Journey to Hong Kong

It has been more than a week since the Manila hostage killing in which eight Hong Kong tourists died. The incompetence of the Philippine police and the Philippine government handling the rescue of the hostages was blamed for the bloodbath.

Details of the tragedy are starting to trickle out. I am very touched by some of the stories:

A hostage husband Mr Leung died from shielding his wife from the tour bus hijacker’s gunshots. They were a family of five, the couple with two daughters and one son. The two daughters also died in the hijacking killing. According to a survivor, one of the daughters was originally feigning death lying on the floor of the bus. Upon knowing that her bigger brother sitting ahead of her was gun down, she moved out of her reclining position to see how her brother was. She was spotted and immediately gunned down and shot second time by the hijacker.

The family’s only son, suffering heavy injuries to his head is now in critical condition in a Hong Kong public hospital. A Hong Kong top neurologist was sent to Manila days ago who made the decision to ferry him back to the city for care and treatment. His mother, who lost her husband and two daughters in the bloodbath, has been guarding her son.

A nurse was among the first group of hostages to be released by the gunman, who was a former police superintendant, and who was found having committed other crimes before hijacking the Hong Kong tour bus. The nurse was allowed to bring two of her kids with her. She pretended that a third child was also hers and managed to save one more child. Her husband later died in the tour bus. And the child who is not hers lost her parents too in the tragedy.

The Hong Kong tour guide Masa called his tour company in Hong Kong secretly to report on the hijacking once it happened. He was the first to be gunned down. His brother said he felt deep pain seeing the dead body of Masa, who refused to close his eyes no matter how hard his family members tried to make them shut. There is a Chinese saying to describe those having passed away and not having their eyes shut, with the implication of the dead having unfulfilled wishes.   

May the dead rest in peace, the injured have speedy recovery, the hurt and the pain be healed, and the survivors live a good life for the rest of their lives.

For reporting on the clearance, I went to Tiu Keng Leng for the first time in July 1996 and subsequently a few times to interview the residents who vowed to stay. I felt a deep sense of loss when walking up the narrow paths flanked by largely abandoned small huts and houses. A part of Hong Kong history would be gone forever, I thought to myself. Indeed, who would have known the history of Tiu Keng Leng now, 14 years on, which has become an area crowded with housing, and housing only?

On the eve of the clearance which took place on 30 July 1996, I had interviewed Madam Ko chun-kwan, aged 68, who had a Buddhist temple in Tiu Keng Leng. In those times, Tiu Keng Leng was a self-contained community, lying next to the sea. The residents had made the community the way they wanted it to be, including putting up a Buddhist temple.

Madam Ko’s sons, who were born in Tiu Keng Leng and later moved out, made a special return to the temple to be with her on the eve of clearing. “I feel so much for the temple. It has a seaview and is so tranquil. I feel very sad to be leaving here.” She blamed the government for not giving her land and enough money to build another temple.

“The compensation money is not enough. Neither has any land be given to build a new Buddhist temple. You tell me, after you demolish my temple, where should I put up the Buddha statues?” she asked.

“The government oppresses us. They are even worse than bandits.” She added.

“I am of course not feeling good on the eve of clearance. But it won’t stop me sleeping. I am optimistic about life.”

If Madam Ko were alive, she would have been 82 today.

History Stories: Tiu Keng Leng (part 1)

History Stories: Tiu Keng Leng (part 2)

History Stories: Tiu Keng Leng (part 3)

History Stories: Tiu Keng Leng (part 4)

I like the IKEA restaurant in Megabox shopping mall located in Kowloon Bay, because the food is both cheap and good, and the restaurant is big. Since the IKEA is the biggest in Hong Kong, so is its restaurant, which has about 100 seats. For an almond cake which tastes rich and good, you pay HK$10 (US$1.3) only. It would have costed you three times the price if you eat at a Starbucks coffee shop. And for a piece of bread, however small, a price tag of HK$2 is surely cheap.

The menu selection is not wide, but if you have a tight budget and look for something decent to eat, this IKEA restaurant is for you.

Now you probably know that my suggestions on eateries in Hong Kong are not for picky eaters, none of whom, I would imagine, would have considered IKEA food.

One more small tip. The small IKEA food shop at the exit of IKEA sells a big bar of delicious chocolate made in Sweden for HK$10. It is a bargain.

Megabox which houses IKEA is a rather new shopping mall in HK, opened in 2007. I don’t find it having “a revolutionary shopping, dining and entertainment concept” as its website claims – Hong Kong’s shopping malls are all more or less the same, with similar shops anyway. But it does have some of the biggest in Hong Kong, such as the biggest IKEA and the biggest ice rink. It is 8-minute walk from Kowloon Bay MTR station, or you can take a free shuttle bus from the station. To find out how, check out its webpage for direction.

If you plan to go to Shenzhen from Hong Kong, just get a Shenzhen visa at Lowu or Huanggang border. No need to apply for a China visa in advance. But this is the case only if you are a passport holder of certain countries, such as most of the EU countries, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. US citizens are not eligible for this Shenzhen visa, so are passport holders of the following countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Cameroon, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Israel, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Sudan, Turkey, Uganda, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

The Shenzhen Visa Office at Lowu is immediately upstairs after clearing the Hong Kong immigration and customs. It is open 9AM-10:30PM seven days a week and accepts RMB for payment only. The visa is a five-day visa and costs RMB160. If you are a UK passport holder, you will be charged a much higher fee at about RMB470.

