So yesterday CNNGo ran an article listing nine Hong Kong tourist traps, good and bad. I carefully combed through the list, paying particular attention to the ones they hated:
Avenue of Stars was built way after I left Hong Kong, so I wouldn’t know it anyway (it’s Hong Kong’s version of Hollywood’s Walk of Fame). They also hated the Giant Buddha and instead recommended Shatin’s Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastary. I spent five years in Shatin, so fair enough.
Next on the list were Stanley Market and Western Market.
Objection, your honor!
I love Stanley Market. And I have such fond memories of Western Market.
Well, maybe I don’t love these markets for what they sell, but the routes to reach these places are some of my favorites anywhere.
Back when I lived in Hong Kong, I boarded the number 6 Citybus to Stanley, one of the few single decker buses in its fleet, and sat along the right side so I could peer over the mountain cliff to the turquoise water below. I heard half a dozen languages on that bus and imagined I was cruising along the French Riviera.
As for Western Market, I can count on one hand the times I bought something there (a wooden mahjong set for my aunt, some paper cut-outs for friends back in the US, and a couple dim sum lunches). I know it’s no longer a typical Hong Kong market, but the building dates back to 1906 and, to me, has been restored quite beautifully. But it’s the walk from Central or the tram ride through the cramped streets to Western Market that I long for.
The tourist traps CNNGo loves include the racecourse at Happy Valley, Cat Street, Temple Street, and the Star Ferry. (Give me Cat Street’s kitschy Mao chazari and the Star Ferry and you can keep Happy Valley and Temple Street.)
And the one they can’t make up their mind about is the Peak.
Yes, the wax museum is tacky and yes, I wouldn’t go there to shop. But the peaceful pagoda overlooking the edge of the mountain, the clusters of skyscrapers below and the beautiful harbor beyond that, not to mention Kowloon and the New Territories, is a view I could never tire of.
i also read cnngo asia and sometimes wonder where the columnists come from! av of the stars is a fine idea, the only thing i object to there is the statue of bruce lee which doesn’t do him justice.
can’t comment on the big buddha – never been, don’t do cable cars. it was after a visit there that my late father was bitten by something venomous that the docs couldn’t identify which caused a 52 day internment in hospital. not high on my list either. stanley market is/was a great place for those gloria vanderbilt seconds. must admit though, the year i lived in stanley i rarely went down the market per se. also don’t remember western market, do remember the night market however! happy valley – avoid at all cost on saturday and wednesday (race days). cat street was where my late father picked up a lot of his stock and i personally loved temple street – albeit in another time warp- and the star ferry too. not sure about the peak either, these days with the pollution you run the risk of seeing no views at all. in all my years in hk only went on the peak tram once (scared the living daylights out of me on the almost vertical ascension). would walk up to friends houses on old peak road and tregunter path, great for the calf muscles 🙂
Oh, my. I wonder what your father contracted? That sounds awful. I’ve been to that temple twice, once before the Buddha was constructed and once after. The thing I remember the best, though, is a latrine there that rivaled the worst in China. I wonder why this list didn’t include the Jumbo. Love it or hate it, it’s a HK icon! Before it closed, I quite enjoyed Tiger Balm Garden for it’s pretty view above Wanchai. The place itself was in shambles, thus quiet and peaceful.