Hong Kong no Phooey TR (Apr 2012)! The Yee's have it....TR finish #1101, 07/09

[kmedina]

I love the sleeping dog in the middle of the walkway. It is really beautiful there. All of the statues are lovely and so detailed. The Buddha must have taken a lot of work.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Ehsmum-your pics of the Great Buddha look like our pics of Haleakala in Hawaii-beautiful hot sunny day down below-up top couldn't see our hands in front of us!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Looks awesome-and thanks for the history/religious lesson-its nice to know what you are looking at! You area already so wise-you obviously didn't need any more! Makes the Nara Buddha look tiny at just under 15m. I am waiting to see where the gate leads to.

My DD saw a huge Buddha on a mountain as she was flying in to Kyoto-she is still trying to work out where it might have been.

If your DD works out where the Buddha was, post it on your Japan TR for info. If I make it over to Japan, I might try and track it down.


And thanks for the vote of confidence....but I can always use wisdom; and lots more of it!

Yep, 4 days in HK proper and 2 at HKDL. I would have loved to have longer and explored a little more but we got to do all the highlights and everything on our "must do" list in 4 days .

The 90 minute wait was only for the standard cabin, the crystal cabin was walk on. I didn't understand why so many people were waiting for the standard cabin when the price wasn't that much cheaper

I love your pics of the Buddha! We couldn't see any of that detail because of the fog. This is what we saw

And this was our view of the village below

On reflection and looking at your photos, I'll take our drizzle and low lying cloud day.

Love, Love , Love the pictures and write up of the Buddha!

Glad you love, love, loved it! Hope I get to keep the love in future updates.

Phew, all caught up. The dinner looked really good. All that shopping, I would have really felt over load. I cant remember, but inside those shopping centers do they have food courts? I am shocked that you didnt take pics inside the store of the shoes....

I love the animal shows. I loved swimming with the dolphins. The ones with bottle necks noses , they are really strong. That was some rain pellting. I guess they do not have drainage for the standing water. Now I see why you said your shoes got soaked. No pic of you wringing out your shoes?

I couldnt get on that cable car. That is some trek if you choose to walk it. That buddah ( sp? ) is huge! Dont you hate that , you get some where and you cant take pictures.

You were such a trooper going through all that and still going. My kind of weather, I love the rain. Hopefully I can stay caught up.

Most of the malls had proper restaurants and food courts. There were restaurants EVERYWHERE and on the strangest floors. That dinner that we had was on a higher level floor in the mall.

And I was too busy running around looking at shoes to take pictures.

I am in total awe of your buddah pictures!! I'm really looking forward to going here Do you think it would be better to go on a week day or a weekend? We arrive on a Saturday at tea time and want to avoid doing Disney on a weekend - seeing as we're already on Lantau - we might do this (Tian Tan Buddah) on the Sunday?

My original plan was to go see the Buddha on a Sunday; the Sunday after we arrived. That was before I booked in for the Dim Sum lunch (only available at weekends and public holidays and as that was when we were still at Disney I took the opportunity to go experience the Dim Sum).....and then I found out that the cable car was closed for maintenance and reopening early April; so we deferred the trip out to the Buddha till this day.

I would say that if you do go to the Buddha on Sunday, go early. I wouldn't necessary avoid Disney on a Sunday. As my experience showed, the Sunday crowd at Disney was actually better than the Monday. If I'd listened to that advise of avoiding Disney at the weekend, we would have been jammed packed in with the mainland Chinese holiday makers on Monday AND Tuesday!

I love the sleeping dog in the middle of the walkway. It is really beautiful there. All of the statues are lovely and so detailed. The Buddha must have taken a lot of work.

I loved the sleeping dog too; hence the picture.

 

[hjd0411]

Just caught up again!!! Great informative updates as usual. Fab photos, too. It is a very photogenic city. Ocean Park looks interesting - I've never been there, but it could be a good spot to visit if I find myself in HK.

Thanks for the updates!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Just caught up again!!! Great informative updates as usual. Fab photos, too. It is a very photogenic city. Ocean Park looks interesting - I've never been there, but it could be a good spot to visit if I find myself in HK.

