Visiting HKUST

The month started with one last midterm and then continued with a fairly solid workload for the next few weeks (which makes for pretty awful blogging…). Keeping on top of work here requires a fairly constant effort that really cuts down on free time and makes it quite a challenge to fit in all of the places in Hong Kong that I want to see. As has been mentioned in previous blogs, my favoured way of getting out and about has been to walk along some of Hong Kong’s beautiful hiking trails.

My main goal with working hard at the start of the month was to save time for my family flying out for my birthday.  Their visit was to start with four full days in Hong Kong and would then be followed by four full days in Singapore. My four day ‘best of Hong Kong itinerary’ was as follows:

1. Hong Kong Island
2. Sai Kung, HKUST, Chi Lin Nunnery and Mongkok
3. Victoria Peak and Stanley
4. Lantau Island and the Ritz Carlton at the ICC

View over Sok Kwu Wan Village

Hung Shing Ye Beach

The third largest of Hong Kong’s islands, Lamma Island, is a 20 minute ferry journey from the central ferry terminal on Hong Kong Island.  There are ferries to two different towns on the island - Yung She Wan (the largest) in the north west and Sok Kwu Wan on the east coast.  Just like Cheung Chau, which I visited a few months ago, it is popular at weekends as a quiet retreat from the city - so the ferry was very crowded.  I decided to head for Yung She Wan, where I arrived in the late morning and wandered around the variety of restaurants and small shops.  The range of food on offer was excellent and I was able to find myself a much appreciated full English breakfast to start my day of hiking.  Once again I was following the David Pickerell “Historical Hong Kong Hikes” book - there were two hikes based on Lamma, which it was possible to join together.  The first of these started at the ferry terminal and made its way south from the town towards Hung Shing Ye Beach.

Bohemian shopping at Lamma

The town itself has a real bohemian vibe and a lot of the residents had set up stalls outside their houses selling various wares for charities supporting the victims of Typhoon Haiyan.  The place also appeared to be thriving and was pretty lively considering that there are no cars and it is only accessible by boat.  On top of the selection of shops and restaurants there were lots of community activities being advertised - such as dance classes and football clubs.  Apparently it is very popular with expats.  Much of the prosperity of the island is owed to the Hong Kong Electric Company, who have installed an enormous power station on the island - the four chimneys of which are visible pretty much wherever you stand in the northern region.  The company have obviously spent a lot of money on ‘community relations’ and have paid for all of the major hiking trails to be renovated.  As a result, the walk from Yung She Wan to Sok Kwu Wan couldn’t have been much easier - a gentle climb, well signposted and well maintained (and as a result there is very little point in me elaborating upon the hike instructions - just follow the signs!)

Sok Kwu Wan Village fishing platforms

Enormous oar fish

Having arrived at Sok Kwu Wan village in good time I spent a little while looking around.  The village appears to be based entirely around the fishing industry - all of the buildings seem to be fish restaurants and the bay that it is sitting in is full of fishing platforms.  Even the local 'Tin Hau’ temple contains an enormous pickled oar fish that was caught by a local fisherman fairly recently and is supposedly one of the best preserved large samples in the world.  I had now finished the first of my hikes which had essentially taken me between the two main settlements on the island via some dramatic cliff paths and beautiful beaches.  From Sok Kwu Wan I continued south towards the village of Tung O, passing the highest point on the island - Mount Stenhouse.  Apparently it was a mystery for some time who the peak had been named after and, amusingly, it was worked out that it had come about as a result of a mistaken spelling.  It was in fact named after 'Sir Humphrey Le Fleming Senhouse’ who had served and died in the Royal Navy during the Opium War.  Unfortunately for him, his superiors obviously hadn’t known him too well as they added an extra ’t’ to his name when they named a mountain after him.  I have to admit, that I would be pretty annoyed to have a 'Mount Cole’ named after me…

