No culpes al karma de lo que te pasa por gilipollas - Verónica Echegui (2016) - Harcourt Road, Central

Another footbridge, this time a bit further west, back towards Central, this is the footbridge that connects Harcourt Garden with Tim Mei Avenue and the CITIC Tower near Admiralty station. It's been a while since I was down here because much of the last ten years the place was closed as they constructed the East Rail line extension stations at Admiralty (yes, the old KCR blue line from Lo Wu now goes all the way into Admiralty).

No culpes al karma de lo que te pasa por gilipollas - Verónica Echegui (2016) - Gloucester Road, Wanchai

The last few posts are just general shots around the area. This one is of the pedestrian walkway across Gloucester Road where it intersects with O'Brien Road. A familiar walk for anyone who had to make the traipse to the Immigration Department when it was still based here (we've all had to make that walk on multiple occasions as immigrants into Hong Kong).

No culpes al karma de lo que te pasa por gilipollas - Verónica Echegui (2016) - Tsim Sha Tsui Waterfront

Sara decides to head back to Spain and bids farewell to her boyfriend on the Tsim Sha Tsui Waterfront.

No culpes al karma de lo que te pasa por gilipollas - Verónica Echegui (2016) - Sheung Wan View

After leaving hospital, Sara convalesces in a hotel. The view is from what was the Holiday Inn Express which has since been rebranded as a Hilton Motto. The view is from there but it looks to me as though, for the second image, it's most likely a studio shot with a back projection. The reason being is that the curved window seems to be out of place. It's just my opinion though. The entrance to the hotel is on Jervois Street.

No culpes al karma de lo que te pasa por gilipollas - Verónica Echegui (2016) - Wellington Street, Central

Another generic shot inserted before the hospital scenes (which I'm fairly sure were filmed in Spain with Asian extras). This shows the view up Wellington Street from that section of the mid-level escalators running up Cochrane Street. Sadly the sign on the right (for the 文輝墨魚丸大王 Restaurant) is gone because the restaurant closed a while back. The rather ornate facade decor on the left is the Tung Sin Tan building. I believe it's an old age home but I'm not sure. It's quite striking in the daylight.

No culpes al karma de lo que te pasa por gilipollas - Verónica Echegui (2016) - Hennessy Road, Causeway Bay

Some more general shots of Hong Kong as Sara is taken to hospital. This one shows the view looking west along Hennessy Road towards the Canal Road Flyover. The shot was obtained by putting the camera on the pedestrian walkway that links the two sides of Percival Street.

No culpes al karma de lo que te pasa por gilipollas - Verónica Echegui (2016) - Chun Yeung Street, North Point

After feeling ill on the minbus (anyone who has ridden on a red minibus in Hong Kong can empathise), Sara gets off and the pair walk along the street as she feels increasingly ill. She then collapses. This was all filmed along Chun Yeung Street (春秧街) in North Point. It's one of those streets pushed by the HK Tourism Board for being a bit quaint. The street has a local wet market whose stalls are located right next to the North Point tram terminus. I think the tourism board wants to pretend this street market is like those ones you see in Vietnam or Thailand where everyone has to move their stalls when the train breezes through (Narrator: it's not).

Unicorn Fist – another ‘lost’ Bruce Lee location rediscovered (repost from 2011)

Originally posted on my old Wordpress blog (back in 2011), I noticed that one of my old posts pointed to this article, so, rather than just delete the link why not just republish the original post..and of course add a few updates where relevant (and removed quite a bit of my irrelevant ramblings). I was reminded as well by a recent video on the Stripey Rambles channel detailing a new magazine about the film and it mentions Pak Tam Chung. Seeing as I was the one who rediscovered the location, I thought a repost wouldn't go amiss. I also made it into the papers at the time for my nerdiness (see the SCMP article at the end).

Bruce Lee and I - one of the alternative titles of this movie

No culpes al karma de lo que te pasa por gilipollas - Verónica Echegui (2016) - Shanghai Street, Mongkok

After emerging from Mongkok station and meeting her beau all the way over in Causeway Bay, the pair zoom back to Mongkok to catch a red minibus. I reckon at that speed they didn't need the bus. The building in the background is the Shantung Street-end of the Langham Place Mall. The minibus is driving south down Shanghai Street.

No culpes al karma de lo que te pasa por gilipollas - Verónica Echegui (2016) - Statue Square, Central

As the pair make their way across town, we get a brief glimpse of the skyscrapers around Statue Square in Central. From left to right we have the Bank of China Tower, Cheung Kong Centre, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank and on the far right, the Prince's Building. 
 

No culpes al karma de lo que te pasa por gilipollas - Verónica Echegui (2016) - Pottinger Street, Central

Another of the location seen on their route home is the lower section of Pottinger Street just up from Queen's Road Central.

No culpes al karma de lo que te pasa por gilipollas - Verónica Echegui (2016) - D'Aguilar Street, Central

The pair head back to his apartment via D'Aguilar Street. This is a view of D'Aguilar Street from the lower (northern) Queen's Road Central-end looking up the hill.

No culpes al karma de lo que te pasa por gilipollas - Verónica Echegui (2016) - Hennessy Road, Causeway Bay

After being lost for a bit, Sara finally manages to meet her boyfriend on the pavement where Hennessy Road meets Yee Wo Street and Jardine's Bazaar. Quite the leap from Mongkok.

No culpes al karma de lo que te pasa por gilipollas - Verónica Echegui (2016) - Sai Yeung Choi Street South, Mongkok

Sara wanders around looking a bit lost. She stops on a corner looking bewildered. This was filmed on the north east corner of Nelson Street and Sai Yeung Choi Street South.

No culpes al karma de lo que te pasa por gilipollas - Verónica Echegui (2016) - Nelson Street, Mongkok

As Sara (Verónica Echegui) arrives in Hong Kong, we see her emerge from the Nelson Street Mongkok MTR station on the east side of Nathan Road (Exit E2). I'm impressed they managed to film here given how busy it is at all times. The initial shot shows the view across Nathan Road towards the Langham Mall in the background. The taller building is now the Cordis Hotel (it may still have been the Langham at the time of filming in 2016, I'm not sure).

No culpes al karma de lo que te pasa por gilipollas - Verónica Echegui (2016) - View from the Peak Viewing Tower

The first Spanish entry for the blog comes in the form of No culpes al karma de lo que te pasa por gilipollas (Eng: Don't Blame it on your Karma), a romantic comedy starring Verónica Echegui as Sara, a girl whose world gets very complicated when a horde of people suddenly descend on her apartment in Madrid. I am familar with some of the actors courtesy of recently watching some Spanish language dramas on Netflix. Echegui was in Ciudad de sombras (City of Shadows) a murder mystery set in Barcelona and her co-star (and partner at the time) Álex García is in the excellent The Glass Cuckoo (El cuco de cristal). The only sad thing about all this is the fact that Echegui passed away last August (2025) from cancer at the very young age of 42.

Most of the film was shot in Madrid, but during the last third she goes to visit her boyfriend in Hong Kong and the establishing shots are some views from Victoria Peak, most likely from the Peak Viewing Tower given the angle. You can compare the angle with this one in The Gray Man. It's exactly the same. The second image is a close up (of Wanchai area) of the section on the right in the first image.

Guia Fort - Now and Then

The last comparison images from my brief sojourn in July into Macau is from Guia Fort. One of the best value things to do is to ride up Guia hill in the little cable car. It's dirt cheap and is a welcome relief from the summer heat (it was sweltering when we were there). Make sure you check out the small tunnels under the fort as well. The comprison shots I'm using here are from Challenge of the Tiger, filmed in 1982.

This is the front of the chapel

One of the buildings below the lighthouse

Daddy Cool - Mammootty (2009) - Lung Cheung Road, Wong Tai Sin

Okay, so we will finish on this film with a view along Lung Cheung Road in front of Wong Tai Sin Temple. This shot was taken right in front of the large ornate gate that fronts onto the main road. there's been a bit of change here in the intervening years but the fire hydrant he's sitting on is still around in case there are any Indian film fans wishing to recreate the image.

Daddy Cool - Mammootty (2009) - Park Lane Shopper Boulevard, Tsim Sha Tsui

Every tourist to Hong Kong comes here at some point - the Park Lane Shoppers Boulevard. It's well past its sell-by-date if you ask me, but almost unavoidable if you are in this part of TST. I'm surprised I haven't really featured it that much on the blog. It was seen in The Dragon from Russia though.

Daddy Cool - Mammootty (2009) - Tai Mei Tuk, Tai Po

For anyone who has bothered making the trip out to the Plover Cove reservoir in north Tai Po, then you would have passed through the village of Tai Mei Tuk on your way there. All public transport here stops at the carpark next to the entrance to the reservoir dam wall. In this film they shot a few brief scenes of the actors riding the rental bikes along the road. The same area can be seen when Antony's wife (Richa Pallod) turns up dressed like a traffic cop. That scene was filmed in the south east corner of the carpark.

The lower images are from a car drive filmed along Ting Kok Road in front of the village.

Pataya, seen in the background, still operates

Daddy Cool - Mammootty (2009) - Nathan Road, Kowloon

Another highly featured location is Nathan Road. It looks like the film company hired one of the open top tour buses and just drove up and down Nathan Road capturing a variety of snippets. The first image below shows Nathan Road at the junction with Ning Po Street. The second one was further north between Shantung Street and Nelson Street. The third one was outside New Lucky House on the corner of Jordan Road.

All the neon signs have since been removed

California Fitness was in Grand Tower

New Lucky House (with the green triangular pattern) on the right

Daddy Cool - Mammootty (2009) - Avenue of Stars

A significant proportion of the musical set piece was filmed along the (old) Avenue of Stars along the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront in Kowloon. For those who never got the chance to experience the original AoS, you didn't miss much. It was a bit of poorly-managed tourist tat, full of spelling mistakes and overpriced film memorabilia. It underwent a renovation a few years back when New World Development (the owners of the land) decided to knock down the New World Centre and rebuild it into the current K11 Atelier monstrosity. When reopened, the "new" Avenue was just as disappointing as the old one, and the old centrepiece - a life size bronze sculpture of Bruce Lee in a fighting stance, paid for and provided by fans - was relegated to one side as some sort of coffee shop ornament for the local Starbucks.

Daddy Cool - Mammootty (2009) - Central Waterfront

Some scenes were also shot in front of the IFC mall on the Central Waterfront.

Daddy Cool - Mammootty (2009) - Stanley

Next up and father and son head along the waterfront in Stanley. Once a rather bustling area Stanley's fortunes have fallen significantly in recent years. I last went about 2 years ago and the place was dead. It just doesn't seem to have recovered from the COVID years.

The whole musical sequence is a bit choppy so we get views of multiple places in a quick succession of edits. The lower images are from a later part when the pair are out on a boat, but it looks like this was filmed in Stanley Bay. And later still they are back on land hanging around on the reconstructed Blake Pier.