Thanks for the updates!

Glad you found the time to pop back in!

 

[PrincessInOz]

In Search of….Buddhist Culture



The Da Mao Peng Monastery was initially a small temple constructed by three Buddhists monks in Ngong Ping. In 1924, it was renamed the Po Lin or Precious Lotus Monastery and is the Monastery responsible for organising the construction of the Tian Tan Giant Buddha. The Po Lin Monastery and Tian Tan Giant Buddha are considered to be one of the major tourist attractions in Hong Kong – but it is still a monastery steeped in the traditions of Buddhism and a centre for Buddhist teachings.

We walked through the San Men or Mountain Gate and through a path leading into the Monastery. There seemed to be a lot of symmetry around.

We walked past the Reunification Cauldron made to commemorate the return of Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China.

The path would lead us to the Hall of Skanda Bodhisattva (enlightened being), the main entrance of the monastery.

We passed by a huge incense urn before entering the Hall.

Skanda, also known as Wei Tuo, is a Mahayana bodhisattva regarded as a devoted guardian of Buddhist monasteries who guards the Buddhist teachings. There was a statue of Skanda but I didn’t seem to grab a picture….I was completely entranced by the Four Heavenly Kings.

In the Buddhist faith, the Four Heavenly Kings are four gods that guard a cardinal direction. In Chinese, they are collectively known as Feng Tiao Yu Shun...

ZengZhang, Heavenly King of the South. Feng corresponds to the edge of the sword. When ghosts and monsters dare to step in, he chants an incantation and throws his magic sword up into the sky. In a flash the sword flies down like lightning, hitting, sometimes even killing the intruder. He resides in the Glass Palace on the south of the Four Heavens.

Chiogu, Heavenly King of the East. Tiao corresponds to the sound of “tune”, hence the pipa or musical instrument. On the battlefield, he plucks the musical instrument and gives his enemy a headache. So he wins the battle. He resides in the Golden Palace on the east of the Four Heavens.

Duowen, Heavenly King of the North. Yu means rain and the umbrella, although in this case he is holding a stupa. Whenever he puts up his umbrella, the sky over the battlefield turns dark and a cyclonic storm howls, sending sand and rocks whirling about. The eyesight of his rivals is sure to be impaired. Hardly has he shut up the umbrella when the rivals are drawn into it and arrested. He resides in the Crystal Palace on the north of the Four Heavens.

GuangMu, Heavenly King of the West. Shun refers to the symbol of the crimson dragon. Once released, the dragon mounts the clouds and rides the mists. All of a sudden, this animal spurts out water and disperses his enemy. He resides in the Silver Palace on the west of the Four Heavens.

The Hall of Skanda Bodhisattva opens up into a courtyard area. We’re looking at the Hall of Skanda Bodhisattva from the other side of the courtyard in this picture.

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[PrincessInOz]

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The Main Shrine Hall of Buddha



There is a beautiful statue of Guanyin or Kwun Yum, Goddess of Mercy and Compassion, in the middle of the courtyard. She is regarded as a protector of women and children; with many prayers sent to her for fertility reasons. There are many Chinese and Japanese legends about Guanyin, all of which seem to embody some sort of physical suffering and reasons for compassion.

More the point…take a look at the building at the back. That’s the Main Shrine Hall of Buddha.


There is a pair of stone lions that guard the entry into the Shrine Hall.

I loved the stone columns that lead into the Hall itself.

We walked in…DH got this picture of me walking in...rather appropriate for me to swipe!

…where I was reminded that this was a place of prayer and worship. I don’t know if I was meant to be taking pictures, but no one said anything or stopped me……and there were certainly a few workers around.

The Main Shrine Hall of Buddha was completed in 1970. The hall enshrines Buddhas of Three Worlds, Buddha Sakyamuni of our World in the middle, Buddha Bhaisajyaguru (Master of Healing) on the left, and Buddha Amitabha (Buddha of Unlimited Light and Life Spans) on the right. They were rather eye-catching in gold.

