It was finally time to visit the other part of town: Kowloon, on the mainland.

I took the ferry from downtown that brings you over the Victoria Harbour in less than 10 minutes. The views on Hong Kong are fantastic. If it weren’t for the smog over the harbor and all around.

It was hard to see clearly to the other side, and that huge bridge far on the other side was half hidden in the smog.

Even on the water, there’s a brownish veil. Ok, the weather was special today, scorching sun, no wind, very humid, it felt like it’s pressing down on you.

The air in Mexico City, in comparison and against all expectations, was of way better quality than here.

Over in Kowloon, I walked through a few streets, basically all relatively modern constructions, filled with shops and chain stores.

On the 200 meters along the main street, the nicknamed ‘Golden Mile’ I was asked if I wanted watches, get a custom-tailored suit and something else I did not understand…

I’m not in the mood for any shopping. I haven’t been in any shop in months and months, with the exception of the two pairs of shoes I needed to buy as I had to throw the old ones away…

So this part of Kowloon did not impress me too much.

Instead, I walked into Kowloon Park, a lush little green oasis, with water fountains, a mosque (built for the British-Indian troops that were once stationed here) and sat down in the shade, to cool off, and read a bit about Kowloon in my guide book.

I found out that a couple of street markets were nearby, and as I love to walk trough the hustling and bustling of these local markets, I had found my goal for the day.

I went to Reclamation Street, which was once on the waterfront, and now is 3 km inwards. All the land further out has been reclaimed from the water.

I skipped the close-by Temple Street Night Market, as the stalls were still closed (but I have to return!) and walked through an original Chinese Market. Clothes, fruits, vegetables, meat, fish… I think I was the only European in there.

It’s a sight: the meat hangs out there in the street, cooling seems optional, freshly chopped off pig legs or inner organs are hanging around in the street…

I steppend inside a market in an old concrete structure, that housed vegetable and mostly fish vendors.

In somewhat improvised styrofoam boxes with a more or less fresh water supply, various maritime life forms were waiting for doom: being chopped up quickly and eviscerated, being crammed in some plastic bag and sold over the counter.

I saw apathetic frogs in cages, all sitting all over each other, waiting for their fate, there were sea turtles with little snouts, and the common turtles with their hard shells, eels, star fish, snails, mussels, and any form of common fish…

I, for myself, went into a tiny kitchen that advertised its different noodle dishes and had a noodle soup with Chinese cabbage for 22 Dollars, just about 2 Euro.