Outside the Southside @outsidethesouthside-blog - Tumblr Blog

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Tin Hau Temple, Yau Ma Tei

We chose to go to Yau Ma Tei because of a temple we had read about online. Getting there was no challenge at all; after a bus ride to the MTR, we took the MTR to the Yau Ma Tei station, walked for a few blocks out of the exit and found ourselves looking at a large, traditional temple. It has 5 buildings, and was built around 1864 (during Civil War in the U.S, for context). It used to be in Kwun Chung, but was moved to Yau Ma Tei by boat people and villagers. Tin Hau is the goddess of seafarers such as fisherman and sailors. Tin Hau is not part of a religion per say, but more specifically a Chinese goddess.

At a first glance, Yau Ma Tei is no different than any other district in the heart of Hong Kong; the pace is busy, and everyone and seemingly everything is moving quickly. All of a sudden, however, you come across the Tin Hau Temple Complex, which is literally in the middle of the district. It seems like an odd place to have a temple, since it stands out so much compared to the rest of the district.

Entrance into the temple almost feels slightly like an escape from the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong for a brief moment. Inside the temple, there is a serene quietness and general vibe that relaxes you. The smell of incense fills the room as spiral incense burners hang from the ceilings. There is a small opening in the roof which allows some natural light to come in. The mood is so different inside compared to outside that one could likely forget they are in a district as busy as Yau Ma Tei.

The temple is definitely larger and covers a much greater area than any other temple we’ve been to in Hong Kong. Having said that, the general aspects of the temple aren’t much different than other ones we’ve been to -- there is, in fact, a temple in Stanley quite similar to this one. The greatest difference comes in the sense that it’s a very traditional temple in the middle of a modern city, which provides anyone out and about the opportunity to take a second to slow down.

#yaumatei #writing

Tin Hau Temple Complex, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon

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Yuen Long

We decided to go to Yuen Long because it’s one of the furthest places from the Southside that you can get using public transportation. Its distance from the developed downtown Hong Kong Island has prevented it from being really developed. There are touches of modernity, of course, but more than most other places Yuen Long retains a traditional atmosphere. This is something you can’t find much of in our bubble, so we were excited about experiencing it for ourselves.

Yuen Long is in northwest Kowloon, close to Lantau and the airport. There were several things about it that made it different. For one thing, we saw no gweilos in the district. There were few skyscrapers; all the buildings were short, and as a result it didn’t even feel like Hong Kong. Everything seemed to move slowly, in stark contrast to the busy vibe one feels in Central or Causeway Bay.

We also witnessed the trains of the light-rail KCR (Kowloon-Canton Railway). The transit system was Hong Kong’s primary method of public transport before the emergence of the MTR. The trains were above ground, a strange sight for us. Also, there’s an honour system regarding payment: there is no supervision and there are no gates preventing unpaid entry.

In many ways, Yuen Long is vastly different than the Southside. There’s a difference between modern and traditional living and also foreign and native populations. At the same time, both places have a relaxed style, when compared to TST or Central. To go to a place seemingly opposite our bubble and find this similarity was interesting.

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Photos from Yuen Long

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押大康富 // flashing lights x all of the lights // yuen long

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Peng Chau

We realized that going outside of the south side wasn’t limited to just Hong Kong or Kowloon, and that it would be a good idea to explore one of the several other islands in Hong Kong. We decided on Peng Chau, which is an island about a half hour away by ferry from the central pier. We had briefly researched online and found out that Peng Chau was at one point an island used largely for factory production, although these factories have since been shut down.

Upon arrival it becomes clear that this island is like nothing we had seen yet during our travels. There are no cars allowed on Peng Chau, except for emergency situations, so people are either walking or riding bikes. Because of this, noisiness we’ve become accustomed to in Hong Kong - even on the south side - is at a very low level, with the most prominent sounds being children playing a playground, or the waves crashing onto the sands of a small beach, depending on where you are on the island.

The two of us spent a while hiking to the other side of the island, where we found a spot called the ‘Old Fisherman’s Lookout’, where you could see a hazy ICC and IFC in the very far distance. We were hoping to find some of the abandoned factories we had read about online but were unsuccessful. On our way back, we walked through the village and found a certain appreciation for how things are on Peng Chau; laid back, and for the most part, uneventful. The village is very traditional, and it feels as though you’ve stumbled upon a part of Hong Kong that hasn’t been touched for ages. Apart from a ‘bun festival’ that occurs on the island every year, it seems as though the daily excitement is seeing a ferry arrive and depart with a handful of eager tourists every hour and twenty minutes or so.

It is similar in the slightest bit to the south side in the sense that we could imagine this is what Stanley used to be like, since Stanley is technically a fishing village, although development of the plaza and the market and boardwalk have certainly taken away from the traditional nature it probably once had. Peng Chau is an escape to an island that still has that old-fashioned nature and hopefully, at least for a while, will not change.

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Peng Chau Island, outlying islands

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// Peng Chau Exploration //

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Shing Mun Redoubt: A Well-Hidden Treasure

We were more excited to go to the Shing Mun Redoubt than any other place on our agenda. It has a boring name, admittedly. What is a redoubt anyway? A redoubt is a temporary or supplementary fortification. It was a British outpost during the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong in World War II, back in December 1941. This particular fort was part of the Gin Drinkers Line, so called because it bordered a body of water known as Gin Drinkers Bay. The Shing Mun Redoubt housed the line’s headquarters and was outfitted with an observation post and machine guns. The redoubt actually fell to the Japanese quite quickly during the Battle of Hong Kong, as few soldiers defended it.

We were excited to visit Shing Mun because of its extensive underground tunnel network. Only small sections of the redoubt are visible from above ground, such as the raised skylights and the tunnel entrances. We were also excited to see the views from atop the mountain, since the redoubt’s location was chosen largely for its strategic vantage point.

It wasn’t easy to reach the tunnels. We had to go to the last stop on the red line, Tsuen Wan, and then search for the number 82 minibus. After that, we hiked along the MacLehose Trail until we almost walked past the entrance. It took a while, but using public transportation meant the whole trek cost less than 10HKD more than a taxi from Stephen’s house to HKIS. Anyway, we were awestruck by the tunnels. They were very spacious, despite their tiny entrances, and have held up marvelously since the war. We guess the tunnels were about 6’5” tall. Natural skylights were the only reason we could see in front of us. We saw the former headquarters (reduced to only the foundation) and walked through tunnels like we were British army scouts. We might’ve gotten lost, except the tunnels were marked with street names. They weren’t random street names, though. In fact, the Shing Mun Redoubt tunnels were named according to West London streets (see map in below post and street names in pictures). This was done to allow British soldiers to easily navigate the tunnel network.

When we’d finally been through all the tunnels, we emerged thrilled and satisfied. Being able to experience a legitimate artifact of the Battle of Hong Kong brought us closer to the city and its past. To be in those tunnels like we were defending the city was an awesome experience that we would highly recommend.

#writing #shingmun