The Avenue of Stars

I think it's pretty cliche to have dinner and a romantic walk along the waterfront, but it is nice to do cliche once in awhile.  

Over the weekend, my husband and I found ourselves in Tsim Sha Tsui (TST) on Granville Road.  We decided on having pizza for the night because it was fast, there were seats, and it was a guaranteed satisfactory meal.

We headed into Paisanos:

12 Granville Road

Tsim Sha Tsui

Open Mondays - Thursdays from 9 am - midnight

Open Fridays - Sundays from 9 am - 1 am

I got the Godfather and my husband got the Classic Paisano's slice.

Paisan's reminds me of the pizza joints that I used to hit up back in college.  Open late, simple, and inexpensive.  For dessert, we walked down Granville Road and headed into Hui Lau Shan Healthy Dessert.

These dessert houses are found all over Hong Kong.  They're my favorite places to go when I want a mango smoothie on a hot summer's day.

We shared a mango, pomelo and sago drink that was delicious!  This place is great because you can either order out or dine in.   I'd definitely suggest taking your order out because these dessert houses get pretty crowded to where people are looming above you…waiting for you to leave!

We meandered through the streets and walked through the 1881 Heritage Building area.  They had a beautiful afternoon tea set displayed in the main courtyard.  One of the benefits of heading down to TST every so often is looking forward to the change of displays at the 1881 Heritage Building.

It was at the 1881 Heritage Building that we started to see laser lights in the buildings above.  Realizing the Symphony of Lights had started, we rushed over to the TST Promenade to catch what we could of the light show.

***Pictures of the Symphony of Lights from the TST Promenade***

You can sort of see how the buildings around Victoria Harbour are lit up in an array of rainbow colors. My camera just can't do night images justice!

Looking out towards Central

Looking over towards Wan Chai

***Pictures of the TST Promenade and Avenue of Stars***

What is the Avenue of Stars?

I think of it as the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Th Avenue of Stars is a strip of the TST Promenade that pays homage to Hong Kong's film industry.  It is also one of the top tourist attractions in the TST area.  Here you can find people walking along the boardwalk taking photos besides the handprints of Jackie Chan or Wong Kar Wai.

A star in honor of Bruce Lee

Jackie Chan's star with his handprints and signature

Jet Li's star with his handprints and signature

Maggie Cheung's star with her handprints and signature

Aaron Kwok's star with his handprints and signature

Leon Lai's star with his handprints and signature

Louis Koo's star with his handprints and signature

I must admit, it is quite fun placing my hands in the handprints of famous Hong Kong actors.  It's also quite fun being apart of the tourist crowd.  Everyone is sharing the same excitement, even if they don't know who these film stars are!

This weekend reminded me just how nice it is to be a tourist in my own city!

***A bit from the Symphony of Lights***

Granville Road: Lung Shing Dispensary

A few years ago, one of my Peace Corps friends came to Hong Kong with a colleague from Guangzhou.  I remember her telling me of a pharmacy that was famous for stocking things that normal pharmacies didn't stock.  Years later, I totally forgot about this...until now.

This is my last post on Granville Road, so I thought I would walk off to another point of interest after this interesting find.  At first, this place looks like a shop with its clear glass windows covered with newspapers.  It actually looks like it's closed down, but it's really bustling with business inside.  It is one of the many hidden treasures on Granville Road:  Lung Shing Dispensary.  

Coming from the States, when I hear dispensary or pharmacy, I purely think of those places in drug stores that sell prescription medication.  But, moving here and also traveling around, I've learned that they carry a lot of other things beyond medicines.

There are always tourists crowded around, inside and outside of this place.  And poking around inside, I found such things as:

1.  OTC/Herbal Medicines

2.  A huge stock of BABY FORMULA 

3.  Cosmetics/Skincare (High End and Drug Store)

4.  Shampoos/Conditioners/Hair Care

5.  Body Lotions/Washes/Sunscreens

and...

6.  Deodorant (sticks, sprays, and roll-ons)  -->finding stick deodorant is sometimes hard...difficult to do here, but I found OLD SPICE of all things in the Lung Shing Dispensary!

and

7.  Body Shop/Skin Foods/and the like products

8.  and other dispensary/pharmacy things.

