators” to the 4th floor |
|
| Opening date | November 2004 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Great Eagle Group, Urban Renewal Authority |
| Owner | Champion REIT |
| Total retail floor area | 60,000 m² |
| No. of floors | 15 |
Due to the high land price, and the higher yield on retail property, Langham departs from the common western model of the flat shopping mall. The Langham mall is the second “vertical mall” in Hong Kong. Its 600,000 sq ft (60,000 m2). of retail space is configured over 15 levels, with 60,000 sq ft (6,000 m2). of space from the second basement level to third floor; from the fourth floor upwards the floor area is 40,000 sq ft (4,000 m2)[8].
Oct 132009
After continent hopping for the last few days, we’ve finally arrived and settled back into Hong Kong. It’s still just as fun, just as adventurous and strangely enough, just as homely for both of us to be back. Fretting over the last few days whether the typhoon weather would break for us or not, I’m glad to say that we’re currently enjoying 28 and sunny with a nice breeze (take that Calgary!).
Easing into shopping and adventure mode proved to be rather easy. Stanley Bay was once again our starting point for this adventure. Serene waters surrounded by the tallest and most opulent high rises, it’s a unique and relatively quiet way to enjoy Hong Kong style markets and ex-patriate food and drinks. We had a chance to meet up with some friends to take in this journey and it was definitely an entertaining way to spend the afternoon.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO! Black Wii Controllers!
Oct 122009
Wow…. all I have to say….. wow…. yep, I’m'a going to lose a lot of money in this place… the Batman action figure is about a foot tall and had a price of $1100 USD.
Oct 112009
In search of some water bottles at Narita International Airport, this is the first thing we came across this; even I didn’t dare try it…
