Hong Kong & Macau 2008 Day 4

Went to Sham Shui Po in the morning, because Slug the antique and audio enthusiast (in other words, junk collector) wanted to visit the flea market at Ap Liu Street to look for bargain buys. Had lunch at a humble cha can ting there, and I loved their salt and pepper chicken rice!

A table of locals thought I was taking a picture of them

Very tasty salt and pepper chicken

The shopping (to Slug, not me) at Ap Liu Street was absolutely boring. The crowd was predominantly old men. I had no interest in the things sold there, from cables to torches and from pots to audio speakers (except for porn mags), but I still had to follow Slug while he browsed through the amplifiers and turntables in the shops along the street.

Old and dirty estates in Sham Shui Po

On my pestering, Slug reluctantly left the flea market and we headed for Yau Tong, a neighbourhood town peppered with industrial buildings in Kowloon East. Slug wanted to visit the grave of Wong Ka Kui, the deceased member of his favourite band, Beyond, and this grave was located nearby at Tseung Kwan O Chinese Permanent cemetery atop a hill. The thought of climbing up hills excited me while the prospect of meeting a dead idol excited Slug.

Upon exiting Yau Tong MTR station, we walked around Lei Yue Mun Plaza, the disappointingly small neighbourhood mall there, and had McDee's (again!) for tea. We just loved their fish fingers.

Lei Yue Mun Plaza

After that, we walked along Ko Chiu Road, gazed in amazement at the towering apartment blocks around us and finally came to the entrance of the cemetery. It would have been advisable to take a taxi up the steep slopes and winding paths to reach the cemetery, but I was raring to scale those challenging slopes.

The hill where the cemetery sits

The grey and gloomy estates at Yau Tong

No kidding, the slopes were horrifically steep (say about 45 deg?) at certain stretches

Poor Slug trudging behind me and did not look too happy

View of the industrial buildings and Hong Kong island beyond the sea

We had to take many short breaks along the walk because it was just too gruelling to keep going up and our ankles were hurting. We finally decided to take a cab but it did not make sense going back to the main road after we had come so far. Out of the several occupied cabs that passed by us, we managed to flag one that was empty and heading towards the cemetery. What a relief. And along the journey, we thanked our lucky stars for sending us a cab because the the road was really long.

Huh?! Another 20 minutes just to get to the administrative office!

We instructed the cab to take us to Section 15, where the grave was located. Upon alighting from the cab, and with the cab engine sound trailing off, we were consumed by the brooding silence of the cemetery. In front of us was an amphitheatre of uniform-looking tombstones staring down at us, and behind us was the vast peaceful sea. No noises, except for occasional flapping of birds' wings and the clattering of the stray dogs' nails on the concrete steps. We made our way up to Row 6, and soon we found Wong Ka Kui's tombstone.

Slug got pretty apprehensive as he stared at the engravings on the tombstone, and after a while, muttered that he would have been 46 of age by now. We also found many graffiti, as well as gifts, left by fans on the green railings and concrete paths, proclaiming their love for Beyond and their music. However, what struck us was the cast of a guitar on top of the marble tombstone. Now that's a decent memorial for a great musician! We also noticed that the section of the concrete wall where the tombstone stood was painted blue, perhaps by fans who wanted to make his tomb more visible than the others and hence easier to find?

Slug wanted to locate the grave of Danny Chan, another '80s Hong Kong artiste, which was in the same section. While we were walking from row to row and inspecting the tombstones, it felt creepy looking at those solemn faces on the photos of the tombstones. Seemed somehow rude too. Some tombstones had collapsed, while some had been dug out. After a while I gave up and was mesmerized by the good fengshui of this location - good view of the sea, windy and serene.

Cemetery divided into sections

Blue marks the spot of Wong Ka Kui's grave

Ideal location for an afterlife abode

I like the way that hill slopes are fully utilised for these purposes

It was getting late and we had better get out of the cemetery before the sun set, because there were no lampposts in the vicinity and the road out of it! No cabs in sight as we walked along the winding road that would lead us back to the main road. Somewhere along the road, we saw a small stony path branching away from the road that promised to lead to Lei Yue Mun Village about 500m away. It was actually a long flight of steps that lies along the hill slope, and we figured that it was a more direct route (although secluded) back to civilisation as compared to the winding road, so we took that. Only 500 metres, how long could it take?

Outside of the cemetery

No people and vehicles in sight

The suspiciously quiet stony path and stairs

We were so wrong, because the sky turned dark within 10 minutes and we had to get out before we were surrounded by darkness (no lampposts along stairs too). We initially started off with a quickened pace, until something moved and rustled in the tall grasses beside us (it wasn't the wind). I hallucinated the appearance of a tiger from the grasses, and was so scared that we fled down the steps. The never-ending zigzagging stairs made us really groggy but we just ran. Finally we saw some light coming from Lei Yue Mun Village. Safe at last.

We could relax at last, as we walked along the small alleys through the village. Slug and I, once again, felt lured by the simple and carefree life in this sleepy village. Although facilities were quite run-down (the alleys had NO lampposts, and they were vaguely bright due to the dim lights emitting from the houses) and the houses looked tacky and spartan (could see a basic TV, a sofa, an electric fan and a fridge in the living rooms, and yucks, Mashimaro curtains), the residents were getting on their lives in a laid-back way - cycling, fishing, playing chess and congregating in the common area for chit chats. Throughout the walk, we were debating on whether we should trade in the material comforts we had for such a life.

The dark alleys of Lei Yue Mun Village

Tian Hou temple in the village

Gazing at Hong Kong island across the sea

The residents' letter boxes

Slug looking at the wishing tree in the common area of the village

An outdoor concert nearby

We headed to the Lei Yue Mun Seafood Market intending to have a sumptuous seafood dinner, but we ended up put off by the exorbitant prices. Maybe they thought we were tourists, and offered us ridiculous prices. HKD300 per person for 3 kinds of seafood (prawns, clams and those cheap shellfish)? For slightly more than HKD300, the two of us could have better seafood (read: lobster) over at Sai Kung! And that was where we decided to go immediately.

Again, it was a tough decision on whether to dine at Tung Kee or Chuen Kee, and after much discussion and comparing of the menus, we chose the former. The set meal we chose was exactly what we had a year ago, but somehow cooking styles were a tad different this time. Service standards seemed to have lowered too, maybe because it was quite crowded today.

Mantis shrimp with salt and pepper, and baked lobster in cheese sauce

Steamed sea bass Hong Kong style and scallops with garlic and vermicelli

It was a highly satisfying meal, especially with the fact that we got a better bargain over here as compared to Lei Yue Mun. Somemore, this time, Tung Kee did away with their service charge - more savings!

Slurping the vermicelli off the scallop, yum!

Glowing radiantly after the meal

A bar nearby playing grooveable tunes and with a happening dancefloor

Strolled by the waterfront promenade for a while and enjoying the retro songs playing from the bar, before returning to Causeway Bay reluctantly, humming Dancing Queen all the way back. Slug wanted to get some DVDs from the nearby HMV, but it closed as soon as we reached there (which was quite late actually - 11.45pm). Decided to try again the next day.