Not a trail in sight

Anyway, my hike book went on to say that it was possible to climb the peak but advised that it was an extremely tricky hike and that it shouldn’t be attempted alone.  Reading that as “you should see how far you can get by yourself” I headed on up with totally inadequate footwear and two gulps-worth of water in my flask.  The writer wasn’t wrong - climbing the peak was very hard as the 'trail’ essentially followed the path of a dried up stream through some very dense undergrowth.  With recurring flashbacks of my 'Singapore cobra incident’ (look through the South East Asia blog if you haven’t heard this over-told story) and with foliage up to my armpits, I decided that the best way to scare of snakes was to clap and sing.  It took me an hour to get to the top, but the views were definitely worth it - even if anyone who observed me stumbling my way up while singing 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’ with my hands clapping above my head must have thought me to be thoroughly drunk, or insane.  Having been totally unprepared for climbing Mount Stenhouse, I was absolutely parched when I had slid my way back down again.  Unfortunately there were no obvious drinks vendors in sight so, faced with the alternative of heading back to where I started, I continued with the hike.  After the terrible conditions of my 'off-piste’ adventure, I was able to make great time on the paved paths through the villages on the south side of Lamma.  These settlements are amongst the most isolated on the island (and therefore in Hong Kong) and are in a state of slow decay as the young move away to the big city.  One famous resident who did just this and moved from Lamma at the age of 10 is the famous Chinese actor Yun-Fat Chow, who was the lead character in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.  His old village, Tung O, is now only inhabited by a few elderly residents who sit outside their houses chatting and telling lost looking tourists which way the hiking route goes - whether the actor has ever come back to visit, I don’t know.  I was pretty thirsty by this stage, but having got to the coast I soon arrived at another village, Yung Shue Ha (which means 'under the banyon tree’ as oppose to the main town, Yung Shue Wan which means 'banyon tree bay’), where I was met with the following, glorious, sign:

View towards Sok Kwu Wan (right), Yung Shue Wan  (middle distance) and the power station (top left) - as well as back over to Hong Kong Island in the top right where the high rise apartments of Aberdeen are visible

View from Mount Stenhouse looking south

Tung O Main Street

The sparsely populated southern coast

The laid-back Lamma lifestyle

All in all, not the most glamorous of hikes in Hong Kong, but not too difficult and a chance to visit some of the lesser visited areas.  The streams from the surrounding catchment area and between the reservoirs themselves were totally dried up so I think that the hike would be more impressive in the rainy season (though naturally the weather may be less hospitable).  Anyway, here are the photos from the hike:

Looking over Shek O

The Trail Head (follow these signs)

 My first hike of the week, along the ridge of Victoria Peak, was by all measures pretty easy.  Eager to continue making the most of free time and good weather, Jake and I headed for the Dragon’s Back on Hong Kong Island.  This trail was at one stage voted the best hike in all of Asia so was definitely worth a try.  We go the MTR to Shau Kei Wan station and from there got the number 9 bus towards Shek O, asking the driver to let us out at ‘To Tei Wan’.  Luckily for us a really lovely local lady knew where this was and said that we should sit on the top deck of the double decker bus to take in the views - and that she would call us down when we got to our stop.  Great hospitality.  The views from the top deck of the bus are definitely worth it if you can also keep track of where your stop is (or alternatively can get a local person to help you).  The bus stop has the sign that I have shown above, so you know you are in the right place.

From the bus stop the hike took approximately four hours with a few stops for photos and snacks.  It winds its way along the ridge of the Dragon’s Back, with amazing views of Shek O and Stanley, before dropping down through bamboo forests and winding its way past Big Wave Bay village and ending up in Shek O, a fishing village with some great restaurants and a beautiful beach.  Once again I took my instructions from David Pickerell’s “Historical Hong Kong Hikes” book, but the Dragon’s Back is well marked - just follow signs for the Dragon’s Back and then for Shek O.  Seeing as you are walking along a ridge from which you can see the total extent of the hike, it is pretty difficult to get lost.  After grabbing some food at a great Thai restaurant at the main roundabout in Shek O village we were able to get the number 9 bus back to Shau Kei Wan station.  A really excellent hike to do - reasonably challenging, great views and a beach and good food at the end of it.  Photos below:

