Hong Kong: Learning About The Old City

On my second last day in Hong Kong, after a brief lunch stop at a Vietnamese place with Pete, I decided to go and explore Sheung Wan, which is also known as the wholesale district. There is one whole area which is dedicated to dried seafood and Chinese medicine. I still cannot believe how many shops there were, and also the amount of product on offer. Bags and bags, and more bags of the stuff. I wonder how long the seafood has been around for, as there seemed to be no sell by dates. I also had no idea what most of it was, as there were no English translations. I had fun trying to guess.

This area has a really strong, overwhelming smell after a while, and so I hop footed it along to the antiques of Hollywood Road.

Most of the shops here had no photo signs in the windows, which is completely fair enough. As I am travelling, I decided against even properly looking, as I knew I would fall in love with a piece and have no way of getting it home easily.

Further along the road came one of the oldest temples in the area, the Man Mo Temple. Again, the incense spirals were out in full force. Upon reading further, it turns out the name Hong Kong comes from the Cantonese 'fragrant harbour' or 'incense harbour'.

A little further down is the Cat Street Market, which sells memorabilia and general touristy tat. Again, I tried not to look too much, and would like to return again when I have a base somewhere.

The Hong Kong Museum of History was recommended to me, and it did not disappoint. I paid for the permanent exhibition and the special one, Images Through Time: Photos of Old Hong Kong. Again, no photos could be taken in the special, but it was my favourite by far. It was so interesting to learn how photography was introduced to Hong Kong by the West, and how the use of studios enabled families to fake being more wealthy than they were. I loved how even shots of prisoners had been faked, tell tale signs with the use of lighting and good looking models. It was also crazy to see the development of the city, on both sides. I also began to recognise a lot of the places the images were taken, as Sheung Wan was instrumental in the formative days of the city. Good thing I went there in the morning.

It was then onto the permanent echibition, all about the story of Hong Kong. This went through different eras, from prehistoric to the reunification with China. The displays really conveyed the sense of culture of Hong Kong and allowed me to fully understand how it has come to be now.

As Yan was at Hockey practice, his lovely housemate Leah took me to a famous dim sum restaurant, called Din Tai Fung (DTF). Again, the soup dumplings were had, and these were the best I had tasted. We were hungry, so got a lot of food! :)

Stuffed full, we headed back to the flat to watch another instalment of Breaking Bad.