Vignettes of the World
Seize the last days of this exhibition and make an appointment to see Gazing at Sanxingdui: Archaeological Discoveries in Sichuan. The last day of the exhibition is January 8, 2024. The Sanxingdui was a civilization that existed during China’s Bronze Age in what is now …
In Chinese, Shenzhen is also known as Pengcheng, meaning “The City of Peng.” The Dapeng Fortress is where this other name of Shenzhen comes from. Its full name Dapeng Suocheng refers to the military nature of the ancient city. For the word “suo” is a …
The Lion Rock is a very popular trail in Hong Kong, but I have never had the opportunity to walk it. On this wonderful winter day I joined a group hike and had a wonderful time seeing 360 views in this somewhat midway point of Hong Kong.
The aerial views were certainly excellent, but the Lion Rock also stands for the Lion Rock Spirit, an important cultural reference that has long represented a shared spirit of community and hope for the people of Hong Kong.
Photos: A Panorama of the View of Kowloon and Hong Kong at the Lion Rock
We would be starting our hike at the Fat Chong Temple of Temple Hill. This is also the beginning point for a hike up the 488-meter high Temple Hill, about which we have previously written. At Fat Chong Temple, we headed up the Shatin Pass Road. Climb on a slightly steep incline for about five minutes, and keep watching on your left.
The entrance to the trail is on your left, with stairs and rail. This entrance will come up before you reach the Fung Wong Fresh Water Service Reservoir.
The climbing up this trail is relatively easy, as the paths are either paved or well trodded. Just keep on going on this trail and you will see signs at the crossroads indicating the way to the Lion Rock. It is very straight forward.
I highly recommend that you also see the Lion Head, where you will be able to climb up (engaging all fours) the famous rocky outcrop that makes the Lion Head.
After climbing the Lion Head, you will descend toward the Wang Tau Hom direction, or Tin Ma Court if you use hiking apps or Google Map.
A point of some importance is the existence of military structures on this trail. There are signs along the trail indicating where these facilities are, and I do plan on visiting them on my own when I do have the opportunity to do so. There will be an entry on this under the WWII category.
Photo: British-built Pillboxes Afar
Including time for photos, allow for about three hours to complete this hike.
There are two viewing points at the summit of the Lion Rock. I suggest taking all your pano pictures at the Lion Rock, which is a large area with safe vantage points for photographs. The Lion head is comparatively dangerous, but it is perhaps worth climbing as well. The views are the same at both locations, and both at are the altitude of 495 meters.
Looking north, you will see unobstructed views of Tai Wai and Shatin.
Lying on the northwest is Tai Mo Shan.
And then, of course, looking south you will see all of Kowloon and Hong Kong island.
The Lion Rock acquired its name because the Lion Head resembles the stately appearance of a lion. In terms of geography, it is also very significant because it is the mountain range that wedges between Kowloon and the New Territories.
Before vehicular access was opened by the two other Shatin tunnels, Tates Cairn and Eagle’s Nest, the Lion Rock Tunnel was the only speedy access between Kowloon and Shatin. For a very long time, the people living in the New Territories used the Lion Rock tunnel daily in their commute to the urban areas.
Culturally speaking, the Lion Rock stands as the epitome of the Hong Kong spirit. For as long as I can remember, Hong Kong people have had this phrase “beneath the Lion Rock,” referring to a shared aspiration to strive for a good life by hard work, honesty, integrity, perseverance, innovation and social harmony. The phrase comes from a very well-known song by Roman Tam of the same name, speaking amply to the sentiments of Hong Kong life during the 1970s and 1980s.
As a native of Hong Kong growing up during the 1980s, this song always brings me to tears. It is representative of a spirit of togetherness that no longer exists in Hong Kong today. But it still strikes a chord with so many of us, even for those who grew up a lot later. It was this very spirit that has propelled Hong Kong’s exceptional economic and social development all the way till the 1990s.
From the Wong Tai Sin MTR Station, take Green Top Minibus 18M to the final stop at Sha Tin Pass Estate. Head up Shatin Pass Road, the Fat Chong Temple is on your left. Keep on going on Shatin Pass Road for about five minutes, and the entrance to the trail will be on your left.
