New Territories and Hong Kong island

Having tackled Lantau island over the weekend, we decided to continue our exploration of HK by checking out the New Territories. New Territories are a part of HK that were added to the colony (then under British control) later than Kowloon and Hong Kong. Hence, there isn't much in terms of colonial heritage to see here. The place bears quite a close resemblance to mainland China though, apparently... (can't really say since I've not yet visited mainland China).

We started off by visiting the 10000 Buddhas monastery (Man Fat Tsz). It's not actually strictly speaking a monastery, as the place was built by a Buddhist layman and his disciples in 1949 (there are no monks resident at the "monastery". The 10000 Buddhas which has given the temple its name, refer to the 12,000 (!!!) Buddha statues that line the footpath leading up to the temple. Construction of the temple was quite a Heraculean effort, as the "monks" carried all the building materials up manually to the temple site! It took a total 18 years to complete the buildings and the main buildings.

It's a pretty impressive place to visit, especially the walk up to the temple is quite impressive, with all the Buddha statues holding different poses leading the way. The temple itself is not quite pretty, but not quite as impressive as the temple we went to yesterday. Also, based on what I've seen so far, I definitely prefer Japanese temples to Chinese ones. Somehow, Japanese temples are just more harmonious and beautiful - one sometimes gets the impression the main purpose of Chinese temples is to impress. That's not to say the temple wasn't worth the visit, though!

After a rather tasty and very cheap lunch at a very local restaurant not far from the temple, we carried on our exploration of the New Territories. Our next stop was a fortified village. These Chinese villages used to be very common in Canton and in what is now Hong Kong - basically local fishermen used to have to fortify their villages to protect against attacks from pirates. These fortified villages have mostly disappeared, apparently, but a few remain in Hong Kong (mostly in the New Territories). The one we visited was quite a fascinating place, located right next to a huge housing estate. It doesn't look like a very interesting place from far away, but close up it's a different story. The doors and archways have Chinese traditional decoration, the place really gave one the impression of going back say 100 years back in time. I hope these places will be preserved, I suppose time will tell...

Our next stop in New Territories was the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, a rather modern museum containing a number of more and less interesting exhibitions. The one that caught our eye was - of course - the exhibition on Bruce Lee, one of Hong Kong's most famous residents. The exhibition gave pretty interesting insight into Bruce Lee's brief but intensive life (there were also some pretty cool clips of his most classic action scenes). One interesting point that Raphaelle pointed out about the exhibition was, though, that they mentioned nothing about his "mysterious death" (no mention about his son Brandon's even more mysterious death). The rest of the museum was interesting enough, even if I didn't have much time to check out the rest of it.

And then, alas, it was time to head back to Kowloon and take our ferry back to Discovery Bay. We spent a few minutes taking in the stunning Hong Kong skyline which can be seen across the sea from Kowloon. We continued to enjoy the marvelous view as we took the legendary Star Ferry across to Hong Kong island. The Star Ferry started operating back in 1888, and is still in operation (judging from all the black smoke the ferry belches during its journey, the ferries don't get upgraded very frequently...).

The next day, it was time to explore Hong Kong island (that is, after all, where most of the main attractions and famous sites are located). We set off to explore with  Raphaelle (Olivier had a rendez-vous at the French embassy, and would join us later). We started at the Western end of Hong Kong island. We were immediately immersed in a very different facet of Hong Kong compared to what we'd seen so far. This is the Hong Kong that can be seen in some of Wong-Kar Wai's films - a place full of life, small shops and interesting scents coming from all directions. (none of the famous skyscrapers were to be seen here).

We started our exploration at the central market building, which was unfortunately shut. Undeterred, we continued, checking out a rather fascinating little temple/shrine, which was discreetly hidden in a residential building (there are plenty of these small, intimate temples in Hong Kong - in many ways they are more interesting than the big, more famous and therefore very touristy places). We continued walking through a rather interesting mixed neighborhood (there was a mixture of basic aliments shops, but also pretty fashionable places that wouldn't look out of place in San Francisco or Tokyo). We ended up in another temple called Man Mo (where Ollie joined us), apparently an interesting place, famous for its numerous incest coils in the ceiling. Unfortunately, the fact that the temple was being restored detracted quite a lot from our visit. Still, an interesting place.

We then continued our stroll towards Admiralty, where we had a lunch date with an old mate of mine from London, Martin. (or Mr. Martin, as he is known as in HK, or at least where we were having lunch). The landscape got progressively modern as we made our way towards Admiralty, which is the modern part of Hong Kong, where the financial district is located and so forth. So the traditional Chinese shops were replaced by modern shops, restaurants catering for expats, and skyscrapers. Still, HK very much maintained a quite different feel from say Tokyo or Singapore (decidedly more Chinese, not a surprise of course!)

We were lunching with Martin in the same building where he works, in a Dim Sum restaurant with a rather splendid view over Admiralty and towards Kowloon. I love Dim Sum, I've had plenty of it in London. As expected, the Dim Sum here was some of the best I've ever had - and not very expensive either! Great to catch up with Martin too, whom I've not seen since Aki's wedding which was years and years ago (he moved to Hong Kong from London 5 years ago). Life in HK hasn't changed him, still the same nice guy. He even showed us his office, and the splendid view he has from up there.

Our tummies filled & appetites sated, we carried on exploring HK island, heading to Victoria park, a wonderful little oasis of peace and quiet, surrounded by the hustle and bustle of HK. The views from there towards the skyscrapers are pretty nice. We also visited the famous aviary, where we got to observe a large array of birds, all free to fly around as they wish. (well, they can't leave the aviary, obviously, but it's a pretty big cage).

The next thing to do, of course, is to take the famous tramway up to Victoria Peak. It must be one of the steepest tram rides in the world, as the tram only covers a distance of 1,4 kilometers, while climbing up to an altitude of 400 meters. The tram is a sort of public transportation that whisks tourist up the hill, but also locals (there are plenty of fancy mansions and apartment complexes on the slopes of Victoria Peak).

The views from the top are predictably stunning - Hong Kong can be seen almost in its entirety from up there (both the Hong Kong side and Kowloon). Needless to say, I was rather busy with my camera. Me, Mathilde and Ollie decided to do a 2 hours walk around the peak (Raphaelle had had enough and decided to head back to DB). It was a rather pleasant stroll, which offered some more nice views over Hong Kong island and the surrounding islands. (the view was often obstructed by rather big trees, so I wouldn't call it a panoramic walk as such, though).

We took a scenic bus back down to the Central Station, from where it was a short walk to the ferry terminal. We were treated to some quite views over some of the rather upmarket neighborhoods on the way down (including a place called Guildford, which rather made us laugh, since Guildford, Surrey was where all three of us used to live back in the UK). We also passed through Happy Valley (a neighborhood very popular with French people, apparently, where Martin lives, also famous for its horse race track).

And then, time to head back to Discovery Bay, after a very rewarding day of exploring HK!