Our last full day, and a reckoning with the suitcases. Everything we’d gathered over four weeks now had to fit into cases that were already full — the familiar end-of-trip puzzle of time, money and volume that never quite solves. We’d worked the shops hard by then: Kowloon Tong, Shek Kip Mei, Mong Kok and Sha Tin Central, with even a haircut squeezed in.
Mostly, though, packing up meant leaving Sha Tin, and we were sorry to. We’d based ourselves at the Alva hotel and grown fond of it — the genuine helpfulness of the staff, the uptown setting with its views to the mountains and the river, the useful shuttle, and the small luxuries of a pool, gym, laundry and an on-site bike shop. The breakfasts were good. It isn’t central — you walk or ride to the MTR — but there’s a bus stop at the door and downtown is only 30 to 60 minutes away. We’re already thinking about next year.