C
Christopher DeWolf
Guest
HK 2.1
WAN CHAI
wan chai is a fascinating neighbourhood wedged between the shopping mecca of causeway bay and the sterile office district of admiralty. like yau ma tei in mongkok, it feels a little bit like an in-between neighbourhood, with no specific draw of its own beyond the colour and nuance of its everyday life. this is where american servicemen came to get drunk and laid in the 1950s; it still has a seedy underbelly, but has moved beyond its red light district incarnation. a section of it has been heralded as the "new soho" -- which is to say, a trendy, tribeca-style dining destination. but it's so much more than that.
alas, despite being hong kong island's most interesting neighbourhood, i only had a couple of hours one evening to explore wan chai. here goes.
in wan chai, the trolleys serve off of the wide, rather dull hennesy road and cling and clang their way along exciting johnston road.
below johnston is a web of street markets.
these guys kept saying "m man! m man!" ("five dollars!") over and over again, and the women would keep tossing coins into the orange container as if in a trance.
there were lots of southeast asian women at this market.
aiyah! bah-see hai bin do!?
PHOTO BY ELAINE TAM
CENTRAL, PART ONE :: BACKSTREETS, SOHO AND LAN KWAI FONG
oh yes, that skyline is central in all its glory. what might surprise you is that most of the iconic buildings you skyscraper fans love so much are either clustered right along the waterfront (such as the IFC or bank of china), in the adjacent district of admiralty or even in the reclaimed waterfront north of wan chai (the convention centre and central square). the heart of central is to be found on the hill above the skyline, in the backstreets, where the wealth of central's office workers and the traditional life of an old hong kong are juxtaposed.
in these backstreet markets, two things remind you that you're still in central: restaurants with names like "blowfish"...
and glassy skyscrapers looming ahead.
we're coming into soho, a district within central that is the hub of HK's art scene.
central, unlike most of hong kong, is riddled with hidden courtyards, small parks and backyards like this...
now we've entered into soho. it's an acronym for "south of hollywood road." sure, call HK unoriginal, but it's not like new york would have ever had a soho without london.
anyway, soho is dominated by expats (read: white people). there are vegetarian cafes and coffee houses that would fit blend right into san francisco, chic bars that wouldn't be out of place in toronto and so forth. the language of operation here is definitely english, for chinese and non-chinese alike.
that said, don't take my comments the wrong way: this is a very nice neighbourhood.
even the cat hospitals (see right) are trendy here.
you'll see more soho later. now we move on to lan kwai fong, a six or seven minute walk away. this is hong kong's capital-n Nightlife district, with bars, restaurants, etc. one of the guys behind all of is allan zeman, born and raised in montreal (he's known locally as "mr. lan kwai fong.") i think that's montreal's only claim to fame in HK.
the beer situation in hong kong is somewhat unfortunate. selection here consists almost entirely of bland, generic lagers. heineken and carlsberg are both extremely popular and they're both extremely uh, not so good. they're drinkable, at least, unlike north american industrial beer (i can't even finish half a bottle of molson ex, it tastes so awful), but they still aren't spectacular. even longhair backs me up.
the one great thing about beer in HK is that it is spectacularly cheap, can be purchased around the clock at any convenience store and public drinking is not just legal, it's facilitated by 7-Eleven employees who open your beer for you.
okay, let's pretend it's the morning after... time to head back to kowloon, via the star ferry.
PREVIOUS HONG KONG THREADS
2.0 :: Causeway Bay and the trolley
WAN CHAI
wan chai is a fascinating neighbourhood wedged between the shopping mecca of causeway bay and the sterile office district of admiralty. like yau ma tei in mongkok, it feels a little bit like an in-between neighbourhood, with no specific draw of its own beyond the colour and nuance of its everyday life. this is where american servicemen came to get drunk and laid in the 1950s; it still has a seedy underbelly, but has moved beyond its red light district incarnation. a section of it has been heralded as the "new soho" -- which is to say, a trendy, tribeca-style dining destination. but it's so much more than that.
alas, despite being hong kong island's most interesting neighbourhood, i only had a couple of hours one evening to explore wan chai. here goes.
in wan chai, the trolleys serve off of the wide, rather dull hennesy road and cling and clang their way along exciting johnston road.
below johnston is a web of street markets.
these guys kept saying "m man! m man!" ("five dollars!") over and over again, and the women would keep tossing coins into the orange container as if in a trance.
there were lots of southeast asian women at this market.
aiyah! bah-see hai bin do!?
PHOTO BY ELAINE TAM
CENTRAL, PART ONE :: BACKSTREETS, SOHO AND LAN KWAI FONG
oh yes, that skyline is central in all its glory. what might surprise you is that most of the iconic buildings you skyscraper fans love so much are either clustered right along the waterfront (such as the IFC or bank of china), in the adjacent district of admiralty or even in the reclaimed waterfront north of wan chai (the convention centre and central square). the heart of central is to be found on the hill above the skyline, in the backstreets, where the wealth of central's office workers and the traditional life of an old hong kong are juxtaposed.
in these backstreet markets, two things remind you that you're still in central: restaurants with names like "blowfish"...
and glassy skyscrapers looming ahead.
we're coming into soho, a district within central that is the hub of HK's art scene.
central, unlike most of hong kong, is riddled with hidden courtyards, small parks and backyards like this...
now we've entered into soho. it's an acronym for "south of hollywood road." sure, call HK unoriginal, but it's not like new york would have ever had a soho without london.
anyway, soho is dominated by expats (read: white people). there are vegetarian cafes and coffee houses that would fit blend right into san francisco, chic bars that wouldn't be out of place in toronto and so forth. the language of operation here is definitely english, for chinese and non-chinese alike.
that said, don't take my comments the wrong way: this is a very nice neighbourhood.
even the cat hospitals (see right) are trendy here.
you'll see more soho later. now we move on to lan kwai fong, a six or seven minute walk away. this is hong kong's capital-n Nightlife district, with bars, restaurants, etc. one of the guys behind all of is allan zeman, born and raised in montreal (he's known locally as "mr. lan kwai fong.") i think that's montreal's only claim to fame in HK.
the beer situation in hong kong is somewhat unfortunate. selection here consists almost entirely of bland, generic lagers. heineken and carlsberg are both extremely popular and they're both extremely uh, not so good. they're drinkable, at least, unlike north american industrial beer (i can't even finish half a bottle of molson ex, it tastes so awful), but they still aren't spectacular. even longhair backs me up.
the one great thing about beer in HK is that it is spectacularly cheap, can be purchased around the clock at any convenience store and public drinking is not just legal, it's facilitated by 7-Eleven employees who open your beer for you.
okay, let's pretend it's the morning after... time to head back to kowloon, via the star ferry.
PREVIOUS HONG KONG THREADS
2.0 :: Causeway Bay and the trolley
