Snippets from Hong Kong
My favourite park in all of Hong Kong
On my first day itself I got to spend some time by myself in the quiet environs of the Lai Chi Kok park. It was an oasis of tranquility in the midst of the bustling area of Mei Foo and contained a Tai Chi Garden, an acupressure stone path, a calm green pond and some beautiful ornate examples of Chinese architecture. Take for example this gazebo in which I sat and watched the sunset through. It was made of dark wood and was intricately carved. The park was popular for photoshoots, as I saw some heavily made-up models posing for pictures in various corners.
Thankfully, I got the opportunity to visit Lai Chi Kok park again the next week. I got to see elderly ladies practising Tai-Chi with swords in fluid dance-like movements. This time around, I tried walking the acupressure stone-path and marvelled at how much pain tiny bits of stone can cause. The result of that painful dance that I did was a tremendous feeling of comfort, like a massage even, for my travel-weary feet. I have saved this park in a corner of my mind as a peaceful haven that I can return to at will....to sit at the gazebo, to walk on the pathways, to stare at the waters or just breathe in the peace!
The crazy rides at the AIA fair
The people I went with were mad about rides and would try anything....I did not know this at the time. This was an internationally acclaimed travelling carnival that had come back to Hong Kong after a good 7 years. The excitement surrounding it was tremendous and as it was Chinese New Year time the crowds were literally, thronging. The three siblings and I entered and after some warm-up rides we saw this one (above). They immediately wanted to go on it but I was skeptical. The ride literally flung people over the sea, I wasn't sure I could stomach that much excitement. I asked them to go ahead but they coaxed me into it. Truth be told I didn't need much coaxing. I went on this ride and it was crazy. It spun us around and flung us sideways and all I could see were ant-like people below, the looming sea and other riders' screaming faces. After a while I shut my eyes, I felt really scared and sick. But then it was over and I wasn't dead....so it was fine.
The real monster was the Mach 5, a ride like no other....where the riders were strapped in and spun around 360 degrees. I guess I am one of the privileged few who can say that I have seen the Hong Kong skyline upside down. I loved the fair, replete with funny cardboard scenes with faces cut out where we posed for photos and the lion dance where they showered lettuce leaves at us for luck. Novel experiences!
The Parade and fireworks for CNY
For the parade we had to walk miles till we actually found a spot where we could see anything....so thick were the crowds lining the streets at Tsim Sha Tsui. It was a fun experience watching lion dancers, dragon dancers, unicyclists, various floats and pretty girls all made-up walking down the streets. The crowds were cheering and munching on snacks not minding the long wait at all. We gave up and walked to the MTR when our legs were just about to give way.
Victoria Park Flower Market
It's considered auspicious for the Chinese to deck up their homes with new plants and flowers for New Year and cashing in on this ritual there springs up a mammoth annual flower market at Victoria Park for all sorts of plants and flowers: lucky, holy or just plain beautiful. I can honestly say two things about my experiences here: I have never seen so many exotic varieties of flowers and plants together in one place and secondly, I did not really mind the surging crowds which I abhor in my own country.
There were lanes and lanes of flower stalls and then there were a few lanes of toy stalls and food stalls. I saw that visual which up until now was familiar only via TV...a large stall with various kinds of dead sea craetures and other insects on trays, manned by very clean looking cooks in aprons who would just fry up and sprinkle some taste enhancing powder on whatever you chose. I had arrived in China...to be sure!
DimSum
My friend assured me that a trip to HK was incomplete without tasting a traditional dimsum meal at a 'tea house'. Given the fact that I have very many reservations about non vegetarian food she found us a vegetarian tea house right in the middle of the beautiful and serene Hong Kong Park.
The Lok Cha tea-house had wooden furniture and waitresses wearing brick-red long skirts. My friend ordered turnip cake, sticky rice steamed in lotus leaves, water chestnut wraps and a few other kinds of vegetarian dimsums. We each had to choose a tea to go with the meal and I chose a mild fragrant tea. I ate the entire meal with chospticks and managed to get quite full.The tastes were mild and the food vanished quite quickly.
Edward Youde Aviary
Now this was something else altogether. A first for me defnitely. Within HK park is a free for all aviary which to put in clearer terms is a mesh and net dome enclosure with wooden walkways and plentiful trees with numerous kinds of exotic birds. I went nuts with the camera spotting and clicking. The birds were quite friendly as they were used to people walking amidst them and some of the feathered darlings happily held their poses for the camera. If I hadn't known better I would have sworn they wanted good photos of themselves.
Lan Kwai Fong
On a day when our feet were screaming in painful protest we stayed in and played computer games all day. In the evening the two of us dressed up for LKF, Hong Kong's party district. Took an MTR to Hong Kong station and out the Central D2 exit and we were there. LKF is a neighbourhood where pubs and bars jostle each other for space on a hill that is upwardly inclined. We walked up to the Hard Rock Cafe where the live music was great and Pooja swore that they did the best mac n cheese in the world. We ate, drank and clicked some pictures and walked around LKF. So much life spilling out on to the roads, blaring music from competing bars and the general spirit of alcohol-induced good humour was all around us.
Later we were joined by Pooja's friends Blythe and Sooraj at Stormies. Another round of cocktails were ordered and a lively chat ensued...though to be heard above the music was to scream yourself hoarse. Gwailos (Caucasians) were dancing crazily after a while and singing the lyrics of the songs out loud. I caught Bruno Mars' Uptown Funk. A happy-high girl stranger pulled me by my hands and tried to get me to dance with her but I smilingly declined. We left almost around midnight and took the bus back to Tung Chung.