Shek O from the Dragon’s Back

Looking Towards Stanley

Me and Jake with the view from Shek O Peak

Big Wave Bay

Shek O Beach

View over Victoria Harbour from Victoria Peak

On the Peak Tram

With the midterms finished I was finally free to get exploring again.  My first stop was a hike along Victoria Peak - as possibly the top tourist attraction in Hong Kong, I felt that it had taken me far too long to get there.  Earlier in the month I bought a book called “Historical Hong Kong Hikes” by David Pickerell, so the routes that I took are those described by him.  After getting the peak tram up to the Peak, along with a load of elderly American tourists, I got some photos and then headed West along Mt Austin Road which follows the ridge of Hong Kong island.  After 20 minutes or so I came to another viewing point (this time with very few other tourists) which looked south over Aberdeen and the outlying islands of Hong Kong.  The walk up until this point had been fairly easy going - uphill, but along a paved road, and would therefore be worth doing for anybody at the Peak, just to get the view South as well as the standard view North.  From here I left the road and continued West, along a marked ‘fitness trail’ that began to head downhill to the Pinewood Battery, a British fort that had been designed to guard the harbour against invasion, but had fallen when the Japanese invaded Hong Kong in WW2 and has been abandoned ever since.  The shrapnel scars are still clear all over the fort.  The road continued downhill from the Battery and after about another 20 minutes I reached the University of Hong Kong where I was able to have a quick lunch with a friend that I had me at the British Council.  All in all the hike had only taken about two hours so was well worth it - though the latter section is all downhill on steps and is probably not great for anybody with bad knees.  A good introduction to hiking in Hong Kong - easy to follow and encompassing some important parts of the island.  Photos below:

View over Victoria Harbour (looking North)

View over Aberdeen and Lamma Island (looking South)

Pinewood Battery, abandoned since Japanese invasion in WW2

Another view of Victoria Harbour

The old Victoria City boundary

University of Hong Kong (HKU)

The Cenotaph, Central

September ended in a flurry of adventures and activities that October, as the month containing mid term exams, was always going to struggle to live up to.  I have been very lucky with midterms - with only one exam right at the end of the month, compared to some people having four or five, though in true HKUST standard there has been plenty of other assignments and tasks to do.  Ever the optimist, I like to think I have made the most of the month however, despite not being able to have any grand adventures.  Academically it has given me the impetus to knuckle down and work hard at a far earlier stage than I would usually, while as a ‘Hong Konger’, I have been able to explore a bit in the gaps in my schedule.  October has been the month where I have really been able to settle down and start to consider Hong Kong as home.

The Cenotaph, circa 1930

St John’s Cathedral

In terms of exploring, I was able to spare a few days to visit some of the must-see areas of Hong Kong, starting with the 'Central’ district of the island.  Firstly, a brief explanation of terms: Hong Kong (roughly translated as 'Fragrant Harbour’) is the name of the island at the south of the territory on the south side of Victoria Harbour, as well as being the name of the territory as a whole.  It was only the island of Hong Kong that was ceded to the British after the First Opium War and the other parts of the territory (Kowloon, the New Territories and Outlying Islands) were added after later conflicts and agreements.  Hong Kong Island is therefore the traditional centre of the territory and is home to the main government and financial buildings, which are mainly located in the district named 'Central’ district of the island - a new name for what was called 'Victoria City’ under the British.  Earlier in the month a few of us spent the day walking around Central to see the major sites, starting at the MTR station exit near the Cenotaph.  As the above pictures demonstrate, Hong Kong has totally changed over the last 80 years - in addition to the obvious differences, note that when I took the top photo I must have been about 500m from the edge of the harbour, such have been the affects of land reclamation.  The building to the left of the Cenotaph is the Hong Kong club, in both its old and new guise.  The building in the background is the Legislative Council building, one of the few colonial buildings to not be destroyed and replaced by skyscrapers.

