Hong Kong Trams

Hong Kong is one of the few cities that uses trams extensively. In fact it's the only one in the world that uses double-decker trams exclusively. For 111 years the trams have been providing the cheapest and more environmentally-friendly mode of transport in Hong Kong.

The tram lines only operate on Hong Kong Island (not on the mainland) and run on a double track tramline for 8 miles along the north coast of the island, where the main commercial areas are concentrated.

For the measly sum of HK2.30 (that's 20 pence or thirty cents US) you can go from anywhere to anywhere. If that's not cheap enough, provided you are over 65, you can go for HK1.10. (The only better bargain that I'm aware of is that you can take the Star Ferry - below - from Hong Kong Island to the Kowloon mainland for free - if you are over 65).

There are over 160 trams, 120 stations, the track gauge is three and a half feet, the power is 550 V DC overhead electric lines, the trams can hold up to 115 people, go up to 50 km/h and have a frequency of 1.5 minutes during rush hour.

Anything else? oh yes, the Cantonese name for the trams is based on the sound their warning bell makes - 'Ding Ding!'

Brilliant!  

Christmas Decorations in Hong Kong

The thing I remember best, from having lived in Hong Kong for three years and having visited during December a couple of times, is the extent to which Christmas is marked by decorations, displays, parties and all the usual commercial razzamatazz.

Even 30 years ago, several whole blocks of twenty-plus-storey buildings on the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront were festooned from top to bottom with Christmas lights. The shopping malls competed with each other to have the best Christmas displays, the smallest shops seemed to play Jingle Bells non-stop while even the market stalls sold miniature Santa outfits and decorations.

Certainly the holiday is not as important or as well-marked as Chinese New Year when the city comes to a stop for several days and family reunions and traditional celebrations take precedence. Then, the illuminated displays are huge, seriously good.

Anyway, I thought I'd trek round the major shopping malls and see how they were doing for Christmas decorations this year...

My local shopping centre, Tai Koo Shing, hasn't made much of an effort this year, but at least they had local children's choirs singing carols.

And Alexandra House in the centre of the island isn't much better, rather traditional.

Chater House has a veteran motor car (second oldest in the world) on display, with a teddy bear driver and passengers...there's a theme emerging here.

Prince's Building (also in Central) has a couple of trucks carrying teddy bears accompanied by wrapped gift parcels.

Over in Tsim Sha Tsui the decorations outside the Harbour City shopping mall were, frankly, pathetic. I've never been impressed by their decorations (the last time I was in Hong Kong, a couple of years ago, they had a display of giant-size Taiwanese comic dolls...enough said!). This winter they couldn't even meet that low standard.

Fortunately for the good name of Tsim Sha Tsui, Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong more than makes up for Harbour City's omission. There were at least two major displays with Christmas trees, ice floes and penguins.

Back to Hong Kong Island and what may be one of the largest malls on the Island, Times Square, nine stories of shopping. Here the display is based on...Star Wars? Yes, I know the latest film is due out soon...but Star Wars instead of a proper Christmas display? 

...and Pacific Place was no better...Yes, The Little Prince is the third most-translated book in the world, translated into 250 languages...but what has it got to do with Christmas?

Fortunately, the reputation of Hong Kong has been saved by The Landmark, the Grande Dame of Hong Kong Island's shopping centres, not the largest but possibly the most prestigious, with 32 jewellers and watchmakers shops (including famous brands like Cartier; De Beers; Patek Philippe; Tiffany, and Van Cleef & Arpels) plus over 70 fashion stores (including Alexander McQueen; Brooks Bros; Chanel; Diane Von Furstenburg; Dolce & Gabana; Giorgio Armani; Jummy Choo and Louis Vuitton), plus dozens of other places that relive shoppers of substantial amounts of money.

I'm not a brand shopper (except for cameras) but I love to peer into Davidoff's cigar store and eye the wooden humidors, the gleaming cutters, the work-of-art ashtrays and the huge range of cigars – it's like stepping back 100 years.

As you might expect, Landmark's decorations are rather grand; the centrepiece is a huge mechanical whirligig that plays vigorous and tuneful music like a brass band, operated by a dozen teddy bears pulling levers, while strange sailing vessels circle above, crewed by more teddy bears.

And what about the decorative lights on the side of twenty-plus-storey buildings that I remembered so well from earlier years?

Well, Hong Kong Island at night still makes a decent sight, although there isn't much in the way of Christmas decorations – yet.

I was even lucky enough to catch the last remaining sailing junk motoring through the harbour as I took some evening photos. Pretty, isn't she?

Over in Tsim Sha Tsui they are beginning to put up the Christmas decorations on the side of tower blocks...but, come on folks, you can do better than that, don't rest until you've covered at least ten blocks - like you did so brilliantly and memorably 30 years ago!