For our hike that day, we took a taxi from the Lok Fu MTR station, and you may also consider taking a taxi at the Wong Tai Sin MTR Station.
The Hong Kong Ballet performed The Great Gatsby a couple months ago. When I saw the introduction of the production, I learned about the preparation for the costumes. The program materials showed such sophisticated presentation of the costumes that I bought the ticket right away. …
Let us pause here for a much-loved topic: the wonders of Uzbek food. Before going to Uzbekistan, I had no knowledge whatsoever of the food that Uzbeks eat. I figured that, first, as long as I do not have craving for pork (and I do …
We were greeted with exceptional hospitality as soon as we arrived at Bukhara. By the time we checked in to the Oasis Boutique, it was dusk hour. On our way to the restaurant, we met a group of ladies from four generations of a family. They greeted us enthusiastically, and although we did not share the same languages (the only foreign language they spoke was Russian and we could only do English), we tried to communicate with each other in a combination of hand signs and whatever simple words we could do to convey our meaning.
They started singing and dancing with us. The air was incredibly jovial. We held hands and sang in a circle, clapping together but with much clumsiness in our steps. We could not tell what the tune was, but we sang and clapped along. There was immediate, unspoken but fully understood rapport amongst us.
The lady who was the youngest in the group told us that her grandmother was 84 years old, her mother was in her 60s, and she herself was about 30 years old. She had her young son with her this afternoon, but he was too young to speak English to us. We noticed that the Uzbeks did not find questions about one’s age a taboo. We gladly shared with them how old we were.
In essence, Bukhara greeted us with a spirited celebration of womanhood.
We parted our ways with the family and went on to Mavrigi for a much-needed supper. From Google Map Reviews we learned that this restaurant was known for its rudeness besides the fair quality of its food. And true to its name we got some rudeness and some good quality food as well.
Perhaps I will let the restaurant’s food and the ambiance here speak for itself. We would not go there again, as there are a million choices of food in the Old Town, but the experience was not nearly so bad as the Google reviewers suggested.
Legend has it that Bukhara was founded by Siyavush, a Persian prince from the Pishdadian dynasty. He ended up in Samarkand after his own evil stepmother accused him of seducing her. There he married the daughter of King Afrosiab. Part of her dowry included the vassal state of Bukhara. He eventually met an unfortunate fate, as the King Afrosib accused him of plotting to overthrow the king. The king had him executed.
In 329BC, Alexander the Great made his way here too. By 6th century BC, Bukhara was thriving as a city along the ancient Silk Road. Before the Islam era, which began when Arab invaders came to Uzbekistan in 7th century or so, Bukhara had a period of celebrated religious diversity, where people of many different faiths established their presence and practices, including the worship of the Iranian goddess Anahita, the Nestorian Christians and the Manicheans.
The successful Arab invasion ended the religious diversity here, but it did usher in a golden era for Bukhara in the 9th and 10th centuries, where Bukhrara was known as Bukhoro-I Sharif (Bukhara the Noble), and “The Pillar of Islam.” In 892 AD the Samanid ruler Ismail ibn Ahmad moved the capital from Samarkand to Bukhara. There was trade and with it came wealth, with the resultant glory of cultural and architectural developments.
When the Samanid era ended, Bukhara became the subject of attack by many brutal invaders, the Karakhanids, the Karakhitai, the Khorezmashah, and the most fierce of all, Ghenghis Khan’s mongols. These invaders typically razed Bukhara to the ground, Ghenghis Khan and his mongols, in particular, slaughtered all of Bukhara’s troops and destroyed all things in sight in the ancient city.
For three nights we would be staying at the recently-renovated Oasis Boutique Hotel. It was conveniently located close to the Old Town, within which stood both well-known and unnamed but state-protected old buildings. This is the center of Bukhara, radiating the energies of daily life for the ancient city once glorified by the Silk Road trade. The hotel is small but offers exceptionally clean, swanky new rooms for its customers. The breakfast was also very good, with a wide selection of snacks for you to take for your day’s sightseeing.
Generally speaking, the sites in Bukhara are pretty centralized. You may walk to the most-commonly visited tourist sites. With the exception of the ride to Sitorai Mokhi Khosa, and a failed attempt at finding the animal market, we did not have to call taxis.
