To have a contrast from the crush of humanity in Tsim Sha Tsui, we took a bus to the South Side of the island. I hadn’t realized how much Aberdeen had densified, it was probably half the size when I previously saw the city ~20 years previously. The extension of the MTR to this rather distant side of the island really amazed me:  I am so impressed with Hong Kong’s non-stop investment into public transportation. The new HKU MTR station has made our lives incredibly convenient.  The Sunday car traffic made our journey more arduous until we cleared Ocean Park.

The beauty of the island’s coast is undeniable even while careening at a breakneck pace past branches brushing the buses window.  And awaiting us was a completely sanitized, mall-ified Stanley. Even though the development was quite tastefully done with some generous gathering spaces, I was rather disappointed to see that one entered the village through the escalators of an air-conditioned mall.

In Hong Kong, picturesque pieces of colonialism have been artfully arranged.  Here you see the 1844 Murray House barracks from Central that was dismantled in 1982 and rebuilt in Stanley in 2002.  It is seen through the portal of Blake Pier, also originally from Central, whose canopy for many years served as a pavilion in Kowloon.  They both provide a very dignified experience of the waterfront, although a rather mixed-up version of history.

– Nancy