Kaiping Diaolou

Kaiping in Guangdong is quite close to Hong Kong, and they have the Diaolou which are world heritage sites.  These Diaolou are only some 80 years old, relatively young when compared to other world heritage sites, but they play a very important role in modern history of China which earn them the world heritage status. They are also closely related to Hong Kong too.

Kaiping has been the scene setting for a number of famous Hong Kong films, including Chow Yun Fat's "Let the Bullets Fly" and Tony Leung Chiu Wai's "The Grand Master".

 The Zili Village where 'Let the Bullets Fly' is shot.

 

The scene setting for Tony Leung's "The Grand Master", which is now open for visit.

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Vietnam: Revisit

It has been years since we visited Vietnam last time and we decided to go back this year, on a cruise ship "Silver Wind". We embark from Bangkok and from there to 3 ports in Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang and Danang.

We love to call Ho Chi Minh its old name 'Saigon'.  The skyline of the city has indeed changed a lot, with many more skyscrapers than before.  You'll see the city evolving: new buildings blend with the old, modern coffee shops amongst the traditional eateries, and there are more restaurants offering international cuisines.  However, the one thing which remains unchanged is the number of motorcycles: there are hundreds or thousands on the roads.  We are not sure how many people it is allowed to carry at a time, but we have seen four a couple of times, and some people said they have seen five!  The motorbike is not only used to carry people, it is also used as a truck and some use it to carry their pet dogs as well.  Amazing!

With hundreds of motorbikes zigzagging before you, it takes a lot of courage to cross the roads, but it does not border the locals.  They step out onto the roads without a look around. We also saw people walking along a flyover.  Out of curiosity we went up for a closer look. It is indeed a flyover for vehicles with no pedestrian walkway and these people are walking side by side with the sweeping traffic.  How we admire their courage!

There are a lot of activities on the streets.  Besides the food stores, people get together eating lunch boxes or having a beer, playing chess or cards.  Although Saigon is not as developed as other big cities like Hong Kong, it appears that the locals are happy and enjoying a cozy life: we spotted two ladies enjoying coffee in a verandah.

We then move on to Nha Trang, the famous beach resort.  We did not go to the beach but went to the market and the town to see how the locals are faring.  The local residential houses, probably with a strong French influence, looks cushy and comfortable and it would be very nice if we could have a house there.  The market sells very everything: meat, vegetables, fruits, side by side with food stores and shops selling handicrafts and utensils, a busy and lively market indeed.  The store owners are agressive too. They'll accept almost any currencies you have: Vietnamese Dong, USD, Euro and RMB!

We then sail to Danang, and from there we went on for a tour to Hoi An, a UNESCO site. It is a peaceful and charming ancient town, and the bright colour little houses is its lifeblood. It used to be a prosperous trading town where merchants from China, Japan, India and Europe came for various commercial activities.  The ground floors are the shops and the store keepers live on the second floor.  Today, most of the shops have turned into restaurants, cafes, souvenirs stores and art galleries.  A leisure stroll along the streets is very enjoyable.  Besides the streets and shops, there are also temples and old mansions which are worth visiting.

Time flies and our holiday also came to an end. The three Vietnamese cities are indeed thriving ones and we are sure there will be a lot of new discoveries next time when we visit them again.

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Lychee Rhapsody, Dongguan, Guangdong

It’s the Lychee season again (normally from June until late August) and fresh Lychees are everywhere in the markets in Hong Kong. It’s our favorite: juicy, sweet and fragrant. It is a delicacy for the Chinese imperial court, and is romantically associated with the love story of Emperor Xuanzoang and his concubine Yang Guifei of the Tang Dynasty (year 618-907). The Emperor arranged a special delivery at great expense for the fruit to be transported from the Southern part of China [Guangdong Province] to the capital (in Northern part of China) to please his favorite concubine.

One of the best Lychees species is grown in Dongguan, just an hour’s ride from Hong Kong. We therefore took off to Dongguan in search of the best, the sweetest and the freshest lychee in town.

We spent one night in Dongguan, and stayed at the Hyatt Regency Dongguan. We are amazed to find that the hotel in set in a tropical fruit garden: there is a huge lychee garden managed by the hotel, where you can pick your own lychee. In addition to lychee, we’ve found Longan, another tropical fruit found in Southeast Asia, Jackfruit, and mangos. Many of these fruits are just hanging leisurely down from the branches, within easy reach by hand, enjoying the sunbath. We spent the whole morning exploring different types of tropical fruit.

Lychee trees with fresh and ripe lychees

A basketful of freshly pick of the day.  Yummy yummy....

Jack fruit trees, with jack fruit hanging down from the trunks.

Fresh Longan fruit, which will be in season in July/August.

The hotel is by the lakeside. It is a tranquil, charming lake surrounded by lush greens, and a leisure walk along the lake side is refreshing and energizing. You can also rent a bicycle for a ride to the nearby area.

The hotel is also fully equipped, with comprehensive meeting and recreational facilities. There are indoor and outdoor swimming pools. The indoor pool is completed by huge Jacuzzi, where various types of whirlpools, hot and cold bathtubs. The outdoor pool has a number of rides for the kids, and the lake is right besides the pool.