Hong Kong Zoological Gardens

View from The Star Ferry

Walking from Statue Square, home of the Centotaph, we passed the headquarters of HSBC which was designed by Sir Norman Foster and at the time of building the most expensive building in the world.  Outside the building are two large statues of lions which are named after previous directors of the bank and have become a symbol of continuity in Hong Kong (one of them is literally covered in holes that were inflicted by Japanese bullets during the invasion of World War Two) and have always sat outside HSBC HQ.  From here we came across another of the few remaining colonial-era buildings, St John’s Cathedral.  The building sits, surrounded by skyscrapers, in a small park and once inside, the background organ music and simple English gothic design allows one to feel they have been taken back to a small parish church back home - I can see how it could have been a real place of comfort for the lonely expat over the years.  Near to the church is Government House, home of the governor of Hong Kong throughout British rule, and two parks - the Hong Kong Zoological Gardens and Hong Kong Park, both of which are little havens of calm in amidst the crazy buzz of Central. The latter of these, Hong Kong Park, is home to Flagstaff House, the earliest surviving colonial-era building that was saved to be home to the National Tea Museum.  We decided to visit the museum (mainly because it was free) and (maybe slightly surprisingly) it was definitely worth a look.  To round off the day, we ticked off one of the major tourist sites by getting the 'Star Ferry’ across Victoria Harbour from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon.  The journey is probably the shortest 'iconic’ journey that I will ever take (lasting a grand total of less than 5 minutes) though does, despite its brief nature, give a fantastic view of the harbour back towards Central.  The photo of the harbour taken just 50 years ago demonstrates again the drastic changes that have taken, and continue to take place, here.

View from The Star Ferry, circa 1960

Representing Bristol at the Exchange Fair

In amidst the sightseeing I was asked by the university to do a little bit of ambassador work.  My first duty, along with most of the other exchange students, was to attend the 'exchange fair’ where we all tried to sell our home universities to students from HKUST.  There was a surprisingly high interest in studying in the UK (I had heard that many local students opt for the United States) and it was pleasant to be able to discuss and show off British culture a little - for some reason British culture seems to be quite popular over here and, strangely, Union Flag based clothing is very common amongst local students.  The next duty was a bit more bizarre as I allowed myself to be followed for the day by a filming crew who wanted to get an insight into the lives of exchange students in order to encourage people to study over here.  I therefore spent a day trying not to look at a cameraman who was walking around my lectures and following me around campus before eventually standing on the common room balcony for an interview.  I have yet to see the footage, but I am going to have to assume that it will be cringeworthy in the extreme.  The last of my ambassador 'tasks’ (though I use that term lightly in this instance) was to have a lunch meeting with representatives from the university scholarship office, along with a few of my fellow British exchange friends, who wanted to discuss how to encourage British students to study full time degrees in Hong Kong.  It turns out that the opportunities to study out here full time are tremendous and there are a wide range of bursaries and scholarships on offer - however I just don’t know how many Brits would be willing to up sticks and move to East Asia for four years, straight out of school.  Having said that, apparently there are quite a lot of Europeans who are willing to do it - so there may be some adventurous students who would take the risk.  This was the second time in the space of a few weeks that I had been taken out for lunch by a representative from the university - a really great show of Hong Kong hospitality.

Filming on the balcony

Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra

The next stop on my 'October of Culture’ schedule was the (aptly named) Cultural Centre, where a group of us had decided to see the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra perform Beethoven’s 5th Symphony.  As students we were offered a monumental 50% discount, meaning that the evening cost about £10, which was money very well spent - Jaap van Zweden, the conductor, is apparently world renowned and we were all thoroughly impressed.  The Cultural Centre is in a prime location at the tip of Kowloon and after leaving we were able to make the most of the Victoria Bay skyline - amusingly (and to give you a taste of how the other half live) we noticed that one of the audience at the concert had arrived by luxury yacht which he had moored outside the Cultural Centre.  Alright for some.  After our night at the Orchestra things got a lot more boring as I spent two weeks hitting the library very hard (at least 6 months earlier than I would be used to normally in the UK) in preparation for my midterm.  Things picked up right at the end of the month however as midterms ended and I was able to get out and do some hiking (mentioned in separate blogs), with the month being rounded off with Halloween, which turned out to be the main night of the year when all of the local people come out for a few drinks.

Hong Kong Halloween 2013