I had heard that there are many guesthouses at the Chungking Mansions building in downtown HK. In fact, there are about 200 of them apparently (I read somewhere). Now, some of them are better than others and if you, like me, are arriving at 21 o'clock, tired, looking tired, there is a small chance for you to get the best offers from the indian touts.
I waved off a few, declined others and went to 5th floor w another. So I stayed one night at Kamals. The cleanliness was ok, but sth that I didn't notice when looking at the room was the smell, like an indian kitchen. I thought it would go away, but it didn't. I did. The smell won.
After freshing up, I went for a walk and enjoyed HK. Not as I expected. Then I was so tired that I crashed, like a russian fighter jet at an aero fair, but in a bed.
The day after, I moved to Apple guesthouse instead. Small room but soooo much better. And friendly filipino staff, not the sorry-I-bother-you-for-breathing-your-air indians at Kamal, they are rude. Basically the same thing: AC, own WC and shower, but so much better. And cheaper, 220HKD instead of 300(!). Some places have singles w shared bathroom for 70, according to one I talked to. (and 1 HKD is slightly less than 1 RMB or 1kr)
CKM is full of indian touts. They are eeeeverywhere, touting their touting tout. But it's ok. You get used to them after a while, and touts are the same all over the world. Tout avoidance skills are practically universal. CKM is also a very old building and not so well taken care of, something you notice especially if you take the stairs. The bottom three floors are full of small shops, mostly indian, selling the same stuff as all the other small hole-in-wall-kind of shops. From there and up, it's basically just guesthouses. Some are nicer than others, others should burn to the ground, yesterday if you could choose.
My room at Kamals guesthouse.
The elevators on the bottom floor, always busy. Walk a bit further in and you'll find less busy ones.
