THE LEISURELY
Hiker’s Guide to Hong Kong
PETE SPURRIER
33
unhurried walks through Hong Kong’s best scenery
400 The Leisurely Hiker’s Guide
Bird, Flower and Fish Markets 雀仔街•花墟•金魚街 URBAN AMBLES 2 hours – if you’re early
Think of North Kowloon and you think of dilapidated tenements, vice dens and the roaring corridor of Nathan Road. But as the urban sprawl passes Boundary Street, it thins out as if to anticipate the garden suburbs of Kowloon Tong. This walk takes you through some quieter parts of the area and includes two well-known attractions. Bird Market opening hours: 7:00 am – 8:00 pm.
Bird, Flower and Fish Markets Urban Ambles 401
石硤尾站 Sh
ek
Flower
St.
Mong Kok Police Station
Ki
p
M
ei
St
.
Sai Yee
St.
oi St. 通
Tung Ch
菜街
Goldfish Market & Ladies’ Street ION
AT ARD ST CE EDW
PRIN
MONG KOK EAST STATION
旺角東站
H
FINIS
Nathan
Rd.
. Kok Rd
SHEK KIP MEI STATION
Fa Yuen
Grand Century Place
. Bute St
Police Sports and Recreation Club
Flo we rM ar ke tP at h
Boundary St.
Tai Hang Tung Recreation Ground
START
Tai H an g
Rd. ng Tu
t Rd. Marke
Bird Garden Flower Market
Mong
he eA ve
Photo caption photo Mong Kok caption photo caption Stadium Tong Yam St.
Edward Prince West Rd.
Tat C
d.
R Po Tai
HOW TO GET THERE MTR Kwun Tong Line to Shek Kip Mei Station, Exit B1. Walk down to Tong Yam Street.
Take the MTR to Shek Kip Mei station on the green line. Leave by Exit B1 and walk down the hill. This area is typical of a Kowloon public housing estate: dozens of towers providing homes for the working people of the district. At the first junction, turn right and follow Tong Yam Street down to where it meets the park. This is the Tai Hang Tung Recreation Ground, a wide open area which, exceptionally for our fair city, actually has grass to play on. Families play ball games and groups of teenagers practise their frisbee moves. As you enter the park, turn right and then follow the track which runs the length of the ground. On your right are the fields of the Police Sports Club. 402 The Leisurely Hiker’s Guide
An Apple Daily a day
Kowloon United
Volleyball practice
Bird, Flower and Fish Markets Urban Ambles 403
Cherished voice: a captive songbird 404 The Leisurely Hiker’s Guide
Turn left as you emerge onto Boundary Street, so named because this was the limit of British land until the New Territories was acquired in 1898. In fact, if negotiations for the handover of Hong Kong had failed in the early 1980s, then this street would again have become the border in 1997. At the traffic light cross over to the other side. You need to walk to the far end of the Mong Kok Stadium, venue of local league football matches, and then turn immediately right. This brings you into the Bird Garden – you can’t miss its traditional-style gateway. Besides, it’s well signposted by recently installed Tourist Authority directional boards. Relocated from an older part of Mong Kok a few years ago, the Bird Garden is a place for old gents to show off their feathered friends – mynahs, parrots, songbirds and cockatoos among them. Honking traffic noise is swapped for exotic warbling. Stalls sell all kinds of birdkeeping paraphernalia too: crickets and grubs, dainty water bowls and ornate, handmade cages. As you exit from the far end of the garden, you join the Flower Market, which runs off to the right. This small street is lined from end to end with wholesalers of flowers, shrubs and potted houseplants. It’s at its busiest in the very early morning – blooming early, one might say – when trucks load up with blossoms to deliver to florists all over Hong Kong. At the end of Flower Market Road, you have a choice: to return to the MTR, you can turn left and then right, crossing Tung Choi Street, passing the old Mong Kok Police Station on the right which dates from the 1920s. It’s hard to believe that this building must once have overlooked paddy fields. Or, if your legs are still strong, you can turn left to cross Prince Edward Road and then make your way down Tung Choi Street. The colourful Goldfish Market located here on both sides of the road precedes the shopping opportunities of ‘Ladies’ Street’ further on. Bird, Flower and Fish Markets Urban Ambles 405
Buds and blossom 406 The Leisurely Hiker’s Guide
Bird, Flower and Fish Markets Urban Ambles 407
A colourful catch at the Goldfish Market
408 The Leisurely Hiker’s Guide
Bird, Flower and Fish Markets Urban Ambles 409
By any measure, Hong Kong is an impressive city. But there is a world beyond the impatient traffic and chic shopping malls: an older place of soot-blackened temples, traditional street markets and colonial-era museums. Travel twenty minutes out of the metropolis, and you’ll find stone-laid trails, sheltered beaches and waterfront restaurants galore. Bring your camera, but leave the camping gear at home. The 33 guided walks in this book are quickly reached from public transport, and with few exceptions, can be completed in an afternoon – leaving ample time for a leisurely hike to be followed by leisurely dinner. Let this guide show you how close these attractions are to your front door. An unhurried journey of discovery starts here.
ISBN 978-988-98270-2-1
9 789889 827021