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I was about to write about how excited I am about the low prices and high quality of Hong Kong’s museum system when I realized that the Smithsonian’s network of fantastic museums is free.

Oops.

Still, the Hong Kong Museum of History in TST was very impressive. The first half of it was, that is: we got there too late to get past gallery #4. The British haven’t found Hong Kong yet. I’ll be back. I bought a six month pass which will pay for itself in five visits (and I’ve just used one and committed myself to a second today).

The Temple St. night market failed (as almost every market I’ve seen in my life) to impress. The tourist to local ratio was approaching infinity and the junk to merchandise ratio was tracking appropriately. Just like Stanley. Just like any other tourist market. I guess I’m not the target demographic.

Earlier, I poked around the Siu Hong area a little. Siu Hong is the big bad brown Home Ownership Scheme Court responsible for our local West Rail station. First I followed the Tuen Mun Nullah (drainage ditch), on which the station sits, past Tuen Mun Hospital and southward to the “Riverside Park.” The “Rooftop Garden” section of the park is neat, if very Hong Kong and canned. Lots of dragonflies and butterflies, amusing exercise equipment, the obligatory Tai Chi plaza, and so on. The “Riverside Promenade” was not so fun, running along the shallow brown concrete-lined “river.”

Back to the station, I dared to cross by exit D to the Siu Hong Court Pavilion level. I’d done it before, but only briefly, in search of a restroom in the non-paid area. It was scary. By the light of this breezy Saturday morning, it wasn’t frightening as much as an interesting time capsule. It’s one of the few commercial areas I’ve seen untouched by the ravages of modernization for at least the past decade or so. The only brand name store was Park-n-Shop—a closer source for the Oat Squares I crave, but closing even earlier than the Fu Tai version.

After the podium I made my way out into the, well, court of Siu Hong court. There’s some pleasant landscaping which is a nice contrast to the pile of identical brown cross-shaped “houses.” Neat experience. I’ll be back, with an eye toward walking to the Ching Chung Koon temple nearby.