The Hong Kong Errand (Part 1): Running Out of New Things to Do in Hong Kong

Prologue:

- My sudden trip to Hong Kong was driven by my need to hoard Bollywood movies for my Indian film class this August, as well as movies for personal consumption and my future studies/researches on Bollywood films and the Bollywood industry. Bollywood films cannot be found (or at least rarely) in the Philippines, and Hong Kong is the nearest place where hard copies of the films can be bought. (Torrenting was out of the question since not all torrents provide subtitles, and separately-downloaded .srt subtitle files do not always match the words uttered by the actors.) Since I already knew where to buy the films, and around how much they cost, budgeting beforehand was easier too. Fortunately, the Cebu Pacific promo fare was still going on when I booked my plane around a week and a half before my flight date, so I was able to save more money. I booked my flight for an extended-weekend trip, from Friday to Monday, so I could still meet up with friends who are currently based in Hong Kong, and so I'd get to explore Hong Kong more. 

- Since I seemed to have explored the typical must-sees in 2008, and the more interesting but less-traveled far-flung places last year (click here, here, and here,) I was seriously wondering if booking a 4-day trip in Hong Kong this year was too much time that I'd bore myself to death. Thanks to some old travel guides lying around, and of course Google, I was able to compile a short list of  new things to do in Hong Kong after my Bollywood-film-hoarding errand (which I knew wouldn't take up too much time.)

- This trip was perhaps my first trip overseas alone, where my purpose was not for any conference, forum, whatsoever. Since my errand was just a tiny fraction of my stay in Hong Kong, my trip was, for the most part, a vacation. Hurray for loosening up. (A little breather after graduation, and before work starts in August.)

The trip:

- July 3-4, 2015, Friday to Saturday.

- I took an early flight to Hong Kong, and by around 11am I was able to check in Apple Hostel, located in 10th floor Block B of the (in)famous Chungking Mansions in Tsim Sha Tsui. As before, I was assigned a tiny single-occupancy room with a private bathroom, but this time, I did not have a hard time moving around my room. I must have gotten used to moving around in such a tiny space from staying in a similar room with Apple Hostel last year. For those who weren't able to read last year's Hong Kong travel entries (again I linked all 3 parts above,) the hostel is managed by mostly by Filipinas, so I felt like I never left home. (This, of course, is both good and bad, depending on how you look at it.)

- Nathan Road, where Chungking Mansions is located, has plenty of buildings that house Hong Kong's "Little India." Chungking Mansions is perhaps the most famous one of these. Everything Indian can be found in the commercial floors of these buildings, from Indian food, clothing, religious items, and other Indian needs. Alongside the Indians, Nepalese, and various Africans also sell some of their goods. 

- I finished my Bollywood-related errand in the early afternoon, right before I had my Turkish lunch. Afterwards, I had a short stroll along Nathan Road to remind myself of the Hong Kong aura.

One of the restaurants in Chungking Mansions.

An attempt to make the restaurant look Turkish.

My chicken kofta lunch.

Plenty of Muslims celebrating Ramadan in the masjid along Nathan Road.

- I later hopped off to the Hong Kong Space Museum, located along Salisbury road near the Tsim Sha Tsui harbor. I was like a 4-year-old in excitement when I finally got to go inside and buy my ticket (hurray for student discounts too!) since I had wanted to visit the Space Museum since 2008, but I only had the opportunity to visit this dome-shaped museum this year.

Space Museum dome. Look, a tree is growing on my head too.

- The HK Space Museum, opened in 1980, houses galleries on astronomy and space science, a mock space ship cockpit, and the highlight of the museum, the dome-shaped theater.

Hindus' belief on the Earth.

We learn something new everyday. :)) :)) :)) :))

An old compass.

Mars Attacksssss!! :)) :)) :)) :))

I like rockets.

Rotating astronaut suit.

NASA rocket replica.

Mock cockpit.

Martian!!

- I had a short trip to the nearby McDonald's to eat (and buy a Minion-themed sundae cone,) and went back to the Space Museum for my late afternoon theater show. The museum's last theater show for the day are usually narrated in English, so I booked a seat for that show. Later on, I found out that audio translations are provided in Cantonese and Mandarin for the English show, and English audio translations for the non-English shows. (Meaning, I could have watched an earlier show and just use the audio translator.) All shows are in 3D by the way, so we had to wear 3D glasses to watch the show. Since the screen was dome-shaped, it was as if we were part of the film itself.

