National Geographic Traveller India – July 2019

JULY 2019 | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER INDIA 73

BIG CHEESE PHOTO/BIG CHEESE PHOTO/GETTY IMAGES

(CITY)

FACING PAGE:

AF ARCHIVE/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO/INDIAPICTURE

(IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE),

FEATUREFLASH PHOTO

AGENCY/SHUTTERSTOCK

(WONG KAR-WAI),

PHOTO 12/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO/INDIAPICTURE

(CHUNGKING EXPRESS)

HONG KONG

neighbourhood of Tsim Sha Tsui

stays up late like an insomniac, tipsy

on a cocktail of neon signs lining

its streets. Tourists prowl up and

down Nathan Road with wheelies

full of sneakers and cosmetics, but

locals know how to duck out and find

their favourite dai pai dong serving

chicken’s feet or warm egg waffles.

One evening I watch crowds surge

forward, past the space museum’s

dome onto the Promenade. They

walk with baby-steps, a roiling sea of

pilgrims headed—where? The daily

8 p.m. light-and-laser show, when over

40 Hong Kong skyscrapers throw a

harbourside soiree.

I turn and walk in the opposite

direction, past malls the size of

castles, and halt outside a seedy,

17-storey shopping complex.

Everybody in Hong Kong knows what

Chungking Mansions is—an infamous

hive of low-cost hotels, burrow-size

homes, and electronic stores. It

smells of heavenly kebabs and risk,

like anything could happen here: a

shootout, a drug deal; or you could

run into The One over a plate of naan

and keema mattar.

I’ve waited to enter this dodgy

building for years after I watched

Chungking Express (1994), one of

Hong Kong’s best films, where two

lovelorn cops run into two enigmatic

women. Cop 223 (Takeshi Kaneshiro)

deals with his break-up by collecting

cans of pineapple expiring on May

1, when he meets a femme fatale

(Brigitte Lin) hiding beneath a

blonde wig and a secret. Cop 663

The

Stiletto-

like buildings,

Chinese signs,

and ding dings

(trams) lend a

cinematic air to

Hennessy

Road.

Hong Kong

Island

Kowloon

HONG KONG