Hong Kong hotels for mongers
I'm rising to the challenge of Mod and fellow bro Twice A Week and starting a thread on HK hotels for mongers.
Note the title. Hong Kong has many hotels and guesthouses. This guide is aimed at those who would like to stay in the Yau Ma Tei/Mong Kong area. This is Kowloonside: as locals refer to the Kowloon peninsula, across Victoria Harbour from Hong Kong Island. Note that I like Hong Kongside, like most expats. My workplaces have always been on HK Island, and the rush-hour commute across the harbor isn't fun. But YMT/MKK (just north of the overtouristed district of Tsim Sha Tsui (locals say TST) has a denser population of girlfun action. There's a useful map of here that's scalable: http://www.isaw-db.com/map_hkg.html
YMT/MKK is congested, noisy, full of great little shop, eateries and fuckeries. Let me backtrack: when I first started staying in Hong Kong, I preferred the tiny/cheap rooms in Mirador Mansions. In 1993, the HK govt enacted an ordinance mandating licensed guesthouses (most of the illegal guesthouses at that time catered to locals or mainlanders and were grotty/dangerous). To prove they were serious, squadrons of Royal Hong Kong Police would conduct pre-dawn raids on places like Mirador and its myriad guesthouse. I will never forget being awake by a squad busting into the First Class Guesthouse in August '93, pounding on every door violently while screaming "PASSPORT! PASSPORT!" If you weren't in possession of a valid visa, tourist or otherwise, they arrested you on the spot. They checked mine and I went back to sleep.
That was then, this is now. If you really demand cheap sleeps there are still places in Mirador and other "mansions" in TST. You'll get a tiny room, if there's a window there won't be a view, and like a combo bathroom/shower. It's much like a 141 room. I haven't seen one in many years, but I'm sure they're still around. Do NOT stay in Chungking Mansions. Can it be that C-Mansions is, or at least was, the center of Southeast Asian underworld operations in Hong Kong? Did you notice I phrased that like a question?
Although the "copy watch/make a suit" touts have been around forever, TST used to have streets you could walk--now it's all underpasses that feature awful designer shops and lead to the KCR/MTR stations. Good for going elsewhere, I guess. TST still has some soul in the tangled streets east of Nathan Road, but I seldom go there anymore.
Further north, things get interesting north of Jordan Road. This is the beginning of YMT/MKK, and although the congestion/noise would make it a difficult place to live, its vibrancy make it a must-visit. This is where I take ALL visitors to Hong Kong--I tell them they can find the Peak and whatever else on their own. And for the monger, this is the place you will want to stay, IMO. It's Hong Kong at its brashest best--the neon-flamed heart of this crazy piece of rock infested with humanity. Never will you be treated more kindly by gangsters, and more rudely by waiters.
Don't let ANY of that stop you: visit any eatery that seems interesting, they will almost certainly have an English-language menu. Some of HK's best Vietnamese restaurants are here: sometimes you can find ones that serve "white curry sauce" which is a savory coconut-based gravy traditionally served on boneless fried fish fillets atop rice, dynamite! Plus all the usual VN fare. Hong Kong food is usually clean and you're unlikely to pick up any gastro nightmares (oh and don't EAT in Chungking Mansions either!) even at small, local restaurants. If you're jet-lagged and it's all a bit much, Yoshinoya is a Japanese chain that serves beef-bowl-rice and other items--the HK outlets serve more variety than the ones in Japan.
And Yoshinoya on Jordan Road is right across the street from K-Pressure, a gwailo-friendly place. A brief peruse of the DB will find many interesting buildings all the way west to Sham Shui Po. Some may have phone numbers but it's often best just to walk up and see what you find. Shanghai Street north of Waterloo (near the new and gigantic Langham Place mall) has some interesting walkups where they'll lead you to an empty room, ask what you want and call the girl for you (you're under no obligation to settle for the first one, ask for a "change" if she doesn't suit you, but while more than one "change" is accommodated, I'd advise you pick one from the third "lineup"). The Shanghai Street walkups aren't as vibrant as they were before they built that dreadful mall, but you can have a great time, and they usually have mirrors on walls/ceiling too!
Oh yeah, the hotels. Well I've described the area--although there are many places to stay in HK (you can even sleep in a sauna if you like), this area has a fair amount of cheap and cheerful hotels. Here's how I used to book: I would visit http://www.asiatravel.com/hongkong.html and check the Yaumatei, Jordan section (they now have an interactive map). Most of these hotels are three-star, fine for me. I'm not that comfortable in cookie-cutter biz hotels or five-star big-deal places--I prefer local ambience. These are clean older hotels and reasonably priced. You will find rooms and lobbies on the small side, and you won't find fawning bellboys or lavish breakfast buffets. This is my recommendation for mongers who want a good base with decent transport options, local flavor and poussoir-proximity. While I use this site, there are others where you can book online. I've just found asiatravel.com to be most useful for checking availability across a range of hotels. I hope other bros will contribute with booking sites. Some people are expert at gathering loyalty bonus points or other goodies and have their own strategies. This is what works for me.
The Dorsett Seaview has a great location, is fairly new and inexpensive--thus it's frequently booked out. My personal favorite is the Evergreen Hotel, although it's become more expensive since mainland tour groups discovered it a few years back. Once while staying there, I went to a local cinema and saw ONE NITE IN MONGKOK (2004) from local director Derek Yee--to my amazement, the film contains a shootout-sequence entirely filmed in...the Evergreen Hotel. I returned to my hotel and walked to my room down the same corridor I'd just seen in the film.
Prices do rise after you get past the Shamrock Hotel, which is right on Nathan Road and where my pal Gordo always stays on his trips to Hong Kong. But you can check the Mongkok section too. And, if you're not jet-lagged and traveling light, you can wander around and try your luck at the reception desk: there are plenty of hotels around, although many may actually be brothels masquerading as hotels. If you stayed in one, that'd make a great story though!
If you are arriving in HK on a long-haul flight, it's good to book at least one or two nights in advance. Places do fill up, and if you know you're flying in on a certain date, book in advance--that way you know you'll have the accommodation sorted and can drop your bags (just carry the one with the condoms and camera in it!) and go have a wander. At night, with the neon on and businesses rockin', it's urban Hong Kong at its best. There's night-markets, streets devoted to sales of footgear and aquarium-fish, plenty of knocking shops, dessert-only restaurants, and DVD stores stocking the most amazing Hong Kong films you haven't seen...YET.
Thread's open guys, please help our hotel-seeking bros out! Thanks.
JtB
PS: the "mansions" of TST are actually huge multi-use buildings. Ground floor usually has retail of a wide-to-chaotic variety. Guesthouses are on upper floors and are corridors with tiny individual rooms. Who knows what they were originally...it's just the cheapest way to rent a bed/bathroom in Hong Kong. There are some in the Causeway Bay area of Hong Kong Island but i've never tried these.
If you want grim/dirt-dog-cheap, rent a room in a DORM as some TST guesthouses offer them. The central area will be full of backpackers drinking the cheapest beer from 7-11 and staring at a TV in silence, doggedly Saving Money. You'll be in a room with several other guys, one of whom will invariably snore as loudly as a pig trapped in a fence. Happened to me once on a late-night arrival. Better off booking ahead at a an actual hotel.
[ Last edited by JackTheBat at 29-3-2011 08:44 ] | |
