Wanting to try what busy streets of Kowloon felt like I left the hotel at 11 am ( oh the luxury of staying in bed for couple of hours when you don’t have to go to work).
The plan was to walk a couple of blocks to check things out before heading to the park which is a convenient 5 min walk, with an entrance of main Nathan road.
Just outside the hotel door I’ve found a small cafe where I was the only tourist .
They had set menu for breakfast ( yes, I know it’s 11 am!) .
For $4AUD I got a pasta soup, fried eggs, sausage , buttered bun and a cup of strong lemon tea. Not bad and I couldn’t finish it all.
Feeling full and happy I started my walk and surprisingly ended up buying so much! The shops were a mixture of middle range shops like Cotton On to some one-off shops with different clothes, still within that middle range.
I ended up buying some pretty nice design tops for a very reasonable price.
All morning while I shopped the sun was out and the minute I left for Kowloon park it started to rain. Thankfully I kept my umbrella that I had to buy in Macau and I knew that the rain won’t last long.
Finding a nice covered bench allowed me to catch up on the blogs and in 15 minutes the sun was out again.
Walking through meandering paths I saw the sign to heritage centre and remembered reading online that it’s well worth a visit.
It’s hard to believe that I’ve spent an hour there and it was quite interesting. First its not a big museum, their main focus is on preserving heritage in architecture.
There are only a handful of rooms with some artefacts just to keep it interesting for history and archeology buffs but not too overwhelming for everyone else!
Half of the exposition were three or four videos in different rooms showing the growth of Hong Kong, the destruction of old buildings in 1960’s and 1970’s and preservation efforts of today. Each video was 10 minutes long in English and Chinese ( running consecutively ). The young guy who was a curator there seemed very friendly advising where to go first and which videos were well worth watching. He was right, I thoroughly enjoyed them and in that hour missed another tropical downpour outside.
There are pink flamingos at one of the ponds in the park and a large walk in aviary with exotic birds from around the world like toucans and Australian galahs!
Finally I came to what I was looking forward all morning. Public swimming pool. While it doesn’t sound exciting believe me they are awesome !
Still in Kowloon park it’s not just a pool, it’s a giant complex with three oversized outdoor pools plus two smaller kids pools plus another two indoor pools.
The entry cost is 17 HK dollars(about 2.50AUD) for one session which runs for 4 hours. Twice a day pool complex is closed for an hour each time for cleaning. It was 3 pm which meant I could use 1 to 5pm session which suited me just fine as I had to get my bags and head to the airport at 5.
Truly Kowloon park is a hidden gem in the midst of a busy city and a refreshing place.
The water was warm being naturally heated by sunny days but still a pleasant swim on a hot tropical day.
