Cloth, Escalators and the Symphony of Light

Monday 06 Apr Dull and overcast 21C

On opening the curtains this morning, we were greeted by the sight of rain falling on Happy Valley Racecourse. The traffic too, was typical Monday morning, very heavy. Whilst having breakfast down on the 1st floor, the rain really started to hammer down. Plans for the day were reconsidered and after adding cagoules and umbrellas to the cameras in our backpack, we headed out to catch a tram into town.

Actually, by the time we left the hotel, the rain had decreased to little more than drizzle and we managed to trundle down to the Western Market on a direct tramline. The Western Market is an old red brick building left over from Colonial days and consists of three floors. The ground floor has several tourist shops and the third floor has cafes and restaurants. The second floor concentrates on selling cloth of every sort imaginable. There are rolls of cashmere for making suits, linen for shirts in addition to thousands of rolls of material for dresses, blouses, curtains etc. Some of the silks and brocades are particularly exotic and best of all, really inexpensive.

After wandering around, we walked into one crowded corner and immediatedly, bolts of cloth were enthusiatically unravelled and spread out and the merits explained. After carefully considering the various options we eventually bought several metres. Back in the main market we turned down a few more sellers before we chose a second shop and bought some more material. As we left the Western Market we spotted a potential lunchtime spot.

Outside the rain had stopped and we headed across the road to 'Chop Alley', a small pedestrian alleyway. Here, the craftsman traditionally carved stamps or 'chops' out of soft stone. Now, they still carve some, but they also sell rubber stamps as well. The craftsmanship of the carved versions are excellent. From here, we wandered a few more streets and came to 'Cat Alley Bazar', an area that sells 'antiques'. Some of the 'antiques are poor replicas, some doubtless genuine and expensive but there are some interesting things there, especially Chairman Mao memorabilia.

Lunchtime send us back to the Western Market and lunch in 'Das Gute', a very germanic sounding place. It was packed with lunchtime diners and indeed the menu had a pseudo-german theme to it, although unrecognisable as German cuisine! We had to wait for a table and eventually got packed in at a small table amongst the many other diners. The food consisted of soup, a main course and a coffee all for about £7-8. The Pork Knuckle and Bratwurst looked interesting, but nothing like I've ever seen before. Good food here, and part of a chain in Hong Kong.

Following lunch, we decided to visit the 'Mid Levels' of Hong Kong, a district on the lower slopes of the mountain. Access to this area is by escalators which take you from sea-level to several hundred metres up the mountainside. The escalators rise between buildings which are mainly housing and small businesses and are fascinating insight to domestic life in the area! Eventually, at the top, we wandered along to the top of the Zoological and Botanical gardens of Hong Kong. We weren't too impressed with the zoo, as the cages were quite small and the animals, mainly apes, looked thoroughly bored. By this stage, we'd had enough of walking, so we took a bus all the way back to Causeway Bay. On our way back to the hotel, we walked through the local market, full of traders selling vegetables, meat and fish along with other strange, exotic,unidentified dried products.

Later, sometime after 6, we headed back into town by tram to the Central Pier where we caught the Star Ferry across to Kowloon. Having found a suitable place by the pier in Kowloon to view the Hong Kong skyline, I regret to report that we made an investigatory visit to the 'Golden Archway' just to see what their standard of service is like! A quarter-pounder with jasmin tea seemed like a reasonable compromise.

Back at the viewpoint, we then enjoyed the 'Symphony of Light', a nightly free light-show played out from the skyscrapers of Kong Kong and Kowloon. The show which starts at 8 in the evening only lasts 15 minutes, but involves several big-name companies sponsoring rapidly changing light shows on their tower-blocks with the addition of lasers from the tops of the highest buildings. The music was a bit naft but the light show was worth the effort.

We headed up Nathan Road in the heart of Kowloon after this, just to look at the lights and nightlife. It is difficult to walk far before being accosted by people trying to get you into their tailors/photographic/jewelery shop for examine their wares. We also walked through one building which seemed to be full of people exchanging money.



Finally, we went back to the pier and caught the Star Ferry back to Hong Kong and from their a tram back to Happy Valley.