The hotel rooms are big, with huge bathrooms. All the rooms are balconied with comfortable sofas for you to spend a lazy afternoon with your friends or loved ones.

The lychee we’ve tasted in Dongguan is the freshest and the sweetest we ever have. The skin is bright red and thin, the stone tiny, at the same time the meat has the lingering fragrant taste that lasts inside your mouth. With only one hour’s drive, it is the back garden for Hong Kong, a perfect city break and an ideal retreat for the family. It is also a good complement for overseas visitors to Hong Kong, as a pre/post event. You can actually bring the meeting to the hotel and let your delegates put their feet up, network, social and exchange in a natural, relaxing environment. When they return to Hong Kong, they’ll enjoy the hustle and bustle of a modern metropolis, with tours, activities and wine and dine, for a trip of two worlds: a busy, city destination complemented by a natural, scenic stop.

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Hiking in Mt Guanzhai, Fujian

Besides the popular Xiamen and Mt Wuyi, Mt Guanzhai with her charming Danxia landscape, strange peaks and lake, is a perfect place to go for a weekend retreat away from the crowd of tourists.  We spent the weekend in Liancheng, Fujian, where Mt Guanzhai is.

The morning began with a leisure board walk along the lake shore.  The lush green, clear water and the fresh air was indeed pleasant.  

The boat cruise that followed was even more refreshing, meandering through the waterways between the peaks, we had a close encounter with the Danxia landscape.

We began our hike after disembarking from the boat.  Although there were some 700 steps upwards and another 900 steps downwards, it was not as difficult as it sound.  We walked between the peaks, some were narrow enough for one person to pass through at a time.

 

The climb up to the top was indeed rewarding.  You'll have the picturesque view of the Danxia peaks, as well as the valley.

The locals named that funny little peak that pops up 'The Source of Life'.

The hike took around 4 hours, including the boardwalk and the boat cruise.  Unlike many other tourist destinations in China which are noisy and packed with tourists, the morning hike is a place off the beaten track.  There were no busy tour guides talking noisily on microphones, or excited visitors pushing or those who cannot wait to talk loudly over their mobile phones to share their findings with their friends.   What's accompanied us were only chirping of the birds and cicadas. 

We returned to our hotel, the Tienyi Spa and Resort, a five star local hotel with villas and hot spring, to enjoy and relax in a hot spring.

The next day, before we returned to Hong Kong, we made a stop at Yonglong Bridge which was built some 400 years ago, and the Hakka Village Peitian.

The Yonglong Bridge is where local celebrations are held.  It is one of the most elegantly built bridge which linked up the village separated by the river.  The noble wooden structure is seldom seen in local village.

Our next stop was the Hakka Village Peitian.   The village is deep in the mountains, but the visit indeed worth the travelling time.  It belongs to the Wu Clan.  A few of their ancestors were awarded positions in the government during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and this honor was reflected in the architecture - there were halls and ancestor halls built for these officers.  The architecture is distinctively Hakka.   Today, there are still some 1,000 Hakka, all named Wu, living in the village.  The grand halls, the paved cobble stones roads, the theatre -you can imagine how wealthy and powerful these Hakka clan was in ancient time.  A stroll along the village will take you down the memory lane of the peaceful, happy and self-sufficient life in a local village.

Liancheng is only 4 hours by train from Shenzhen.  The spectacular landscape, the Hakkanese heritage and the hike offers a rich programme.  What's more, you'll pass through paddy fields and duck farms along the way which many city dwellers miss.

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The Mysterious Land of Tibet

We have never imagined that religion can play such an important role in our lives, until we went to Tibet.  It was for us, another momentous big event.

The first sight of Tibet is bewildering. There remain very few places where you see so many local people are fully dressed in their traditional ethnic costumes. There were Tibetan women religiously holding the Buddhist wheel, travelling round the Jakhong Temple. Pious Buddhist used their four limbs to do their pilgrimage to Lhasa while we were travelling between the towns in Tibet. The Tibetans, even though they are only making ends meet, are generous when they make donations to the temples.  No matter how small it is, they offer whatever they can to every Buddhist statues they pass by. Shortly, and deeply moved by the piousness of the Tibetans, we followed suit when we visited the temples.

The Potala Palace is spectacular. There are rooms after rooms, and statues after statues. If you casually point at any items in the palace, it can be a thousand years old. It is indeed a treasure house of treasures.

We went to the two of the Holy Lakes in Tibet: Lake Yamzho Yumco and Lake Namco They are peaceful, blue lakes under the clear blue sky, like a jewel on a beautiful landscape, with yaks all over the grassland. The excursion is a challenge to our adaptation to the high altitude climate. The highest point we climbed was 5190 metres at Namco Lake – an altitude we had never thought we could achieve.

While we were travelling from Lake Yamzho Yumco, we were driving below the Himalaya ridges. The massive mountain ranges of the Himalaya appears so close, and those snow capped peaks towering 7,000 meters high in the sky feel so easy to get to, when you are already on an altitude of 3,600 meters or above. Though we did not have the courage to climb up the Himalayas, it was indeed a wonderful experience to get so close to the highest mountains on earth.