...and a late entrant...sorry, I know gold is very attractive but as a Christmas decoration it just doesn't have that seasonal resonance. Ferrero Rocher anyone?

 

Hong Kong's Police Museum

There are several excellent museums in Hong Kong, for example the Coastal Defence Museum, Heritage Museum, Maritime and Science Museums. But, hidden away among the dense foliage on the slopes of a hill overlooking Victoria Harbour is a real jewel of a museum, the Police Museum.

The museum is housed in the former Wanchai Gap police station, with a 119-year old field gun veteran of China's many 20^th century battles between warlords sited outside. Sadly, the museum's isolated position means that there are very few visitors; there were only about 10 people over the two hours that we visited.

The exhibits are arranged in several galleries.

First, the Orientation Gallery, an exhibition of the history of the force since 1844 with uniforms, weapons, equipment, old photographs and several displays including counterfeiting tools and old photographic equipment used by the Identification Bureau.

Off the corridor outside is a heroin manufacturing workshop with the tools and raw materials that would enable you to cook your own drugs.

 

 

The Triad and Narcotics Gallery houses a Triad altar from the 1950s, robes, fighting weapons, details of rituals, signs etc. The narcotics exhibits include examples of the various illegal drugs and clever ways that people have tried to smuggle them into the Territory (such as inside hollowed-out bibles and jade boulders, sewn into underwear). Opium smoking paraphernalia includes six opium pipes, of which two are beautifully decorated; one silver pipe has several etched dragons, the other has carvings of Buddha and dragons.

The Police Then & Now Gallery covers the history of the force from its inception in 1844 when there were 150 policemen to today when the force numbers 28,000 and is regarded as 'Asia's Finest.' There are forms, medals, various display boards including police dog activities (and one police dog was called Harry).

For me, the most poignant medal was the plague medal issued in 1894. Then the Colony was hit by a deadly plague when 2,500 residents died in a three-month period. The army, police, medical officers and volunteers collected the deserted dead, buried/disposed of them, tore down infected buildings, disinfected survivors and moved them out. Heroic work. In gratitude, the community issued 400 medals when the plague was finally defeated after two years. One of the few surviving medals is on display.

The last gallery is the Thematic Gallery and the current theme is buildings of the force with special emphasis on the recently-decommissioned Central Police Station, dating from 1864. 

Taking photographs is not allowed in the museum so I've copied illustrations from the museum's guidebook – at $20 Hong Kong dollars (£1.60 or US$2.5) for 96 pages it's a steal! And there is no charge for the museum admission!  

My Favourite Church in Hong Kong

St Joseph's Church is probably not the largest or the prettiest church in Hong Kong but it has one tremendous asset, the congregation, which is overwhelmingly Filipino. When I think of 'heavenly choirs' I think of the massed choirs of St Joseph's.

St Joseph

Records say the church was originally built in 1872, making it one of the oldest churches in Hong Kong – but it only lasted a couple of years before being destroyed by a typhoon. It was rebuilt in 1876 and survived until 1967 when it was demolished and replaced by the present building.

Situated in Garden Road in the 'foothills' of the Mid-Levels, opposite the American Consulate and close to the Peak Tram Terminus, the striking church with its teal blue colour is hard to miss.

As usual this Sunday morning queues of taxis were dropping off worshippers at the side of the church while hundreds of others surged up from nearby Central. Around the church, groups of Filipino domestics were already having early lunch snacks, practising songs and dance moves, studying hymn music, holding meetings or rummaging in a 'bring & buy' sale in the car park below the church.

The story of the Filipinos in Hong Kong is interesting. There have always been Filipinos here, working as musicians, architects, nurses and a variety of occupations. However, the numbers grew dramatically after 1974 when Philippines President Marcos enacted labour laws that encouraged the export of workers (who would then remit their foreign currency earnings home, solving some of the country's finance problems). The boom of the 1970s and 1980s in Hong Kong led to a vast increase in the movement of labour.

Today foreign domestic workers number 320,000 (2013 figure), about 3% of the Territory's population. Of that number, Filipinos account for about half, 160,000. Interestingly, over the last 10-15 years the number of Filipino maids has fallen and they have been replaced by workers from Indonesia who today number around 150,000. There are several explanations for this change, one is that the Indonesians are allegedly better trained, receiving 3-6 months of household work training plus a basic course in Cantonese before arriving in Hong Kong. On arrival the maids can hope to earn about £4,300 (US$ 6,400) a year with board and lodgings provided by the employer.

But, for this blog, the important fact is that the great majority of Filipino workers are Christian - Catholic mainly – and the 120,000 Catholic Filipinos in Hong Kong amount to one-third of all the Catholics in Hong Kong.

It seemed that they all wanted to come to the 11.30am Mass at St Joseph's this morning. You have to arrive early to get a seat. By 11.00am most of the seats in the body of the church were taken.

