Asia 2014 Day 6: Hong Kong - Tsim Tsa Promenade, HK Museum of History, Markets

A not so great flight because a woman was acting out and being completely irresponsible w her children.  Why did she let her son just stand around when we were about to take off?  And she screamed at the stewardess at one point in Mandarin.  Rude people.

 

Took the airport express to Kowloon station so that I could drop off my backpack while I did some exploring.  And somehow got stuck at the station.  I could not figure out how to get out of there.  Who knows why it was so difficult for me to figure out where the exit was...So in the end I walked to Austin station and took the MTR to TST.

 

The subways are so busy here.  Wow. I'd forgotten what it was like to be in such a populated city.  The subways might be busier than London's.

 

First place I went to was Tsim Sam Promenade and Victoria Harbor, to walk along the Avenue of the Stars and view the HK skyline.  Was hazy out but could see how dense and expansive HK is.  Tall skyscrapers completely packed into a small space.  Apartment buildings w thousands of units.  It was a big culture shock.

SO many units

After the promenade, walked a long way it seemed to the HK Museum of History.  My feet were killing me by the time I got there. I thought there'd be a larger collection in their natural history portion but there was very little.  I skimmed past some parts of the museum, but liked the sections on the different groups of Chinese, and the wedding traditions.

View from the Promenade

Spent around two hrs here, and then walked to Jordan station.  My feet were in desperate need of a massage.  My legs felt like they could barely function.  But, made it to the goldfish street.  It was such a sight, seeing all those vibrant colors and so many fish, so densely packed together.  Felt bad about the conditions..they shouldn't be packed in there like that.  There were some other pet stores, saw a white Peke puppy!

 

Goldfish Street.  SO many fish.

Weeee tiny turtles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I headed to the flower market, I stumbled across a night street market on the street parallel to the fish market.  Fan Yuan street.  Different things compared to Chiang Mai's.  Here were a lot of clothes,  particularly kids clothes, and accessories like towels, socks, hosiery.  And most were not local crafts.

 

Fan Yuan street market

The flower market wasn't as stunning as Chiang Mai's near Warorot.  Maybe because it was later in the day and there were fewer vendors?  The bird street was also nearby, so stopped by there as well.  Only saw a little because I felt like I was intruding. I think it was too late in the day and some of the people and birds had packed up. 

 

Made the long trek back to the Prince Edward station and got back to Kowloon station for my backpack.  Was so exhausted by now.  But had to get to Olympic station to meet my cousin.

We had dinner at Ton Yan Fai.  Michilen rated dim sum restaurant.  So good.  The bbq pork buns were the best I've had.  Slightly crunchy exterior.  Soft inside.

 

After dinner went to the grocery store to pick up some breakfast food items for the few days I'd be here.  There were Halloween items in the store -- forgot that other countries celebrate Halloween!  Apparently they don't do trick or treating though.

 

Got back to my cousin's place.  Massive apartment high rise. Probably a thousand units.  Long day having been awake since 3:30am..

View from my cousin's balcony