Minion ice cream!!

Back in the Space Museum. I've always been a sucker for solar systems.

3D glasses.

- After visiting the HK Space Museum, I walked towards Temple Street, with plans of having dinner there. However, I passed by a Thai restaurant named "Thai Delicious Canteen" along Austin Road, and decided to have dinner there. The menu on the table was written in Cantonese, but it was difficult to understand since the Thai dishes were translated phonetically on the menu, not by the kind of food it was. I asked for a Thai person to take my orders so we would understand each other more; I'm quite happy to realize that I am now capable of ordering my food in basic Thai (yay achievement.) For dinner, I had pad thai, longgan juice, and some free wintermelon soup. I felt that the pad thai lacked acidity, sweetness, and spiciness, although I'm not sure if they did that to suit the local HK palate. The wintermelon soup was quite soothing though, and the longgan juice had just the right amount of sweetness; the fresh longgans on top of the juice were a plus too.

My Thai dinner.

- I arrived at Temple Street for my evening stroll. All the things were seemed interesting and colorful, although I didn't really see anything that I'd like to buy in particular.

My favorite night market in Hong Kong. 

A busy Friday night.

- I went back to my hostel after my brief leisurely stroll, and prepared for the next day. I had a really loose schedule for this particular trip, so much so that it was the first time that I did not set my alarm for all my mornings.

- The following morning, I lazed around in my bed before having breakfast at Cafe de Coral in a mall beside Chungking Mansions. I realized that most restaurants open around 10-10:30am, so it was difficult to find a decent breakfast area near my place. Cafe de Coral was the only near one, and the restaurant's dishes were inexpensive (around 10 to 20 HKD per meal, which is around 1 to 2 USD, or around 60-120PHP.).

- My late morning agenda was to visit the Hong Kong Heritage Museum located a 5-minute walk from the Che Kung Temple MTR Station, in Hong Kong's New Territories. This rather new museum, opened in year 2000, houses galleries on Chinese painting, Cantonese opera, HK's New Territories, and a children's discovery gallery.

Made it after a long train ride.

- The Cantonese opera gallery was my favorite because of all the fancy costumes, props, and headgear that were displayed. It was also nice to know that as with many other countries, theater/opera was the precursor to film in Hong Kong, and so the first films in Cantonese cinema were Cantonese opera turned into movies.

My kind of hall.

I was impressed with the grand exhibits.

Reminded me of the local temple theater I saw in Taiwan (click here.)

Old costumes.

Mannequins.

Replica of a typical costume room.

Wanted to get all the costumes and headgears and accessories.

Jewelry for theatrical performances.

I always have a fascination for headgears.

A gold-embroidered red suit.

Such detail!!

A large camera used to record early Cantonese films.

A modern avant-garde/haute-couture-style Cantonese opera costume.

- The New Territories Heritage Hall was another favorite because it's the part of Hong Kong that is largely ignored by tourists. The New Territories is home to some heritage trails, and home to Hong Kong's vibrant folk cultures like the Hakka culture or the Hoklo culture. The gallery had extensive efforts to promote the folk cultures, so much so that a miniature of one of the the walled cities was erected in the center of the gallery. It was similar to the ones I saw during my visit to the heritage trails of Hong Kong last year (click here to see).

Eyes were placed/painted on boats to guide the fishermen in their sea navigation.

A replica of a fisherfolk village.

Hoklo costumes.

Hakka costume.

Similar to the walled cities like Kat Hing Wai and Lo Wai.

Local protector god.

- To end my museum visit, I went to the special (temporary) exhibit on Bruce Lee and his life. Although I am not much of a Bruce Lee fan (but not a hater,) I still appreciated the exhibit. Books, letters, and other things owned by Bruce Lee were displayed proudly, as well as some of his famous costumes used in his most celebrated movies like "Enter the Dragon." Unfortunately, photography is not allowed inside, so I just took a photo with the large Bruce Lee head on the wall outside the special gallery.

Special exhibit.

The only thing I could take a photograph of.