(When we arrived the assistant Parish Priest, Fr Jim McAuley, was christening a baby before Mass began, the parents, godparents, relatives and friends all standing at the front of the church).

By 20 past 11 the balcony seats were gone.

 

 

Five minutes later the choir were assembling, smart in their white and blue robes, with keyboard and guitars.

By the time Mass began promptly at 11.30am, there were dozens of people standing in both the main part of the church and the balcony – over 1,000 worshippers.

Wonderful! And this was only one of five Sunday Masses in English (at 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.30am and 6pm) and three Sunday Masses in the main Filipino dialect, Tagalog (at 1, 2.30 and 4pm). (...Not to mention three daily Masses).

I noticed two major differences from Mass back home in Hove; the sea of heads of the congregation in front of me was uniformly black not grey, and the volume (and tunefulness) of responses and singing was clearly superior. (While the Filipinos are – justly – renowned throughout Asia for their musical ability and cheerfulness, the two projection screens that displayed the words of the Mass probably helped with the fluency of the participation! Note to Fr Kevin!).

Mass at St Joseph's is devout, engaging and highly participative. At the end, many of the faithful thronged the altar, touching the crucifix ( - and one or two, it had to be said, took selfies!) As we left, the response to the bidding prayers 'Lord of glory, hear our prayers' was still ringing in my ears. 

Could there be a better start to a Sunday?

As a postscript - and as a corrective since I've focused particularly on Filipino Catholics, I picked up a copy of the local diocese newspaper 'The Sunday Examiner.' Occasionally there are articles referring to the priests and religious who have been assaulted or murdered or have gone missing in the mainland or the Philippines which makes one grateful for the peace and stability of life at home.

The article that touched me today was by a local Chinese Catholic, one of a group of 24 who went on a pilgrimage to Greece and Turkey, following the footsteps of St Paul and St John. Among the 24 pilgrims were eight from mainland China 'who have sustained their faith for four generations despite political changes throughout the decades.'  She continues 'In an Islamic country, celebrating Mass or praying publicly always attracts curious spectators. It may be risky, but it can also be an opportunity to courageously witness to our faith. What impressed me most was the applause from the audience for our impromptu singing of Salve Regina and the Pater  Noster in a theatre in Ephesus, where according to Acts 19:23-29, a riot was raised against St Paul.' 

(The Other Part of) Victoria Harbour

When it comes to boats I confess to being a bit of an anorak. That's why I went to Kennedy Town promenade on the seafront to photograph vessels moving between the piers of Central/Kowloon and the Western Approaches, in the western part of the harbour. I wanted to compare the numbers and types of boats that passed in a one-hour period to those I had recorded a few days earlier (Our Part of Victoria Harbour) in the eastern section of the harbour where I live.

There was almost exactly the same number of boats – 63 in one hour, or about one a minute – but the types were very different. Instead of a variety of small craft such as launches, junks and fishing boats, today's boats were generally larger, with a high proportion of ferries and working boats, mainly pilot boats.

Because Hong Kong territory comprises the mainland bit (New Territories and Kowloon) plus more than 260 islands (including Hong Kong Island and Lantau), there are quite a few ferry companies. Here are some of the typical ferries.

The ferries that commute further, to the gambling enclave of Macau (60 kilometres or 37 miles away) for example, have evolved into sleek machines.

The most impressive is the TurboJET which uses Boeing jetfoil engines to rise from the water and race along at high speeds with the hull out of the water. However, this high speed can be dangerous; just over a year ago one of these machines on its way to Macau hit something floating on the water, injuring more than 120 passengers, five critically.

The Cotai water jet is another high-speed ferry that can reach 42 knots an hour or more and gets its speed from waterjets powered by four diesel engines.

And then there are the pilot boats with their red and white pennants, guiding the large ships to their allotted anchorage or through the narrows.

Usually there are plenty of police boats buzzing around but in this one-hour session I was lucky to catch one - surely the smallest of them - in the distance!

Similarly, the fire  boats tend to lurk near the container terminal and I was also lucky to spot this one...again, at a distance, so it's rather grainy. 

The last category is the miscellaneous boats, ones I'm not quite so sure about...launches, fishing and cargo boats. The first one is a container ship, way out to sea in the Western Approaches, probably looking to anchor.

Here are four general work boats, the first one with clear junk lines, all three festooned with tyres (it used to be thought improper to have fenders out when you were underway...).

This fellow is well down at the stern.

And this one has seen better days...

Finally, I must admit this little fellow puzzled me. RHKYC presumably stands for the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club...I thought that Hong Kong institutions that carried the title 'Royal' in their names all dropped the title after 1997 and the return of the territory to China. Certainly the Royal Hong Kong Police Force did, also the Royal Observatory, similarly the Royal Hong Kong Golf Club, even the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force became the Government Flying Service...but the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club kept the name it first obtained by Royal Charter back in 1894.