Vignettes of the World
Bright and early at 6am we were back in Tashkent by train. This would be our very final day in Uzbekistan. We would be seeing some museums for this day, before we head out for our flight in the evening. The Bon! Café It was …
The Tash Khauli Palace of Khiva would be the last sightseeing that we did in Khiva before we hopped on the afternoon train for Tashkent. Khiva blessed us with another gorgeous day with a bright blue sky, echoing the turquoise mosaics that would become the …
The day was blessed with generous sunshine and it was extremely hot. There was quite a bit of walk to the Tai O Heritage Hotel from the bus stop, via parts of the Tai O town. I took my time, my tour would take place at 3pm, and I had time for lunch at the restaurant there. After a 20 minute walk, I made it to the Tai O Heritage Hotel.
The classic white front of the hotel scintillated brilliance under the sun. Having past noon the day ushered in its hottest hours. As I ascended the gentle incline toward the main office of the former police station, the classic structure slowly came into view, revealing a small part itself — beautifully restored, radiating an air of elegance that belongs to a bygone age in Hong Kong. Formerly the Tai O Old Police Station, the heritage became a revitalised monument and it now remade itself into a boutique heritage hotel.
The hotel was a whole lot smaller than I thought. After joining the tour, I learned that the very original structure, standing as it was in 1902, was even smaller, consisting only of what is now the hotel reception and the story above, which were the dorm rooms for the British officers. The section below the now-glass roof restaurant was an addition in the 1960s. Those rooms served various functions, including police dormitory and canteen.
A short tour taking just about 15 minutes is offered free to visitors and signup can be done at the hotel’s website. The tour guide highlighted some of the features at the heritage site that required more explanation than the display boards, or otherwise could have been easily missed.
Photo: The Tai O Old Police Station Features a Classic Veranda, a Typical Feature for Colonial Era Buildings.
Situated at the southwestern tip of Tai O and overlooking the boundary between the waters of Hong Kong and China, the former police station was the frontier station that was set up with the intention of addressing two main problems that troubled the seas of Hong Kong between the 1900s and 1950s — the presence of pirates and the influx of refugees arriving by sea. The Old Tai O Police Station began its duty in 1902. It became a part of the marine police in 1948. By 1996 the police station became merely an outpost for the Land Police. Due to the exceptionally low crime rate in Tai O, in 2002 the Old Tai Po Police Station finally stepped down from its former historic duty after nearly 100 years of service to the community.
Close to the hotel’s reception one will see a beautiful searchlight, restored and preserved. This search light was a key facility for the patrolling function of the police station, providing visibility for approaching vessels, be they pirates or refugees. It is no longer in use today.
In the now-reception area one will see the charge room and the preserved former detention cell. It is actually very small but at the time it was expected to keep up to ten detainees there. The old mesh wiring was handwoven and that was preserved.
The section where the now-reception area stands is the very original in 1902. The area that mostly serves as guest rooms now was an addition in 1962, serving the purposes of briefing room, canteen and dormitory for local officers.
There were two turrets in the original Old Tai O Police Station. One was preserved and it stands next to the Tai O Lookout. It served the function of guarding and patrolling. The original watch tower was reached by climbing a ladder. There was also no large opening in its original design. One could only imagine that this was the least favorite post for the officers, due to the heat and the humid and woody environment that bred swarms of mosquitoes. The officers used to call it the “mosquito-feeding tower.”
Rumors suggest that the Tai O Heritage Hotel is haunted, and a story seems to confirm the possibility that it is indeed so. A disgruntled Indian officer that was fired came to the constable’s office to confront his supervisor. He fired shots (and some of the bullet holes are still see in the metal window shutters), killing his supervisor. He then killed himself as well.
But that might have been the only tragedy that took place here, and only once.
Photo: The Removable Wooden Puck Indicates the Officer Who is On Duty.
In 2008, the Old Tai O Police Station underwent revitalization, thus heralding a new historic role as a part of the Tai O community that has embraced the latest trend of eco / sustainable / heritage tourism. It became the Tai O Heritage Hotel, which is run by the nonprofit enterprise of Hong Kong Heritage Conservation Foundation Limited. All profits from the hotel business go into the maintenance of the Grade 2 Historic Building. Needless to say, the revitalization had the aim of preserving some of the salient features of the Old Police Station, as discussed above.
The Tai O Lookout is the hotel restaurant of the Tai O Heritage Hotel. Before I went, I learned that its afternoon tea menu was particularly interesting. Dishes of the tea set menu feature a few of Tai O’s locally made specialties. I have heard good reviews of the pork chop bun with Tai O shrimp paste. However, when I went, I was too early for tea set. I ordered fish and chips with tartar sauce in Tai O shrimp paste instead. It was indeed delightful. I also ordered a cold drink, lemon with Tai O grown honey.
