Hong Kong day six – Andrew Harrison

My penultimate full day in HK. Today I visited the Taoist temple of Wong Tai Sin, where many Hongkongers were lighting incense and various other combustible offerings that could be purchased from stalls around the temple, in advance of the lunar new year. If I believed in such things, I could have also availed myself of a reading from many of the fortune tellers also located in the arcades of the temple!

I then travelled on the MTR (Hong Kong metro) to the bustling neighbourhood of Mong Kok, home of many watch dealers, where I may have treated myself to a little something following some reasonably extensive internet research as to the more trustworthy vendors. I was offered a seat as I tried on various watches and received several advices including “buying a watch is a tiring business” and “you can’t be a real Hongkonger without a proper watch”.

I also visited one of Mong Kok’s cha chaan teng cafés to experience fusion food in the opposite direction. Years of British influence here have led to these fine establishments offering a wide variety of caff-style food but with a definite Cantonese bent – my “combo sandwich” of spam and scrambled egg being a fine example of this, providing vital fuel for an afternoon’s Kowloon wandering. I might start a campaign to get these introduced in my favourite British greasy spoons.