Adventure Happy: Kowloon Life

On our last morning at Disney Resort we had an early morning play in the hedge maze. I won the 'best hiding spot' prize but Andrew thinks I should be disqualified for hiding IN the hedge.

Then we took a cable car up to the Tian Tan giant Buddha:

We moved into the Mariners Club near Nathan Rd in Tsim Sha Tsui on Kowloon island. There's a view of the harbour from our room:

Every evening has been spent at various street markets. I love how walkable this area is, and with all the neon signage and flags everywhere it looks like something straight out of a movie set.

Saturday morning we did a trip up to the Peak. Was quite an impressive view but incredibly windy and I'd not so wisely worn a dress.

Megan often breaks into impromptu interpretive dance which is very adorable and entertaining.

That night we went to the Ladies Market in Mong Kok, which is the most densely populated part of the planet at 150,000 ppl/sq km.

Yesterday we went on a little trip to Lamma island, which is about a half hour ferry ride away from HK island. We did a 4km walk up and over the island passing some beaches and villages.

It's a bit of a strange place. Big power station. Bunch of expats. Lots of seafood.

Afterwards we took the ferry back to Aberdeen and had an early dinner at Jumbo Kingdom Floating Restaurant, which my guidebook tells me was featured in the film Contagion (which doesn't inspire great thoughts..). We had proper Peking Duck as part of an early birthday dinner for Anita.

To continue the 'ferry' theme of the day we took the Star Ferry back to Kowloon just before a torrential downpour hit.

After the rain we went back out to the night markets again. Anita and I managed to find what appeared to be the "dildo and bong" area of the Temple St night market, which was both educational and amusing.

Today I spent most of the day wandering around Kowloon. I took more photos of buildings:

Then I hung out in the public square with the old folks:

Then I decided my feet were in need of some TLC and I went into 'Joyful Relax' for a pedicure. I was expecting a salon filled with chatty women but it was actually full of old men getting their heels scraped and feet massaged. There was the Chinese equivalent of 'Sunrise' on a panel TV, hosted by three men in wigs; it was called 'Pleasure & Leisure'. There was so much dead skin flying off the foot of the businessman next to me it reminded me of the spark spray that shoots out when welding. Beautiful stuff. My feet are baby soft now, FYI.

Next was the Chungking mansions, a series of buildings connected by a labyrinth of businesses and hostels. I ripped this from Wikipedia:

"Chungking Mansions features guesthouses, curry restaurants, African bistros, clothing shops, sari stores, and foreign exchange offices. It often acts as a large gathering place for some of the ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, particularly South Asians (Indians, Nepalese, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans), Middle Eastern people, Nigerians, Europeans, Americans, and many other peoples of the world. Peter Shadbolt of CNN stated that the complex was the "unofficial African quarter of Hong Kong"."

"CUHK anthropologist Prof. Gordon Mathews estimated in 2007 that people from at least 120 different nationalities had passed through Chungking Mansions in one year.Mathews also estimates that up to 20 percent of the mobile phones recently in use in sub-Saharan Africa had passed through Chungking Mansions at some point."