Honkers

I don't care how good the seats are supposed to be, travelling in Qantas economy class is the pits! And to make matters worse I left the aeroplane adaptor for my Sennheiser headphones on the Brisbane to Melbourne plane. After nine hours in the air we arrived on time at Hong Kong airport on Lantau Island. The airport is extremely large, very modern and, efficient.

Our 'limo' driver was waiting and drove us the 40 minute trip to Kowloon and the United Services Recreational Club on Gascoine St. Regrettably, the office opens at 0900 so we spent just over 90 minutes sitting around waiting. The good news was that our room was immediately available and with Chinese ladies as baggage porters we headed out through the beautiful gardens. Alas, the room had not been made up since the day before and with many apologies we sat in the garden and waited. And waited. The 'room making up lady'did not start until 1100 and it was not until 1200 that the room was ready.

I am not sure what our expectation was but if we thought the room would match the effort by the Tanglin Club in Singapore last year we were sadly mistaken. I suppose the word 'functional' might apply, but only barely.'Spartan' also springs to mind as does 'barely acceptable' however, beggars should not be choosers. The bed was comfortable and the linen clean and the TV had 80 channels...four of which are in a form of English. Come on Phil, stop whinging or I will come and take your place..Ed.

OK I'm sorry.

The Club was founded in 1911 and is nestled in central Kowloon which has the hustle and bustle you would imagine in such a vibrant commercial location. Yet the Club is located in a uniquely lush, parklike setting featuring first class sporting and recreational facilities. I must admit, against the noise and activity around it, the Club offers an oasis of peace and relaxation. The general area around the Club is called 'Gun Club Hill Barracks' and for many years the Brits occupied it. The Chinese army has troops stationed here now. The Club building was once the officers mess and you do get that feeling about it. The dining and relaxation areas are quite nice. It is apparent that the main drawcard for members is the sporting facilities..4 tennis courts; lawn bowls; 3 swimming pools; basketball 1/2 court; golf driving; badminton; billiards; and so on. The major asset from our point of view has been the staff..truly first class. Ordinary membership is available for a 40,000HKD entrance fee and a monthly subscription of 1,100HKD...tends to keep the riff-raff out.

Back to the headphone adaptor. After a short rest on Thursday afternoon we headed into the Mongkok retail area north of the Club on the advice that many electrical equipment stores were in the area. Our walk took us upto Shanghai St which is one of the oldest in Kowloon. We visited the Jade Market which has aroun 450 registered stall holders selling amulets, ornaments, necklaces and trinkets made from the revered green stone. Many Chinese people believe that jade can protect you from evil spirits and calm your emotions. Babies wear tiny bracelets for this purpose.

Shanghai St gives one a sense of a time long past. The buildings and shops are very old and include clothing shops specialising in finely embroided Chinese-style wedding clothes. Signage dominates the street scene wherever you go in this area and as you continue on up Nathan St you notice the shops are grouped according to their main product eg jewellery; clothing; electrical; food; and mobile phones. We guessed that we must have seen something like two hundred mobile phone shops all overflowing with phones of every description and all with Chinese people in them buying phones! Mobile phones are an integral part of life here with seemingly every next person wandering along with a phone to their ear. At the top-end of our walk we came upon the Goldfish Market. Shops selling colouful fish of different species along with furnishings and decoration for aquariums line both sides of Tung Choi St. Amongst them are scattered pet shops selling all breeds of dogs and cats. Dog grooming is a serious business here.

We ate a meal at the franchised 'Spaghetti Shop'. Other food shops in this very non-touristy area appeared a bit risky at this stage of the trip. We were on the road again at 1930 and were overwhelmed by the number of people who had emerged over the past 40 minutes or so. Donna likened the crush to Family Day at the Ekka but I believe that underrates it. People streamed in every direction along every street...absolutely amazing and , apart from the endless skyline of multi-level housing blocks, was a true indicator that we were in one of the most densely populated cities in the world.

We could not locate the headphone adaptor.

Sleep came easily on Thursday night and after breakfast on Friday I hit the Chinese language 'Yellow Pages' in search of Sennheiser and the adaptor. The internet ended up providing the address of a Sennheiser service provider in the industrial backblocks of Kowloon. The Club staff phoned and it was confirmed that CP-150 adaptors were in stock. Addresses were provided in Chinese and a taxi summoned. Neither the taxi driver (female) or anyone I spoke to at this point could speak English and I can assure you not too many non-Chinese were evident at the place I was dropped off. Quite exciting really. In the end ,I negotiated the deal for two adaptors for 50HKD (divide by 5.6 for AUD) , found myself a taxi and got back to the Club...not bad I thought.

Friday afternoon we headed south towards the harbour along Nathan Rd. Not far along we came to Hillwood Rd known locally as Hillwood Soho and is favoured by locals with its collection of bars and restaurants featuring Asian cuisine. This led onto Knutsford Tce with its variety of exotic international cuisine. Pity that as you sit in these marvellous, alfresco dining areas you face some 20 metres away the back of very old and little maintained apartment? blocks with rubbish strewn around them. A little further on is the Park Lane Shopper's Boulevarde which is simply a line of around 60 shops offering a variety of of local and international name stores..Gucci, Valentinos, Crocodile, and so on. Very different to Mongkok and like most of the area we were walking into was modern and could have been anywhere. The waterfront boasts a Space Museum, Cultural Centre, and Museum of Art, as well as an Avenue of Stars where the movie stars have left their handprints along the lines of the Hollywood model.Further around we came to the Clock Tower which was part of the original Kowloon-Canton Railway terminus. Built in 1912 it is a landmark from a time when people spent days travelling by steam train across Europe and Asia terminating at this point. We jumped onto a Star Ferry and crossed the harbour and back as a taste of tomorrows trip to Hong Kong island. We ate at the Club and had a wonderful Chinese meal built upon duck and ginger all washed down with a particularly good sauvignon blanc from Chile