Little Walks

Next week, our bosses will be out traveling in the Hongkong/China area. Well, it's not exactly a case of when the cat is away the mouse can play. No bonita. That is a weird situation for all of us. Of course, in an interconnected world, people are just an email or a text message away.

Anyway, as it's a rainy night in Makati, this actually reminded me of the Promenade at the Tsim Sha Tsui side of Hong Kong. Sometime before in Tsim Sha Tsui, my uncle went to China very early in the morning so he can play golf with his buddies and he left me alone to fend for myself. He must have realized that I can find my way around by following the maps in all those folded papers and travel brochures. My friends call them "papel-papel". With the sole intention of seeing those old folks doing their tai chi early in the morning, I went out 7am -ish for a walk on the Promenade along the harbor. Well, nothing beats a walk along the harbor early in the morning. You have the Promenade all to yourself (well, okay, along with a few other joggers and walkers), see the HK Cultural Center, Clock Tower, the Avenue of the Stars and the HK Space Museum without the usual crowd.

There are actually many other "walks" to do in Tsim Sha Tsui. You can get lost in Kowloon Park and at the Knutsford Terrace/Knutsford Steps, as well as walk the length of Nathan Road and haggle with a vendor for those dried things that hold clams. Haggling is a lot of fun, then see their reaction when you walk away saying, "Ok. Thanks. I'll think about it first."

As in life, the little things count. So pay some attention to those brochures on those little stands in little corners. There are themed walks that can guide you around and they include maps and bits of descriptions about the attractions. I took one of each of the brochures available and those basically became my maps for going around. They are also posted online at the Discover Hong Kong website.

From those little walks, I discovered that walking around and getting lost (a lot) can actually help you know a place better. I hope to discover more interesting places soon. I hope you do too.

Colored Jellyfish

Jellyfish inside color lighted tanks in a dark room at Ocean Park Hongkong.

Sunday Mass at the Mariner's Club Hong Kong

We've been walking for several blocks and my uncle just kept on walking without saying a word on where we were headed. It was a Sunday, and I knew that we were going somewhere to attend mass. But I couldn't see a church anywhere! In the busiest commercial section of Tsim Sha Tsui in Hong Kong, church steeples are rare.

When we arrived at a building somewhere, I thought we were stopping for an errand first. Imagine my surprise when I saw that inside, there were smaller rooms, including a small chapel filled with Filipinos, and a few Chinese and British nationals, preparing for Sunday mass. I was totally blown away to find these devout and prayerful lot in the middle of Hong Kong. It was also weird in a way because the mass was so like the way mass is done in the Philippines.

After the mass, I went outside to peek at the other rooms. There was a British family outside, in a circle, talking. The men were wearing Sunday suits, the women in dresses and the little baby dressed in white with frills and ruffles. It looked like the baby was about to be baptized.

Later, I found out that this was the Mariner's Club, a hub for devout Filipino Roman Catholics on Sunday mornings, and a hub for seafarers at other times. When you're in the area when you travel to Hong Kong, be sure to drop by and observe the mass on Sunday morning. It's just different.

The Mariner's Club is located at 11 Middle Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, HK.