I loved the ceiling frescos and the light fittings in here.

There were also a number of Buddhist symbols in the Shrine.

The drum, used during chanting. Its sound symbolises the end of the cycle of rebirth which inevitably leads to happiness.

The bell or gong is to remind everyone that they should be aware of illusions and unconsciousness; also that they must help relieve all beings in the nether world from suffering.

I swiped these next 3 from DH’s collection. I’m not sure why I didn’t take a picture of them myself!

I think this is the wooden fish. I didn't see anything else that came close to the wooden fish and this was rather more decorated and painted to what you might normally expect. The Buddhist knock on it during chanting sessions to remind the sentient beings not to doze off or slack off on their cultivation.

The Bell Bowl, which is rung three consecutive times. It is believed that three consecutive sounds will enable all participants to regulate their thoughts and calm their minds. By doing this, people will be able to achieve better interactions with the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas through deeper sincerity.

The Lotus Flower. Lotuses are symbols of purity and 'spontaneous' generation and hence symbolize divine birth. According to the Lalitavistara (the biography of Buddha), 'the spirit of the best of men is spotless, like the new lotus in the [muddy] water which does not adhere to it', and, according to esoteric Buddhism, the heart of the beings is like an unopened lotus: when the virtues of the Buddha develop therein the lotus blossoms. This is why the Buddha sits on a lotus in bloom.

This pink coloured lotus is the supreme lotus, generally reserved for the highest deity. Thus naturally it is associated with the Great Buddha himself.

You may have noticed that there is a crane sticking out of that picture of Guanyin and the Main Shrine Hall.

The Po Lin Monastery is expanding! The Grand Hall of Ten Thousand Buddhas went on the drawing board in 2000, and is scheduled for completion in 2013. When completed, it will include a shrine hall, an exhibition hall, a meditation hall, an abbot's chamber, a scripture library and other multi-functional facility.
Something to look forward to in the future! I would definitely love to come back and check out the view from the new Hall.





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[PrincessInOz]

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What you get as "A Snack and a Drink"



Remember when we bought tickets to the inside of the Giant Buddha? It came with food options and Mrs Angel and we purchased the snack and drink option?

We had worked out that the snack and drink was to be redeemed at the Monastery café.

The Deli Vegetarian Café is located to the left of the Main Shrine Hall.

DS took one look at the ice cream freezer out the front and he settled for an ice cream and a can of fizzy for his snack and drink option.


There was a sign at the counter clearly stating No Photographs, so I didn’t take any pictures of the counter food.

We had assumed that the snack and drink option would involve something of the ‘fast food’ kind and had hoped that we might have at least gotten something that would have been semi-palatable. We were, therefore, not prepared for the selection and quantity of food that the Monastery deemed to be ‘snack’.

We had much more delicates and delicacies to choose from. There was a selection of cold dim sum options and a bain marie for hot fried noodles and fried rice. Our snack coupon was to be redeemed for two cold dim sum options AND a plate of either noodles or rice.

This is what DH and I ended up choosing to share from the cold Dim Sum selection.

DS also got to share the doughnut.

The lotus seed was outstanding….as was the red bean item…as was the coconut piece.

Mrs A got these items, which she shared with my mother.

The plate of vegetarian noodles was quite a huge plate, considering it was meant to be a snack! There were 3 plates like this on our table.

All the adults got hot tea.

The food here was SERIOUSLY delicious! The cold dim sum pieces were got here were unequivocally THE BEST cold dim sum pieces we had on this trip; which is saying a lot.
If you do make it out to the Buddha and decide not to go into the middle, you can purchase the items separately. My mother chose to buy some items ‘to go’. She paid HK$25 for all these items.

Whilst we were eating, the rain started to come down rather more heavily than a light drizzle. There was more of the Monastery to see and I did try to take a quick look…but with the construction and the rain, the paths leading out were a little wet and muddy, so I gave up. Besides DH, my other travel companions were all keen to head back so we headed back towards the Ngong Ping village when the rain let up a little.




