Kowloon from Canton Road to Temple Road Street Market

Tung Chung Station - our clinically clean starting point.  We thought we would go to Stanley today then decided that according to what we read it seems to be packed over weekends so off we went instead to Kowloon.

Known for shopping and brands, we thought we would go check out if Hong Kong is really a shopper's paradise.

Arrival turned out to be something else, station opens up into a shopping centre called Elements (you know like earth, wind, fire etc.) Well, the Elements were against us in finding our way out of there. This is kinda how it went:

Impressive building - Marble Arch

Some more impressive buildings

The pics above are what we saw, whilst trying to find our way around. We then went back into Elements, then with new directions set of again, looked in a Links of London shop on the way, I went to the bathroom and saw the following sign (Do not throw hand towels to toilet... I must say I was wondering what the toilet would do if you did - throw it back?), found Grandpa a good deal on his new camera, and followed the signs out. All went ok so far and this is what we saw:

Some more buildings and some of them reminds me of Luanda - only in Angola this would be covered with Satellite dishes.

Walking along merrily, still following the signs which says Harbour City and the arrows accordingly, we ended up on a street, where they blocked off the street in such a way that you can't cross and then very cleverly ensured that we as pedestrians, were nicely guided all the way back to... yes you are correct, Elements!

So a mere 45 minutes later we did a lovely circle and were back right where we started. We decided it was a good time for lunch in order to restore some of the batteries and relieve some of the frustration. 
Food gives ideas, and as a result we headed, with said signs, for the Northern Exit, which allowed us to hail a Taxi to Harbour City. Finally, we are there.

Harbour City, is something entirely else to witness. You get dropped off in Canton Road, which is a brand paradise. Any major brand you can think of and its there and its massive.

Fendi and Coach

Prada and Gucci

LongChamp

Then through these stores on street level you enter a place that has over 700 different stores on about 4 different levels. Mass of confusion. We were looking for ToysRUs specifically to see if there is any new DS games (i.e. something odd which haven't been released yet in SA) for Philip and Francois, my hat, what a mission. Eventually we found the shop, and uhm, well you know we don't really sell them, but hey, if you go to HMV in Peking Road, they have by far the best selection. 

So off we trekked again, now trying to find the exit of this monstrosity. Stopped at Starbucks (which we found by accident), had a coffee and peered at some woman marking English and asked her how to get back out on the street. In between (after ToysRUS and before Starbucks) I looked out a door and saw this:

Victoria Bay looking back towards Hong Kong (Central)

And there is the archy building again!

Walked out through the Chanel store onto the street and by now it was dark (ok it does get dark around 17:15 -ish, but still!). 

Louis Vuitton

Hermes

So off we went to HMV, just to also find that there were exactly about a shelf worth of games, and that included all types. Weird hey? One would think that in a place full of technology, games variety would be at its best, instead what we can find back home is ten times better.

Peking road was somewhere we wanted to be as it was on the way to Nathan road, which are also known as the Golden Mile and which ultimately allows you to hook up with Temple Road Street Market. This market only starts at 16:00 in the afternoon and runs until 00:00. 

We passed some of these colourful streets and down one of these allies we bought a painting for HK$ 400 (something we try to do in each country we travel to).

Nathan road also sports the Park Lane Shopper's Boulevard, again brand names everywhere. Makes you wonder how they all survive, yet they all seem to coin it.

Rotary Statue on Park Lane Shopper's Boulevard

Park Lane Shopper's Boulevard

We stopped for supper, mainly Caleb asked for supper, and MacDonalds was the closest. Nothing like a few chicken nuggets and chips to make a boy happy and announce as we walked out, Thank you this was a lovely breakfast. 
I wonder about his sense of time sometimes...

Turning into Temple Road the street market just opens up, perhaps in total its about 700m long; bargaining is welcome. As you walk away the price just drops and keeps on dropping. 

Corner of Nathan and Jordan Roads - still considered good neighbourhood

Temple Road Street Market

Reason why we didn't eat there

Temple Road Street Market

Some stuff good, others questionable, there is definitely something for everyone in there.

We finally made our way home after a long day with map challenges. Tomorrow we will visit Stanley which used to be the largest settlement on Hong Kong island prior to the British moving in.