I’ve always been baffled by the response I get when asking tourists if they know where the Avenue of the Stars is here in Hong Kong. The conversation often gets to that point when I try to explain to them where I live, where the Bruce Lee statue is or where the best spot is from where to watch the fireworks or nightly laser-show.
It has never really dawned on me that maybe they don’t know because they haven’t been able to find it!
Maybe I should also add that it didn’t dawn on me because whenever I visit a new city, I always do thorough research about what to see and how I could get there. Blame it on the Boy Scout in me. I have spent many a year following the teachings of the good Lord Baden Powell. I also have a ritual of “doing the walk.”
Huh?
Well, whenever I visit a new city, and I have the opportunity to wake up in said city, I make it my mission to take a pre-dawn walk to experience the city waking up. It just gives one another perspective of the place and in my opinion, the early-morning experience makes exploring it during the day less daunting. I had some memorable mornings in London, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Amsterdam, to name but a few, a couple of full-moon parties ago. My early morning in San Antonio, Ibiza will (for obvious reasons) remain a BLURR!
I had the opportunity to do the walk here in Hong Kong a few years ago, before it became my home-away-from-home.
But again, I digress.
Reading a story in this past weekend’s HK Magazine, it became clear to me just why tourists don’t know where the Avenue of the Stars is located. It’s just so damn difficult to get there!
In short, the Avenue of the Stars is separated from the Peninsula Hotel/Nathan Road-side by Salisbury Road and other than the Star Ferry-corner, there is no above-ground way to cross Salisbury Road to get to the Avenue.
If you do want to get there, you have to take one of three underground routes which could be both time-consuming as well as baffling to tourists.
So what do the time-constrained tourists do?
They make their way to the Star Ferry area, watch the nightly laser-show from there and go back to their hotel, etc. In the process they miss out on a great walk along the Avenue, right up towards Tsim Sha Tsui East where there are some great restaurants and entertainment venues. (I know this area intimately because I live on the Eastern-end of the Avenue of the Stars.)
This it what they could miss during the day:
Or at night:
Nice movie, great soundtrack! (Video from trabeller on YouTube)
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Please read the story that appeared in the HK Magazine on Friday April 16, 2010:
(You can click on the story to read it full-size)
Click on the pictures below to view HK Magazine’s 3 detailed routes to the Avenue of the Stars:
