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

The last shot for this film, before the story returns to Spain, is this nice view across the Wanchai rooftops. The Hopewell Centre on the left and Central Plaza still dominating the skyline in this area.

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).

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.

Hacker - Callan McAuliffe (2016) - Hennessy Road, Wanchai

One of the locations of the ATMs where Alex and Kira go on their massive withdrawal spree is a now defunct branch of Hang Seng Bank at 200 Hennessy Road. 

Hacker - Callan McAuliffe (2016) - Central Ferry Piers

Here's some nice night time shots of the Central Ferry Piers area. They're just filler shots that serve no purpose other than to show off a bit of Hong Kong scenery. Note what looks to be Xmas light decorations which gives a small hint as to around the time of year the film was shot.

Hacker - Callan McAuliffe (2016) - Lok On Pai Desalination Plant

It's been a while since we were out this way but the location where the trio go to meet the elusive "Zed" is the old desalination plant at Lok On Pai.

Hacker - Callan McAuliffe (2016) - Yau Ma Tei Police Station

Another popular filming location is this colonial-era police station on Canton Road in Yau Ma Tei. It's been included in a variety of posts on this blog over the years (see here), and in this film it is where Alex and Sye get put in a cell following their arrest after the fight at the nightclub. More recently the building has been decommissioned and I'm not sure what it is currently being used for.