Museums, markets, a temple
Wednesday 6th June
Camilla and I were leaving in the evening, and Amy in the afternoon,
so we packed our luggage and left it in the hotel foyer. Then we walked
around the Hong Kong Conference Centre to the ferry.
We returned to Tsim Sha Tsui for more shopping, but I had no interest at
all in international fashion stores which were only marginally cheaper
than in Sydney. A brief rainstorm cooled things down a bit.
Shim Shai Po shopping
We caught the MTR to Shim Shai Po, which seemed less touristy. Here Amy
and Camilla bought some camera gear, as well as clothing as presents for
friends in the UK; this was the area where their grandparents had lived.
Heading to Nathan Road we had a "real" yum cha, in a place where no one
spoke any English and we had to share a table. At HKD$112 for three,
it was maybe half the price of our usual yum cha place in Sydney.
Since we were in the area, we went to look at the Flower Market and the
Bird Market — and on the way we passed a pet shop with strange
animals, spiders and unusual reptiles and such like. We then visited
Wong Tai Sin temple.
a tree in the temple |
a woman praying at Wong Tai Sin temple |
We left Amy, who was heading to the airport, and went
to the Science Museum. There we looked at a temporary
"Soaring
Dinosaurs" exhibition, which had some great fossils though the
interpretive material was a bit weak. The permanent exhibitions were
more child-oriented — anything to do with children's education seems
amazingly popular in Hong Kong.
Moving on to the History Museum, we found the "Hong
Kong Story" absolutely fascinating and only got through four of
the eight galleries. (Apparently the material covering the more recent
periods is more controversial.)
If you only have time for one museum while visiting Hong Kong,
the History Museum is probably the pick, since it has the most material
specific to Hong Kong: you can find Chinese art and dinosaur fossil
exhibitions around the world.
Visiting Cosmos Books, I finally succumbed to the shopping bug and bought
a collection of essays Hong Kong: A Reader in Social History
(for HKD$128). (Camilla also found me a HKD$5 mini-compass, since I'd
forgotten a compass.)
Hong Kong airport: an iPod girl
We wandered around looking for somewhere to eat, but ended up walking
to Nathan Rd and then to Star Ferry terminus, where we had dinner in
the Jade Garden restaurant. Then it was the ferry back to Wan Chai,
a walk back to our hotel, the shuttle bus to Hong Kong MTR, and the
train to the airport. Our last connection with Hong Kong was handing
in our Octopus cards for the refund and deposit.
Previous: Lantau Island
Up: Hong Kong
