HK Day 3: Kowloon Walled City Park

Getting There – Nearest MTR Station is Lok Fu from where it is about 20 minutes walk from Exit B via Junction Road south to park’s North-West Gate on Tung Tau Tsuen Road near its junction with Junction Road.

Model of the old Kowloon Walled City.

Kowloon Walled City Park was a historic site that occupied a strategic point along the Kowloon peninsula and had been used by Chinese imperial officials since the 16th century. In 1841, when Hong Kong Island was ceded to Britain, Kowloon Walled City was already a garrison and was reinforced by the Chinese Government.

Yamen is a three-hall structure and courtyard complex restored to its Qing Dynasty look. Here, you can find a photo exhibition showing both the history of the Walled City and the construction of the Park and many relics found in the Walled City.

Original cannon in front of Yamen building.

The fort’s fate changed in 1898 when the New Territories were leased to Britain for 99 years. Although the walled city remained Chinese territory by treaty, the following year Chinese troops and officials were forced to vacate. Behind them they left a power vacuum that was filled by criminals, and the garrison became a city within a city.

Foundations of the original South Gate which had been the main entrance. The wall enclosing the Walled City was built by the Qing Government in 1843. During the Japanese occupation, it was torn down to provide material to extend the Kai Tak airfield.

Two carved granite plaques, one bearing the characters for ‘South Gate’ and the other ‘Kowloon Walled City’ unearthed during excavation in 1994.

Throughout the 20th century, fugitives and other criminal elements flocked to the lawless enclave. Beyond the reach of the law, the area mushroomed into a squalid maze of illegally constructed buildings, where everything from drug trafficking and prostitution to unlicensed dentistry flourished in a labyrinth of dank, dark alleyways.

In 1987, with the agreement of China, the colonial government finally took control of the no-go area, resettled its inhabitants, and replaced the slum with a park. Today, the Chinese-style park preserves traces of the walled city, most notably its yamen, the imperial government administrative building. The Jiangnan garden–style of the park also offers visitors a chance to appreciate the beauty of nature in a place where the darker side of human nature once flourished.

Garden of Chinese Zodiac with sculptures of the twelve Chinese zodiac signs on display according to the combination directions of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches in Chinese astrology.

Chess Garden with four giant Chinese chess-boards built on the ground with pebble stones.

Fui Sing Pavilion

Mountain View Pavilion

HK Day 3: Wong Tai Sin Temple

Getting There: MTR Wong Tai Sin Station Exit B2 , and follow the signs.

Shops outside the temple selling joss sticks, papers and misc.

Entrance of Wong Tai Sin Temple.

Cute dragon statue at the entrance.

Wong Tai Sin (also known as Huang Chu-ping) was born in the 4th century and became a deity at Heng Shan (Red Pine Hill). In 1915, Taoist priest Liang Ren-an carried a sacred portrait of Wong Tai Sin from Guangdong in southern China to Hong Kong. Now housing this precious portrait, the Wong Tai Sin Temple is where worshippers pray for good fortune through offerings, divine guidance and fortune telling.

Gate to the main altar.

In front of the gate, you can find statues of all 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac.
Above are statues of Monkey (right), Chicken (centre) and Dog (left).

Golden prayer bells.

Main altar of Wong Tai Sin Temple, which is constructed using traditional Chinese temple architectural style of grand red pillars, roof adorned with blue friezes, yellow latticework and multi-colored carvings.

Sacred portrait of Wong Tai Sin.

Worshippers kneel before the main altar, make a wish, and shake a bamboo cylinder containing fortune sticks until one falls out. The stick is exchanged for a piece of paper bearing the same number, and the soothsayer then interprets the fortune on the paper for the worshipper.

Other areas of the temple include the Three Saints Hall, the Bronze Pavilion (females excluded), the Archives Hall, the Earthly Fountain, the Yue Hing Shrine where the Buddha of the Lighted Lamp is worshipped, the Unicorn (Confucian) Hall where Confucius is worshipped and Yue Lao, the God of Matchmaking (above).

Good Wish Garden - a miniature copy of Summer Palace in Beijing.

Pay a small entrance fee (i.e. donation) of HK$2 or above to access the Good Wish Garden and you can explore the beautifully designed landscaped garden with small bridges, fish, pavilions (above) and waterfall (below).

Nine Dragon Wall, a replica of the renowned Nine Dragon Wall in Beijing.

HK Day 3: Nan Lian Garden, Chi Lin Nunnery

Getting There: MTR Diamond Hill Station Exit C2, and follow the signs.

