Avenue of Stars 星光大道 @ Tsim Sha Tsui 尖沙咀, Hong Kong 香港

Hong Kong is one of the more advanced city in Asia. Life here is so hectic it feels like you're living in a high pressure cooker. Living expenses are high and living pace is suffocatingly fast. I once read a series of comic depicting the difference in culture between Taiwan and Hong Kong and after visiting Hong Kong I couldn't agree more. Below are a few pictures I realized true.

1. Escalator in MTR stations move as fast as (or even faster than) those in Singapore's MRT station. I forgot how fast the escalator in Taipei moves but I don't remember them moving as fast as escalators in hong Kong.

Taiwanese were educated to stand on the left hand side of the escalator but in Hong Kong, the correct side to stand is on the right. Malaysians are used to stand side by side (blocking everyone's way) on an escalator so we habitually did the same and what happened was, we quickly move aside when we realized we were blocking the way, the 'queue' behind passed us with annoyed stares.


I am not sure if I was being too objective because I realized Hong Kees were generally stressed. I don't feel "welcomed" or warm walking around, unlike in Taipei, you feel less intimidated asking for directions. Hong Kees walk faced down with really tensed expression on their face and when you try asking them for directions they'll either dismiss you with "don't know" or gives you a very vague answer. Of course, this does not represent all but there're also helpful people around.

You can easily see a few Chow Tai Fook 周大福 gold shop in one same row of shop. They are even built next to each other across streets. Sasa can be seen everywhere like 7-11 convenience stores and they are much larger than ours! High rise can be seen building very close next to each other. Each unit is only about 350 - 400 sq ft. and cost at about 1kUSD per sq ft (according to the local). One can only afford a landed property if he/she is mega rich!

MTR reaches almost every corner so all you need is to get your 八达通 Octopus card reload with enough cash. We took a shutter bus from the airport to Citygate mall hoping to store our luggages in the lockers but all lockers were full! If you are travelling in large group intended to make Citygate your first stop by storing your luggage in their locker, I suggest you to check in to your hotel first because number of lockers were limited. 

We got our lunch settled in Food Republic before checking into our hotel because everyone were starving after the flight. This was the first time I met Henry, my cousin, in person. Last seen was in picture while he was still a young boy and now he's all grown up! Henry was raised in the State by Uncle Gunn so he speaks fluent english but not mandarin like all of us do.

Hiring a cab in Hong Kong is expensive so we took MTR and shuttle bus to travel during our stay in Hong Kong. We stayed in Rainbow Hotel located in Jordan, Kowloon. Our hotel was located opposite Novotel Hotel.

Transportation in Hong Kong is convenient but it could be time consuming to travel from one place to another, taking into consideration time taken to transfer from station to station.

7-11 can be seen in every row of the streets. Our stay is surrounded with all sorts of fashion boutiques. If you feel like shopping, there is also a shopping mall nearby but they do not offer wide variety of choices and things are expensive. MTR station is just right at the end of this road to the main road.

I can use the basin and mirror while Elise (my roomie throughout the trip) is taking her shower at the other side of the curtain and glass panel. Washroom size was reasonably comfortable for two.

After settling our luggage in the hotel room, we made Avenue of Stars 星光大道 at Tsim Sha Tsui 尖沙咀 our first stop. It is a place to honor the late and existing celebrities of Hong Kong film industry.


We couldn't resist the smell of BBQ squid that lingers in the air so we bought some to taste and they tasted really juicy and soft! I thought the texture would be like hard-to-bite beef tendon but to my surprise it was much softer than that.