April Newsletter
In April Jason will be busy with a number of association offerings, including a day on the Battlefields and north to Canton. As many of us welcome visiting friends and relatives to the city, a number of private walks have also been scheduled to introduce Hong Kong to our guests.
Photo Call:
We are always on the look-out for photos to use on the monthly newsletters and website. If you have any pictures you would like to share, please send them in. Credit will, of course, be given for all photos used. Thank you.
Forthcoming walk highlights:
- North Kowloon, often overlooked, is tucked away in the most unlikely corner. Offering extensive cultural and contemporary social interest, with surprising pockets of history. Height restrictions due to the proximity of the old Kai Tak Airport meant that northern Kowloon – directly under the flight path – has changed little in recent decades. A world away from the glitzy shopping areas located only a few stops southwards on the MTR.
- The New Territories Walled Villages and Clan Halls full-day visit will venture to a number of wai tsuen (walled villages) and clan halls in the northern and north-western New Territories. San Tin, very close to Hong Kong's frontier with Shenzhen, is the ancestral home of the Man lineage, one of the "Five Great Clans" of the pre-British era New Territories region. Here we will visit Tai Fu Tai, a beautifully-maintained Ching-dynasty era rural mansion. With so many areas of interest, this New Territories exploration will not disappoint.
April Walks:
Please visit our Event Calendar for more.
Recent Walks:
Australian Association - Canton Trip
A group of Australian Association members experienced a weekend in Guangzhou (Canton). So close and easliy accessible to Hong Kong and yet so different, overwhelming interesting and unexplored by many Hong Kong residents.
Shameen Island (preserved as a national historic area) proved a highlight for many. Here the group heard stories of the many foreign trading houses formerly based at Shameen, most of which had close connections to early Hong Kong.
Walking along the tree-shaded Canton Bund on the Pearl River provided some calm on the edge of an energetic city. A visit to the Roman Catholic Cathedral ( built by the French in 1863 from stone quarried in Hong Kong), made for a very pleasant surprise, standing tall in all its grandeur amongst many shops selling all kinds of pots, umbrellas and cloth items of all kinds.
A delicious Chinese dinner at the Guangzhou restaurant (a very well-known local restaurant established in the nineteenth century), overlooking the Pearl River, followed by a pleasant stroll back across the river and a glorious view of the Canton Bund at night, finished the day on a relaxed note.
An informative, enjoyable weekend.
Sham Shui Po Wet Market
A visit to the wet markets in Sham Shui Po will always hold a level of fascination. This month's walk did not disappoint.
An exploration around this bustling area filled with stalls selling fresh and dry ingredients, introduced the group to the many tasty dishes one can expertly cook, once armed with some knowledge of Chinese vegetables, dried goods and other produce items.
Finishing at the cooked-food stalls on the top floor of Pei Ho Street Market made for a fun ending to an enlightening afternoon.