A friend has just got a Shenzhen visa for RMB160 at Lowu border. According to him, the whole process took about half an hour. You will first get your queue number, and when it is your turn, you give your passport to the staff for checking, followed by making payment at another counter. You will then have to wait again for your turn  to collect your passport, this time with the visa.

It was a Sunday when my friend applied for the Shenzhen visa, and the visa office, he said, was surprisingly not crowded with foreign travelers, but with Filipino domestic helpers working in Hong Kong and hoping to spend their only free day in a week in Shenzhen.

Note that the Lok Ma Chau border (the one connected by MTR) has no Shenzhen visa service. You can only apply for a Shenzhen visa at Lowu border or Huanggang border.

Every household’s rooftop in the then Tiu Keng Leng had a Kuomingtang flag, an indication of the loyalty of the people to the Kuomingtang government in Taiwan, though it was this same government that had abandoned them.

A friend of mine lived in Lam Tian, near Tiu Keng Leng when she was small. “When it was the 10th October, the Double Ten day, I saw big banners hanging on the walls everywhere, celebrating the occasion. And the Kuomingtang flags were hoisted everywhere.” The Double Day is the national day for Republic of China, established in 1912 after the collapse of Qing Dynasty. It was and is celebrated in Taiwan after Kuomingtang ruled on the island. Since Lam Tian is near Tiu Keng Leng, many families who lived originally in Tiu Keng Leng, moved to Lam Tian.

Announcement of Demolition
People had been enjoying peaceful life in Tiu Keng Leng where they built up their home and their community from scratch after being abandoned. This clip on Youtube has captured the essence of the place before its demolition.

The peace was shattered in 1991. In view of the explosion in population and the need to develop new towns, the Hong Kong government decided to demolish Tiu Keng Leng starting 1991 and turn it into a new development area. It requested the Tiu Keng Leng residents to move out and offered them HK$7,000 per square feet as compensation.

Since the colonial government promised to the residents in1961 that they can reside permanently in Tiu Keng Leng, a legal battle ensured between the residents and the government. The court ruled in favour of the residents, saying that the government had broken its promise by evicting the residents and it needed to further discuss with the residents regarding compensation. But the court ruling had yielded no concrete benefits for the residents. Tiu Keng Leng was destined to be history.

It was late July in 1996 when I was a journalist reporting on the last few days of the life in Tiu Keng Leng before it was cleared. By that time, most of the residents had accepted government’s offer to move out. Only a few stuck out and insisted not to move.

History Stories: Tiu Keng Leng (part 1)

History Stories: Tiu Keng Leng (part 2)

History Stories: Tiu Keng Leng (part 3)

If you want to bike in Hong Kong, the best place to rent a bike is the Tai Shui Hang bike park near Tai Shui Hang MTR station on the Ma On Shan line. In the park, there are three bike shops, all of them offering a full-day bike rental for HK$20 (US$2.6), from 9:30am to 6:30pm (the official opening hours of the park are 9am to 6pm). For that moderate price, don’t expect the bike to be very a professional one. If you want a better quality bike, pay more.

a bike shop in the park

Before you reach the park, you will also find a bike shop which offers bike rental from 9:30am to 8pm for HK$20, and sometimes HK$15. The opening hours are slightly longer.

Hong Kong’s best bike paths are located in the Tai Wai / Ma On Shan / Shatin /Taipo areas in the New Territories. In all these areas, near the MTR stations, you can probably find bike shops for bike rental. But it is sure that you won’t be able to find the rent as cheap as HK$20 for a whole day.

The bike park in Tai Shui Hang is in the Ma On Shan area, from where you can bike to Tai Mei Tuk in Taipo (a place close to Plover Cover Reservoir), passing through the Hong Kong Science Park. Be assured that the scenery along the route is beautiful. You will find yourself biking along the sea or surrounded by hills at times. Well, you will also find yourself biking in the Taipo Industrial Estate area, where some of Hong Kong’s factories are located, including the fast food chain Fairwood. You can smell curry in the air.

the section of path next to science park

If you don’t know much about Hong Kong, biking is a very pleasant way to experience the city. It is a shame that Hong Kong has a very limited number of bike path – there is none on Hong Kong Island.

the way leading to bike park

How to go to Tai Shui Hang bike park

Take exit B of Tai Shui Hang MTR station. Turn right where you see a cement road leading to trees. The park is 2-minute walk away.

More information

It is about 18km from Tai Shui Hang bike park to Tai Mei Tuk. A return journey would be 36km. For a rent of HK$20, you have to return the bike to the bike shop on the same day. Or you pay a little more, to return the bike at Shatin or Taipo at a designated bike shop.

the thai restaurant I went to

It takes 1-2 hour bike ride to finish one way journey, depending on how strong you are and how good your bike is. In my case, it took me almost 4 hours to bike from the bike park to Tai Mei Duk and return, in sweltering heat.

Tai Mei Tuk is famous for Thai food. It is such a pleasure to sit down for some delicious Thai food after some hard biking.