Hong Kong: Mar 19: Western District and more

I awoke early, left Di Yin's family friends' place, dropped my stuff off at my hotel, and was soon on my way to explore Hong Kong's Western district (and the west part of the Central district). This area has much more of a traditional Chinese setting than the other districts I've visited (on Hong Kong island: Central, Wan Chai, Causeway Bay; on the peninsula: Kowloon).

It was a beautiful day, which I got to enjoy because I ended up walking around outside for almost the whole day. I took these pictures.

In the Western district, I stopped by the famous Man Mo Temple, the oldest temple on Hong Kong island. It was smoky due to incense but was otherwise no more remarkable than any other decent-sized Chinese temple.

I walked this route through the district.

After exploring this part of town, I took the mrt to my lunch destinations in the vicinity of Causeway Bay. After eating, I boarded the mrt again for a longer ride to the east side of the island to visit the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence (Defense).

The museum, housed in an old fortress, includes two parts: one, traditional museum exhibitions indoors; two, outdoor trails exploring the fortress's fortifications. The permanent indoor exhibit covers Hong Kong's coastal defense from the Ming dynasty's creation of beacon towers (to give warning of pirates or hostile foreigners) through the present day. I enjoyed more the small special exhibit Escape from Hong Kong: The Road to Waichow, about some soldiers' narrow escape during WWII. It read like an adventure story and could probably be made into a movie.

Even if the exhibits were bad (which wasn't the case--they were alright), the museum would be worth the trip for its views of eastern Victoria Harbour and Hong Kong island. Seeing the occasional fortifications was an added bonus. Visibility was fairly good and the temperature was very comfortable: a lovely day with lovely views. I wish I had similar conditions for my trip to Victoria Peak.

From the museum, I headed back downtown to visit the Hong Kong Planning and Infrastructure Exhibition Gallery. I got there half an hour before closing and was worried I wouldn't have enough time. I needn't have been -- I was done in ten minutes. I was hoping for models and for discussions about how planning occurs and what is planned (as I've seen in similar exhibits in other cities). This exhibit, however, had only small, uninteresting models, and the discussions were (i) clearly written by a government bureaucrat, using phrases such as task force and simply listing boring facts, and (ii) written for locals. I couldn't follow many displays because I didn't know the reference points: where the town was in relation to other places, what it is currently like, etc. Thus, discussing what the town is going to change to didn't make much sense to me. Regarding the boring facts, consider the display on pedestrianizing streets and adding traffic calming measures. (By the way, they do these activities well in Hong Kong; it's a pedestrian-friendly city.) The display listed which streets changed in each district, but not why those streets were chosen or what effect the changes had.

After the gallery, I hung around in a park for a while, then found dinner and took a tram back to the Western District to my hotel. Incidentally, my hotel, Hotel Jen, turned out to be quite a nice place: clean, well-designed, and welcoming.