Hong Kong as a region is a collection of different areas. There's Hong Kong Island itself, obviously, the other islands, the New Territories to the north and, sprawling across the bay from Hong Kong Island, there's Kowloon.
If HK Island is shiny and posh, Kowloon is its dirtier, disreputable brother. They're both obsessed with business but very different types of business. HK Island is big, international brands and multinational finance companies. Kowloon is small, individual market stalls, micro-businesses and guys out on the streets, hustling you into their shops.
Strolling down Nathan Road, the main north/south thoroughfare, I was endlessly accosted by hawkers, pitching three main products. First there were the guys, mostly Asian, offering fake watches. I don't know what a fake watch is - I mean, it's either a watch or it's not - but I guess I know what they mean. Fight your way through them and you run into the guys - mostly Indian - selling tailoring services; shirts and suits, mostly. Should you make it past them (and they're much more persistent than the watch guys) you enter the realms if the massage parlours.
Now it's not what you think (calm down) - it's little old Asian ladies, waving laminated cards with pictures of feet on them, offering reflexology massages.
Up to this point in the blog, I was sober. For this paragraph, i'm drunk and watching X Factor US. Consequently, this paragraph will make no sense at all. Hatstand.
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