Vignettes of the World
When I was young, my grandmother would bring me fruits of the Chinse wampi. “It’s from Tsung Pak Long,” she would say. The sourness of this fruit left a bitter impression. As such, since a young age I have learned not to eat it. But …
We asked for a ride to Ba Na Hills. When we arrived at Ba Na Hills 20 minutes later, only then did we realize that we joined a tour. They tour guide advised us to stick with the tour group until it ended at 3:30. …
Danang was my third trip to Vietnam. I had not written much during my first two trips, which were to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, respectively. Therefore I will start with my third trip.
To Danang and Hoi An it was.
The street scenes of Danang reminded me of the smaller townships of China. My companion noted that he felt at home, and I agreed. The streets of Danang lined with all sorts of small shops. Being the country of the motorbikes, Vietnam’s streets were full of rows and rows of them.
It is strangely liberating to travel in developing countries. Not to say they are less civilized, but as tourists we were held only so much to the social norms of this culture. We felt free to walk on the wrong direction of the motorcade. We became millionaires as soon as we exchanged the local currency. With all western etiquettes out the window, we would sometimes be mistaken for being locals.
We stayed at a youth hostel on the northwestern part of the city. Despite coming in at a late hour, I felt immediately the warmth of the reception. There were some Vietnamese locals hanging out with a young Englishman. He told us that he just finished with uni in the UK. He was going to pass by Danang for a night, but then met everyone here. I sensed that he meant to say that the stay at this hostel was life changing. But being British he probably was too reserved to put it that way. In any case, he decided to stay in Danang. He would start teaching English soon.
Nga worked at the reception. She oversaw the management of the hostel. Although I was hoping for a good-ole Vietnamese noodle on the street, we took her suggestion to have seafood at a proper establishment. The restaurant was Vietquan, down the street. After rounds of communicating with body language and the translation app, we settled on a grilled fish and wok-fry clams with lemon grass. The dishes were wonderful.
Next morning I woke at 6:20 or so and took a morning walk. I located a small street stall where I would gladly have breakfast. My companion was still asleep. The plan of the day was Ba Na Hills. I worried that it would rain as we went during the rainy season. Yet this day greeted me with generous sunshine. I had a feeling that it would be a great day.
Our breakfast was a wonderful ramen with a crisp baguette. The baguette was warm on a coal-lit stove.
This would be my second try at finding the War Relics Trail, also known as Maclehose Trail Section 6. Last time, I attempted to reach this section of the Maclehose Trail by the starting point of the Kowloon Reservoir. I was lost. The War Relics …
I love Vietnam. Being a child of Hong Kong, I grew up knowing just a few countries. There was Britain, which as a colonial power administered Hong Kong during my formative years. There was China, a motherland that scared most of Hong Kong people away …
I was very ambitious in trying to walk the Maclehose Trail Section 6 from the starting point of the Kowloon Reservoir. It turned out that I lost my way. I never made it out to the War Relics Trail, which would have been the final stretch of this trail. I did however enjoy the views of Kowloon Reservoir and the Kam Shan Country Park.
The Kowloon Reservoir is probably not as well-known as the general area that it is in, which is Monkey Hill, as it is fondly known by the locals of Hong Kong. The Kowloon Reservoir was the first of the Kowloon group of reservoirs to begin service, in 1910. The group consists of the Kowloon Reservoir, the Shek Lei Pui Reservoir (1925), Kowloon Reception Reservoir (1926), and the Kowloon Byewash Reservoir (1931). The Kowloon Reservoir, despite its name, is actually the first reservoir in the New Territories. Its curved dam structure is a special feature.[1]
Having passed the boundary sign for Shatin, I parked in the parking lot on Tai Po Road, and followed signs for the Kam Shan Country Park. The first part of the trail was an easy stroll with wonderful reservoir views.
Speaking of monkeys, the Macaque Monkeys are native to Hong Kong. There really were many of them once we began the incline up the Kam Shan Country Park. All along the gradual incline that was 2km in distance, the monkeys tracked closely beside us.
The day was slightly overcast. We walked all the way to the very end of Golden Hill Road. At the roundabout, we walked further along the aqueduct, and eventually reached somewhere in Kwai Chung. I knew that we have missed the Maclehose Trail 6 altogether by then.
The hike was pretty easy all throughout. Once having passed the initial incline, there were lots of shades in the rest of the Golden Hill Road. It was a paved road throughout, basically meant for vehicles.
[1] See generally the Water Supplies Department.
It was time to say goodbye to the Dying Lion. I headed back and passed by the Hofkirche St Leodegar (The Church of St. Leodegar). The Church of St. Leodegar, the Catholic Foundation of Luzern St. Leodegar is Luzern’s patron saint. In the Chapel Bridge, …
Lunch at Heini It was time for lunch. As much as I looked forward to having some hot food, I was a little lost as to how to find the right food for the right price. All things in Switzerland were expensive, with the exception …
Those who have been to Hong Kong would have heard of the “Ladies’ Street” in the shopping area of Mong Kok. I think equally fascinating is its counterpart, “Men’s Street.”