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[PrincessInOz]

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Another Snack! Tau Fu Fa



Along the way back to Ngong Ping, near one of the entry/exit gates in what I had called No Man’s Land, there are a group of shops on the side of the path.

We had all seen it on way up to the Giant Buddha and had all agreed we were stopping as one of the shops was selling a favourite snack of ours. Granted, we hadn’t expected to have gotten the snacks from the Monastery and despite being full, we still had room for this delight!


Tau Fu Fa or Soya Bean Custard is a Chinese dessert made from very soft tofu and is found all throughout Asia. To make it, you need hot Soya Bean Milk, corn starch, a coagulant (traditionally gypsum powder but now GDL – Glucono Delta Lactone – is used instead) mixed with a little water to form a paste. You can have it hot or cold but it will be served with sweet syrup. For us, it had to be served hot.

The inside of the shop looked like this.

We hadn’t planned on staying – so we ordered our serves ‘to go’.

Tau Fu Fa is traditionally made and allowed to set in a wooden vessel like this.

You need a very flat spoon to scoop out the Tau Fu Fa so as to enhance the delicacy of the silky smooth dessert…the one the lady used here was too fat! This was to be our only complaint. This Tau Fu Fa was delicate and silky and smooth and soft! Just the way it is meant to be.

The sweet syrup is poured over the Tau Fu Fa and served! The Hong Kong version of the syrup is cooked with ginger to enhance the flavour.

We scoffed these down!





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[PrincessInOz]

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Monkey Tales and Walking with Buddha on the way back



When we had purchased our cable car tickets earlier in the morning, we bought them with tickets to see Monkey Tales and Walking with Buddha.
None of us knew what to expect….

Turns out both shows are effectively videos or short movies…with the screening occurring in buildings at Ngong Ping.


This is where Monkey Tales is shown.

The show runs for about 25 minutes and is effectively a humorous cartoon with no spoken words. DS enjoyed it immensely and all the adults were amused by it.

Walking with Buddha is more of an ‘experience’ at the theatre near where the Wishing Tree is. You get to experience his life story and his path to enlightenment.

You get to enter through a small door down where that blue horizontal beam is and walk past the other side of the Wishing Tree where there is a small statue of Buddha. You don’t get a lot of time to look and strictly no photography at all.

The video is broken up into 2 or 3 parts and each part is shown in a different room.

And then at the end, you get to walk into a ‘temple’ room where you get to pick a leaf which is inscribed with your Bodhi thought. I must have missed that Bodhi thought…it really was that fleeting and I don’t even remember if it was written in English. The temple room was inspiring as there were zen quotes and teachings on the walls to read and digest. Some were even thought-provoking.


Would I do either experience again? Probably not. Once was more than enough. But it didn't add a lot more money to our cable car costs, so if you have the time, you might consider it.


If you do decide to do the shows, there will be a stand with the show times displayed on it. The shows start on the half hour and the top of the hour.

We went into the Monkey Tales at the half hour and on exit, we headed straight to the queue for the Walking with Buddha, which was starting at the top of the hour. There were no issues with timing and the theatres are next to each other.




We then headed back down the mountain. This time, we could see the Giant Buddha from the cable car.

And then we headed into the clouds.

There was a steady drizzle towards the bottom.

We spent the time talking about the Giant Buddha, the Monastery and the delectable vegetarian delights we had enjoyed there. For my Party@6 on this day, we all agreed – it was definitely a place well visiting.




When we got to Tung Chung, we spent another hour exploring the Outlets there. I ended up getting a Columbia Ski Jacket for about $150 in our money. Despite this, I didn’t think that the Outlets were particularly exciting.



We then headed back to our hotel in Hung Hom for a short rest before heading out again for the night activities.

 

[Princess_Melanie]

Fantastic report on Ngong Ping, the buddha and the monastery - I really really can't wait to see it all now!! I love how you post up enough pictures to give a really great sight into the place or area, but not too many so that we have things to discover for ourselves for those who still have to get there Can't wait for more.....

