Lasting impressions of the Fragrant Harbour
On the evidence of the four activity packed and fun filled days in Hong Kong, courtesy of the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB), there is much to see and discover of Hong Kong. Four days certainly isn’t by any means enough and what it has left me with is a desire to return to the Fragrant Harbour for more journeys of discovery. The four days has certainly left me with much to savour: flavours of old and new that seem to complement rather than contradict in not just the cuisine, but in much of the culture and traditions, as well as in many of the day-to-day goings-on. That the trip has left me a lasting impression of Hong Kong there is no doubt. Along with this, there are many new perspectives that I have gained on places that I have previously visited, as well as the perspectives on a Hong Kong that has a memory of its past very much in how life goes on in the present, of which I have some very lasting impressions of:
Dragon Boats, Bath Tubs, Drums and Screaming Adolescents.
Dragon Boats, Bath Tubs, Drums and Screaming Adolescents!
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When Pete just couldn’t keep himself dry sharing a bath tub with a model! Mixing up bath tubs and dragon boats doesn’t always work out, as Pete and Geck Geck were to find out. |
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Adolescents screaming in UC Centenary Square to the beat of the drums! The beat of traditional drums open the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Carnival, as Canto-Pop and K-Pop Artistes greet screaming adolescents. |
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Alexander seemed like the most popular guy in Hong Kong, much to Pete’s disappointment! The one mighty scream for Alexander. |
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Adolescents screaming in UC Centenary Square to the beat of the drums! The beat of traditional drums open the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Carnival, as Canto-Pop and K-Pop Artistes greet screaming adolescents. |
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An overview of Day 3 and the Dragon Boat Races. |
Food, Glorious Food!
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Paddling Away to a Delightful Robatayaki Treat at busy suzie. A wonderful treat to a fantastic dining experience and Robatayaki cuisine in the ambience of a circular restaurant in 1881 Heritage. |
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Shanghainese, Yang Zhou and Szechuan cuisine at the Hong Kong Old Restaurant. A restaurant that built a reputation on the old money of Hong Kong which serves delightful Shanghainese, Yang Zhou and Szechuan dishes. |
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The delectable world of Margaret Xu, a former advertising agency owner who has decided to treat Hong Kong to her wonderful skills in behind the stove in her three table private kitchen in which she offers vegetables straight from her organic farm. |
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Gingko House, a restaurant in Central in which you could be transported by the strains of La Vie en Rose playing in the background to the streets of Paris. The restaurant was started by social workers providing employment to the elderly as well as channelling its proceeds towards charitable causes. |
Wonderful Sights.
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The gorgeous world that you enter through the doors of the Mira Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui. |
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Wanderings around Nelson Street in Mongkok. |
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The celebration of colour, light and texture on the streets of Hong Kong. |
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Sights of Victoria Harbour on Board a Replica of the Bounty. Why there would have certainly been a mutiny on this Bounty. |
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A really interesting sculpture exhibition “In between Imagination & Reality” that was going on at the Atrium in Times Square featuring sculptures from two of Korea’s renowned contemporary sculptors, Yong Ho Ji and Hwan Kwon Yi which runs up to 22 August 2010. What caught my eyes were the sculptures of Yi, whose sculptures are made in distorted proportions that play on one’s mind in a way that it serves to confuse and confound what the mind makes out of what the eye sees. |
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An old practice still evry much in use in Hong Kong that is perhaps reminiscent of that in Singapore when I was growing up. It is something that one sees everywhere, being particularly hard to miss on the busy streets … bamboo scaffolding. This very old method of erecting scaffolding is used in much of the construction activity going on around Hong Kong, as well as in maintenance work on the exteriors of buildings and on the signboards that stick out from the buildings. |
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Hong Kong at its most glitzy, where labels having made their mark in the western capitals have found not just a home, but have become an inseparable part of the heart and soul of what Hong Kong is. |
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Granville Road and Granville Circuit – where some delightful treats await the young and trendy shopper. |
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Echoes of the Sheung Wan of the 1960s: Wing Lee Street and the ladder streets. The walk along the staircases and terraces of Sheung Wan around the area where Wing Lee Street, a terrace that was made famous by Alex Law’s award winning movie 歲月神偷, or “Time, the thief” is (The movie is named “Echoes of the Rainbow” in English, a reference to the double rainbow that features in a scene in the movie). The walk took us back to a time to the Sheung Wan of the 1960s. |
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The Mid-Levels area that the escalators to the heavenly views of Victoria Harbour the location halfway up Victoria Peak provides to its exclusive and upmarket residents. This provides another stairway to a surer path to Heaven – the stairway that leads to the Jamia Masjid. |
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The Star Ferry, where life comes to a standstill for nine minutes in Hong Kong. |
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The must ride on trams on Hong Kong Island. |
