The
word Kowloon comes from the Cantonese words "gau lung" meaning
"nine dragons" which refers to the eight hills of Kowloon
with the ninth being the Emperor. For the casual visitor keeping
Hong Kong and Kowloon straight is sometimes confusing. Kowloon
is the peninsula of mainland China that juts out into Victoria
Harbour facing south towards Hong Kong Island. Most development,
as would be expected, is focused around the harbour front
and spreading north towards the New Territories and China.
Whilst Kowloon does not have the colonial trappings that are
so evident on Hong Kong Island, it is nonetheless a dynamic
area and as ties between Hong Kong and China deepen Kowloon's
stature and importance will only increase. There are two major
hotel areas on Kowloon, Tsim Sha Tsui and Mongkok both of
which have MTR stations of the same names. Tsim Sha Tsui (which
for our purposes includes the Jordan area) is filled to overflowing
with restaurants, nightclubs, shops and temples making it
the busiest and most popular area for leisure visitors and
shoppers. The famous Nathan Road runs north to south and pretty
much divides the lower part of Kowloon into equal parts.
Heading north from Tsim Sha Tsui will bring you to Mongkok
(literally 'place where people gather' and gather they do).
Mongkok is famous for its night and day bargain markets. If
you want to discover the 'real Hong Kong' with all it's hustle
and bustle Mongkok is a great place to start! FYI, in order
to remain objective, hotels are listed in alphabetical order.
We don't favor any hotel for any reason.