Quick question on a different monastery - the Monastery of 10,000 Buddhas near Sha Tin station - just read about it in my Frommers and wondered if it was worth doing - if you'd been there or heard anything about it. Seems like a nice side trip, and venturing just into the New Territories....just thought I'd ask your opinion on it (or anyone else reading who may have been there too )

 

[ehsmum]

We were pleasantly surprised by the size and quality of the "snack" too! I definitely recommend a visit to Ngong Ping to anyone going to HK. We all really enjoyed it and both DH and the kids thanked me for taking them up there . The monastery was so amazing and peaceful - did you hear the monks singing? I really loved it all .

 

[dgbg100106]

I am still loving all this!

 

[kmedina]

That is a lot of Buddhas. I am so immature, because I keep laughing at the vases and oranges in bewteen their legs. The desserts look interesting. I cannot wait to try some of those.

 

[ACDSNY]

Another set of awesome pictures, I love all the details in your pictures.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Fantastic report on Ngong Ping, the buddha and the monastery - I really really can't wait to see it all now!! I love how you post up enough pictures to give a really great sight into the place or area, but not too many so that we have things to discover for ourselves for those who still have to get there Can't wait for more.....

Quick question on a different monastery - the Monastery of 10,000 Buddhas near Sha Tin station - just read about it in my Frommers and wondered if it was worth doing - if you'd been there or heard anything about it. Seems like a nice side trip, and venturing just into the New Territories....just thought I'd ask your opinion on it (or anyone else reading who may have been there too )

A 3D friend of mine stayed in the Sha Tin area when she went to HK and she went to the Monastery. She loved it; but it was really convenient for her to go that way. As a result, the Monastery of 10K Buddhas (and the New Territories) was kinda on my nice-to-do hit list. Because I was down and out for the count in the last 2.5 days, we didn't go that way. Maybe next time.

But I look forward to seeing the pictures in your TR.

We were pleasantly surprised by the size and quality of the "snack" too! I definitely recommend a visit to Ngong Ping to anyone going to HK. We all really enjoyed it and both DH and the kids thanked me for taking them up there . The monastery was so amazing and peaceful - did you hear the monks singing? I really loved it all .

By singing, I assume you mean the sing chanting they do when they pray (instead of the Gregorian Chant singing or the Gospel style Choir singing)?

We didn't hear them on this day. We only heard the dulcet tones of jackhammers and nail guns on this day as a result of the construction work.

I am still loving all this!

That is a lot of Buddhas. I am so immature, because I keep laughing at the vases and oranges in bewteen their legs. The desserts look interesting. I cannot wait to try some of those.

You and I are of the like-mind (note that I am avoiding the use of the I-word).

DH took pictures of the Four Heavenly Kings from a different angle.
Me? I've always preferred the full-frontal view myself.

Another set of awesome pictures, I love all the details in your pictures.

Thanks! You can come by and drop comments like this ANY time!

 

[PrincessInOz]

The Yee’s Have It! Another Pesky Vegetarian Tale



You might remember that DH, DS and I had a miss at Mak’s Noodle shop up at the Peak for dinner because they didn’t serve vegetarian food.
Tonight’s dinner was a miss because they DID serve vegetarian food!

Yup….much as I had hoped for the contrary, this was to be our second or yee time at pesky vegetarian!



The back story for today’s post is that our TA friend’s husband had been in the North Asia region for business purposes. Mr TA and Mr Angel are pretty good friends; and Mr TA and my parents go back a pretty long way. He had always knows that we were going to be in Hong Kong during this time and had promised to try to make it to the party if his business arrangements allowed. Well….turns out they did.

Mr TA was due to arrive today so our Party@8 was expanding out to Party@9.


The friend of our TA friend, the one I was to call the Saint, had organised for her family to have dinner with our TA friend today. As it was Good Friday, she had booked at a Chinese Vegetarian restaurant.

