DanOCan

Today I’ll pick up where I left off a few days ago with some more highlights from our trip to Hong Kong.

Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery:  This place is really named inappropriately.  Not only is it not a true monastery because there are no  monks living there, it also contains closer to 13,000 Buddha statues.  I wish I had known the former fact when we visited because when we first reached the bottom of the stairs to begin the climb, we were greeted by two “monks”.  They approached us and greeted us warmly and then placed a “blessing” on our foreheads.  We thanked them and tried to leave.  One of them then reached out and grabbed my arm and placed a bracelet on my wrist saying it was a sign of friendship.  As I went to walk away, he immediately pulled out his small basket to ask for money.  I told him I didn’t have any money and took the bracelet off to return it to him.  He pushed it back at me and again asked for money.  Emily had managed to get away from her “monk” but I was still trapped.  I reached into my pocket and produce a five Hong Kong dollar coin.  He shook his head and said “$100.”  I practically laughed at him and shoved the bracelet back into his hand and said “No way.”  He then tried to convince me that even though I gave the bracelet back I still owed him the $100 for the blessing on my forehead.  I pushed past and left him behind, rejoined Emily, and carried on up the stairs.  Scam artists.  (For those wondering, $100 HKD is worth about $17 CDN.)

With that experience behind us, we were able to complete our trek up the stairs, which are lined with golden-colored statues on both sides.  It really is quite the sight.

Hong Kong Heritage Museum:  The museum was running a special exhibit of rare Qing Dynasty wedding artifacts while we were visiting.  Most of the special exhibit did not allow photography so I don’t have any photos to share.  While at the museum I also learned I am not a fan of Cantonese opera.

Happy Valley Racecouse:  Say “Happy Valley” to a longtime Calgarian and they will immediately recall the campground and small park that once sat in the area now occupied by the Valley Ridge Golf Course.  But, in Hong Kong it means horse racing.  I had no idea horse racing is such a big event in Hong Kong but apparently the history of racing on this site dates back to 1845.  The current stadium, where we attended “Happy Wednesday”, holds 55,000 people and dates back only to 1995.  Amazingly, amongst all those people and all those miles away, Emily managed to meet and befriend a woman from Calgary.  What are the odds?

Bruce Lee House:  The martial artist only lived in this house for a about a year prior to his death in 1973.  However, it remains notable for being his last residence.  While very modest by North American standards, it counts as a mansion in Hong Kong.  After Lee’s death, the home was converted into an hourly “love hotel”, which is very common in this section of Kowloon Tong.  The house has been left vacant since the owner Yu Panglin died in 2015, his plans for it becoming a museum seemingly ignored by the Hong Kong government.  Not open to the public, the only view you can get of it is through the gate on Cumberland Road.

Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens:  Another oasis in the middle of the city.  First opened to the public in 1871, the gardens provide a tranquil respite from the bustle of the city.  Animal activists should beware, however.  The zoological portion is very “old school” in nature with the animals kept in cages, much like we used to see in North America in the 1970s.  Not a lot of effort was made for “natural” surroundings for the animals but they seemed to be enjoying themselves nonetheless.

Lung Yeuk Tau Heritage Trail:  For our last full day in Hong Kong, we ventured north towards the border with China.  We enjoyed a self-guided walking tour through an area noted for five walled villages.  The link above provides the details of the sites and their history.  The most interesting to me was the village walls, complete with gun platforms and narrow gates to protect the villagers inside.  The brochure mentioned that the villages were not open to the public and we abided by that rule, even though I’m sure we could have wandered in and just played the role of “dumb tourists”.

Hong Kong Museum of History:  The larger and [in my opinion] more impressive of the two museums we visited.  We arrived only an hour before closing so we had to race through the prehistoric section in order to get to the more recent history areas, which is where our primary interest lied.  The exhibits were very well done and worth the price of admission — which was free!  Coming at the end of our trip made the museum extra interesting because we had visited some of the places highlighted, which allowed us to view the exhibits with a deeper understanding of context.  Of course, had we visited at the start of our trip it may have provided us with more appreciation for the places as we visited them.  Either way, this was an excellent  denouement to our Hong Kong adventure.

