Exhaustion of Crowds

Day 4 in Hong Kong


This day in HK was a relatively picture-light day. We didn't do any major sightseeing, but some really exhausting shopping. The plan was to meet up with some of my relatives for the afternoon and then figure out what to do for the evening on our own.

We met up with my relative (a cousin, maybe? I'm not quite sure of how the connection works out) at the hotel and he took us to some shops around Tsim Sha Tsui. We went to the mall and a bunch of other places. (I should say "a" mall, not "the" mall.) We weren't finding that much stuff and the stuff we were finding was actually pretty expensive (I thought clothes in HK were supposed to be cheap, but a lot of the brands we have here were similarly priced). So we figured we should do some more shopping in other areas, and perhaps have better luck.

Before heading up for some other shopping, we stopped for dim sum at this place called Sweet Dynasty. I didn't take any pictures of the food, but it was the most overloaded I'd felt with food the whole trip. We had radish cakes, some fried dough stick thing, a scallop and egg dim sum thing, and spring rolls that were some of the best I've ever tasted. Then my cousin (I'll just say cousin, it's easier than relative) also ordered a bowl of noodle soup for each person. SO much food!

Next we went to Mong Kok, which is about 3 stops from TST on the MTR, but we took a taxi. I was amused by the signs in the taxi which made not wearing seatbelts an offense and which charged $5 for each animal or bird. Taxi fares there are cheap. For the distance we went, it would be at least US$10. But there, I don't think it was more than 5. Nice.

Mong Kok was crowded from the minute we exited the taxi. People everywhere. You could barely walk through some of the streets. And it was a weekday afternoon! Do people work? (It's like walking around the streets at 11 pm with everyone out and shopping... do people sleep?) The way Mong Kok is set up, there seem to be whole sections devoted to specific types of shopping. For example, there's one street where it's all shoe stores. And half of them are selling the exact same thing! The whole environment was a little crazy, and I was starting to get my crowd pseudo-claustrophobia thing and it was so exhausting trying to make it through all those throngs of people.

Eventually, we met up with my cousin's (Francis) wife, Tina. We split up and she and I went shopping, while Francis and Alvin went shopping for a little while. None of us bought anything, but I saw store after store after store after store. It was so crazy there. I've been exhausted by shopping before, but this was just insane!

We went to Saint's Alp for a snack and I got a lychee nectar with nata de coco. Yay. :) I've been to one in NYC, but I don't think the menu choices were nearly as extensive as this one. It was a nice break from the crowds.

Went back to TST, and then we left them so they could go to a family dinner. (I think it was some holiday - Ghost Festival?) Went shopping in the mall for a little bit, but was just so exhausted from all the shopping we had just done that I think my brain had hit its limit. (Yes, such a thing is quite possible.) I didn't want to see another store! I was more interested in the pictures of the skyline.

Back at the hotel, we decided to help out our aches & pains in the whirlpool. The hotel's pools were on the rooftop and it was a gorgeous view of the city from there. We got there just in time to catch the entire light show, complete with fireworks because it was the weekend. That was fun.

What a tiring day!