Hacker News Reader

Comment by jansan | Hacker News Reader

A bit unrelated, but since people with Hong Kong knowledge may be reading: How are the Chungking Mansions doing? The atmosphere there was sometimes compared to Kowloon Walled City, and I remember when my roommate stayed there in the 90s he reported that from his window that faced the inner courtyard he could not see the ground, just darkness. Also, it was reported to have rats as big as cats and cockroaches as big as rats (I hope jokingly).

How is it doing now? Still as dystopian?

View on HN

I have stayed there for 2 weeks last month. It is indeed a distinctive experience. I managed to rent the smallest apartment I have ever been to. When I entered the room I burst out laughing at its size. There was basically nothing but a small bed and a toilet/bathroom where you could have showering while sitting on a toilet. It was definitely a memorable feeling to stay there. Every time you enter the building many (mainly Indian looking) man approach and try to sell you drugs, stolen stuff or prostitutes. I wandered quite a bit around because you always had to wait a lot for the elevator so I used the stairs to go to the 8th floor. There was piss and trash all over the stairs. At first day I was really close to changing my location but I eventually got used to the place. I have witnessed at least 3 fights during the 2 weeks staying there. On the last morning at 6 am when I arrived to the first floor after checking out I heard loud noises and when the elevator opened two guys fell inside fighting each other, accompanied by several woman shouting. I managed to step over them out of the elevator and left the building safely. It was chaotic to be honest. But at least I saw no bugs and rats. Overall I think it might have some resemblance to how it must have felt staying in the Walled City.

What brought you there?

Not him, but I've also visited. If you ever go to Hong Kong, Chungking Mansion is basically unavoidable. You're almost guaranteed to walk by it at least once if you're going a proper trip around the city. It's right on a major street right near major tourist areas and has cheap places to stay inside.

long exposure I took right out in front the last time I was there:

https://imgur.com/a/p2h6T

if you want to go deep on it this was a great read (Ghetto at the Center of the World):

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/G/bo112348...

I've stayed there about half a year ago. [0] Pretty interesting place, although not nearly as dystopian as you describe it! No cockroaches or anything, but ground level is very noisy, and elevator queues are pretty bad.

[0]: If you want to give it a try, open up any hotel booking website and sort by price – pretty much anything under $25 is in the Mansions.

I've visited it earlier this year and it seems pretty unchanged ("cheap watches", "need tailor",...). I've stayed in one of the budget hostels there a few years ago, its was interesting but I'd probably not do it again. Waiting 15 minutes for one of the cramped elevators every time you go home gets old quickly.

I stayed there about a year ago, and wrote a bit about it with some photos. Just search this page for "Chungking": https://dabreegster.github.io/prose/dec2023/pt1_hk.html

Great photos, thanks. The one with the "negative space" must be what my roommate talked about when he could not see the ground from his room window during the day. Btw, back in the 90s they still had some market alleys in Akihabara/Tokyo that looked like the one in the next photo. And it was amazing.

A slightly more sanitized variety is two buildings away - Mirador Mansion. I still expect to see a fleeing android to come running down the halls when I stay there, a la Zhora chase scene in Blade Runner (less glass though).

A few months ago I had a long layover in Hong Kong, so I did a quick visit - it looked a bit emptyish, though there was still a bunch of budget hostels, food joints and some touting going on. The rats are pretty gigantic though.

good (and cheap) Indian restaurants there.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com