Picasso and Secret Garden to be in HK

 Where to Visit  No Responses »
May 042012
 

The Hong Kong Heritage Museum is going to present the exhibition “Picasso – Masterpieces from the Musee National Picasso, Paris” from 19 May to 22 July. Each viewing session is only two hours during the weekend. For details, check out here.

Another heavyweight exhibition to be staged in Hong Kong is “A Lofty Retreat from the Red Dust: The Secret Garden of Emperor Qianlong”, from 22 June to 14 October, in Hong Kong Museum of Art. It will feature 77 sets of painting and calligraphy, furniture, mural paintings, architectural elements and religious art on loan from the Palace Museum, Beijing. The Garden was located in the northeastern corner of the Forbidden City, built by Emperor Qianlong (reigning from 1735 to 1796) for his enjoyment in retirement. For details, pls see here.

 Posted by Anna at 1:53 pm

Tung Ping Chau: spectacular rock and sea erosion landscape

 Hiking, Where to Visit  No Responses »
Apr 082012
 

Tung Ping Chau is an offshore island located in the northeast corner of Hong Kong, being its most easterly point, and closer to the border with Mainland China than with the main landmass of Hong Kong. Known for strange and spectacular rock formations, it is home to some spectacular cliffs and wave-cut platforms, hardly found in the rest of Hong Kong. Unlike most other rock types in Hong Kong, Tung Ping Chau is made up of sedimentary rock and has the youngest sedimentary rock in Hong Kong.

Ping Chau has been designated one of the eight Geo-Areas of the Hong Kong National Geopark, and a Marine Park in Hong Kong, occupying a sea area of about 270 hectares enclosing the island. It is said that Tung Ping Chau is only the divable site in Hong Kong, with its rich species of coral and algae.

Historically, Tung Ping Chau was a fishing island. At its peak, there were 1500 inhabitants who had  their own local dialect call Ping Chau Language. Due to its remote location, the island is no longer inhabited.

The visit to Tung Ping Chau has got to be a day trip. There is only a ferry going to and returning from Tung Ping Chau on Saturday and Sunday : 9am departing Ma Liu Shui pier near the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and 5:15pm returning from Tung Ping Chau to the pier.

The ferry time is about 1.5 hours. Return ticket fare: HK$90. So you will have about 7 hours on the island, plenty of time to walk around. There are two restaurants on the island, to the right of the Tung Ping Chau pier. You can have lunch there.

How to get there:

a queue forms well before 9am for boarding the ferry to Tung Ping Chau at Ma Liu Shui pier

Take the exit going to Science Park at University MTR Station of the East Rail line. Follow the sign of ferry pier for going to Ma Liu Shui pier. Midway, you will need to go under and pass two tunnels before reaching the other side to arrive at the pier. Just follow the crowd. Many people go to the pier for ferry to Tung Ping Chau or other outlying islands during the weekend.

The ferry starts at 9am at Ma Liu Shui pier. The return journey is a bit tricky. The official time is 5:15pm. But when I was there last time, I was able to board the ferry at 4:45pm which started at about 4:50pm. The ferry company, it is believed, sent another smaller ferry to fetch the other people at 5:15pm.

 Posted by Anna at 10:23 am

Nunnery and park: more compassion needed?

 Where to Eat/Drink, Where to Visit  2 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

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

The farm that has fresh eggs

 Hiking, Where to Visit  No Responses »
Nov 172011
 

Spreading over 148 hectares of land, and located on the northern slopes and foothill of Hong Kong’s highest mountain Tai Mo Shan, Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden (KFBG) is a huge lush green garden as well as a farm. The farm, established in 1956 to provide agricultural aid to farmers, particularly those immigrating to Hong Kong from mainland, is now a place for promoting biodiversity and green living.At the farm, two things attract me. The fresh stuff grown in the farm and sold in the farm shop. Fresh eggs are what I most desire – this is the only place in HK where you can buy local fresh eggs laid by free range organic chickens. Otherwise, you have to buy the “manufactured” eggs from the supermarket, made in the US, Thailand or the mainland.

Each day the farm shop has stock of 30 small boxes of eggs, which are sold out right away once they hit the shelves – and each visitor is allowed to buy only one box of 6 small eggs. And I can assure you they taste so much like an egg. What a shame that the farm is so far from where I live.

the farm grows chrysanthemums and dries them in the open, which are then sold in the farm shop

In visiting the farm, you must not miss the walk all the way to the 552-metre-high Kwun Yum Shan at the upper part of the farm. It is quite a walk as it is all uphill, and at turns very steep. But once you are on the top, you can take in much of the New Territories, and even Shenzhen on a clear day, with a panoramic view extending from you. And Kwun Yum, the Buddhist Goddess of compassion quietly stands there, guarding those who have made it to the top. When I was there, nobody else was there. I had the pleasure of being in the sole company of the Goddess of Compassion, and the blue sky.

 Posted by Anna at 10:48 pm
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