HKG day 2.3 - flower crazy

I alighted at the Prince Edward station and began a half-hearted search for the Flower Market. Walked to where the map said the market was located and 15 mins later the map laughed at my face, ‘HAHA GOTCHA!’

Fountain near the Prince Edward MTR station in Kowloon

At this point I was a bit tired from the earlier walking and trying to figure out where everything was. So I bought the most expensive ionised water I would ever buy in my life (HKG$10 for 500ml) and sat down at a fountain to catch my breath, basically just people-watching. There were a lot of tourists from mainland China, you could tell from their accents. I saw a man holding a bird cage with a pretty little singing thing inside; not surprising since the Bird Market was (supposedly) just around the corner. Hotel Concourse was around the fountain area, one of the hotels I had thought of staying when my chosen hotels were all fully booked.

I called G, poor thing was slaving away in his office on Hong Kong Island on a Sunday. So we made plans to meet for lunch. I told him I’d meet him at a certain exit from the Prince Edward station. While waiting for G, I walked around a bit more, saw more shops with more winter clothing and encountered some Chinese nationals who had hoped that I could guide them to certain places. No such luck, “Ngo mm hai Hong Kong yan” was what I told them, but would you like to look at my huge map instead? No it’s ok, said s/he, I’ll ask some more people.

Half an hour later I saw G, was so excited that I ran-jumped towards him, did a little skip to give him a massive hug. Bet he was momentarily stunned. I related to him the cruel trick my map played on me. He told me that just minutes ago he saw this obviously tourist lady asking a local guy for directions to the Flower Market and the guy did not know what she was on about. So G approached the lady and gave her proper directions. Based on any Mongkok/ Kowloon map the Flower Market was located on the right side of Nathan Road. But once you exit the Prince Edward station you would have to turn left instead of crossing the road to go to the right side. I mean it is all very odd; Hong Kong people drive on the left side of the road, the map says the market is on the right side, but it turned out to be the left. Some sort of unimportant mystery that needs enlightening? Fuck me if I know but good luck to you.

Flower Market, Kowloon

We reached the Flower Market. I had initially thought that it would be something like Malaysia’s night markets, where everything is sprawled on the streets. Instead they were tiny little shops, though some of them had buckets of flowers on the road outside their premises. Basically you get all sorts of flowers imaginable and some rather odd specimens. Definitely very lovely, to say the least.

I have no idea what these flowers are