Photo of the day No. 21 - PMQ Cultural Centre, Hong Kong

10 Mar

I have no idea why Tour Guides think this is worth visiting!

**Me Jamie, your host, I am English and I have lived in Hong Kong for 53 years - I know the place.**
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Photo of the day No. 21 - PMQ Cultural Centre, Hollywood Road

I have no idea why Tour Guides think this is worth visiting!

click on the image to enlarge

Learn more | The official website of PMQ in Hong Kong

“PMQ, otherwise known as “Police Married Quarters”, is a revitalisation project initiated by the HKSAR Government in 2009. With more than a century of history and counting, the site first served as the Central School’s campus, then as the dormitory for rank-and-file police officers and today, a creative landmark.”

PMQ (former Police Married Quarters), Aberdeen Street and Hollywood Road, Central District, Hong Kong is as the official website blurb states “PMQ is a stage for creative happenings” it has been in operation since 2014.

In other words 100 + studio workshops for young people to show off their talent (!) and sell trinkets and such.

The workshops occupy a relatively new building that was originally housing for Policeman and prior to that a school.

Have a look at the image below of the original building on the site back in the late 1800’s and then look at the Police Housing Building that was repurposed as creative workshops. My point being, that the PMQ building is simply not that interesting and ergo not worth your time.

For some reason many tour guides take guests to see this building and then describe it as an example of tiny apartments for the poor folk, which is rather odd given that even the oldest Public Housing in Hong Kong looks nothing like this building and I know from experience that Police Housing was a big step up from Public Housing size wise and such.

I do know why Tour Guides go there, I am guessing one of the biggest reasons is that Hollywood has Tai Kwun and the Man Mo Temple as major tourist attractions and for very little effort a visit to PMQ eats up time, for want of a better phrase it is a stocking filler.

To be honest I very rarely visit Hollywood Road with my quests as I think Tai Kwun and the Man Mo Temple are not worth the time and frankly are just not that interesting, they are however conveniently located on Hollywood Road in Central so are easy to get to but from my perspective not interesting enough, there are so many far more interesting places to visit in Hong Kong.

The Man Mo Temple has become a real tourist trap which is a shame as it is an icon in Hong Kong history but it gets a non stop procession of tour buses dropping off 30 - 50 tourists every couple of minutes, the Temple has room for about 20 visitors not hundreds and then you get tour guides talking using microphones blathering on totally disturbing the tranquility of the Temple.

**PMQ on Hollywood Road | Aberdeen Street in Hong Kong**

**If PMQ was based in the original building on this site it would be worth a visit!**

Learn more | PMQ Tripadvisor Reviews

So there you go, I am not known for being politically correct, I am sure the people behind PMQ would be upset with my comments, I give them a lot of credit for creating space for budding creative types to sell trinkets in a convenient location but for me anyway it is simply not worth the time and it is certainly not a reference for Public Housing in Hong Kong and the building itself is not noteworthy in any shape or form!

I should point out that you can easily visit this place on your own without a tour guide and spend as much time as you like browsing the 100+ workshops of vendors, you may well find some interesting trinkets to purchase!

Please do read the Tripadvisor reviews for context. see link above.