Wan chai is a wonderfully colourful area of Hong Kong - with a very eventful history. A bit on the seedy side, but with plenty happening all of the time. It's a place that stays awake 24 hours a day.
Wan Chai is a good place to spend hours walking around - and in this humid weather, there are lots of fast-food outlets, tea shops, pudding shops and noodle shops for you to stop off and replenish your liquids and salts.
What can I see?
If you're into religious history, Wan Chai has a number of temples dotted around. These include the Pak Tai Temple, which was built in 1863 and is on Stone Nullah Lane. Inside is apparently a bronze idol of Pak Tai which dates back to 1604. This little temple was used as an education centre in the early 1950s for underprivileged children who could not afford to go to school.
Around the corner from the temple is the now 12-storey building of St James' Settlement which helps Hong Kong's poor. It was set up in 1949 to help the children of squatters who lived in the area.
The organisation's founder, Bishop Hoare, wanted to provide young people with an education and later a job, enabling them to become independent and able to finance themselves.