Wow... what a jam-packed day. Today was probably the most interesting I've had so far in Hong Kong.
After a week with very little sleep, I decided to sleep in just a leeeeeeetle bit today. I woke up at 9, intending to start homework and work until 4ish and then go out once all my homework was done. In any case, I brought all my work onto my bed (I'm used to working in bed) but fell asleep and finally woke up at 11. Yay! Sleep! And I managed to finish everything by 4, just as I planned. Woot! (Yes, I was travelling alone again as Suki is in China visiting relatives... How I wish you were here...)
Anyways, after hearing a lot of Mong Kok shopping stories from my roommates and friends, I decided to head to the famous Ladies' Market (pictured above) that's steps away from the MTR station. After wandering through an insane crowd of people, I decided that I hated the place and seeing that I had nothing to eat all day except for a few digestive crackers and chips, I decided to find a restaurant to eat. I ended up going to a restaurant that wasn't used to seeing tourists considering that the menu was all in Chinese. I saw that they had pretty decent-looking curry fish balls (a Hong Kong street meat staple) so I went in. I could barely discern what was in the menu and in the end, I ordered something with beef and noodles. It was kind of disgusting but I was so hungry, I ate it all anyway.
After dinner, I noticed that I had walked all the way south to the next MTR station and when I went in, I saw this:
Dundas Street and Square!? I tried finding it, but the place was so much like Mong Kok that I decided to give up my search. I had planned to stay out until 9 or 10 but at this point, it was only 6 in the evening. There was so much time and I had absolutely no clue where to go or what to do. I went out that day with barely any plan of what I was going to do. In any case, I noticed that I was 2 stops away from Tsim Sha Tsui (TST), which is a really popular spot in HK, so I decided to hop on the MTR, get there and figure out what I was going to do when I got there. After reading the signs telling you what was at each exit, I discovered that there was a park called Kowloon Park! In the middle of TST aka prime real estate aka one of the most expensive pieces of land ON THE PLANET! So off I went and I'm so glad that I did.
After looking at the map to see how to get there, I noticed that there was a mosque nearby. When I got out of the station, the mosque was right beside it!
There was also an entryway into the park right beside it! I felt as if time stopped for a moment when I saw the mosque. It was so surreal, being in the middle of one of the busiest places in Hong Kong, hearing chanting/prayers from loudspeakers and seeing women in hijabs having a picnic in the park. The mix of cultures almost reminded me of home...
Anyways, I'm so glad that I decided to go into the park. In many ways, it's probably more "artificial" than the parks in Taiwan since there were various gardens and an aviary. However, the park was well designed because despite these gardens, it felt like a park back at home where it feels as if someone sectioned off the wilderness of the city rather than the parks in Taiwan where you can see the human hand behind every tree, flower and shrub. I've always felt that the parks in Taiwan were a bit... garrish (?) too unnatural (?) just plain tacky (?) so I was glad that this park was designed by someone with good taste.
The park was pretty darn awesome. It had fountains, sculptures and... FLAMINGOS!!!!!!!!!! I wanted to squeal out loud when I saw them! There was a huge flock of them!!! There were other birds in the pond as well as an aviary with exotic birds. 'Twas tres cool.
Some parts of the park looked as if nature had taken over the land again. It was fabulous. I absolutely adore this tree although my roommate says it's kind of scary-looking.
The Chinese garden was rather pretty although it took me absolutely forever to find it...
Anyways, after my adventure in the park I wanted a drink since I had finished the one in my purse. Victoria had mentioned the K-11 mall on facebook and I knew it was in TST, so I decided to check it out. It turns out that the K-11 is an art mall. Some of the things in there were so cool, although shopping was limited. I wanted to buy this book at the bookstore but figured that it didn't quite fit my budget at the moment. Maybe I'll exchange some money and get it. It was a book where this guy went around China and got people to pose with a statuette of Mao.
Anyways, K-11... Here are some pictures. Isn't this the coolest information kiosk evarrrrrrr?
It's Candyland!!!
At one of the exits was the biggest toast painting in the world! All that down there is toast!
After that, I went to another mall to look for a supermarket to buy a drink and found one. I went in looking for a drink and I came out with the most GINORMOUS mango ever! (The picture will be on facebook.) All the other mangoes were smaller and the same price. I've named the mango Mr. Mangofest but I fear that naming it will make me too attached to it to eat it. I plan to eat him for breakfast tomorrow. He's perfectly ripe and smell delicious. I figured that I had to buy him considering I was carrying him all over the supermarket and inhaling his lovely scent.
In any case, the moral of today's story: traveling with no plan is the best plan ever.
A tree made of fake Ferrero Rochers in Tsim Sha Tsui.
(I didn't take either of the Hello Kitty pictures, they were taken from the internet.)
