the bauhinia affair
Central, Tsung Wan the financial artery of Hong Kong
Just came back from Hong Kong yesterday and I must say it was indeed a fruitful trip in several dimensions.
It was to be my second visit (and more importantly my first holiday without my parents following me) to this beautiful and at the same time beautifully awful metropolis. In a city with one of the highest GDP per capita in Asia and the most vibrant financial centre in east Asia, Hong Kong has the highest skyscrappers and the worst urban layout in all of the developed world - both at the same time. The contrast couldn't be more apparant when one journeys down Nathan Road to Tsim Sha Tsui and then across the sea to Central. From the squalid facade of the houses in Kowloon, to the knocking off diaspora cramming into the MTR and then to the spectacular symphony of laser lights, music, concrete and steel of the unbelievably charming nightscape of Tsung Wan, Hong Kong offers perhaps the most schizophrenic metropolitan experience.
Opposite my hotel in Jordan, Kowloon Island side
Wanchai, Hongkong Island. The orderly manner of the roads on Hong Kong are a striking contrast to the rundown state of most of Kowloon's architecture and its labrynith of amazingly narrow roads.
But it is perhaps this sharp contrast, the variety of landscape, the candid truth about the different facades of life, the spectrum of capitalism - the good, the bad, and the ugly, that gives Hong Kong such an enigmatic beauty.
Temple street night market. An average square kilometer in Hong Kong, is home to an estimated 16,000 people. That is why you'll find houses everywhere, above the shops, and even among office districts in Central.
The panaromic nightscape of Hong Kong is perhaps one of the best views one can ever get. This photo does little justice to its grandeur.
day one:
Spent hardly half a day ourselves. Visited the newly inaugurated 'Avenue of Stars' before heading back to the hotel for the night tour - a seafood dinner and a visit to the peak before dropping off at Temple Street. The seafood dinner at Lei Yu Man was sadly, overrated though the view at the Peak fortunately, salvaged the evening. It was the true panaromic view of Hong Kong, I only managed to reach the half summit the last time round.
The Avenue of Stars, situated on what was perhaps the Hong Kong equivalent of the Esplanade.
day two:
Day two was far more eventful, both positively and negatively. For the negative part, Pan Jianwei lost his phone the day before so we went to Tsim Sha Tsui Police Station to make a police report. Here's the secret, to inflate his insurance claims, Pan decided to 'script' the report such that it also included the lost of an 'imaginery' black wallet. Then we headed down to the Hong Kong Museum of Art. It was a rather impressive place with a huge collection of chinese artefacts and scrolls. Unlike the Singapore museums who chose to separate contemporary arts, artifacts and cultural heirtage into different museums, the Hong Kong Museum of Art had everything under one roof. But it was perhaps due to the immensity of their collection, made me and Pan linger for almost an hour an a half in just 2 of the viewing sections, much to the dismay of Benny and Benjamin who perhaps incapacitated by the cultural apathy ingrained in most Singaporeans just couldn't wait to start shopping. So the pseudo-connoisseurs conceded, me and Pan followed the Bens to engage in Singapore's favorite activity on both sides of the sea. That lasted us for the better part of the day with hardly any purchases from any of us except the replica print of a Chen Yi Fei painting I bought at the museum. So much for the Bens' insatiable thirst to shop. In the evening, we parted ways. For some reasons beyond me, the three of them were dead against going to Lan Kwai Fong or to experience any facet of the Hong Kong nightlife for that matter. Not wanting to miss what I already missed on the previous Hong Kong trip, I headed down to Lan Kwai Fong alone. It was a great experience walking on your own in a foreign land. Fully free and without any consideration of having to suit whoever's agenda. So much so that I even briefly sneaked into the Foreign Correspondents' Club (FCC), an exclusive club for members only. More than the curiosity, it was the excitement of sneaking in (and not to mention fooling the ah cha at the door that I was a correspondent). The three of them would never want to do that with me if they were there. Had dinner alone at M on the Fringe, a sadly overpriced and overrated restaurant that I mistakenly believed to be of the same prestige and design as it's Shanghainese sister, M on the Bund which I did not get to visit when I went there in '02. The great evening ended with a visit to the Sky lounge at Sheraton Hotel back in Kowloon, with only a view overlooking the nightscape of Hong Kong Island accompanying me.
Pan and his antics
Inside the FCC. I would imagine this to be the Hong Kong equivalent of the cafe in 'The Quiet American', the place where Michael Caine, a correspondent sips his coffee while discussing current affairs with contemporaries
Lan Kwai Fong, the supposedly mecca to Hong Kong clubbers, sadly pales in comparison to Singaporean clubs and bars. Even their premiere club 'Club 97' is so unbelievably small that the entire Zouk complex could probably contain it five, six times over. For once, we the anal-retentive Singaporeans can hold our heads high, saying we did win Hong Kong in something entertainment related
Getting less than friendly stares for taking photographs in the Sky lounge.
This photo was taken on my way back from Lan Kwai Fong. This old lady was sitting smack in front of the traffic junction in the middle of a central business district. Admist the prosporous cityscape with the rowdiness of merry makers in the backdrop, has economic progress forced us to forsake those who lost their ways in the rat race? Being the epitome of East Asian capitalism, this image is certainly the most sombre reminder to Hong Kong that capitalism can be a two edged sword if improperly wielded.
Day 3:
Embolden by my previous night's experience at roaming alone, and encouraged by the new-found liberty, I decided to give Ocean Park a miss and headed round town alone. Visited the Hong Kong Museum of History first. I had always wondered at what exactly sustains and bonds Hong Kong together as a city? Capitalism? The collective desire for a better life? Well the history museum provides a little insight to this question. The museum's made up of 2 sections, the prehistoric to pre-colonialisation section and the colonialisation to modern section. I ended up spending 1 1/2 hrs in the pre-historic to pre-colonisation era section, thanks to an overly helpful museum guide who kindly offered her help to explain every exhibit there to me. Oh well, it was informative anyway. At least now I know that humans inhabited Hong Kong more than 6,000 years ago and that they buried pottery in Mong Kok (2 of which were unearthed during my stay), and that pure ethnic Han chinese has only one complete piece of toe-nail on the pinky toe cos the northerners have 2 (not sure what that's supposed to look like). The answer to the questions I was pondering probably came in the second gallery, the one that documents the history of Hong Kong from a colony to a SAR.
Like a forgotten mistress of a home-bound colonial official, Hong Kong seduces with its coquettish cityscape and nightlife. Yet the same can be said of her identity. She has since fallen into the embrace of yet a new lover after the colonial official headed for home.
