One of the many streets in Kowloon covered by neon and signs
This morning I knew exactly where to go for breakfast. First Cup Coffee was the perfect place to sit with a coffee and a ham & cheese toastie. I finished reading the HK Magazine (free local paper) to get some ideas on specific places to visit and help plan an itinerary for the week. I did exactly that. Unfortunately, the first place on the list was the not so interesting Chinese Visa Office in Wan Chai. The next five hours was spent waiting in a queue only to hand over my Chinese visa forms and passport to a woman. She told me I could pick it up in three days time. I need another visa just so that I can get back into the country when I leave Hong Kong and had to pay 40 pounds for it. So, with only half a day left I decided to explore the retail paradise of Hong Kong Island and took a tram ride from Wan Chai to Central. One of the first buildings that caught my attention was the Armani Charter House. I really was in heaven. I walked into the lobby, used the automatic sanitizing hand spray located at the concierge desk and observed my surroundings. Below me was Georgio Armani. Beside me was Georgio Armani, Georgio Armani Cosmetics, Emporio Armani, Armani Libri and Armani Fiori (yes...fiori as in flowers...an Armani flower store!!). Above me was more Emporio Armani and Armani Casa (furniture and the likes) plus several huge screens with catwalk shows and light displays. And of course, just across the street is Prada, Louis Vuitton, Gucci and every other store you could possibly imagine. It was torture. I wanted everything!!!
I continued walking through Central past the palm trees and skyscrapers until I reached a different environment all together. Graham Street Market. Comfortably nestled along the narrow and extremely steep Graham Street was a fresh food market. I was fortunate enough to witness a fish being cut perfectly in half. So perfectly cut that all it's organs were still intact - it was still alive! I could see its heart pumping as it flapped around on the table waiting for someone to buy him. At the top of Graham Street my heart was racing. I had literally climbed up to the mid-levels of the mountains that separate the north from the south of the island. I browsed around a cool shop called Tao Evolution on peel street. They had some great prints by Bill Schwab and Peter Steinhauer of local people in Vietnam and Tibet. I walked back down the hill along Elgin Street only to discover a Man blow torching pigs feet on the sidewalk. I also noticed several Men walking around the streets with their caged birds. One gentleman even had a fitted cover for his bird cage - probably to protect the bird while walking through the city.
It was well past lunch time and I was in search of a restaurant called Cuisine Cuisine for some dim sum (rated the best in HK Magazine in a special top ten article). It was a great excuse to ride the tram again and stepped on board. The tram is a classic icon of Hong Kong and runs along a 13km (10 mile) main line on North Hong Kong Island. It was established about 100 years ago (as the sign above the tram reads) and apparently they are the only double-decker tram fleet operating in the world. They're really efficient and one comes about every 3 minutes. I'm not so impressed with the weather today. It's warm but very cloudy. After dinner at The House of Bento (gave up trying to find Cuisine Cuisine) I headed back to the hostel to get ready for a night out on the town. I went to Rice Bar, another place which was recommended in HK Magazine. It was nice but deadly quiet. Obviously Monday isn't a good night to be going out. I didn't mind and really enjoyed a proper drink in a nice bar and it wasn't long before I was joined by a friendly group of people. I made some friends and stayed with them for the rest of the evening. John made me upgrade to expensive lychee cocktails. I had a feeling tomorrow's itinerary might have to begin a little later than scheduled.
