For our last full day in Hong Kong – and the final full day of this trip – we had decided to keep things leisurely and try to see a little more of the real Hong Kong. So, with no alarm, we wandered down up to breakfast around 9am and enjoyed yet another freshly cooked omelette. Once again, we were served with a proper pot of tea each, which I accompanied with some freshly baked bread slices (pure luxury).
Fully fuelled, we collected our things from the room and headed out to the nearest MTR station, East Tsim Sha Tsui. We found the entrance easily enough, but hadn’t anticipated the marathon trek within the station to reach the ticket hub and platforms. We were walking for about 15 minutes underground, which was tough going for Karen.
The ticket machines either wanted us to top up an Octopus card or pay with coins – we had neither. Fortunately, there was a rather civilised ticket booth where the man sold us single-journey tickets, assuring us it would be cheaper for what we had planned for the day. The tickets cost only a few pence each.
The train itself was crowded and scrupulously clean. Announcements were in both Cantonese and English, which was helpful. The only surprise was that no one offered Karen a seat, despite her clearly struggling to stand. Eventually, people got off and I shoved her into a vacant seat with a speed that dared anyone else to take it from her.
Our destination was Diamond Hill station for the Nan Lian Gardens. Like the London Underground, the station had multiple exits and, naturally, we chose the one that involved a longer and more difficult walk. We only discovered this unfortunate choice later, on the return journey.
The gardens were free to enter and proved to be a haven of tranquillity in the middle of Hong Kong’s concrete jungle. Everything felt calm and serene. Karen had read there was a café and was very much in need of a sit-down and a drink. This café was truly authentic. No one spoke English, there were no hot drinks, and after eventually locating Karen a bottle of blueberry juice, I worked out it had to be consumed inside the café rather than outside. Slightly totalitarian, but rules are rules.
We wandered around the gardens, which were lovely, and saw the biggest koi fish I’ve ever encountered. One of them could have fed a family of four for a week. After visiting the rock museum (full of actual rocks rather than locks of Mick Jagger’s hair) and admiring some very old and impressive bonsai trees, Karen announced that she absolutely had to have a Starbucks. She had already identified one next door in Plaza Hollywood – where we also discovered a much closer MTR exit.
Plaza Hollywood was refreshingly normal, full of everyday shops rather than high-end designer boutiques of Harbour City. We browsed a couple before finding Starbucks in the atrium and sat for a while watching ordinary Hong Kongers going about their daily business.
Our original plan had been to then visit Kowloon Walled City Park, which Chris had highly recommended. However, Karen was really struggling with pain and walking by this point, and as it would have taken us further away, we reluctantly but sensibly abandoned the idea.
Instead, we walked back to Diamond Hill station and took the brown line down to Mong Kok, home of the outdoor market and the locally famous “Sneaker Street”. I’m not entirely sure what we expected Sneaker Street to be, but what we found was lots and lots of very small branded shops. I think we counted at least six Asics stores on the same small street. We tried Skechers for Karen, but they said they didn’t stock her “large” size and suggested she look at men’s shoes instead. She’s a UK 6½ – entirely average at home, but apparently enormous here.
We shuffled through the market, which was full of tat and overflowing with fake goods. I was offered my pick of fake Rolexes, while Karen could have walked away with handbags from every famous designer known to man. Fun to look at, but the stop-start browsing was making Karen’s pain worse.
On the way back to the MTR, I popped into a shop selling large tripod selfie sticks at bargain prices, which Karen agreed might be useful for the upcoming wedding. I walked straight back out when they tried to sell me one at double the price and then refused to let me open the box of the one as priced outside to check it matched the picture. Their loss.
We navigated the MTR successfully this time and were soon back where we started. As afternoon tea was still being served in the Continental Lounge, it seemed rude not to take advantage of the free offering.
After sorting ourselves out in the room and beginning the dreaded packing for the long journey home, we returned to the lounge for the evening soirée. The original plan had been to then go to an Outback Steakhouse near the M&S we’d visited the day before, involving a Star Ferry trip and a 15-minute walk each way. While I would have liked to go, it felt like pushing Karen too far. She initially disagreed… until she’d had a couple of glasses of Prosecco.
Helpfully, the food offering that evening for the soiree included green-lipped mussels mornay, which were absolutely to die for. No one else seemed to be eating them, so I more than made up for their lack of enthusiasm.
By our third glass of bubbles, we were both nicely chilled, and Karen came up with a far better plan: more mussels, more Prosecco, and then heading out to watch the nightly Symphony of Lights over the harbour.
Just after 7.30pm we wandered down to what we guessed was the best vantage point. Sadly, it was underwhelming. I had to ask Karen if she thought it had started – and then again if it had finished. It may have been spectacular when it first launched, but now it felt tired: a few lights flickering, some straight lasers, and not much else. The skyline lit up on its own was far more impressive. It really needs drones, fountains, or projections. Nevertheless, it still attracted a decent crowd.
Slowly, we made our way back to the hotel, and after a bit more organising for the next day’s departure, we were in bed by around 10pm.
