I was in Hong Kong over the holidays for a wedding. Thankfully, my sister and I managed to find some time to do somewhat touristy things. With all the large meals we were subjected to, it was actually very nice and refreshing to actually get out and walk for long distances about town. This is what we did in the small streets of Central in Hong Kong. Our uncle played neighbourhood guide for us for this walk.
Central is probably best known for being Hong Kong’s central business district. However, just tucked away from the large business towers and the ex-pat watering holes of Lan Kwai Fong are many little streets and shops in the neighbourhood. Stone steps line many lanes that start the steep ascent towards the peak of Hong Kong.
Gough Street is literally buried among the tall highrises of Central. It’s a wonderful tangle of streets to lose oneself within. One of my fave “hole-in-the-wall” restaurants is on this street. Note the red sign with white Chinese characters at the bottom of photo above. I went there last time with my wife. However, the restaurant was closed this Sunday afternoon as we passed by. Business must be really good if the restaurant can afford to close for a day.
Here’s another place I’ve visited once before with my wife. This store’s decor is very funky. It looks like they took the leftover piping of some behemoth’s intestine and wrapped it around the top of the store. It reminds me of a number of fictitious anime worlds.
I don’t remember if this staircase has a name, but it’s just off of Gough Street and runs up to Hollywood Road above. My uncle says that these stairs have been used for many a movie and TV show. No filming today.
In the category of moving vehicles, I couldn’t help but take these two photos. The first is the license plate. It’s pretty plain except that I rarely see embossed plates with 3D letters popping out. Most HK plates are flat lettering. This particular plate looks like it was purposely made by Honda for a Honda. It was a Honda Jazz (known as a Honda Fit here and in Japan), if I remember correctly.
The second photo is a lowly Hong Kong garbage truck. Now two things here. It’s a very clean looking and new garbage truck. The garbage truck was crawling at a snail’s pace down Gough street because it can barely fit two cars side-by-side. Driving that garbage truck up this road was amusing to watch. My uncle found it more amusing that I had taken a photo of a garbage truck. He asked wryly, “Nothing else better to photograph?”
My sister decided to duck into a small shop to look at some trinkets. I was left to my own devices and ended up finding this lovely piece of bamboo scaffolding right above me. I wonder what they are working on above. A big reno? In any case, I probably shouldn’t have stood under it for too long. You never know what can fall from the sky.
And as my sister was still exploring the little shop, I found this lovely little marker on the ground. Apparently, Gough Street is part of the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Historical Trail. Who knew? We didn’t have time to walk this particular trail, but I think it must be a very little known trail for tourists to follow. This was the first time I had ever heard of the trail. However, it looks like an interesting walk that takes to important places in Hong Kong related to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen and the Chinese Revolution of 1911.
By this time, we were looking to rest our feet a little. My uncle lives not too far from the area. So we snaked through some more streets and stairs. We went up to his place, said hi to auntie, had some tea, and grabbed some increasingly important Wi-Fi time before our next walk.
metro babel 