Went down to the National Library at Bras Basah today to look for some travel books on Hong Kong, and managed to find a good one by Jason Wordie entitled 'Streets Exploring Kowloon'.
The book, published in 2007, highlights eight 'happening' places in Hong Kong, which are as follows:
1. Tsim Sha Tsui
2. Yau Ma Tei
3. Mong Kok
4. New Kowloon
5. Tsuen Wan and Beyond
6. Kowloon Tong
7. Kowloon City
8. East Kowloon
As we would most possibly stay at Prudential Hotel at Tsim Sha Tsui, decided to read up on that district first. The following is an extract from the relevant chapter.
'Less than half a century ago, Nathan Road, the main north-south thoroughfare through Tsim Sha Tsui, was a pleasant, tree-lined boulevard with relatively light traffic. From its southern end, near the harbour front and the Kowloon-Canton Railway lines, Nathan Road passed through a low-rise, almost suburban townscape and then gradually gave way to barracks, playing fields and open space to the northeast, and the densely packed tenement areas at Yau Ma Tei, Mong Kok and beyond towards Sham Shui Po.
Tsim Sha Tsui means 'sharp, sandy point'. The indented coastline around southern Kowloon bore that shape when the peninsular was ceded to Great Britain in 1860. Modern Tsim Sha Tsui can appear rather overwhelming at first. While this part of Kowloon is certainly very vital, interesting and unexpected in places, for many people the overall Tsim Sha Tsui experience is often less than a pleasant one. Impossibly crowded streets are choked with traffic and pedestrians and often blocked by construction work. Touts accost passers-by every twenty metres or so. Air-conditioner ducts and broken pipes drip on one's head and ambient noise levels - even by Hong Kong standards - can be excruciating, especially when compounded by the heat, humidity and almost constant rain in the summer months.
Largely because of these issues, quite a few local residents avoid a visit to Tsim Sha Tsui unless they have a specific reason to go there. By way of contrast, overseas tourists' impressions of Hong Kong are largely informed by the streets of Tsim Sha Tsui.'
Certainly looking forward to the Hong Kong trip at the end of the year, and will read up more about the other seven districts in time to come.
