Shopping in Mong Kok

Although most exchange students would rate Lan Kwai Fong,  Causeway Bay or Wan Chai as the best areas (read: party areas) in Hong Kong, I'm completely sold on the charms of crowded, smoggy, lively Mong Kok.

Case in point - Aussie Kitchens. On Australia Day. Just made me smile.

There is even an ANZ branch!

Courtesy of Google, below is a Mong Kok area map. Note that there are two separate train stations - Mong Kok and Mong Kok East. A walk between the two will only take about 10-15 minutes, but that's not taking into account the busy-ness of the streets. Mong Kok Exit C4 is actually inside Langham Place (shopping centre) - helpful if it is raining and you don't want to get wet.

View Larger Map

The first night I arrived in Hong Kong I came to Mong Kok for dinner with John and his friends, and after just a few visits now I feel like I really know the place. Today I went shopping with my friend Heilie, an Aussie-raised Hong Konger who I first met when I started studying Japanese at Adelaide Uni's PCE. She's finishing her PhD in pharmacology, and spending the next month with her family in Hong Kong. 

Having a snack at Hui Lau Shan, Argyle St.

A few notes first.

1. A large number of shops, actually I'd say the majority of shops, don't open until 2pm on Saturdays.

If you want to act like a tourist and only shop in the shops that can afford the prime real estate that is THE GROUND FLOOR, (Chow Sang Sang for jewellery, Broadway for phones etc) then by all means, turn up in the morning. But note that even H&M in Langham Place doesn't open until 11am on Saturdays. Most of the shops in places like Sino Centre and Argyle Centre don't open until 2pm, so don't worry about waking up early to go shopping and avoiding crowds. It just isn't going to happen in Hong Kong.

2. Do not wear open-toe sandals or thongs. Your feet WILL get run over by heavy suitcases. Confused? Let me explain. Imagine every 3rd person is wheeling a suitcase or large bag etc around with them - in the shops too. THIS happens in HK because lots of Mainland Chinese come to HK on the train to shop for the day, and as they shop, they just fill up their suitcase. I went to Sasa to buy some eye make-up remover (Sasa is kind of like National Pharmacies, but sells 90% make-up) and I saw no less than 4 people with large-size wheelie suitcases totally blocking the aisles wherever they walked. Heilie said that the Chinese like to come to Sasa because they know the cosmetics sold there are not fake versions of the brands.

Where else did we go?

Sino Centre (aka: Otaku heaven) where you can buy Japanese manga in Chinese (traditional characters). Apparently there are two publishers, one based in Hong Kong and one based in Taiwan, and Heilie's verdict is that the Taiwanese produce better translations. One day I'm sure I'll be able to form my own opinion too.... one day! In Sino Centre you'll find lots of CD shops, figurine shops, trading-card shops, hair accessory shops, phone accessory shops etc. Essentially its pop-culture central. I bought this nifty Shinee-themed MP3 player for $150. 

It holds 2GB of songs and is light as a feather. Because my iPod died a while ago I've been playing my songs on my phone, but it does make the battery drain quicker. Now, problem solvered! The place had a zillion designs to choose from - 2PM, Super Junior, DBSK, JYJ, SNSD, AKB48, Lee Min Ho, Nickhun (but no Woo Young, sadly) etc, plus a lot of Japanese pin-up girls in suggestive poses. 

Snack #2 was a happy-looking red-bean bun from Bread Talk.

We also went to Muji in Langham Place for stationary (the shop has Japanese stationary, bedlinen, furniture, clothes, organic snack food and cosmetics, but it is all so seamlessly laid out that it feels totally normal).

And to H&M. I really really hate clothes shopping, but at H&M it seems bearable, and I really like the style (plus everything is comparatively cheap). But note that the lines for the changeroom can be up to 20 people long, so either get there as soon as it opens, or buy lots of things and try them on at home. 

First Impressions

Hello Hong Kong! I like you already.

We were told via the IASP e-newsletter a few weeks ago that we should travel from HK Airport to CUHK by taxi (it would be quite inconvenient to other passengers to travel on the MTX if we had lots of luggage, which is understandable), and that it would be about $300HKD. My taxi driver spoke almost no English, but had a cute figurine in his car.

The green taxis on the right as you exit HK Airport go to the New Territories. Happy point #1: The fare to my actual hostel - like to the door - was less than $220!
Drawback... I arrived right at the start of the lunch hour break for the Morningside College Office >_< (They are closed between 1 and 2pm) so I just had lunch at the cafe in the Tower Block. Pasta, and a not-too-big-not-too-small can of Coke Zero.

Morningside College consists of two buildings: the Student Hostel/Tower Block/High Block (same building, different names), and the Maurice R. Greenberg building (they are only about 10m apart). Downstairs in the Tower Block there is the cafe, which has a lunch special every day (Wednesday is Mediterranean Pasta, which turned out to be carbonara, so I picked out all the bacon) and the lady working in the cafe is really nice. (She actually had  noticed I had picked out the bacon and said I should tell her next time and she would prepare something else. How nice!). The Maurice Building has the Office, Laundry, Dining Hall, and residential apartments.

Actually, that's one thing about HK - people are really nice and helpful (just a little pushy getting on and off the MTR, but that's a mirror of the manners on public transport in lost busy cities in north Asia I think!).

So, we were told to check in to our Hostel first, which I did - at 2pm when they opened again - and I received a key and some info about College rules.

This is my room!

The window is opposite the door, and my bed and desk are on the left when you enter the room.

As you can see, there is one wardrobe for two girls. Hmmmm. 

But the room is really new and clean and we have a beautiful view of the lake (river?), so when study gets too much, I can just look over the University grounds and the water. (The front haze in the photo is the flyscreen)

We had also been told in the e-newsletter that AFTER checking in to the hostel, to go to the I-Centre in Yasumoto International Academic Park. There is a free CUHK app for Android and iPhone which has a really useful map, so I used that to find my way from one place to the other. You have to be pretty on-the-ball to keep up with where to check-in and where to be, because there is no-one to hold your hand, but the whole registration process wasn't difficult - just follow what they tell you in the email. At the I-Centre I registered for my student Octopus card (transport card) and filled in some other paperwork, and bought a bedding set for $200. I then lugged it back to my dorm (uphill), where I met my roommate. She's lovely! Her name is Chloe, she is from Vancouver and she is studying Finance... and she only needs to do three subjects! (I'm very jealous).

Although we had been told in several previous emails that we would have a "local roommate who had expressed interest in sharing with an international student", this is not true as a rule. Some people have local roommates, and some don't. Chloe's family is from China (near Shanghai) so she speaks fluent Mandarin and some Cantonese. Very convenient!

Last night I went out to dinner in Mong Kok with John and two of his friends from highschool (who are staying here in HK with family until the end of January; they study at Flinders University) and two of their friends. Hong Kong by night is amazing. Much older than Seoul, and lots more neon lights. We went down Nathan Road and Soy Street, and we had sushi at Hokkaido Katsu Sushi for dinner (order as much sushi as you like then pay by plate-number/plate-colour at the end) and a kind of iced-gelati for dessert. 

Afterwards John and I caught the train back to the University just before midnight. The train only takes about 20 minutes from the Uni to Mongkok! Excellent!

So, it was a brilliant first day! May there be many more like it ^_^