So, that’s it.  As I mentioned in Part 1, this was not intended to be an in-depth travel guide, nor did I cover absolutely everything we saw and did.  There was simply too much packed in to our trip to give proper attention to everything.  If you have any questions about anything I talked about here, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll do my best to answer them.  Thanks for reading!

After spending nearly two weeks in Hong Kong, I could probably come back and write a whole series of postings about the places we visited and the things we saw.  In fact, before we left on the trip that was my initial plan of attack.  However, after just a couple of days things changed.  We were simply seeing so much that a whole series of posts wouldn’t be practical — even as an unemployed person I don’t think I’d have enough time to go into great detail on everything we saw.

So, a compromise of sorts was in order.  Below I will present a short video which shows the highlights in a visual format.  If you’re still interested after that, scroll down and I’ll provide a synopsis of some of the places we saw with links where you can learn more on your own.

So, still with me?  OK, I’ll list some of the places and things we saw.

• Central-Mid-Levels escalator and walkway system:  There are a lot of hills in Hong Kong and having the “longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world” sure makes getting around a lot easier when you’re in the Central district. I found it interesting that escalator etiquette still seemed to be “Stand right, walk left” even though drivers in Hong Kong drive on the left side of the road, opposite from North America.
• The Peak Tram:  In keeping with the theme of navigating hills, the Peak Tram is a funicular railway which climbs 400m over a distance of just 1.4km.  Originally put into operation in 1888, this is much easier than walking up to The Peak, although I did that later in the trip too.
• The Peak:  Officially it is Victoria Peak and has an elevation of 552m, making it the highest point on Hong Kong Island.  Interestingly, the viewing platform and shopping mall are located more than 150m below the actual summit yet everyone calls it “The Peak”.  The actual summit is home to a bunch of telecommunication towers and is off limits to the public.  On a clear day you can get fantastic views of the city and harbour from up here.
  
  
• Chi Lin Nunnery and Nan Lian Garden:  Located across the road from each other, these two places are remarkable for their ability to hide the noise from the city outside.  The peace and tranquility inside are a stark contrast to the skyscrapers which can be seen outside.
  
• Kowloon Walled City Park:  Located on what was the site of the infamous Kowloon Walled City, the pleasant surroundings offer little clue to the notorious enclave which once stood here.  Reading about it doesn’t help me comprehend it.  I had no idea.
• The Star Ferry:  Operating since 1888, Star Ferry primarily operates between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, moving passengers back and forth across the harbour.  Our trip across was on Meridian Star, which has apparently been operating since 1958.
• Noonday Gun:  I wasn’t able to time it right, so I didn’t get to see the Noonday Gun fired, but finding the route under the road to its location was rewarding enough.
• Yim Tin Tsai:  A small island which is accessible by taking a ferry from Sai Kung.  Now mostly abandoned, it was once home to nearly 1000 people.
  
• Stanley:  Famous for its market which attracts bargain hunters from all over, Stanley also features a beautiful waterfront promenade and variety of restaurants.
• Tian Tan Buddha:  More often just referred to as “The Big Buddha”, this large bronze statue is located on Lantau Island.  The statue stands 34m and sits atop a hill and requires a climb of 268 steps to reach the base.  And, yes, I did count the steps on the way up so I can vouch for the validity of the Wikipedia article!)
• Tai O:  Mainly a small fishing village, Tai O features picturesque houses located on stilts and the stereotypical narrow alleys one expects in Hong Kong.
  

•  Cheung Chau:  Accessible by ferry, Cheung Chau is a small island which features a village and many hiking trails.  With the highest point just 95m above sea level, it is very accessible.  Some of the highlights on the island are a cave which was reportedly used by the pirate Cheung Po Tsai and Reclining Rock.  Of course, those are the typical tourist-type attractions.  For us, a highlight was Fong Bin Hospital which was opened in 1872 and closed in 1988 and has been sitting and allowed to decay ever since.  We didn’t go inside, but certainly wandered around the outside and took photos.
  

That’s all the time I have for today.  I’ll conclude with Part 2 later as time permits.  Hope you made it this far!