LOL...the local Hong Kong vs Expat friction is alive and well, even today!

During my expat days, I lived and spent most of my time in Central, or the island as you folks seem to refer to it now. Back then, we were situated in Repulse bay (though we called it cheen siu wan, all the "bays" get confusing). Initially when I was there, what Eagle is observing, the expat arrogance, is true, I think. As an expat, since I had spent most of my time on Central, that these days staying on the Kowloon side has been a little more interesting. There's a flavor to HK in the Mong Kok, or even TST, area that is absent in central, at least for me. Because I find the Yu Ma Tai area so colorful, if I could ever find a suitably luxurious (no budget hotels for me, and that's not an expat thing, but a personal thing) enough hotel there, it'd be on my to-do list.

I've really come to like the HR TST (the Pen would be my first choice, of course), especially the staff there. It's still near enough to the places I'm familiar with, but allows for easy exploration into the areas and life of HK that missed out on during my first stint there as an expat so many years ago.

PS - In my view, the side of the harbor I'd choose would depend on where I'd expect to have more of my evening engagements, since sometimes it's not easy to get a cab driver to cross the harbor during evenings or late at night. There are times when it's just necessary to rely on cabs.