As it turned out, we would be getting the best money exchange rate in Bukhara in this trip. At Asia Hotel Bukhara, ask for directions to get to the money exchange desk, which is somewhere in the basement. As Uzbekistan is very much a cash-based society, it is a good idea to prepare a little bit extra, in case you see something nice you like for a souvenir, or to splurge on any kind of unexpected luxuries on the trip.
Sophie Ibbotson, Uzbekistan, Bradt Travel Guide (2020).
Before arriving in Buhkara, we would also be making a stop at the town of Nurota to see some ancient ruins. This part of the journey was simple. We went up to the Nur Fortress to see what was supposedly a military installation built at …
We would be going to Bukhara on a private car in a five-hour drive from the Syyod Camp. We bid farewell to the staff at the camp and headed over to see the two wonders of Uzbekistan: the Kyzylkum Desert and Lake Aydarkul. Its sheer …
Hung Lau, meaning “Red House,” is a lesser-known historic building tucked away in the hinterland of Tuen Mun. It has a special place in the history of Hong Kong. Although its significance is not widely known, it bears a critical remembrance as a home base to some of Dr. Sun Yatsen’s planning for the 1911 Revolution.
A Grade 1 historic building, Hung Lau was built perhaps about a hundred years ago. In around 1901, the area was a farm known as Castle Peak Farm owned by Li Ki Tong, the son of a Hong Kong businessman. He met Dr. Sun Yatsen on a ship to Japan. He then joined the Revive China Society, which was the revolutionary organization that garnered the international support for the revolution. Since then, Li Ki Tong has provided Hung Lau for Dr. Sun Yatsen’s revolutionary cause. Dr. Sun Yatsen and his supporters met here to discuss their plans. In fact, the revolutionaries might have stored weapons and practiced their warring skills here too.
Perhaps worth mentioning is that there is another 1911 Revolution heritage in Ha Pak Nai. Together with that structure, the Castle Peak Farm and Hung Lau served as secure and then unknown bases for the 1911 Revolution in northwestern Hong Kong. See introduction of the fortified structure at Ha Pak Nai here.
It is a two-story building built in red bricks, the hue of which gave the building its name. Hung Lau and its surrounding land is now owned by a mainland Chinese businessman. Even before the private ownership, the building had been left in ruins. When the building came into private hands, however, the news got out that there were plans to demolish it. In fact, small house next to the main building was already taken down.
For a brief period of time in 2017, the building became a proposed monument in order to delay its demolition by the private owner. However, the government eventually decided in late 2017 that there was not enough concrete evidence proving the building’s significance in the 1911 Revolution to give it a Declared Monument status.
There was a long time when Taiwan supporters gathered here to celebrate the Double Ten Festival. That, of course, is no longer seen today. The building has come under the ownership of a mainland Chinese businessman since 2018. Also due to the operation of the National Security Law, supporters of Taiwan no longer hold events here. One can easily imagine Hung Lau and its significance to be buried by the tides of history and descend into oblivion in the near future.
I drove and it was probably a good idea. For drivers, the way of entry is via the Tuen Mun Riding School nextdoor. Tell the guard that you are seeing Hung Lau and they will let you in. Once inside the equestrian school, make a right and arrive at the gate. Someone will open the gate for you when you get there. Once out of the gate, you will arrive at the outskirts of the Zhongshan Park. The Hung Lau will be on your left. Note that you must not enter the grounds of the building itself as it is now privately owned property. At the most you may just take a few photographs at the gate.
The Zhongshan park is a small park next to the heritage, with a nice pagoda and some green park space. There was quite a community there, as people gathered to set up their own karaoke booths. It was anything but restful, so I just took two photographs of the building and left.
CACHe, The Conservancy Association Centre for Heritage on Hung Lau, Castle Peak, Tuen Mun.
The Wikipedia on Zhongshan Park in Tuen Mun (Chin).
The netizens of Hong Kong are very familiar with Hung Heung Lo Fung, a vantage point that is perfect for viewing and taking photographs of Hong Kong’s famous harbor skyline. At an altitude of 228 meters, the small peak provides unobstructed views on the west …