Ngong Ping Buddha
We took the Crystal Cabin cable car up to the Ngong Ping village in the mountains to see the Giant Buddha. The floor beneath our feet was glass which made me giddy to see forests and trees, the sea and shoreline below. Not for the faint-hearted at all!
Ngong Ping village was decked up for CNY and we made our way past the statues of the twelve Rakshis who guard the way up to the Buddha. And then I saw Him, seated atop a tall mountain, his expression that of infinite peace. I was struck by the strength of my feelings towards the benign 80 foot statue of the Buddha. I felt a surge of nostalgia and a rush of feelings from meeting someone from home in a foreign country. I loved that moment of peace and happiness and belongingness. I knew Him and He knew me.
Up the two hundred and sixty steps we went, puffing and panting. But the views itself were well worth the climb. We could see gorgeous views of the valley down below with clouds floating. We did a 360 degree perambulation and climbed down. Walked to the Po Lin monsatery in the same complex where Pooja bought a lot of incense and we bowed thrice facing the temple structure and planted the lit incense in the Incense Garden. Inside, the statues of Buddha and Bodhisatwas were covered in gold. Even the ceiling was painted gold with intricate carvings. We came out and sat down for a meal of various kinds of tofu in sauce and Fan Fo a mildly flavoured and sweetened soy curd.
Post-lunch we thought of hiking around the Ngong Ping island and chanced upon the Wisdom Path which was a trail leading up into the mountains in a gradual incline with huge pillars inscribed with Sutras planted at intervals.
It was such a surreal experience, walking and just feeling the wind blowing through the mountain paths as if disseminating the teachings of the Buddha all over the place. We walked for quite a while and then came back down to the village from where we hopped on to a bus home. I felt full and quiet after my day at Ngong Ping.
Dinner at Temple Street
That evening we settled for a cheap dinner at the Temple Street in the Jordan district of HK. Pooja, Krish and I walked down from the MTR station to one of the numerous roadside eateries. I have to mention the plastic tubs full of sea creatures displayed outside each restaurant. People can of course, choose what they want fried, stirred and sauced up.
Our meal was simple but very delicious. The Ramchandani siblings shared a plate of clams. But for the rest we stuck to chicken and veg. By this time I was such a pro with chopsticks that I managed the entire meal without recourse to forks and spoons. The high point was Yan Jing beer, very nice and light which complemented the meal.
Cheung Chau
For my birthday we decided to give expensive Macau a miss and head to the serene fishing village of Cheung Chau off the main coast of Hong Kong. We took a fast ferry and reached the island and walked through a thick throng of tourist to the beach. Happened to chance upon a wonderful hiking trail called the 'Mini Great Wall' and decided to just go for it! It was quite a long hike up to the top of the hill but the views were splendid and we stopped often to admire the vistas of the sea and the wind eroded boulders.
Back from the hike we walked through the quaint town looking for Popo san's famous egg waffles and egg drop cakes. It was tucked into a lane near a temple and we stood in queue as the wizened old lady in an apron whipped up batches and batches of waffles. Pooja told me that she had been doing this ever since she was a young girl and was quite the Hong Kong institution. My waffles were slathered with butter, condensed milk and peanut butter - a heavenly combo in a waffle still warm from the stove. We sat on a bench, enjoyed our snacks and walked back to the pier to take the ferry back. What a lovely 30th it was!
Windows of the world
Pooja and I took our tired selves to see the Windows of The World in Schenzhen city in China one day. We had to change MTRs thrice and the journeys were quite long. She told me we were traversing from the southern tip of Hong Kong to the northern tip and then crossing over into China. We whiled away time by watching episodes of Chi on her phone. Once at the border I had to stand in an immigration line and got my passport stamped for the first time on this trip. Pooja exchanged currency at the Lo Wu border and then it was onwards onto a Chinese Metro and into China. A cute-as-a-button Chinese baby boy grabbed onto my pinky finger on the train and would not let go. His parents were so amused at their less-than-a-year-old being this sociable with a foreigner that they took a picture of me and him.
This was the entrance to Wof the W...a huge and colourful place where the MTR station was inside the Mini Louvre. We both had headaches so the day was not as enjoyable as it could have been. So China is renowned for it's fakes. As I had seen in every shopping mall and street market up until now they deal only in designs copied from big design houses and fashion labels. So it was only befitting that they had a large tourist attraction based on miniatures of all the tourist attractions of the world. From the Taj Mahal to the Pyramids, from Mt. Rushmore to the Windmills of Holland from a mini Great Wall of China to Machchu Pichchu it was all there.
Ocean Park
Ocean Park was happy, scary and fun all at the same time. Harsh, Pooja and I went there for the day. It's the biggest and oldest amusement park in HK; set on the hillside on many levels and has stunning views of the ocean.
 |
| Whirly Bird ride |
Mui Wo Beach
On my last day in HK Pooja's parents and I headed to Mui Wo beach. We took a bus that went up and down on winding mountain roads with spell-binding views of the sea and dropped us off at a quaint beach town where the air itself was tranquil and smelled of peace. We walked down to the seaside and sat on the tables and benches built of cement on the sand and I wondered for the umpteenth time how user friendly everything is here. There were even barbeque pits a little way away...built for families to just come to the beach with their food and set up a hot meal right there. We enjoyed ourselves, hiked for a while on the nearby mountains and then headed back.
Comments
Post a Comment