Hong Kong’s colourful strees during Lunar New Year

It’s been five years since I last visited Hong Kong, and I wanted to see the places I often used to visit, so I decided to walk from Central and Admiralty to Wan Chai, crossing Victoria Harbour on the Star Ferry, and then to Tsim Sha Tsui.

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Contents

Take a break at a stylish Chinese teahouse
Walking around Wan Chai
Try herbal tea
Crossing Victoria Harbour on the Star Ferry
Arriving at Tsim Sha Tsui
Buy Chinese tea at the Peninsula Hong Kong
Parallels with London

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Take a break at a stylish Chinese teahouse

First, I walked through the underground passageway with Julian Opie’s artworks painted all over the walls at Pacific Place, adjacent to the Conrad Hong Kong, glancing sideways at the luxury brand stores, and came out at Three Pacific Place. I found a modern and stylish teahouse called Basao on Moon Street and took a quick break.

Walking around Wan Chai

From here, I headed towards Wan Chai along Queen’s Road East. After passing Hung Shing Temple, a temple dedicated to the god of the southern sea, and several furniture and interior decoration shops, I came across a street with particularly eye-catching Chinese New Year decorations. This is Lee Tung Street, which has been completely transformed since a redevelopment was completed in 2018.

When I came here before the pandemic, there was a cafe from Tokyo called Omotesando Koffee, but it seems to have already withdrawn from Hong Kong. Correction. A reader told me that they have moved to the Kowloon side. Incidentally, Omotesando Koffee has a branch in London and is still popular.

Try herbal tea

Instead of coffee, I went out along Johnston Road in Wan Chai and discovered a herbal tea shop called “Ye Xiang Lu”. I tried the Luo Han tea, which was a sweet tea with an easy-to-drink herbal medicine flavour.

Crossing Victoria Harbour on the Star Ferry

From here, I headed towards the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, passing through the new Exhibition Centre station on the East Rail Line, which was extended in 2022, and walked to Wan Chai Pier (ferry terminal).

If you go to the Kowloon side, you can take the subway, but I decided to take the Star Ferry to enjoy the view from Victoria Harbour.

The white and deep green hull of the ferry, which I haven’t seen in a while, is the same as it was five years ago, but I noticed for the first time that, as the name “Tian Xing” suggests, star patterns are used throughout the ferry. The wooden window frames and seats have a similar feel to the old trams I rode in Lisbon (past post) and Milan (past post), and the fact that you can feel a sense of the past, despite how quickly Hong Kong is changing, must be the reason for the Star Ferry’s popularity.

Arriving at Tsim Sha Tsui

Soon the boat arrived at Tsim Sha Tsui Pier. We were almost at our destination. Right in front of the pier (ferry terminal), we discovered a mobile ice cream shop with a funny name, Mister Softee. Next to it, I was surprised to see that there were map signs in Hong Kong that are exactly the same as those in London. The road signs and white lines are also the same as in England (and I also saw in Cyprus. Click here for more details of the Cyprus trip).

Buy Chinese tea at the Peninsula Hong Kong

In Tsim Sha Tsui, I wanted to visit the boutique inside the Peninsula Hong Kong. I had been introduced to my favourite tea, Osmanthus Oolong, by a friend who lives in Beijing whom I visited in 2007, so I bought it without hesitation. Keika is the name for the golden osmanthus, and it is a tea with a very nice fragrance, but it is difficult to get unless you go to an authentic Chinese tea shop.

Parallels with London

If Central is to Hong Kong what the City is to London, Admiralty is similar to Knightsbridge, where high-end brand shops and hotels are lined up. The area from here to Wan Chai is a mix of chic restaurants, fashionable select shops, and old and miscellaneous streets, like a mix of Marylebone, Covent Garden and Soho. Tsim Sha Tsui is close to the water, so it reminds me of London Bridge.

There are blocks with different atmospheres close to each other, and you can clearly feel the differences as you walk between them, something which I think is unique to Hong Kong.

This time I walked a fairly conventional route, but it seems that there are many attractive streets and blocks in Hong Kong that I have not yet seen.

Useful information

This time, I didn’t use any other vehicles other than the Star Ferry, but when it comes to Hong Kong, you should not forget about the double-decker trams. It may not save you time, but please go up to the second floor and sit by the window. You’ll get a better view of Hong Kong’s cityscape than the sidewalks that are always crowded with people.

Trip to Hong Kong and Australia