Tuesday November 6th, 2007
Our last days in Hong Kong
Today, our last day in Hong Kong, we are taking a half day tour to what is called the Land Beyond. From the tour brochure: The New Territories, which stretch between the outer hills of Kowloon and Hong Kong’s boundary with Mainland China, are a diverse part of Asia’s world city that are mostly rural and sometimes urban. Well described as ‘the land between’, they’re a scenic fusion of traditional customs and modern trends, of natural wonders and man-made achievements.
It then moves out into the countryside, heading upwards to enjoy the panoramic views of Tai Mo Shan – Hong Kong's highest peak.
Over the mountain lurks a lush valley of orchards and vegetable farms.
You'll then visit a Hakka walled village in Fanling, which houses an old defensive wall complete with gun turrets and a family ancestral hall where ancestor worship is still practised today. Hakkas are true native peoples of Hong Kong, having preserved their culture here after leaving their homelands in northern China to head south some 2,000 years ago. Their fortress-like village enclaves were once considered havens of peace after a hard day's work out in the fields. From here, the tour heads to Luk Keng Road, which runs parallel with the coastline of Mainland China across the bay. Make sure you keep an eye out for the bird sanctuary.
There is also a pit stop at a fish-farming zone at Sam Mun Tsai.
We decided to walk to the meeting place for the tour as we had yet another beautiful day.
On the way, we drove past the container port; Hong Kong is the world's third largest container port, after Shanghai and Singapore.
We drove past these huge apartment complexes which house thousands of people with self contained schools, supermarkets, day cares, and medical centres.
We arrived at the Monastery, but could not enter the buildings as this was authentic pure avoda zara. People kept arriving with offerings for the gods inside the buildings.
Beautiful clean toilets, but where does one sit????
The gates to the walled city.
We arrived at the walled city. Once common throughout China, walled villages can still be found in Southern China and in the New Territories of Hong Kong.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the area of Hong Kong was particular vulnerable to pirates' attacks. Winding shores, hilly lands and islands and far from administrative centres made Hong Kong an excellent hideout for pirates. Villages built walls against pirates. Some villages even protected themselves with cannons.
Walled villages in Hong Kong are characterized by row houses arranged in a square or rectangular block, where the parallel rows of houses are separated by narrow lanes.
The streets are so narrow that the balconies almost touch each other.
The floating fishing village.
On the way back to the hotel, I found a sign that appealed to me....hmmmmm.....
After packing, we headed over to Rav Meoded's Mul Yam restaurant for mincha and dinner.
And you thought there were rules in Singapore....I particularly like the third row down on the left....if they had this in Israel on the highway, what would people do????
Good we had eaten already or I might have been tempted....
Before leaving for Singapore we had a few hours to kill, so we headed over to the fancy new mall in Hong Kong; the Elements Mall. It is very close to the train station to the airport in Tsim Sha Tsui.
It has four sections named and decorated for the 5 elements; earth, water, fire, metal and wood.
They have branches of the leading retail stores in the world.
There is even a full size skating rink in the middle of the mall.
It has been a great trip to Hong Kong...somehow, we feel that we shall return here; for now, we head out to the airport to catch our Singapore Airlines flight to Singapore. This is amazing. You simply take the hotel shuttle to the train station, where you check your luggage in for the flight and hop on the 24 minute train ride to the airport with your boarding pass and your carry on luggage. Wow, these people in Hong Kong have got it all figured out and organized.
Unlike Toronto, they do not charge you for the luggage trollies....there is even a person who meets you as you exit the train and has a luggage trolley just for you.
Amazing! We have a lot to learn.
We arrived in Singapore in the early afternoon and what struck us immediately was the humidity; this is very close to the equator (therefore Shabbat comes in at about the same time every week) and because of the heat and humidity there are many malls in the downtown/hotel area that are connected by air conditioned lower level passages; similar to the PATH in Toronto but for the opposite reason (heat, not cold).
To be continued in Singapore.....
No comments:
Post a Comment