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Published: June 23rd 2017
Geo: 22.33, 114.18
Safely arrived in HK on Friday, 30th April. We were lucky, the flight was pretty empty so we didn't have anyone sitting next to us. Cathay Pacific has improved the comfort in their economy cabins but 11 hours in there was still a bit uncomfortable. The entertainment was good and we watched a few films and some HK televeision programmes.
We touched down at 7:00 local time, just as our bodies was ready to go to sleep. We both nodded off as the plane came in to land and were jolted awake as it touched the ground. Alas, the nap was only for 20 mins. As we arrived rather early, our hotel room wasn't ready so we had to hurry to the nearest cafe to have a large caffeine injection.
After a nap of an hour or so our first port of call was the Hong Kong Museum of History. There was a special exhibition on the lifestyle of the nobility in the Han Dynasty (220 BC - 8 AD). It was fascinating and the quality of the artefacts was breath-taking. We were especially impressed with the lacquer ware considering it was made over 2000 years ago. The colours remain
as fresh as when they were first applied. Fascinating though the exhibition was, at one point, Hamish nearly felt asleep standing up. He had to keep moving for fear that he might actually nod off and fall flat onto an exhibition case ! Imagine the headlines ! British Library Curator destroys 2000 year old treasures....
Saturday morning, we got up early(ish) and caught the cable car to go to Lantau Island where the Great Buddha is situated. We had pre-booked our tickets so we only had to queue for 20 minutes or so. We have ridden on the cable car a number of times but it still has to rank as one of the highlights of each visit to Hong Kong. The terminus is a commercial "village" called Ngong Ping. It is just a pedestrianised open air shopping street. Nevertheless there were some nice shops there eager to relieve you of your HK$. The main purpose of our visit was to climb up the steps to the Great Buddha where Alan's parents have their memorial plaques inside the auspicious Memorial Hall. Always an emotional experience to pay our respects. The view from the top terrace was spectacular, if a little hazy.
The tickets also include a nice bottle of cold water and an ice cream - very welcome in the hot temperatures. Afterwards we went down to visit the Po Lin temple. It was a busy place with lots of pilgrims burning incense sticks, some of which were as tall as a person (see photo below !). We saw plans to build a 10,000-Buddha Hall and they was asking for donations. If you had the odd $1,000,000, you could sponsor a full column. The finished hall will dwarf the present Great Hall and probably take ten years to build. So we look forward to charting its progress during coming visits.
A change of pace on Saturday and with Alan's sister, Kitty, we took the train to the New Territories, the area of land between Kowloon and Mainland China. The railway network is very well intergrated here and travelling on trains is a doddle. What used to take half a day thirty years ago when Alan was a child now takes barely an hour and only costs about £4 return.
We first stopped at Yuen Long, which used to be a rural market town. From memory, there used to be lots of
fish farms here in the 70's. Now it is another satellite town with a population of 530,000. Despite all the new development and new tower blocks, the market has kept it's rural atmosphere and charm. It was evident that we were not in HK city centre. The streets were less clean and the shops were not as manuicured. You would feel that this was definitely a Chinese district.
After some delicious local food, we took the West Rail to the Wetland Park. It is a conservation, education and tourism facility, set in 60 hectares of land. It was great to know that there were such nature reserves in this overpopulated and commercialised place. There is a good article on Wikipedia, if you would like the background and the history (this blog aims to provide entertainment AND education...... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_Wetland_Park) We visited on a very warm Sunday and the place was teaming with visitors with children. They naturally got a bit excited and so were shouting and running around. And not just the chiIdren ! Any self-respecting bird would have run (flown ?) a mile. Our next visit will definitely on a weekday. The guides explained that, as the tide was high
this morning, there would not be many birds aound feeding and we would be unlikely to see many rare species. He was right. But we did see some red crabs foraging at low tide and also some Mudskippers. Oh, almost forgot, we also got to see Pui Pui , the Crocodile who was thrown into a river as a baby and had to be rescued. She was hiding under a rock and making herself as hard to spot as possible.
Dinner was at a restaurant in North Point. Alan's sister took us there especially to try regional dishes from where their mother came from. The food was very different from the Cantonese food found in HK or in London. River fish was especially good. The most intriguing dish was Fried Milk. As far as I know, it is egg white, mixed with milk and corn flour and fried until set. It is like a very soft scrambled egg with a texture like tofu. I'll have to and find out more about how to make this when I get home.
Oh yes, and finally if any of you fancies a new look how about......... Lego Hair?!
Next stop, Auckland !!
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Jeremy
non-member comment
sounds exciting! will see if L can give me a Lego haircut this evening. xx