Hong Kong: Kowloon
When I was in Singapore, I learned not to skimp when it came to bike rentals. I don’t know if my tailbone will ever be the same. Before that same week was over, I learned something else not to skimp on. Through many mixups and difficulties in planning, I purchased an Airbnb at the last minute. There are several cheap housing options in Hong Kong, but they fill up quickly, and I was past the point where cheap housing was still available.
Except for one place on Airbnb which was still cheap, though a little far from the main part of the city. I booked it, and didn’t give it a second thought. After a fun weekend in Singapore, I came back and realized that in a day, I would be leaving for Hong Kong.
After a quick load of laundry, a rearranging of my bag, and an hour ferry ride, I was in Hong Kong. I began to have some trepidations about my Airbnb the moment I got to the MTR and looked on the map at how far away Kwung Tong was. It took me about half an hour to get there.
When I arrived, I walked into this large building that looked very industrial. After walking down a long hallway, there was a dusty staircase with some exposed wires. On the first floor was a black door that seemed to melt into the dim corner of the hallway. I knocked on the door and was let in.
Of course, I had done some research on the place before I booked it. I knew that there was a room with what looked like 5 bunk beds in it. It looked similar to many other hostels I had seen. At least it did in the pictures. The actual place had one enormous room with maybe 10–15 bunk beds. It was dim and hardly lit, and each bed had curtains, so I had no idea how many people were in the room.
I don’t mean to turn this entry into a review of my Airbnb, but it really was a shock to me. I am not sure how many people in total were living in the apartment, but I saw about twenty or so people in the common area or emerging from one of the bunk beds.
It was not easy to sleep with so many people, but it also was hard to stay in a place like that. It felt like for many of the people there, this was their long term residence. I was the outsider who was only in Hong Kong as a tourist. The best thing that came from the Airbnb was motivation to not spend much time there.
The first night was a lot of fulfillment for things that I missed from the states. Along with two other PiA fellows, we started the night with Mexican food, and then went to a brewery. The first bite of nachos nearly brought tears to my eyes. This was one of the big differences I found between Hong Kong and Macau. There is a Mexican food place in Macau, but as it’s the only one, the food is not really worth the price. Hong Kong is so big that you are bound to find whatever it is to satisfy a homesick craving.
The next day, I decided to make use of my somewhat remote location and visit a temple in the northern part of Kowloon. It was called the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery. I knew that it was up in the mountains, and I made a wrong turn and went up into the Po Fook Hill Cemetery, the first Chinese Cemetery I had ever seen. I walked up a few levels.
There was a labrynth of stairs winding up the steep mountain. There were no tombstones. Instead, there were large rooms filled with tiles that had pictures of the person resting there as well as an inscription. In one room, a monk was chanting with a family. It was an unexpected detour of the day, but one that I was very happy I took.
After descending from the cemetery, I eventually did find the entrance to the Monastery. The road that went up to the monastery was very steep and windy. Yet I had plenty of company on my way up to the top. The entire path is lined on both sides by golden buddhas, each one unique. Here are a few of my favorites.
After a very long climb, my shirt thoroughly soaked with sweat, I reached the first stop. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to take pictures of the room with the thousands of buddhas. They didn’t allow any photos of it. But the walls were lined with small indentations and in each one sat a buddha. There were two towers that had buddhas lining each level, getting smaller and smaller as they got closer to the top. It was so ordered and chaotic at the same time. I was able to take pictures of some of the other attractions at the top.
I walked down from the monastery and felt that I had earned a meal that would not only satisfy my hunger, but also some longing for home. Meghan, my sister, sent me a New York Times article about a New York style delicatessen that had opened in Hong Kong. At that moment, there was nothing that I wanted as much as a reuben.
After getting thoroughly lost in the much more crowded environment of Central Hong Kong, I sat down to a perfect reuben and a slice of blueberry pie. The best reuben I’ve ever had was in Columbus, OH at Katsinger’s Deli, but this one came close.
After the delicious meal, I went to see some free art exhibits in Central. There was a Takashi Murikami exhibit and another Japanese artist called Mr. I’m not normally one to seek out art exhibits, but these were just so interesting. I won’t pretend that I know how to analyze the art I saw, but here are some of my favorite pieces.
After the tour up to the monastery, the enormous meal, and the art, I was dragging a little. But thanks to the Airbnb, I refused to go back. I met up with the same PiA fellows and we had a great night exploring some of the night life in Hong Kong. And a huge bonus was that one of the friends of the fellows had a spare bed in their apartment, so I only had to spend one night in my Airbnb.
Unfortunately, I needed to hurry back to Macau so I really only had time to eat an enormous brunch and then commute to my Airbnb, and then head back to the ferry.
I cannot state the level of exhaustion I had hit by the time I made it back to my room. It had been a fantastic first visit to Hong Kong, but after a week of travel to two different locations, I needed a nap. Unfortunately, I had to get to a dinner in Macau. But more on that later.