We popped into a tent occupied by a grandmother and her two grandsons. They were taking their flocks to graze and set up a temporary tent to rest. Life was simple – feeding the flock, picking herbs from the snow-capped mountains, making cheese out of yak milk – but happy.

Our itinerary covered Lhasa, Tsedong, Gynagtse and Shigatse, the major towns in Tibet. It was quite a bold one to complete in around 7 days. Wherever we went, we visited the historical local Buddhist Temples, many of them have a history of over 1,000 years.

We saw monks leading simple life in secluded temples, holding on to their beliefs and keeping their tradition and culture, as well as the numerous treasures in the temple in the modern 21st century.

The temples, with the vast landscape behind them, offer a sense of spirituality. The huge mountains are there to protect the shrines, and for thousands of years, the local Tibetans garnished them with their culture and heritage.

The Yombulagang Palace and the Samyae Monastery in Tsedong were most impressive. Yombulagang Palace was believed to be the first palace of the Tibetan King built in the 2nd century. Today, the palace looks very modest and tiny, but it is built on top of a small hill with magnificent views of the valley. This three-storeys structure must be a splendid structure some two thousand years ago.

The visit to Samyae Monastery was like a travel back to the medieval period. The Monastery was built in year 779, with a creative combination of Tibetan, Chinese and Indian style.  You can imagine the monks in the early 8th century were already having a ‘world view’, knowledgeable and well travelled, and open minded to accept foreign cultures.

In recent years, Lhasa has developed very quickly. It used to be a sparsely populated town with only 2 to 3-storeys building, but today, there are international 5 star high rise hotels being built. Although the city is on high altitude, it is apparent that the provincial government has developed a standard procedure to assist visitors to cure high altitude sickness. Two members of our group felt uncomfortable with the high altitude, but there are clinics at the 5 star hotels, or medical centres in small towns where doctors can come to your hotel to offer treatment. Our members were treated with a drip, and after a few hours of rest, they were up and ready to get on for the journey.

It is one of the most memorable journeys we have made - we just wished to go back as soon as we can!

Momentous Team

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The Island of Smiles of South Pacific Ocean: Fiji

‘Bula! Bula!’, the warm ‘hello’ from the local Fijians, their broad smiles and friendly faces make us feel like the airplane had taken us to a paradise exactly what we’ve dreamed of: the warm sea breeze, the smell of the ocean, clear blue sky and turquoise coloured sea water and sandy white beaches. We were so excited that kicked off our shoes when we arrived at the island resort, and never in our lives we feel as relaxed and care-free.

The island resorts are gorgeous – you’ll get whatever comfort you need. At dinner time, smell of freshly grilled seafood and roast meat make your taste buds go wild, and the sumptuous lines of buffet tables are totally irresistible. The freshly squeezed tropical fruit juice and a wide range of dessert made of tropic fruits are sweepingly refreshing and energizing. For the week in Fiji, all of us forgot our rigorous weight watchers diet at home, but just enjoy all the good food offered in the Pacific islands.

In addition to sun, sand and sea, there are a lot of things to do in Fiji. Islands hopping are the most popular daytime activity. Fiji is actually make-up of by seven groups of Islands: the Lau Group, Northern Islands, Southern Islands, Lomalviti Group, Yasawa Islands, Mamanuca Islands and the Viti Levu Island (this is where the International Airport located). We travel on speed boat and off into the tropical jungles and the local villages.  The indigenous Fijian cultures are mix of Indians, Chinese and Europeans’. The islands had been colonised by a number of European nations, and Britain had the longest period of colonial rule for over 100 years. Only in 1970 Fiji became independent of the British. Whenever we go, the local people are extremely friendly and eager to interact with you. We also joined a community project, and went to a local school and assisted the local school to decorate the campus with paint – it is not only fun for the school children, it was a playful activity for us – not only we covered the campus with fresh paint, our T-shirts and faces were covered with paints as well. At night, camp fire was set up and we had a Fiji style BBQ party, and welcomed by Fijian in their traditional costumes and after the meal, we sang and danced with the locals.

For the ‘VVIP’ experience, you can be taken by a helicopter, which will land right in front of the bungalow you’re staying. Private spa treatment, private pool and even the top chef will bring his equipment and cook whatever you fancy in your own bungalow; and an exclusive, candle-lit dinner party will be set up in your private area. Or, if you have a fancy for golf, enjoy a round of golf in the golf club where you’ll likely meet the president of Fiji who frequents the club.

There are also numerous variations for evening and private parties. Beach sides parties, various open air venues inside the hotel properties or indoor at the hotel ballrooms. You can have parties with different themes and entertainment for whole week.

The Pacific paradise, the comfort of modern hotels, the food and the carefree, relaxed ambience is really an once-in-a-lifetime treat. The fact that Hong Kong is an international city with flight connections from almost major gateways in the world is an ideal dual destination with Fiji. The genuine broad smile and laughter of the school kids are deep in our memories, and we’ve couriered loads of candies and toys to the school in Fiji when we came back home, wishing to return to this Pacific paradise again and again in the near future.

The Momentous Team

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