Whampoa and the Avenue of Stars

After a great morning at Lantau Island, we took the MTR to Hong Kong Station, then a mini bus (bit scary) to Whampoa, where my boyfriend used to live. We took this opportunity to buy phone cards just in case we lost each other. They are around 50 HKD each and have 50 HKD credit on them so they’re definitely worth buying if you visit in case of emergencies. We checked out some of the shops and had lunch; my lunch was from McDonald’s (I haven’t had a McDonald’s since Hong Kong and I don’t think I want to have another, really made me hate them) and my boyfriend had some meat and rice from Maxim’s, a Chinese fast food place. The only plus side of McDonald’s was the cute toys you get with the Happy Meals! We then went to Hong Kong Toys R Us and Wonderland, where I bought some things including a Totoro toy and a really cute rabbit money box for just 9 HKD (Around 75p)

Whampoa

We then went to see where my boyfriend used to live. It was a flat close to all the shops and really cramped in with other flats. A lot of Hong Kong is very cramped but I never realised the extent. The windows of one set of flats were just metres from the window of the flats next door – if I lived there, i’d never want to open the curtains or the people across would be able to see in! It made me realise just how small and populated Hong Kong really is. He pointed out his exact flat, which was very high up. I’m not sure there are many flats in the UK that would go up that high.

The block of flats where my boyfriend used to live

Once we were finished in Whampoa, we took the ferry to North Point. I didn’t have my travel sickness pills with me so I felt a bit unwell, but luckily it was just a short journey and I managed to take some nice photos of the HK skyline. We dumped our things at the hotel before taking the MTR to Causeway Bay.

The view from the ferry

Causeway bay was very busy. For some reason it was filled with big Lego statues. The reason we had headed to Causeway Bay was because my boyfriend knew there was a shop here called “I love rabbits”…and I really do love rabbits! Sadly we couldn’t find it and think it may have closed down or moved, so we headed back onto the MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui (which I learnt how to pronounce correctly…but have now forgot)

Tsim Sha Tsui is the home of the Avenue of Stars, an Asian version of the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located on the Victoria Harbour waterfront. We knew that at 8pm, they would have a Symphony of Lights show that we really wanted to see. The buildings on the other side of the water lit up or had lasers coming out from the roof, all in time with the music. Sadly, I think all the Christmas lights didn’t help the show, it made it a bit hard to see in places, but it was still fun to watch.

Watching the Symphony of Lights show

We then walked up the Avenue of Stars and found Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan’s stars, the only two people I had heard of! Sadly I hadn’t realised just how awesome Jackie Chan was at this point (I have realised it now!). I definitely need to watch more Hong Kong films so that I will recognise more of the names next time I visit.

Bruce Lee’s Star at the Avenue of Stars

We finished the day with a trip to Harbour City shopping centre, browsing the shops and eating a pretty amazing brownie and cream crepe. We also found more gashapons! We then headed back to the hotel as we were pretty tired…and I was starting to feel a bit unwell…

More posts on my adventures in Hong Kong here:

Day One: My first trip to Hong Kong

Day Two: Lantau Island

Day Two: Whampoa and the Avenue of Stars

Day Three: Hong Kong Disneyland