The glass roofed Tai O Lookout is an additional structure that was built specifically to serve the catering needs of the hotel patrons. The design came with sustainability features. The clear reason was that the interiors being lit by natural daylight would serve energy conservation purposes and create a hospitable ambience for the diners.
The not-so-obvious reason was that this type of structure can be taken down relatively expeditiously, should one day the hotel business fail (let’s hope not) and the property has to be restored to original conditions and be returned to the Hong Kong Government.
The Tai O Old Police Station is a wonderful window into the life of Tai O in the 20th century. In those times transportation was not as developed and a duty post out here meant that officers had to sacrifice their family time in the urban areas. The “mosquito tower” was just one aspect of the harsh conditions of being stationed in the wild.
Descriptions on site at the Tai O Heritage Hotel
Guided Tour of the Tai O Heritage Hotel
The website of the Tai O Heritage Hotel
I needed a getaway and decided to go local this time. I booked a hostel in Lantau Island for a two-day one-night stay. With anticipation I embarked upon my journey. The first stop was Bathers at Lower Cheung Sha Beach for a beachside lunch. I …
On my way to the Museum of Coastal Defence, I passed by some heritage sites in Shau Kei Wan. Here are the gems that I found in this neighborhood. A Brief Word on Shau Kei Wan Even as early as the 18th century, Shau Kei …
On our last day in Dameisha, I took a walk in the Biling Hiking Trail, which is part of the Malian Mountain Country Park. I have done solo hiking in Xianggong Shan of Xingping, Guilin before. But this hiking experience is significant because I did have to find my way to and from the entrance and the exit points, and so it took some extra skills to experience my very first hike in Shenzhen.
From the Interlaken OCT Hotel I walked about half an hour to reach the entrance of the Biling Hiking Trail, which is located across from the San Zhou Tian Reservoir on Bisanlu Road.
On my way to the trail entrance, I saw some pretty nice views of a reservoir.
The entrance of the trail lies up in a high altitude amidst the mountains. The trail will lead you through a very shaded walk downhill for a good full 2km. This long descent did strain my muscles.
It was hot and sometimes rainy, but this part of the mountain had a cluster of waterfalls. Therefore I heard the sound of flowing water throughout the hike. There were recurring appearance and evanescence of mists coming from the waterfalls. I felt amazing throughout the trail.
Overall, it was a wonderful experience being so closely in touch with the nature of Shenzhen. It being such an urbanized city, Shenzhen is certainly not well known for its hiking trails — hiking is put on the backburner as a tourist interest by the government or key opinion leaders. That might explain why I mostly saw local Chinese people on my way, and there were a whole lot of them.
On may way I might have seen some five to six waterfalls and the views were fantastic. Toward the end of my hike, the sun came out with a bright, illuminating blue sky.
Unless you are a very active hiker and are very serious about the exercise, I do not recommend going up the mountain from the Malian Shan Country Park. The ascent up the trail is rigorous with many stairs.
At the end of the trail, you will find yourself at the North Gate of the Malian Mountain Country Park. Walk about ten minutes to Parking Lot 1 and you will find public transportation that will take you back to the urban areas.
Right next to the Interlaken OCT is the Knight Valley (Daxiagu). There is a touristy “little train” that takes you to this area of the resort. The theme is ecological tourism, and surely Knight Valley is one big theme park.
There are five sections in the theme park and one of them is a water park. A few sections offer joy rides. Just by the sound of it, the Knight Valley is perhaps more suitable for families with children. The views should be quite good at that altitude, and I assume some nice photos can be taken of the nature there too.
The train runs every half hour beginning at 10am and the last train is at 5:30pm.
Known locally as the “lighthouse library,” the Library of Yantian is a perfect instagrammable spot for the social media influencers. It is perhaps worth looking up, although I have been told by the staff at Interlaken OCT Hotel that prebooking is recommended. On this trip we did not have time to see it.
In this short getaway in Shenzhen I really only did two sightseeing activities, which were the Dameisha Beach and the Biling Hiking Trail. For what this area offers, I would say these two things were likely the most authentic experience. All other sightseeing spots are manmade, although clearly there is the effort to strike a balance between the natural endowment of the area and the human footprint, for better or for worse. I did have a pleasant time there.
There were those days. A few decades ago, my family took a vacation in Xiaomeisha in Shenzhen. That was when even the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant had not been built yet. In those times, a vacation in Shenzhen alone was a big deal for …
This is my second time visiting the Museum of Coastal Defense. My last visit was more than ten years ago. Revisiting this incredibly interesting museum, I found the learning to be even more comprehensive than my last visit. It is my view that the Museum …
We strolled through more of the old town of Khiva, and came upon a little coppersmith shop.
