So far Hong Kong has been a city of many faces. Since arriving we’ve seen staggering, bright, brand new sky scrapers and hundred year old temples. We’ve also seen temples built in the last 20 years and fishing villages whose roots stretch back to Hong Kong’s very beginnings. We’ve spent much of the week visiting these sites trying to get a feel for what really makes and defines the city. The word we’ve come closest to so far? “Cool.”
Tuesday we visited a couple of temples — first, the Wong Tai Sin Taoist temple to see some kau cim, the practice of asking deities for guidance through giving gifts and writing out requests and wishes; then the Tin Hua temple which was comparatively unremarkable as I just had to ask Marc to remind me what we did there (watch old ladies burn incense cones). Wong Tai Sin was definitely memorable though. Packed with people, the temple resembled Beijing’s Line 1 & 10 subway transfer stop more than a place of worship. But its popularity may be because it’s a bit of a rare gem. Taoism isn’t widely practiced in Mainland China and of what temples remain, practices and customs (Taoist or otherwise) fell out of practice or were lost during the Cultural Revolution. Surrounded by high rise apartment buildings and a stone’s throw from the subway exit, Wong Tai Sin was yet another facet of Hong Kong’s varied heritage.
Later that afternoon we went to “Dialogue in the Dark” — an organization that’s designed to introduce those who can see to the world of the blind. In cities around the world, each Dialogue in the Dark center features pitch black tours of the sounds, aromas, textures, and environments of their home cities. All of this is contained in a room with no windows or source of light, only a blind guide who teaches you to “see” with only four senses. At the Hong Kong location, we were led by our guide Daniel through a park, a busy market street, a home, theater, and cafe. Marc and I were both given walking sticks to help us navigate the twists and turns and changes in the ground’s texture. Otherwise, we had nothing else — no flashlights, no cell phones — nothing but our senses of hearing, touch, smell, taste, and Daniel who physically guided us with his voice and mentally guided us with suggestions on how to interact with the world when we couldn’t use our eyes. He encouraged us to guess and explore where different noises were coming from, feel the shapes and textures of familiar every day objects (FYI dried pasta feels very strange if you don’t know what it is), and navigate through spaces based on how sounds were echoing off the walls. Despite only hearinghis voice, feeling his hands and occasionally bumping into him by accident, I don’t know if I’ve ever met and felt as comfortable with any other person who I couldn’t see with own my eyes. Definitely check out their website or Facebook page for other locations or traveling exhibits. Unfortunately the only permanent US location is in Atlanta. For our non-American friends, there are several centers throughout Asia and Europe. It’s not only an “eye opening” personal experience but the organization is a great model for providing jobs and careers to the blind.
That evening we took the bus to Victoria Peak, the very top of Hong Kong Island. From there we overlooked both sides of the Harbor and beyond into the smoggy glow of the city below. Even from the top of the city it’s hard to get a sense of Hong Kong as a whole. Buildings are stacked on top of each other until you can hardly tell where their top or bottom begin and end. Blinking neon facades fade into head lights and street lamps.
On Wednesday we tried to orient ourselves by a visit to the Hong Kong history museum. I am a sucker for museums and this one was a lot of fun. The best sections were the folk culture exhibits, where we read about Hong Kong’s fishing and salt making histories, and the recreation of store fronts from the early 20th century. Surrounded by water, Hong Kong has a tradition of fishing, boating, and living off the sea. These traditional fishing communities built on stilt houses over water have designed new strategies for maintaining their heritage in a city where opportunities in land are greater than those at sea. One part of the exhibit had a film about wedding ceremonies. Traditionally the females of the groom’s family accompanied him by paddling on boats to the bride’s house. Now that so many of these families have moved into the city, this tradition has been replaced by a parade in which the groom is followed by a parade of his relatives who dance with wooden oars down the street. We had the opportunity to see one of these villages later in the week, an entry we’ll devote more time to later. The latter half of the museum featured a recreated neighborhood with a traditional Chinese pharmacy (furnished with actual supplies donated by the son of a once famous pharmacist), a seamstress, a teashop, and a parlor of early Hong Kong elites with a penchant for European classical music.
(folk culture exhibit, grocery store, pharmacy, 60s era restaurant)
After a nap and a visit to the hilly and fragrant botanical gardens, we ditched our history lessons for somecold beer at the horse races! Horse racing in Happy Valley was one of the first recreational events the British set up in Hong Kong. Figuring out how to bet was a bit too intimidating for us and we know nothing about horse racing, so we just watched the races and cheered along with the crowd.A very cool city indeed.