Even though there is that NO PHOTOGRAPH (No Photo Taking) sign at the top, they let me take my photos.  The people down at the dispensary are really nice and helpful for everyone, it seems.  They were really nice to me whilst I was checking out.  Also, they definitely speak Mandarin, English, and the usual (Cantonese).

You can find a lot of international products here for such descent prices, which, at first, made me question the quality of the products I wanted to purchase.  I just bought some skincare, of which, I checked the expiration date and it was fine.  And, after opening up my package of goodies, the products I bought were also in good condition (sealed), just cheaper than buying them at Watsons or at the supermarket.

This dispensary shop is one of the places I HAVE to visit when I am down in Tsim Sha Tsui (TST) and need to stock up on skincare!

Granville Road: Shopping Day

If you like to shop/window-shop, a fun place to spend an afternoon is Granville Road down in Tsim Sha Tsui (TST).  Here you can find a lot of trendy clothes, some outlet shops, your usual Nike/Adidas shops, optical shops, hair salons, cosmetic/skincare shops, accessory places, funky boutiques, trendy eateries, The One shopping mall, and the Granville Circuit (with more trendy/funky fashionable shops).  It's only a few blocks long, but it holds a lot of great shopping areas if you weave in and out of the alleys and side streets.

How to get here:

1.  From TST MTR Station Exit B1, you will find yourself on the corner of Cameron Road and Nathan Road 

2.  Turn right onto Nathan Road

3.  Walk to the next street and that should be Granville Road

The landmark to look for is The One shopping mall, which marks the beginning of Granville Road.  This street reminds me of Sai Yueng Choi street in Mong Kok...which has similar shops, but there are more local boutiques that you can find on Granville Road.

Pictured below, is one of the handful of outlet shops that you can find on Granville.  There are a number of brands that you can find in this one shop that have that funky, Hong Kong vibe.

One of my favorite shops/boutiques to visit is miner49er (pictured below).  They have some really awesome t-shirts, if you are into t-shirts.

Also, in one of the commercial buildings along Granville Road is Star Crossed Tattoo (pictured below).  If you are looking for tattoo parlors, most times the internet will direct you to the Tattoo Temple near Lan Kwai Fong, but here is an alternative for those on the Kowloon Side.  The rate here is around 1000 HKD/hour...no matter the size or the difficulty.  If anyone has been here (please comment!)

Looking for essential oils or an alternative to LUSH?  You can find a few boutiques along Granville to test out the quality of things (pictured below).  Beyond these little boutiques, there are also the usual Sasa and Bonjour cosmetic shops that can be found here.  I thought the soaps made a great gift.  Each individual soap sold for around 50 HKD.

Lastly, for those looking for a good ole franchise, this Cotton On is one of my favorites (pictured below).  It has a great little homeware section on the ground floor.  It is one of the more crowded Cotton Ons, but it does SEEM to have a more attractive stock than some other smaller ones around the City.

Though TST has many more shopping areas (like Harbour City and Canton Road), Granville Road is a place to find random, funky, fun things.  It's a great area to explore!

Granville Road: Secondhand Shopping

Being from the Pacific Northwest, I love my secondhand shops.  Before we converted to Kindle, you could find my husband and I at Half Price Books stocking up on some good reads.  And anytime we're backpacking around the world, you can be sure to find us at the local Flea Market finding some gems.  

There are a few secondhand shops in Hong Kong, but one of my favorite ones is the Mee & Gee.  This particular one is located in Tsim Sha Tsui (71 Granville Road).  There are also shops in Mong Kok/Prince Edward, Wan Chai and Central.  

There are a lot of awesome things I always find in the racks.  And a lot of vintage pieces can be found here.  Some of the Mee & Gees in Mong Kok have a specific section for vintage items.  Mee & Gee's carry clothes for all seasons, shoes, handbags, and accessories for men and women (I am not sure if they have racks for children...).  Their prices are incredible...and if something doesn't fit, you can always get it altered at the local tailor shop!  But, definitely a great place to spend a few hours for those who love thrifting.