Temple Street in Yau Ma Tei is known to Hong Kong people as “Men’s Street.” Its vibrant night market sells all sorts of knick-knacks catered to men. From something so simple as reading glasses and pocket flash lights, to the more “private needs” of men, the Temple Street Night Market is always brimming with a “scene of manhood.”
Tin Hau, the Goddess of the Sea, is the figure of worship in this part of Yau Ma Tei. This likely had to do with the fact that Yau Ma Tei had a long history with the people of the sea. During the 19th century, Yau Ma Tei was a stretch of bay with a sandy shore. This attracted the Hok Lo people, who lived on boats offshore. In the early 20th century, Yau Ma Tei became a typhoon shelter, thereafter attracting many sampans, amounting to a floating village. But we do not see this scene today, due to the reclamation work by the Government. It has effectively destroyed the shoreline that was the main feature of this once-sea-reliant district.
And the Tin Hau Temple on is the focal point of the night market on Temple Street. The din of gongs and the hustling of hawkers gravitate toward the public park on the temple ground. The street probably was named thus after the Tin Hau Temple.
Every evening, hawkers set up makeshift stalls on the street in front of the Tin Hau Temple. Stalls of fortune tellers would read your fortune out of every variety of geomamcy imaginable. The sound of street singers performing the tunes of a distant past fill the air with festivity.
Perhaps not so readily observable, but transactions of a seedier nature continue to this day. Temple Street, as the “Men’s Street,” was long the breeding ground of cheap prostitution, gambling dens and drug trade. The opium dens and brothels used to be found on the sampans at the shore. Notwithstanding the disappearance of the sampans, the area remains known for making available cheap vices for working class men.
Certainly, as with all market places, Temple Street offers plenty of attractions to all. One unique feature of food at Temple Street is what the locals call the “neighborhood style”. Seafood restaurants have a strong presence on Temple Street. Customers order the seafood from the tanks, and then specify the cooking style. It is “neighborhood style” because of the availability of lower-end seafood, such as shells, or the oyster pancake.
Another special feature of food on Temple Street is the made-to-order casserole. The rice is cooked in the clay pot with a choice of meat. What is particularly special about the casserole in Temple Street is the cooking on coal-lit stove. On a winter evening, it is indeed an especially memorable experience. A group of people sit around a knee-height table, upon small stools, with a charcoal-lit clay pot sizzling besides them.
Finally, worthy of note is the Mido Café, which stands right across from the Tin Hau Temple. This two-storied café has been in business since 1950. It is a classic “bing sutt” serving Hong Kong styled small meals and Cantonese food. The menu features items like the Hong Kong Pineapple Bun with a slab of butter. Or a sweet French toast. If one feels like a regular meal, there is the baked spareribs over rice. A special drink is the lotus seed with yin-yang, which is the mixing of coffee and milk tea. If not this drink, then certainly finish the meal with a cup of dark-brewed milk tea.
Mido’s curved window panels upstairs show a top-down view of the Temple Street night scene. As with the China Café in Mong Kok (now closed permanently), Mido Café was the setting for a number of movies. It certainly is a part of Hong Kong memory.
In Christopher DeWolf’s wonderful article on Yau Ma Tei’s history, he noted that the neighborhood has retained much of its unique character throughout the years. Unlike the neighboring Tsim Sha Tsui, there was not much of an effort to revamp Yau Ma Tei. Yet Temple Street has changed, not in terms of its inherent character, but rather owing to the significant improvement of living standards in the rest of Hong Kong. To most of Hong Kong’s middle class, Temple Street and the life that it represents is valued more for its nostalgia than its marketplace. For this same reason, while Yau Ma Tei remains a working-class neighborhood, Temple Street has become a tourist attraction, more so than a cheap flea market.
Comes the break of dawn, and Yau Ma Tei would see Gwo Lan, the fruit market a few streets away, to open. Year after year, Yau Ma Tei continues to age as the rest of Hong Kong becomes increasingly affluent. In Chinese we say “ten years like a day,” and such is Temple Street in Yau Ma Tei.
Sources:
Christopher DeWolf, Hong Kong District History: Yau Ma Tei, Frenetic 24/7 Urban Centre That’s Unlike Anywhere in the City, South China Morning Post, April 16, 2018.
The Chapel Bridge took me south of the river, where my tour of Luzern began. The Jesuit Church stands prominently on the riverside. “The Jesuit Church of St. Francis Xavier was built 1666-73, but its onion domed twin towers were not completed until the 19th …