Day 8 - Kowloon: Flowers, Street Markets, and Beautiful Views

Today we decided to go back to Kowloon.  Kowloon is on the other side of the bay from Hong Kong Central.  We stayed on Kowloon on our first trip to Hong Kong, and wanted to go back and spend some time doing some of the activities that we had enjoyed previously.  We took the train and landed at the Prince Edward station.  From there, we had a short walk to the flower markets.  For a garden fanatic like myself, the flower market is heaven on earth!  There is a mass of color and fragrance from the time you step foot into the first shop in the market.   Orchids are everywhere and appear to be the most popular flower in the market. What is intriguing to me is the way orchids are used in container gardens and arrangements.  I love the way orchids are mixed with all kinds of plants to make innovative arrangements.  I plan to take some of these ideas on container gardening to my Asheville classes. It is obvious to me that people in Hong Kong love plants and flowers, and are also using them as decorations for the upcoming Chinese New Year.

Rich had a hard time getting me away from the flower markets, but I was getting hungry, so we ventured on to find food. We ended up at a locals fast food type place called Delicious. The place was crowded so we started out sitting at a table with others. I had the beef curry and Chinese cabbage, and it was actually pretty good. From here, we walked to the Ladies Street markets. This market has hundreds of shops stocked with cheap goods, mainly clothing and accessories. Handbags, shoes, dresses, underwear, sweaters, and jackets abound. And everything is so cheap. I actually felt guilty giving the booth owner only $8 for 3 nice scarves! This is obviously the direct opposite of the type of shopping at Causeway Mall that I was discussing last week! This illustrates the large contrast in the people with money vs. those with very little in this city. (similar to the US, I suppose). As for me, I adore both kinds of shopping and was perfectly happy with my low budget items. One interesting type of clothing apparel that was everywhere at the ladies market today was yellow and hot pink bras, hanging boldly along the street!

I had heard and read about the Temple Street night markets, so we took another “fitness walk” to find these. When we arrived, we realized that the merchants were just setting up for the night markets! Lesson learned: night market means only at night! Our last destination in Kowloon was to return to the Avenue of the Stars along the bay. This area is absolutely the most awesome in terms of views of the city skyline, water, and mountains all rolled into one. I have never seen anything like it in any other city where we have traveled. When you walk here, there are hand prints of famous Chinese movie stars like Jackie Chan, and of course the famous statue of Bruce Lee. This is very popular with the Chinese locals and tourists from mainland China. We took a ferry back to our Wan Chai district. We were off on our walking today – only about 6 miles instead of our usual 8!

The last plan of the day was to eat at a restaurant in Central called Pierre's at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. This restaurant was recommended to us by Rich's son Tash. This was quite a unique dining experience. The restaurant is situated on the 25^th floor of the hotel with breathtaking views of Hong Kong at night. The skyscrapers are covered with blue, red, yellow, and green lights. These can be experienced right outside of the windows. Rich and I exchanged seats during the meal so that we both could appreciate the ambience. The food was excellent and expensive. I ended my meal with the chocolate souffle, which was honestly the best dessert I have ever eaten Those of you that know me understand how much I appreciate desserts, so this is saying a lot! But my favorite part of the evening was at the very end and were leaving. We were greeted by our 3 servers, who said that they had a special parting gift for me – it was a small lemon cake to go! I kept thinking that this send off reminded me of something I had seen in a movie, and I remembered the last scene in “Titanic' when the old lady first enters the ship and they greeted her. I could learn to like this – Thanks Tash for giving me the most unforgettable dining experience of my life!!