April 2008
We arrived late evening in Hong Kong on Saturday 5th April after a 4 and a half hour flight from Tokyo. To say we were thrown in at the deep end is no exaggeration. I don’t think anything can prepare you for the madness and frenetic energy of Hong Kong. It is unbelievable the pace at which this city moves, the skyline seems to be changing daily; nothing stands still. I couldn’t stand the pace here for more than a few days…it makes London seem slow.
We checked in to the Cosmopolitan Hotel overlooking Happy Valley race course on one side, if you have a deluxe room; we don’t so we are 23 floors up but with no view due to the back of the hotel overlooking a graveyard about which the Chinese are very superstitious, so all of the windows are covered with frosted film. We hit the streets for something to eat; looking in restaurant windows displayed with pig’s head, live eel, whole pigeon complete with head and beak, chickens’ feet, something’s penis, squid, snakes’ heads – choosing to dine rather finely at the Red Pepper where we were oblivious to how anything looked before it was put on our table. Not having become accustom to the exchange rate we order like kings, 5 main dishes instead of 2 as we want to taste from the fabulous menu…we get a shock when the bill is presented.
Around the corner from the hotel is a huge shopping centre in Causeway Bay called Times Square. Lots of bling, huge signage for luxury brands. Skyscrapers glitter reflecting the wealth. The streets at night blaze with neon; shops are stacked on top of shops on top of restaurants; reaching up 9 or 10 floors accessed by tiny lifts….and apartments stacked on top. I’ve never seen so many street signs; it’s sensory overload…a scene from the movie ‘Bladerunner’. Even the money is brightly coloured.
Next day the Victoria Peak Tram ascends a steep hill taking us high above the skyscrapers to a spectacular view of Hong Kong.
Billionaire skyscrapers jostle for space among old high rise apartment blocks, crowded in on top of each other, crumbling, paint peeling, almost apocalyptic…reaching way overhead lines of washing flap. Hundreds living in each block.
At 1 Connaught Place the skyscraper which is Jardine House in the Central District, is an office tower standing 52 storeys high, Hong Kong’s first skyscraper when it opened in 1973. It features 1,750 porthole-style windows and has earned the wonderful nickname of ‘House of 1,000 Arseholes’. The Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank remains the most expensive building erected here; designed by Norman Foster and known locally as the Robot buildings because the chains and motors of the escalators and other interior moving parts are on view. It’s said that HSBC is guaranteed its view of the harbour by the government…but Hong Kong harbour is shrinking as more and more skyscrapers are built.
At the foot of the HSBC skyscraper people gather on Sundays socially; there’s a lack of central green open spaces in Hong Kong so this is a popular meeting place.
They are filling up areas of the harbour close to the diminishing shoreline, sand transported on massive barges, construction on top of the newly created landmass.
Stepping inside the Man Mo Temple on Hollywood Road, Sheung Wan is like stepping in to the past. One of the oldest temples in Hong Kong, dedicated to a 3rd century BC statesman called Man Cheung worshipped as the god of Literature. The entire ceiling is covered with incense coils which burn day and night.
One of the Star ferries which go back and forth across Hong Kong harbour several times a day to the outlying islands. We took one to Kowloon. Amusingly everywhere we wander the Calvin Klein model dominates in different poses.
Builders navigate bamboo scaffolding high above us, the poles flexing as the workers move.
We spot a Maroon-breasted Crowned Pigeon and a beautiful golden brown bird.
As well as the malls and luxury brands, local shops sell traditional Chinese groceries, lanterns and tourist wares.
We are now in Vietnam; sitting in a cafe in Ho Chi Minh City in about 38 degrees of heat. But first to recap on our last days in Hong Kong. Over on the Kowloon side, reached by one of the many Star ferries which go back and forth across the harbour every 10 minutes or so…Dave and I hung around until dark to see beautiful views of Hong Kong Harbour at night.
On our last full day in the city we took the MTR subway train followed by a KCR East Rail train to the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery in Sha Tin (220 Pai Tau Village). A 20 minute journey to reach the New Territories area of Hong Kong. Built in the 1950s the monastery is a huge complex that contains, despite its name, around 13,000 Buddhas. On both sides Arhat (saints in Buddhism) statues line the 400 steps to the monastery grounds sited at the top of a hill. The steps are shallow, easy to climb….mosquitoes hover in the shadows to torment us.
Founded by Yuet Kai who moved from the Chinese mainland, the title of Monastery is misleading as there are no monks residing here and it is maintained by laypeople. At the top there are 4 ‘halls’ dedicated to Kwun Yam and other Buddhists and deities. Hundreds more small statues of Buddha line the walls of the main temple whilst in the courtyard a giant blue dog and a perplexed horse look surreal. It’s overwhelming, mind blowing and one of the strangest places we’ve visited.
Above the main temple another path leads higher, the figures here painted in bright colours, some nightmarish.
Next door to the monastery is an area called Po Fook Hill which houses a large mausoleum where Chinese families intern their dead and come to worship; leaving burning incense sticks in front of Buddha or in the buildings housing the marble stones commemorating the dead where their photos are displayed. It’s peaceful and moving.
We didn’t have time to see more of China and we appreciate that Hong Kong, ruled by the British for many years…is not typically representative of the country. We experienced a brief insight in to their culture; through the food, the temples…sadly not so much the people as opportunities to chat with locals were few in such a fast moving city. And so we left this fascinating place to head to where we are now in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) in Vietnam.
Comments:
April 11, 2008 Sandra: “I love the recurring naked Calvin Klein model, please include him in all posts from now on xxx Sandra”.
Ate
Red Pepper Restaurant (updated now sadly closed).
Saw
Ten Thousand Buddha Monastery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Thousand_Buddhas_Monastery
Star Ferry https://www.starferry.com.hk/en/home
The Peak Tram https://www.thepeak.com.hk/en
Man Mo Temple https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_Mo_Temple_(Hong_Kong
Man Mo Temple https://www.man-mo-temple.hk/
The Travel Diarist 
Your photos are amazing. What an amazing city.Have you been to any night clubs or gigs? Very curious of the Hong Kong nightlife.Please keep enjoying and please keep sharing!xxxS&T
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