Kowloon - Tsim Sha Tsui & Mong Kok

On Tuesday last week, I took the Star Ferry for the first time. The Star Ferry is beloved by tourists as well as locals. It's a ferry service connecting Hong Kong Island and Kowloon for as little as 2.5 HKD (about 25 ct). Unfortunately, the weather wasn't too good again. But anyway, to see the skyline of Hong Kong Island was quite impressive.

I walked round the neighbourhood of Tsim Sha Tsui - well sheltered by my umbrella. In the afternoon, I joined an introduction to Traditional Chinese Medicine. It was hosted by the School of Chinese Medicine. A lady gave some insights about the way of diagnostics in TCM, herbs and dried fish, parts of animals,... that are used as remidies. Besides myself, there were only an Indian lady and a British man attending the class. So it we could do deep dives on issues like herbs used in homeopathy compared to TCM.

Later on, I went to another neighbourhood called Mong Kok. There you can find all different kind of street markets. Flower Street  is the perfect place to buy fragrant blooms and plants.

 

If you are looking for more lively interior, you have the choice of a number of ornamental fish at the Goldfish Market.

The streets are quite crowded after work. So you have to be prepared to sharpen your elbows when you go continue strolling through the Ladies Market and it's adjacent streets. Ladies market is famous for getting everything women might need - handbags, clothes, underwear,... And it's packed with stalls selling "I love HK" - accessories and fake brand clothes e.g.

The Peak & Sheung Wan

Monday was time for me to go up to "The Peak". It's the highest point on Hong Kong island with 552m.Knowing that it's one of the must-sees for all tourists, I chose a weekday to go there. Unfortunately, the weather was quite cloudy and windy. But the advantage was The Peak was not crowded. So I could walk around the hiking trails without meeting too many others. Despite the weather, I liked being up there as it was the first time I saw the Hong Kong closely at my feet.

In the afternoon I went further west to Sheung Wan. That neighbourhood is said to be Hong Kong's wholesale district. If you are interested in buying dried seafood, ginseng root or birds nests, I advise you to go there.

Moreover, Man Mo Temple is there. Built in the middle of the 19th century, it is one of the oldest and most famous temples in Hong Kong. As I showed some interest in getting to know more about Buddhist culture, a man sitting at the entrance of the temple explained to me some details of worshiping several Buddhist gods .

Wan Chai

On Sunday, I strolled through my neighbourhood - Wan Chai - together with one of my flatmates.

 

 

The old post office (below) was erected in colonial times in 1913. It's now a resource center operated by the Environmental Protection Department of Hong Kong.

We nearly run past Tin Hau temple as it is dwarfed by the surrounding skyscrapers. But the temple is really worth-visiting. It is about 200 years old and dedicated to the patroness of seafarers.

The more we moved on from "old Wan Chai" to "new Central" the higher and more modern the skyscrapers became.

Hiking to Tai Mo Shan

After sleeping in on Saturday morning, I did a hiking tour to Tai Mo Shan. It is the highest mountain in the territory of Hong Kong with 957m. Tai Mo Shan is situated in the New Territories - the mainland that belongs to Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Tai Mo Shan is outside the city, so I took the MTR for the first time. It's actually quite convenient. Besides Cantonese signs the names of the stations are written in English, too. In larger MTR stations the only challenges is to take the right exit (A, B, C, D,...) so that you get to out on the street you are looking for. "Human traffic" inside the metro stations is well structured: right hand side is to be used for entering the metro and left side is for disembarking.

As there was no public transportation to the start of the hiking trail, we took the taxi from a MTR station close by. Getting a taxi to this spot was not as easy as we thought. The first taxi driver apparently did not know where we wanted to go, so he  drove a circle around the MTR station just to throw us out of the cab when we reached the taxi station again. With the help of a young Hongkong Chinese man, we managed to get a taxi to Lead Mine Pass which was the entry to the hiking trail.

 

The trail lead across a kilometer of concrete road and stairs. As the first steep part ended, I had already a nice view over Hongkong and its surrouding.

Coloured caterpillars can be found around here, too. You should not tease them, tough. A bite of them won't kill you but cause nausea, dizziness and pain in several parts of your body.

Having hiked Lead Mine Pass, the climb up to Tai Mo Shan began. This hill is on the Maclehose Trail. Both trails - Lead Mine Pass and Maclehose - belong to the system of well sign-posted hiking trails in the New Territories.

 Just beneath Tai Mo Shan you have a nice view over the city of Hong Kong.

Bye bye Germany & welcome to Hong Kong

Well, it was finally time for me to say "bye bye Germany" in Berlin on Thursday evening. I flew via Zurich to Hong Kong. Flight time for the 9.289 km from Zurich was about 11 hours. Time passed by quite quick as a young Hongkong-Chinese man was sitting next to me. While having dinner we chatted about living in Hong Kong. Afterwards I soon fell asleep. The plane landed shortly after breakfast was served. Actually it was 5.20pm local time when we arrived. Entering Hong Kong as a tourist is not difficult at all. All you have to do is stating your name, passport number and the flight you arrived with.

The new airport of Hong Kong has been built outside the city. So it took me about an hour to get to my apartment. The landlady was already waiting for me. One of the first things she was saying regarding my room was: "We do have a shortage of housing space in Hong Kong". Well, I can not disagree with her. My room is quite clearly arranged...

You won't get lost in the kitchen and the lavatory either. But everything is neat and clean.  

There are two more interns living in my apartment. They are German, too. The reason is that my Chinese landlady found out that Germans are clean and reliable. So she is only renting rooms to Germans now. ;-)