Went to Hong Kong Island today. Haven´t been there much this trip. This time I did something different, and took the tram out to the end of the line on the northwest coast, to Kennedy Town.
The whole section west of Central is pretty much Chinatown, quite different from the old British section, and not subject to as much commercial pressure as Kowloon. Old houses, not much building-over yet... a different kind of architecture, city layout.
There are three villages along the northwest coast in this group: Sheung Wan, Sai Ying Pun, and Kennedy Town. Still a lot of shophouses, where the goods spill out into the street, and the family lives in back and above. Lots more dried fish, incense, medicines than elsewhere.
The metro stops at the easternmost of the three, Sheung Wan, and you take a bus or a doubledecker railway tram to reach the further ones. This will change soon, though -- the metro is being extended to Kennedy Town. And already there are luxury highrises being built along the water. The nature of the area will change in just a few years. A dramatic change.
If you get the chance to go, be sure to take a look at the water. There is still port work being done there, and you can see the sea in a way I haven´t seen elsewhere in Hong Kong. Feels more like sections of San Franciscoś´Embarcadero, where youŕe right on the water. Very different feel than the landfilled coastline elsewhere.
I walked back from Kennedy Town, through the markets of Sai Ying Pun, and started to see tourists in transitional commercial area of Sheung Wan. Walked along Queens Road Central, past the Mid-Level Escalators, and stopped in at Makś on Waterloo for a small bowl of noodles and wonton. Noodles were toothy; shrimp wonton were tender; both were solid, subtly better than the norm.
That was the first part of the day, and I want to think more, get a fresh mind, before the second.
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