Nunnery and park: more compassion needed?

 Where to Eat/Drink, Where to Visit  No Responses »
Jan 232012
 

Chi Lin Nunnery is a Buddhist nunnery built in the Tang dynasty architecture style, consisting of gardens and temples. Construction of the complex started in mid-1990s and opened to the public for visit in year 2000.The nunnery has little heritage value in terms of history, but the complex is grand and elegant, worth a visit.The temples of the complex are open until 4:30pm. So make sure that you get there early enough.

Next door, Nan Lian Garden is a public park designed and managed by Chi Lin Nunnery. It is also in the ancient gardening style of Tang dynasty. The park is beautifully landscaped with trees, timber structures and rocks of special shapes and formation. Such a beautiful park, however, has aroused public anger because of the despotic management style – you are not allowed to eat, even snack, in the park, for example. I personally saw a foreigner being stopped from eating nuts from a small box by a security guard on the day I visited the park. Here, you are constantly under the watchful eyes of guards.

There is a sign at the entrance to the tea house, saying that if you are not a patron, you shouldn’t enter the area. It is not a welcoming park.

I have to recommend the vegetarian restaurant inside though. A very nice place to sit in with decent vegetarian dim sum and food.

the restaurant is behind the waterfall

A set meal per person is HK$120, with four courses. I liked it. This dish of vegetarian dumpling dim sum – thrumbs up.

To be consistent with its “despotic” management style, no photography is allowed in the restaurant and there is minimum charge of HK$80 for lunch and HK$40 for afternoon tea. Shouldn’t a Buddhist related place have more compassion?

Besides the restaurant and the tea house, there is a cafe. A small cup of coffee sells for HK$12 and tastes good. How to get there:

Exit C2 of Diamond Hill MTR station.

 

 Posted by Anna at 10:45 pm

Train from Hong Kong to Shenzhen (part three)

 HK-Shenzhen Transport  No Responses »
Jan 202012
 

Hong Kong train operator MTR has updated its customer website so that users can not only search the route, time and fare of Hong Kong train service, but also the underground system of Shenzhen. You will find this very useful if you are planning to travel to Shenzhen from Hong Kong for a visit.

Check out this link. It allows you to shift between the two train systems and gives you some visual concept about the train connection between the two cities.

Train from Hong Kong to Shenzhen (part one)

Train from Hong Kong to Shenzhen (part two)

 Posted by Anna at 11:31 pm

Train from Hong Kong to Shenzhen (part two)

 HK-Shenzhen Transport  No Responses »
Jan 182012
 

I have blogged about the train from Hong Kong to Shenzhen. I guess there is still strong interest in more information. So I am writing again on this topic.

MTR East Rail line is the line going to Lo Wu / Lok Ma Chau, from where you can cross border to Shenzhen and be connected by Shenzhen’s underground.

The East Rail line train service is very frequent, just like all other MTR lines. In the peak hours of weekdays, say 8-9am or 6-7pm, the train can be every minute. But do avoid peak hours – too crowded. Other times, it is about every 2-3 minutes. So checking the train timetable is a bit pointless. Just go and take the train on the day of your travel.

East Rail line’s starting point is Hung Hom. From Hung Hom to Lo Wu, train time is 45 minutes, and the ticket fare is HK$34. The first train starts at 0530, and the last train at 2307.

Kowloon Tong station platform for the East Rail line

If you are not starting from Hung Hom, it is likely that you use Kowloon Tong station, a major transfer station, which is two stops from Hung Hom. From Kowloon Tong to Lo Wu, it is 37 minutes and the ticket fare is HK$34. The first train starts at 0536, and the last train at 2313.

If you want to use the less popular station Lok Ma Chau for crossing border to Shenzhen, the train line is still East Rail and the starting station is all the same – Hung Hom. The journey time from Hung Hom to Lok Ma Chau is 48 minutes, and the ticket fare is the same as that to Lo Wu, i.e. HK$34. The first train starts at 0535, and the last train at 2135.

The timetable of the last train is tied up with the border closing time. Lo Wu border closes at midnight, and Lo Ma Chau / Fu Tian port border closes at 10:30pm.

Train from Hong Kong to Shenzhen (part one)

 Posted by Anna at 11:14 pm

Kowloon City

 Where to Visit  No Responses »
Jan 152012
 

Kowloon City is where the old airport stood. It is an interesting area because some old shops still operate there despite the rapid pace of change in Hong Kong. It is also a known food area where thai restaurants, big and small, dominate.

A paper shop with a worker working at paper sacrifice.Does this shop selling Chinese sausage look like a shop in Spain selling ham? A stall that sells fish and meat balls.

 Posted by Anna at 9:42 am

Is this city dying?

 Hong Kong As It Is  4 Responses »
Jan 052012
 

Before Christmas, I went to Park N Shop, HK’s major supermarket chain, and saw this: an advertisement on personal health products in simplified Chinese.This is the first time that I have seen advertisement/poster in simplified Chinese in a Hong Kong chain supermarket. Not a character in traditional Chinese, the written form long used in the city. The supermarket obviously was eyeing the mainlanders who flocked to Hong Kong for shopping during the festive season. In other words, a supermarket that is supposed to serve Hong Kongers, has turned a blind eye to those it should serve and beckons instead to the cash-strapped mainland tourists.

Along the same line, the Mongkok area is beaming with jewelers and luxury watch shops which are mainly frequented by mainlanders. The area no longer feels to me part of Hong Kong that I am familiar with.

And this cannot be more symbolic. The first baby born in Hong Kong in 2012 is to mainland parents. For giving their children permanent right of abode in Hong Kong, mainland mums have been very aggressive, trying all sorts of ways, legal and illegal, to come to HK to give birth, including forcing their way to the emergency ward in the public hospital at the last minute, without prior bookings of deliveries, not only risking the lives of their to be born babies, but also putting extra stress on Hong Kong’s already stretched public health services. The local mums complain that they find it very hard to book delivery because of mainland mums.

Politically, mainland’s presence and influence is even more worrying. A scholar’s recent survey showing a record high proportion of locals identifying themselves as Hong Kongers and a record low proportion of locals identifying themselves as Chinese, has drawn criticism from a Hong Kong based Beijing government official. He told the media right after the survey result was out that, the survey is “unscientific” and “illogical” by citing Hong Kongers and Chinese in parallel. The same scholar was later met with a barrage of criticism and personal attack from mainland-backed newspapers, because he proposed the launch of an online poll of Hong Kongers regarding the “small circle” election of the Chief Executive of HK SAR Government later this year – the top man will be chosen by a 1000-strong election committee only. The blatant interference in academic freedom and the political propaganda orchestrated towards “dissident voices” are simply frightening, evocative of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four.

No wonder a saying in a local drama has caught on, i.e. this city is dying.

 Posted by Anna at 11:11 pm
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