Last weekend, Nate and I went over to Kowloon. Kowloon can easily be reached by MTR, taxi, ferry, etc. from Hong Kong Island. We chose to take the MTR to get there- which, by the way, is the cleanest, nicest subway I've ever ridden. Being the planner I am, I had consulted guidebooks and decided on some local markets for us to visit before going to dinner. We walked down bustling streets, attempting to find elusive street signs, sweating in the humidity even at 8 o'clock at night. We first went to the flower market, whose fragrant smell preceded it in the streets. Two or three streets were filled with wholesale flower vendors, with every kind of flower imaginable. Some had elaborate arrangements available, others were single stems to be arranged by the purchaser.
From the flower market, we walked to the famous goldfish market. Chinese believe that when a fish dies, it takes away bad luck or evil spirits or something, so a lot of families and businesses have aquariums and fish here. HKIS even has koi ponds on each campus. The goldfish market is a whole street lined with fish and fish supplies. It's pretty amazing. Nate and I saw beautiful tropical fish in brilliant colors, "Nemo fish," and plenty of common goldfish. They also had tiny little turtles in some of the stores.
After getting our fill of the markets, we headed to a trendy tapas restaurant on the waterfront of Kowloon that overlooks Hong Kong Island. We walked along the waterfront's "Avenue of the Stars," which has handprints of all the famous HK movie stars in the sidewalk. We took the Star Ferry back to HK Island, which has been a staple in the harbor for over 100 years. (The ferry ride was about 25 cents US!)
In other news, our shipment arrived from the US on Monday, after 8 weeks of travel on a slow boat to China. We happily received all 54 cardboard boxes, and amazingly have not found a single item to be broken. Unfortunately, some of our belongings smell faintly of eau de cardboard box, but I'm sure that will clear out before too long.