Aerial view of Nan Lian Garden (area on right) and Chi Lin Nunnery (area on left).

Nan Lian Garden
... is a Tang-style landscaped Chinese garden of classical elegance based on the blueprint of the famous Jiangshouju Garden in Shanxi Province. Although the location of the garden is in urban Kowloon, this is a truly beautiful, colourful and scenic place with a tranquil and serene atmosphere.

Whilst there are plenty of high-rise buildings in the vicinity of the garden, the distant backdrop to the north is of the scenic mountain ranges of Lion Rock, Tate’s Cairn, Temple Hill and Kowloon Peak. Noise barriers shield the gardens from the sound of traffic outside the garden and mounds have been placed around the whole garden with extensive planting of trees to filter exhaust and dust from the surrounding area.

The garden is designed with the intention that visitors follow a one-way route and the landscaping is based on the on traditional Chinese techniques such as “borrowing scenes”, “concealing scenes”, “sheltering scenes” and “penetrating scenes” to create space.

Chinese Timber Architecture Gallery which contains wooden models of traditional Chinese timber structures and illustrates construction methods such as those used at Chi Lin Nunnery.

The Lunar Reflection Terrace (above) and Pagoda Tree Pavilion (below) on the pond’s edge allow visitors to have the opportunity to relax and enjoy the pond and reflections of buildings on the opposite side.

Interesting rock!

Rockery with indoor displays of rocks from the Hongshui River.

Wow! Beautiful giant rock!

In the Lotus Pond is the stunning gold Perfection Pavilion connected by two red painted timber Zi Wu Bridges (not accessible to visitors).

Sundial

Chi Lin Nunnery
... occupies a 30,000 square-metre site which provides a tranquil retreat from its urban surroundings. It is sheltered on the left by the Mountain of Compassionate Clouds and guarded on the right by Lion Rock.

The nunnery is a large Buddhist monastic complex of fifteen magnificently crafted cedar halls, gardens, courtyards, gilded statues and lotus ponds and is modelled on the architectural style of the Tang Dynasty (618–907AD).

The design follows the ancient rules of Chinese architecture and fung shui principles. In constructing the buildings no nails were used; instead traditional techniques of bracketing and dowels were employed to hold the timber structures together and only natural materials such as clay, stone and wood were used. The main halls, which are built on a north-south axis, face the sea and back on to the mountains with ancillary halls to the east and west.

Corridors with colonnades and mullion windows run along either side of the courtyard and at the opposite end of the courtyard is the Hall of Celestial Kings.

View of the first courtyard from the Hall of Celestial Kings.

The first courtyard contains the landscaped Lotus Gardens with four large lotus ponds, statues, rockeries, bonsai trees in pots, cypress and peony trees.

Main Hall is a magnificent structure with roof of 28,000 clay tiles, weighing 176 tons, supported by twenty-eight cedar columns. Inside the hall are five gilded Buddhas.
Note: No photography inside the halls or of the Buddha statues.

HK Day 2: Shopping

Woke up to a rainy and gloomy day!

View from Harbour City.

Went to Ding Tai Fung at Silvercord shopping plaza for early lunch. This is the restaurant's first Hong Kong branch and was awarded one Michelin star in November 2009. Wow!

On left is the regular size 小籠包 that we are used to having and on right is the mini version known as 小籠湯包 which look really cute. A bowl of soup came separately for the 小籠湯包 and we ate each mini dumpling with a spoonful of soup. Very yummy!!

Shopping at Hong Kong Industrial Centre (Lau Chi Kok MTR station, Exit C).

Here you can find hundreds of small shops selling individual pieces of clothes, bags, shoes and accessories at wholesale prices. Note: Some shops do not entertain retail customers. Only recommended for the dedicated, tireless and love-jostling-with-crowd bargain hunter.

Tea time!... at Hui Lau Shan (许留山), the most popular and famous dessert chain restaurant in Hong Kong. Ordered a cheesecake (above) and a mango ice with jelly and biscuit combo set (below) to share. Nice!

Street caricature artist at work.

We then walked down Avenue of Stars which is a 400-metre long stretch of waterside promenade along the northern side of Victoria Harbour and modelled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Hand prints and autograph of Jackie Chan.

Sculpture of Bruce Lee

Panoramic views of Hong Kong Island across Victoria Harbour.

The promenade of Avenue of Stars.

More shopping at SOGO departmental store.

It's been a long and tiring day!! We bought beers from SOGO supermarket and dinner from SOGO food hall back to hotel room.