Causeway Bay - We Love It!

Friday 1 September

Today is sadly our last full day in Hong Kong, and we aim to spend it wandering around exploring the local life around our hotel.

When we arrived on Tuesday, we were a bit disappointed that the hotel seemed to be a bit far out from the action - again – like Shanghai. But we were wrong. Hong Kong City is divided into several different regions, each of which has its own particular character – ie Aberdeen is fishing, Repulse Bay is expensive living and the beach, Central is shopping and hotels. We are in Causeway Bay, and we discovered this region has lots of attractions of its own.

Looking out of the window this morning, we discovered that we could just see Victoria Park - about a block away (to use an American term) between two high rises, so we decided to start our explorations there. On entering the park there was a large area devoted to basketball courts, football pitches and tennis courts. All of these were open and anyone could use them, any time of the day or night – our first thoughts were that at home, sadly, these all-weather surfaces would have been defaced with graffiti, damaged, or at least enclosed and locked, with an attendant to ensure everyone behaved responsibly.

There is also a large public swimming pool, (which from our window looked very inviting) as well as areas of fountains, trees and gardens, a pool for radio-controlled boats, and lots of seats to just sit and ponder on life. It was all very tranquil – not many people are up and about at 10.00 in Hong Kong. Just a few people doing their exercises - which still seems a very important part of life here – in ones and twos, and a few small groups. There is exercise equipment like we have seen in other cities, but also pebble pathways and pebble pools for walking on in bare feet (can you imagine what would happen to pools of loose stones at home – I don’t think they would last long). We saw a man in the distance – he looked our sort of age (young I mean!!) – and he was practicing Tchai Chi - standing on one leg, while very slowly moving his arms up and down and round in front of his body and behind. It took us several minutes to pass him, and he was still standing on the same one leg! – I get the wobbles after just a few seconds!

Passing through the park and crossing the road (so safe here – drivers are not at all aggressive) we found ourselves in the hubbub of the Causeway Bay shopping area – lots of shopping malls with easily recognizable shops such as IKEA, ToysRUs, HMV as well as designer shops for clothes (still all small sizes, but it stops me spending I suppose). There are also lots of individual shops – hundreds of jewellery and watch stores – how anyone would be able to decide which shop to choose I do not know – they all display very similar goods, particularly those selling watches. I was surprised at the number of bakeries – selling hot, mouthwatering smelling breads, creamy cakes and lots of sweet confections - sadly not cafes, just take away.

Our next objective was to find a restaurant we had seen advertised on the street map that sounded scrummy – hot Sischuan foods – where we could eat tonight. We traversed along several side streets, each one smaller than the last, but eventually came to Lan Fang Road and The Red Pepper Restaurant – peering in through the wood carved grilles on the windows, it was much larger than I had thought from the outside, and looked quite posh. It would do us fine. The street was very narrow with lighted signs hanging from roofs on both sides, that almost touched in the middle – mainly for restaurants, but also for maternity wear, men’s tailoring and clubs! We didn’t venture too far into any of these.

We rambled towards Times Square, the heart of the Causeway Bay shopping district. On the way we found one street that sold only builders materials – lots of ‘European-style’ doors and windows, handles and locks, kitchens and bathrooms, as well as plumbers kits and tools. There were lots of seedy looking alleyways off the main streets, with market traders selling the usual range of everything!

Times Square is really a tall outlet for designer shops, with those see-through lifts inside and out, that zoom up and down the walls. We rode up the escalators so we could see what each level had to offer. We found Marks and Spencers Ladies on Level 6, and I couldn’t resist buying a T-shirt as they had one in my size!!! Each floor was built like a large gallery around the central void looking down to the ground floor and on one side, on each level there was a different sort of snack bar. On our first visit we had sandwiches and drinks at Pacific Coffee (an upmarket Starbucks) – liquid was needed by now as temperatures were well into the 30’s again, although this morning was more hazy than the last two days.

We then decided to try and find the waterfront – in fact it was only a five minute stroll to the Excelsior Hotel facing the Marina – where I think Juz and Dave might have stayed on their honeymoon – and the Noon Day Gun – only fired nowadays when investors make large donations to MINDSET – a charity for mentally ill children here. Crossing the road – one of the main outer ring roads along the waterfront with blue motorway signs, and a flyover, was a complicated affair – up over footbridges and down under subways. We roamed along beside the marina for a while, but it was so hot that when we eventually spied a footbridge back into the Park, we used it and wandered through the leafy pathways to the hotel to find the Bar and Lounge for more drinks. Unfortunately, although advertised on a big poster outside the hotel with the Pool and the Gym, none of these facilities will be completed until November, so we had to ‘make do’ with a beer in the restaurant.

We decided to try and find another bar outside the hotel – we had seen a couple advertised in one of the “Whats On” magazine in our room. One was the ‘American Bar’ and another ‘Inside Out’ which we think was European. We found the addresses on our map, and set off on another trek of discovery. We were not successful this time – we found both streets easily enough, but no sign of a bar in either case. So we returned to Times Square – just a few minutes walk away – and had a raspberry smoothie and a yogurt pina colada (non-alcholic version) before retracing our steps back to the hotel for another chance to try the blog. The connection was very slow again, but we managed to fine other providers using 3G, and when we tried one of these, the connection zoomed in, so we managed to catch up on some correspondence.

A quick shower and change and we were off again to the restaurant – a 15 minute stroll away now we knew the way. The proprietor was very welcoming and we were soon sipping rose petal tea and beers. Among the specialities were sour pepper soup, sizzling prawns and diced chicken with cashews – all things we like, so we ordered one of each and added some crab and sweetcorn soup for Colin (sweetcorn out here is much more sweet and flavoursome than at home), some sweet and sour pork, a portion of bamboo shoots with mushrooms (I have got a bit of a penchant for this dish after the rice fields) and noodles with beef and celery – all small size dishes! Probably suitable for four people. Before bringing the prawns to the table, the waiter placed a napkin over the skillet and poured a mug of boiling water through a napkin on to the scorching surface which produced a cloud of steam. He then wiped the napkin round the skillet and brought it to the table, empty. A separate bowl of prawns in a tasty Sichuan sauce was poured into the skillet, which spat and screeched as it touched the red hot surface. We had been warned to lift our napkins up to avoid being splattered. The other dishes were served quite normally. All the food was delicious, although we struggled at the end and didn’t eat it all. They brought about four new teapots of rose petal tea whilst we were eating – I am getting into this tea lark, which seems to help the meal go down.

We then wandered back through the park - it was about 21.30 by this time – and there were now more people in the park than at any other time of the day – all of the pitches and courts were in use, with full teams and referees, playing serious games, even though the temperature was still in the high 20s. Other people were just spectating, or strolling, or even still exercising. But it was a really friendly atmosphere, and we felt very safe. What better way to spend a balmy summer’s evening – than wandering through leafy glades after a nice meal, people watching in Hong Kong?

Apart from the bar and lounge area and the swimming pool not being completed yet, the hotel itself proved to be first class. Restaurant and food were extremely good – if quite expensive, the bedroom and bathroom more than adequate - typical large bog standard room - and the staff were very helpful and friendly. We met another English couple while having a drink in the restaurant at lunch time. They were telling us about their super-duper room on the 33rd floor – with panorama views of the marina and two huge drenching showers. Were we envious? – only a little – our room had served us well, and we would be happy to come here again. The Causeway Bay area had turned out to be everything we expected of Hong Kong and more, although we found the most of the shops were not any cheaper than at home. But we have lots to still see, so will be coming back? – without a doubt.