Last night, our TA friend and the Saint asked if us and the Angels if we wanted to organise our own table to eat at the same restaurant. Given that Mr TA was due to arrive sometime during dinner and being Good Friday, everyone was pretty happy to go eat at the Chinese Vegetarian restaurant.
I have to admit that I did have doubts….not about the vegetarian locale….but because I didn’t think we should be gate-crashing a family get-together organised by the Saint with our TA friend. On hindsight, I wish I’d spoken up then and suggested a different alternative for the rest of us.

Our restaurant was located on Level 1, 13 Jordan Road in Jordan. Of all the restaurants we ate in for dinner, this one was located at the lowest level. Says it all really.

Our table was not appropriately dressed. There were neither napkins nor serviettes to be had at this restaurant at any point in time during our experience. Have Baby Wipes will eat!

The restaurant looks like this inside.

We asked for water and never got any. Turns out they don’t serve water – bottled or hot boiled; only Chinese tea and fizzy drinks.

We left the ordering to the Saint and our TA friend.

Chinese (Buddhist) Vegetarian food is favoured by Buddhist who following the concept of ahimsa or ‘do no harm’. Aside from vegetables, this style of cuisine uses bean curd (tofu) as the prime ingredient. Specifically, the tofu is prepared to taste similar to beef, duck, pork, chicken and seafood. DH and I have eaten at such restaurants in South-East Asia and the food has always been amazing…..to the point that we were unable to tell the difference between mock duck and real duck.

DH and I had hoped for a similar type dinner tonight. In looks, it was.

We started with mock-Pepper Beef. It gave us some hopes of a tasty meal, it actually was quite nice. There was sufficient pepper without being over-powering and the mock beef had the right texture.

We had the special fried rice materialise on our table at this point. Our hopes were sky-high at this point as this was absolutely delightful.

Our third dish was the not-pork skewers. I think they recycled the sauce from the mock-Pepper Beef. It was not a good mix. The pork just tasted like tofu puffs to me and it was way too chewy.

This was one of the highlights of the night. Barbecue Pork that actually tasted like barbecue pork. Delicious!

The seafood and mushroom medley. I did not like this dish at all. It was bland, bland and bland.

And this was even more tasteless. I’m not sure what this was meant to be…I can only surmise it was meant to be a mock chicken dish. Mock us - it most certainly did!

The fish-like allegory dish….or-allergy-fish! It was made from taro and was tar-zero in taste!

This is where I completely lost it for this meal. Any would-be Masterchef contestant would be absolutely aghast to find that the kitchen had created an avocado mornay, which was meant to be a specialty for this restaurant.

Why was this so wrong? As soon as you apply any sort of heat to avocado, it goes bitter. What.a.waste! I took a taste out of politeness and then left the rest behind.

Somewhere in the middle of this meal, I really wished I had spoken up to the others on my table earlier in the day. We would have done so much better on our own elsewhere. But we had been lured by the locals to tag along.
I do know that the Angels and my parents were disappointed by the meal as well, despite the pleasure of meeting up with Mr TA during the course of dinner.

The cost? It was about HK$150 per person for this meal, about $20 in our money. The real cost? We had to “moderate” our views and feelings about the meal to the locals.


And just in case there is anyone out there who is seeking to go, we caught the train to Jordan station (red line) and headed out on Exit B (I think it might have been B2?? If not then B1!). The restaurant was next door to a book shop.

Our table finished up earlier than the table organised by the Saint. We made our excuses and departed. My parents were keen to head back to the hotel and offered to take DS back with them. The Angels decided to go with them. I know that there was mention of hitting the Golden Arches on the way back but given that it was Good Friday, this was more in jest than anything else.

Pesky Vegetarian indeed!




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[PrincessInOz]

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Yue Hwa Chinese Products, Jordan



It was somewhere around 8 pm when we finished dinner…way too early for DH and me. We were happy to go-see some more; but DS was not. Fortunately for us, my parents offered to take him back to the hotel with them, which left us childless for the rest of the night. And in case you’re wondering, I think we would have made DS come with us if not for their generous offer.

The locals we had almost dined with had told us of a shop in the Jordan area that might provide us with some of the things that DH and I had come shopping for. This shop was literally across the road from the Light Vegetarian restaurant at the corners of Jordan and Nathan Road.