The small shop displayed many goods of interests, a humble collection of finished products and some were work-in-progress. The coppersmith was playing with some of his instruments when we went in. Seeing that there were visitors, he immediately came to us and showed us his crafts. He did eventually understand that we were really “just lookin.” To our surprise, instead of leaving us alone, he began firing up his tools for a demonstration.
He fired up a piece of copper and hammered a copper bowl. We saw the process of crafts making unfold, from a piece of raw copper into the shape of a bowl, with hand pounded hammer prints on the craft. This style is very much in vogue at the top end furniture stores.
We were thankful for this incredibly interesting demonstration of his copper craft. We also understood that, to be able to suppress the shopkeeper’s instincts to sell his products, and welcomed instead the tourists into the viewing and videotaping of the process of his craftsmaking, it probably took some well-intentioned training by the authorities. For that we surely were grateful.
We had a coffee break at a nice café with an al fresco seating area facing a beautiful view of Khiva. The café’s name is now lost on me, but I do remember rather distinctly that it was located on Pahlavon Mahmud Street.
As said before, there is a separate fee to enter the Pahlavon Mahmud complex, and we decided not to see it. Suffice to say, that Pahlavon Mahmud (1247-1326) was a poet, humanist and craftsman, whose work and poetry were recognized during his own lifetime. Khiva’s rulers commemorated him with this building, and it is supposedly very beautiful with exquisite turquoise interiors. This structure also stands upon the little craftsman workshop in which he was buried, as according to his will.
Dusk might befall upon us in an hour or so. We somehow wandered into the Kunya Ark area. We made our way up the Ark and found gems. There were courtyards there with turquois tiled walls and long wooden pillars and decorated wooden eaves, sights that were quite a bit different from the historic buildings that we had seen prior to this point.
We figured that we did get our share of turquois décor here, despite our decision against seeing the Pahlavon Mahmud Complex for an additional fee.
There were not so many tourists and we took plenty of photographs.
Like the Ark of Bukhara, the Kunya Ark was where the rulers of Khiva actually resided, as such it was as much a defense structure as it was a residential neighborhood for the royals. Built first in the 12th century, the Kunya Ark meant “Old Fortress,” as opposed to the Tash Khauli that was built on the East Gate later.
The structures that stand today at the Kunya Ark date to the 18th and 19th centuries, although the earliest foundation of the Kunya Ark are 5th century structures. The fortified palace was built in 1686 by Aranghan Khan. However, the palace fell into disrepair after the royals moved to the Tash Khauli.
Because the Kunya Ark was once the residence of the khan’s, the structures there were intended to serve practical purposes. The chambers there served as mosque, reception hall, powder mill, arsenal, mint, harem, kitchen, stable, guardhouse and more.
The restored reception hall shows elaborate interior décor and beautiful turquoise in the outside. The throne room was not too big, but it does show the glory with which the khans received their visitors.
A large quantity of relics have been excavated from the sites here, confirming the historical sources that described the life here as early as the 13th and 14th centuries. These relics included glazed and unglazed ceramics, an old well, hearths and more.
The structures that are still standing now host a museum, and we took a quick look at the exhibits. The former mint is now the museum covering the history of the currency (both in Khorezm and in Uzbekistan).
We spent maybe an hour, or a little more, enjoying the Kunya Ark with its stately stature. We spent a bit of time at the fortress and watchtower area, for that is where one can see all of Khiva beneath the perfect azure of the sunny day.
Our plan was to enjoy more of the dusk views at the nearby Terrassa Café.
At the Terrassa Café you must secure two things. First, it goes without saying that you must secure your table. We wanted sunset viewing so I were there quite early, at around 6pm, to get a table on the roof.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, you must secure a blanket. Khiva becomes very cold at night, and we were literally shivering through our dinner, despite having the blankets. To our surprise, the roof dining area was actually not full at all, perhaps it was exactly due to the cold.
And we saw both the Kunya Ark and all of Khiva morphed in colors as the dusk befell. That concluded our only full day of sightseeing in Khiva. And this was one of the most savored memories in our trip to Uzbekistan.
Descriptions on site at the historic monuments in Khiva.
Central Asia Guide, The Kunya Ark Fortress.
Sophie Ibbotson, Uzbekistan, Bradt Travel Guide (2020).
Khiva was clean, neat and windswept. We went right by the Kalta Minor to find the Orient Star Khiva Hotel, which took over the original site of the Madrassa Muhammad Aminkhan as its place of business. The construction for the Kalta Minor was never finished …