We arrived in Hong Kong around lunchtime on our first day but by the time we’d got the train from the airport to Hong Kong Central and negotiated the shuttle bus to our hotel, the Novotel Century in Wan Chai, it was late afternoon. Having been plied with food on our flight from London we weren’t particularly hungry. Rather than having a large dinner we simply took advantage of the hotel executive lounge facilities for aperitifs and a light snack before heading out to absorb some of the Hong Kong street atmosphere at night.
Wan Chai is like much of central Hong Kong – busy, bustling, people everywhere, shops, markets and an incredible contrast between the old and new, east and west, rich and poor. Monsieur had visited before for work reasons, which was just as well as it did take a little while to get our bearings.
The street markets were starting to pack up for the day – we strolled through taking it all in. There was something of a pungent smell but the food choices were incredible – all manner of exotic fruits, fish stalls (may explain the smell!), meat dishes and quite a few ingredients that I hadn’t come across before. The beautiful oriental flower stalls especially caught my eye.
About 10 minutes down the road eastwards of Wan Chai you come to the Causeway Bay area, noted for its high end shopping facilities – luxury malls, department stores and boutiques. All in all a huge contrast to the shops we found in Wan Chai!
We weren’t there to shop as such but it was intriguing to peak inside the enormous Times Square Complex, probably the showpiece of Causeway Bay. A sky-high tower block, it houses many famous fashion brands – Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Jimmy Choo and the list goes on. I did a bit of window shopping and picked up a couple of things at Zara – just about in my price bracket! It was rather surreal having been wandering round the street markets a bit earlier and epitomises the many contrasts we found throughout our time in Hong Kong.
Copyright © 2018 Rosemary Thomas Le Chic En Rose. All rights reserved
Le Chic En Rose 
Ah, brings back more happy memories! I loved just wandering around at night when we were there.
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Glad to hear that Anabel – we loved wandering round at night time just absorbing the sights and sounds plus it was so pretty with all the lights 🙂
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I visited Hong Kong once on business and had a few extra days to visit. It was great and I truly enjoyed it. Your photos remind me of my visit in January 2010…quite a while ago now. (Suzanne)
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It was a fascinating place Suzanne – would have liked to stay longer the history is so interesting!
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I prefer the outdoor markets to malls, Rosemay, but you might as well take a look. 🙂 🙂
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I’m the same Jo – hardly go to malls much but was somewhere to glimpse into and see another world! The street stalls were so different and far more traditional as you can well imagine. It was the contrast of worlds that fascinated me!
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Glad you liked Hong Kong! Hope you come back again, a lot of good food, a lot of good shopping, and many places to see! Thanks for showing love to my second favorite city in the world!
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Thanks we loved Hong Kong and will go back some day! What is your favourite city?
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I am from Toronto so I guess I have to say that first. Hong Kong is where I am living so it comes at a close second…haha…not really helpful right? How about you? What is your favorite city?
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I have relatives in Toronto though never been before myself! Gosh that’s a difficult question – I love my adopted home of Perth but will always have a soft spot for London where I lived for many years. So many lovely cities in central Europe – Berlin and Vienna spring to mind though enjoyed Bratislava, Budapest and Prague too plus Paris is so beautiful! Can’t just pick one!
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