Yue Hwa Chinese Products shop is one of the first departmental shops to sell goods from Mainland China in Hong Kong. The exact address is 301 – 309 Nathan Road, Kowloon. It is opened through to 10 pm. Our family TA friend told us that when it originally opened, the quality of goods sold was variable and considered to be inferior to goods sourced locally from Hong Kong. Over the years, the Yue Hwa company have worked hard to ensure that the Chinese products sold in the shop are of a consistently high standard. I couldn’t fault it.

The goods? Everything from chinese herbs, food, chinese craft, households items and CLOTHES.

DH and I were specifically after silk garments. DH was looking for shirts with mandarin collars and I was looking for silk blouses to wear to work.
Yue Hwa had a vast collection….not just silk but cashmere as well. I wouldn’t have called it high fashion but rather the items were more basic wear that you could easily dress up or dress down depending on the accessories. More the point, the pricing was very reasonable. Our TA friend told me that this is where the locals would shop for such basic items.

At this stage of the game, I was in my “just looking” mode. Afterall, it was really the first opportunity we had to go seek items made from mulberry and worms. That is not to say that if I had found that ‘must-have’ item, I wouldn’t have parted with my money…but on this night, I didn’t see anything that was ‘must-have’. I did come close with a silk blouse; but they didn’t have any in my size.

DH was also the same. He saw plenty of things to interest and excite; but he was not quite ready to part with money yet. There was certainly a good selection of mandarin collared shirts there.

There was also tailoring facilities in-store should you want a custom made item out of silk.

I would recommend a look in the shop. But be warned….the shop did feel a little old and tired inside; and the clothing merchandise looked a little boring on first glance. You will need to sift through the items slowly and pull them off the rack to take a look.

One other thing, when I was in the shop, I still had my camera around my neck. I decided to pack it away whilst I was in the shop. When I looked up, I noticed that there was one store worker closely watching me and another person in plain clothes. I smiled at both of them when I realised they were there and they returned the smile. It would appear that I had attracted store security by appearing to be stuffing something in a bag. Interesting to note that there was definitely plain clothes security wandering around the store and that they materialised in a flash!




NOTE - DH did make it back here later in the trip and he got himself 4 or 5 mandarin collared shirts in wearable/washable silk as well as in cotton. I was sick in bed and really wished that I had decided to part with money on this night. As it is, it leaves me with something to plan for next time!



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[PrincessInOz]

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Some Temple time at Night



When we emerged from Yue Hwa on to Jordan Street, the neons were in full flash.

The night was still young by Hong Kong standards…and we were childless. So, DH and I checked the map to see what was around us. We were both keen to hit a Night Market. Turns out we were about 3 blocks away from the Temple of them all….the Temple Street Night market.


Temple Street is a street located in the areas of Jordan and Yau Ma Tei in Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is known for its night market and one of the busiest flea markets at night in the territory. It was named Temple Street due to the nearby Tin Hau Temple in Yau Ma Tei.

At this end of the street, I found a number of street food places that we would have been better off eating at. Even my pesky-vegetarian DH cast his eyes over the selection! Check out the Spicy Crab noodle sign…you get to select your own crab.

The Temple Street Night Market extends close on half a mile on both sides.

Whilst it is a very popular tourist attraction for Hong Kong, I did find out that the locals don’t mind shopping here either. There was a bit of a crowd on this night so DH and I were rather careful to make sure that we didn't have any valuables out in the open (aside from the cameras).

The market starts from about 2 or 3 p.m. in the afternoon and traffic is closed on the street at that time. I guess that explains the Part-Time nature of this sign!

The place is sometimes known as Men's Street. Stalls have items mainly for men, jeans, t-shirts, pants, lighters, shoes and men's accessories. Do not expect the merchandise to be of a high quality.

With more than a hundred stalls in the market, there seemed like a lot of the same stuff at the various stalls.

You’ll also find various stalls selling Chinese art work. I did look but nothing really jumped out at me.

