Honkers revisited
The first impression made by its striking new architecture is nothing short of profound. Unlike Australia, the soaring elegant skyscrapers attest to the importance of outstanding architecture in local minds. It underscores their bustling work ethic. That old stamping ground of the Far East Fleet and regular port of call for RAN ships has changed. Tamar Dockyard is history, but a number of dockyard buildings, like that newish upturned gin bottle, the Prince of Wales Building, and Amethyst and Blake Blocks still carry their names proudly, all parts of a Peoples Liberation Army barracks complex. The dockyard itself has virtually disappeared. There is now a heliport and car park where the duty frigate once stood.
Hong Kong architecture has changed dramatically, witness the “Allan Bond” buildings (left) and the dramatic Peak Terminus shopping centre.
The Peak is still there, but instead of a simple guardrail around the old tram terminus machinery, there is an enormous shopping complex, complete with restaurants and flash-looking up-market shops. Tragically, somebody tore down the old Repulse Bay Hotel, but in response to local pressure it was rebuilt on the same spot, in front of a soaring set of new apartment blocks. The old Repulse Bay Bamboo Bar still witnesses earnest young (and old) men plying invariably young beautiful women with words, wisdom, whisky and other wily stratagems.
Once upon a time a tired and emotional sailor could walk from the outskirts of built up Kowloon to the Star Ferry terminal, without sobering up. No more. Modern Kowloon is now large enough to run three superb underground train systems, plus another train that zips passengers to and from the huge new airport on Lantau Island.
Wan Chai and transport
But the century-old double-decker single-bogey trams still rattle along.
Wan Chai just ain’t what it used to be, either. The single bogey double-decker trams, there for 100 years, still trundle around day and night, cheerfully moving masses of people, but mixed feelings will accompany any old sailor who saunters down Hennessy Road nowadays. Back in the 1950s, it would be unusual to walk a mile into Wan Chai at night without getting propositioned four times and repulsing two earnest pickpockets. No more. Hennessy Road is the height of respectability and commercial retailing. Modern shiny skyscraper apartment blocks replace the old hovels on the hillsides behind. No longer do dozens of squatters die by mudslide every typhoon.
In mainland China, if you are run over, it will probably be by a brand new shiny big black Volkswagen, made in Shanghai. In Hong Kong, the most frequent instrument of pedestrian intimidation is now a big double-decker bus, maybe an imported Volvo or Cummings diesel. Underground trains run frequently and the good old Star Ferries remain the cross-harbour transports of choice. The trains are immaculately clean and relatively cheap. Public transport even has an interchangeable “smart card” system and a half-price senior’s fare. Even better, ticket sellers actually advise senior citizens that they might travel free on the Star Ferry.
Jimmy’s Kitchen
The Ace Beauty Parlour, never easy to find, could not be found, but Leo Landau’s and Chris Patten’s Jimmy’s Kitchen is still there, although it is not at the same old Theatre Lane location. Mike Henderson is Jimmy’s new boss and the new Central address is 1 Wyndham St. Kowloon-side it is 29 Ashley Rd. The old “steak and chips and a San Mig for a quid” are history. Prepare for a $AUS25.00 per person equivalent minimum main course.
In the late 1960s under-harbour tunnel approaches out-muscled the Causeway Bay junks and sampans for their typhoon harbour refuge, but even the once uncountable junks and sampans are thinning out. They are fewer and smaller, even in the alternate ocean-side junk refuge harbour of Aberdeen. Containerisation is king. Only one or two floating restaurants remain in Aberdeen. The airfield at Kai Tak is gone, despite all that work moving that mountain, bucketful by bucketful, to make the approach a little less dangerous and the runway a little bit longer. New apartment blocks now sit on what was once Kai Tak airfield.
The Peninsula Hotel.
That great old beautiful dowager duchess of a hotel, the Peninsula, still has its gilded ceilings in the lobby-tea room. The hotel might be hemmed in by over-towering buildings on three sides, but the opulence inside remains unchanged. The same white-coated young waiters remain eager to serve. The same black-suited supervisors hover nearby and discrete supervisor supervisors are not that far behind. There were those same beautiful young unattached visiting blondes curling up seductively into the vast chairs, with perhaps the same cocktail in one hand but this time with a ubiquitous mobile telephone in the other. There were those same tall mysterious young Eurasian lissom brunettes in slinky black evening gowns toying languidly with a couple of papers at other tables. Obviously, they all are longing for a handsome young visiting sailor to approach them with that innocent-sounding Plan A, “Would you care to have a look at our wardroom?”or Plan B, “What would you like to drink? Would you care to have a look at our wardroom?” Nobody ever needed a Plan C.
In Macau, you might find a three-metre tall sculptured sandcastle (left) in a main city square. The streets can be a delightful mix of Chinese and Portuguese environments, but the Westin Resort’s outdoor restaurant (right) is pure luxury in every sense of the word.
Macau remains one of the jewels in Hong Kong’s crown. The “turbojet” catamaran ferry takes a little over an hour. Retail prices are a little cheaper in Macau but during a recent visit there seemed to be more police and taxi drivers on the street than tourists. The casino still welcomes gamblers, but don’t miss the lunchtime $HK5 bus ride out to garlic prawns, roast chicken and Portuguese salad at Fernando’s in Coloane. Then the amble along the beach to the luxurious Westin Resort for a delicious peach tart with extra (real) cream and coffee. With luck, a free Westin bus will take you back to the ferry wharf. With a little more luck you’ll keep missing that bus and be forced to stay there forever. There are worse fates.