Hong Kong- An Afternoon in Kowloon

I read somewhere that Mongkok, an area of Kowloon in Hong Kong, was one of, if not the most, densely populated places on the planet.

I took the sterile and coldly efficient MTR (Hong Kong’s subway system) from my place in Causeway Bay to Mongkok Station and ascended to ground level expecting to see a frenetic, frenzied froth of people.

It wasn’t really that bad. In fact, it felt no less spacious than Central. I decided that I would loosely follow Nathan Rd, the thoroughfare going north/south through Kowloon, all the way down to its southern extremity in Tsim Sha Tsui, where I would pick up samosas and chai at the famous Chungking Mansions before boarding the MTR and traveling back across the harbor.

Nathan’s surrounding estuaries in Mongkok are loaded with neon signs, and sometimes they go all the way over the street, forming a canopy of metal and glass boxes and bars. With few square meters of sidewalk to spare, vendors sell various foods-on-sticks next to stalls with newspapers and fashion magazines.

I got down to Tung Choi, which runs parallel to Nathan, to the “ladies market,” a long, tight pedestrian alleyway filled with booths selling knock-off clothes, bags and various accessories. If you want to buy cheap stuff in Hong Kong, Tung Choi seems to be the ticket. There are also many small restaurants lining the ladies market with a good selection of Thai, Vietnamese, Sushi and European fare for cheaper than the Hong Kong average.

Back onto Nathan, I realized that it was probably one of the best streets in Hong Kong for surveying the city in general. I liked it better than the island-side of downtown. It has a slightly different vibe than the island, which often feels like one big bank with a few restaurants and shops sprinkled in between. Which is great if you really like banks.

I eventually got down to Tsim Tsa Shui to the ethnic cornucopia of Chungking Mansions, my favorite place in the city at which to eat. I got two big veggie samosas and a chai tea for $15 HK and squeezed into a little plastic chair at a food stall to write this blog.