DH was having a great time checking out the items here! One of the things I liked about the Temple Street market was that the vendors pretty much left you alone to look at stuff and did not hassle you until you expressed an interest to buy.

I was checking these out for DS.

I had tried to bargain with the street vendors but most of them were not prepared to drop their prices too much. They were prepared to provide more of a discount if you bought more than one but as we rarely needed more than one, more often than not we left empty handed. I did get some cotton socks here and ended up getting 5 pairs for about HK$50, which is about $8 in our money. I was to find out later on that the price quoted by the vendors here (and in the other markets in Kowloon) were actually reasonable, with not that much of a mark-up for the kind of bargaining you would expect at a street market. The locals we had been dining with would tell me later on that the Temple Street market vendors had dropped prices in order to attract the locals to shop here rather than just rely on tourist trade. And the lady vendor that I bought the socks from had pretty much told me the same thing.

We kept walking until we got to the other end of Temple Street. An over 10m-height Chinese Pai Lau or gateway has been newly erected at the junctions of Kansu Street and Jordan Road with Temple Street as a landmark. There was meant to be opera singers at this end…I guess they were taking a break when we walked by.

DH and I had a great time walking and browsing down Temple Street Market. As a child of Asia, the sights, sounds and smells certainly brought back many happy memories from my youth. For DH, it was an experience that he enjoyed very much and could understand why markets such as these were such an attraction to go-see. For us, it just whetted our apetite further to go visit the other markets of Hong Kong.


For anyone staying at HKDL heading this way, you would catch the train to Sunny Bay, transfer to the line heading to Hong Kong (yellow) and transfer again at Lai King station to the line heading to Central (red). Just get off at Jordan Station and head towards exit A, which is also the Yue Hwa exit. You want to head west or right on Jordan Street and keep going until you get to Temple Street, which is 3 cross roads along the way. You could get off at Yau Ma Tei station and hit Temple Street from the other end that we approached it from, it just is a couple of blocks longer to walk. But if you approach it from this end during the day, you might want to stop off at the Tin Hau Temple and the Jade Market along the way. I didn’t see this particular Tin Hau Temple and you’ll have to wait a couple of days for the Jade Market.



(Continued in Next Post)

 

[PrincessInOz]

(Continued from Previous Post)


A Walk down Nathan Road



At the Kansu Street end of Temple Street, we turned to head back to Nathan Road. We were easily distracted by blinding neon….

…and spent some time just taking in the night lights here. Like everywhere else in Hong Kong, it always looks so much prettier at night because of the colours.

When we got out at Nathan Road, we realised that we were close to the Yau Ma Tei MTR station; but neither of us had wanted to head back just yet. We decided to walk down to the Peninsula along Nathan Road.


Nathan Road is the main thoroughfare in Kowloon. We saw a number of hotels up this end of Nathan Road…..

And all along the way, we saw shops like this selling Chinese herbs and medicinal products.

As we walked down closer towards the Tsim Sha Tsui end, the neons got brighter.

We also saw quite a few stores selling camera equipment.

We had thought to spy out some of the landmark buildings on Nathan Road but the major shopping centres like The One, Miramar, iSquare and even Chungking Mansions were closed at this time of night. I also took a peak down the Park Lane Shopping Boulevard shops and had intended to come back during the day. Sadly, shopping on this trip never really eventuated for me.


Given that we in the area, DH and I also detoured round the front of the Peninsula Hotel.

The Peninsula Hotel is one of those destination hotels in the world and is reputed to be the most expensive hotel in Hong Kong.

It is also famous for having a fleet of Peninsula Green Rolls-Royce for the use of their guests at an appropriate cost. There weren’t any in the driveway when we arrived.

DH and I headed inside to look at the lobby where the High Teas are served daily.

I couldn’t resist taking a shot of the light fittings.

We did wander through the shopping area with the very exclusive labels. We did not plan to come back here to shop.

By this time, it was time to catch our hotel shuttle back and call it a night. It was close to 11.30 pm and we’d had a fantastic time exploring the Temple Street Market and grabbing some sight-seeing in Kowloon.



Tomorrow was going to be a very early start!