Vignettes of the World
I Have a Date with Spring
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.” …
Perhaps with the exception of, broadly, British colonial rule and its return to China in 1997, Hong Kong is not well known for its history. Yet Hong Kong does celebrate its past, short though it might be. This day I visited the Pinewood Battery …
There is this idea of a “Hong Kong Style Western Cuisine.” Its roots go back to the late 19th century, when many foreigners did business in Hong Kong. Thus the demand for western cuisine. In the beginning, only foreigners dined at these western restaurants, but …
The Walled City area had its beginning more than eight hundred years ago in the Song Dynasty. The Kowloon City and the neighboring Kwun Tong area of Kowloon used to be salt fields. With a decline in salt production, the salt industry eventually fell into …
We are expecting an epidemic in Hong Kong. As the city is half-paralyzed due to a government shutdown, and the malls are no longer safe to visit, what is there to do but to visit the countryside? On this chilly winter morning, my friends and …
You don’t know what you got till it’s gone, and that is the story of the China Café. I visited this old-schooled, Hong Kong styled café on December 28th, 2019. This is one of its very last days before saying goodbye to Hong Kong. …
The Hong Kong UNESCO Global GeoPark remembers Hong Kong in a way that none of us does. Hexagonal rock columns line the slopes at the Eastern Dam of the High Island Reservoir in Sai Kung. They span a total area of 100 square kilometers including …
For centuries, the villagers of Kat Hing Wai lived in contentment. The Tang clan settled in the Yuen Long area as early as the Song dynasty. The Tang villagers were the first settlers in this area of the New Territories. When the last Emperor of …
Literally meaning “the dragon leaps over the mountain,” Lung Yeuk Tau spans a large area in Fanling in the Northern District. It was the second heritage trail in the New Territories that the Antiquities and Monuments Office proposed and promoted. The 2.6km walk takes visitors …
By Patrick H. Hase “The leased area [the New Territories] was not seen as an economic advantage to the City (indeed, it was initially assumed that it would be a drain on the Colony’s finances), but it was seen as greatly strengthening the City’s security …