Chungking Mansions...it must be one of the landmark buildings in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong especially for backpackers and travelers from all over the world. However, I guess it must not be easy for us to stay at most of guesthouses in the building due to a very chaotic atmosphere totally different from ordinary image of Hong Kong as the place mostly has been occupied by immigrants from ethnic countries such as India, Pakistan as well as Middle East...
When I considered spending my birthday in Hong Kong for the first time in my life in August, 2011, nearly two months before the day, I was first curious about Chungking Mansions. That’s why most of hotels in Hong Kong are quite expensive to me, even one night stay at least 100USD , as a result I realized it’s almost impossible for me to stay there for a week due to my pocket money. Therefore, when I was looking for other ways to stay there with reasonable price, I finally found one of the websites which introduces the mansion by chance.
I guess this must be one of the good choices how to save my money for travel in Hong Kong. However, I totally believe that most of guest rooms in Chungking Mansions are not allowed to be booked by customers in advance according to descriptions by the website. Moreover, I was a little scared to be headed to the place due to chaotic and dangerous atmosphere. But needless to say I will never stay in Hong Kong at least a week as long as I will not choose to stay the building.
As a result of it, I’ve finally decided to stay there but surprisingly I didn’t book a guesthouse in advance because that website suggested that customers not have to do it as most of rooms are vacant every time. However, unfortunately most of the notable guest houses had been booked by many travelers especially from Mainland Chinese because of the Chinese foundation day October 1. Moreover, to be honest I was also so scared about the place because shortly after I arrived there, some people tried to invite me to their rooms forcibly right away.
Therefore, I immediately stayed away from them and left the mansions, but of course I had to find another guest room to stay there for a week. I was in panic but fortunately I was called by a landlady who organized her own guest house in Mirador Mansion, only two minutes from Chungking Mansions on foot. So fortunately I had stayed there for a week till going back to Japan.
I had been to Hong Kong twice until September, 2012 since that time but I had never stayed at Chungking Mansions because my first memory of there becomes traumatic for me. However, when I almost decided to work as a paid internship employee at Ramen store located in Fifth Avenue in Manhattan at the beginning of October after the store manager accepted me to work there, I believed I will not be able to visit HK again at least two years from that time. Unfortunately that internship plan will be cancelled more than one year later as I couldn’t obtain a legalizing visa to work so I didn’t. But I didn’t predict about my future at that time, so I considered traveling in Hong Kong again the next January at least nearly ten days.
In that case, I almost had no choice but to stay at Chungking Mansions because of money. But my situation was different from my second abroad in Hong Kong because I’ve got accustomed to traveling there alone and had built up my English level much better than before. Moreover, fortunately most of guest houses in Chungking Mansions accept to be booked by customers from some websites such as Booking.com and Agoda. Needless to say all customers are allowed to review and write their impression of guest houses only after staying, so I didn’t have to be worried about guest rooms whether it would be good or bad before staying.
Therefore, a guest house in Chungking Mansions I first chose was called Maple Leaf Guest House located at E block there because its review scores by former customers are nearly 8. Of course I still remember clearly when I first arrived at the reception of rooms in January, 2013. Most of guest houses there organized by foreigners especially from Middle East or South East Asia, such as India or Philippines, but surprisingly hosts at the guest house are local Hongkongese.
But of course they spoke English to me, but sometimes broken because they are also not native its speakers. But I realize it must be a good experience to me because expressing myself clearly is more important than using a difficult sentence with advanced grammar. I guess most of Japanese tend to consider using only particular sentences educated by teachers at schools, so they don’t speak out it immediately so they must tend to be speechless every time facing foreigners.
As a result of it, all of guest houses I’ve chosen since that time are only Chungking Mansions. Of course it’s the best way to save my pocket money to stay there but not only that reason but also I’ve liked its environment. Needless to say most of citizens and travelers gathering there from different countries as well as mother languages. However, no one asked me there whether I would speak English or not. Because every time meeting with people from different countries, we have no choice but to speak only English because it’s only one universal language on the planet. Which means, people gathering at the mansion, everybody believes in human beings who can speak English commonly.
I’ve never felt that impression in Japan, so every time I walked inside the mansions, I always realize I’m not only as a Japanese and Asian, but I’m also just a world citizen as the same as others on the only one planet. So it’s one of the biggest reasons why I’m still particular about staying at Chungking Mansions even now.
However, to be honest even I frequently consider staying at other guest houses due to some problems at Chungking Mansions such as extremely slow elevators and inconvenience, and actually room is very clean but floor and stairs are very dirty just like a building for a video game called Bio Hazard a.k.a Resident Evil in overseas.
But the best location, and good currency exchange rate...there are some advantages at the mansion especially the former. One of the best spots on the planet for viewing a fabulous night view is located only five minutes from the mansion on foot. So I can’t imagine staying at other spots even now every time I remind many wonderful reasons I descried above.