PMQ - A New Space in Hong Kong

For a while now we have been seeing construction happening in and around PMQ on Bridges Street, Hollywood Street and Aberdeen Street.  Billed as "creativity at a new address," PMQ is a recently opened open air shopping mall that houses both local and international shops and restaurants.  It is huge!

It was formerly a school,the first public school in Hong Kong to provide western education.  Dr. Sun Yat Sen studied here in 1884.  (That's cool!)  The school was severely damaged during WWII, and was left vacant until it was refashioned as a dormitory for married junior police officers. It served as "Police Married Quarters" (that's what PMQ stands for) until 2000.  Since then, this huge space in some of the most expensive real estate of Hong Kong has been sitting vacant.  Pretty amazing.  This year, though, PMQ finally re-opened.  Judging by the foot traffic on the weekend, already it looks like it will be a significant addition to the public space of this compact city. 

We started our exploration of PMQ on Bridges Street, not really knowing what to expect. This is where we entered PMQ:

We wandered downstairs to NightMarket, where we could hear a lot of noise.  Turns out it was a whole festival of food and drinks.

And people selling stuff.

But the highlight was when we walked out the back and saw this:

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Holy smokes!! We haven't seen grass in ages!  We immediately took off our shoes and made ourselves at home.

What a luxury!  Here Michael is basking in the sun and luxuriating in the grass.  The locals walking by looked at us a little funny.  It was amusing that every expatriate's instinct was to sit on the grass, and every local's instinct was to sit on a bench.

There are pretty flowers in the PMQ space.

We can't wait to come here and try Aberdeen Street Social (I think they were being quite cheeky when they named this restaurant...) which just opened a little over a week ago.  My friend said the food was a bit heavy, but the atmosphere looks fantastic.

I love how the restaurant is set up over two floors, and the upper level is surrounded in entirety by a glass balcony.  But overall, I am mostly still reeling over the patch of grass!