- I had lunch inside the museum restaurant before heading towards Cheung Sha Wan MTR Station to visit the Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb Museum, along Tonkin Street. The Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb was accidentally discovered in 1955 during a supposed construction. It used to be in the center of a hill. Today, the tomb remains "standing," with a small children's park and a small resting garden built beside the tomb museum. By the way, a visit to this museum is free of charge.

Inside the tomb museum.

Before they unearthed the tomb.

- Various objects have been found by archaeologists and other scholars who examined the site. They said that it probably belonged to a government official during the Eastern Han Dynasty (around 25 to 220AD.) The tomb is in the shape of a cross, and visitors can only view the tomb from a glass wall.

It was air conditioned inside. 

Description placed outside the tomb.

- With half of the afternoon vacant before meeting friends for dinner, I spent my time in the Ladies' Market in Mongkok. Despite being called "Ladies'" Market, the long street market that opens from 12 noon to around 11:30pm offers goods for both men and women. Souvenirs, fake branded items, and some gadgets can be found for low prices (and even more so for good hagglers.) Strange enough, this was my first time to visit such a famous street market in Hong Kong after all these years; I usually frequent Temple Street as they have more interesting and cultural items there.

Ladies' Market in Mongkok.

 - I noticed that palm-sized hand-held rechargeable-battery-operated fans are a thing in Hong Kong these days. Locals, tourists, and people of whichever economic status all have these fans. Since it was blazing hot and windless in Hong Kong, I decided to buy some, one for me and some for my family. If only I could, I would have bought more, but I opted not to in fear of being questioned by airport authorities for my trip back to Manila. I think this fan was one of the most useful-but-cheap things I've bought for myself.

Of course, my fan had to be orange. I like orange.

- I did a much-needed freshening up in my hostel before meeting elementary classmates Oi Hing and Ming Mei in Causeway Bay. Afterwards, we walked to a restaurant named "Yunnan Rainbow," which is also within the Causeway Bay area. I found this restaurant online prior to my trip after Oi Hing asked me to look for an interesting place for us to have dinner. I thought this restaurant was interesting because I have not been to Yunnan, and since I knew that Yunnan was one of the most ethnically-diverse provinces of mainland China, I thought that the multicultural influences would reflect on the food.

With Ming Mei and Oi Hing outside the restaurant.

Fooood.

- The restaurant felt like what I had perceived Yunnan to be. It was cozy and quiet, and made customers feel like they were away from the city, but was balanced by the rainbow-colored pictures of the different ethno-linguistic groups of Yunnan. The dishes themselves were as colorful. We had Yunnan fried rice, Yunnan noodles (with noodles that seemed like thin rice cakes,) spicy fish, assorted mushrooms and pork (one of my favorites,) and chicken with konjak mushroom (seemed spicy with redness, but wasn't spicy at all.)

L to R: assorted mushroom, Yunnan fried rice, spicy fish, Yunnan noodles, chicken with konjak mushroom.

Restaurant interior.

- We later had a stroll in Times Square. We dropped by a bookstore for a while to browse through a book I needed to find (to no avail,) and later on, we took photos of the characters in the "Inside Out" movie promotion exhibit.

People in Hong Kong buy books like they buy clothes. Plenty of people are in the bookstores reading even at night.

So, such a book exists.

Can't wait to watch Inside Out!!

Candid shot. She really had no idea.

They still have no idea that I was taking their photo.

No wonder Sadess was sad. She was all alone in Times Square, Causeway Bay.

With Sadness.

Borrowed Oi Hing's glasses. Couldn't see a thing.

- For dessert, we went to Cong Sao Star Dessert to have some fruit-and-jelly style desserts. I had a bowl of mixed fruits with jelly in coconut milk since I wanted to cool off. Ming Mei noticed that it was the only time that she did not see me sweat since we meat earlier that evening.

Long line outside. Spot my companions.

A big bowl for a big (sweaty) guy.

- We all went home after dessert, and I was so exhausted I couldn't feel my legs. I received news that night that the Philippines was drenched by patches of heavy rains. I told my friends back in Manila that while they were drenched from the rain, my shirt and pants were also drenched, but from too much sweat instead of rain. Even though I dreaded being drenched from more sweat in the latter half of my leisurely adventure in Hong Kong, nevertheless I realized that I still had so much to look forward to. So much for running out of things to do in Hong Kong. Click here to see Part 2 of my Hong Kong adventures!!