China 錦繡中華民俗村

29th December 1997

This is Shirley and Xing’s first time to China.

We joint a Day Tour to Shenzhen to see 2 main tourist locations: Splendid China 錦繡中華 and Culture Village 民俗文化村.

Shenzhen City is just across the border of Hong Kong City. The journey is less then an hour by bus. We are in a group of less then 20 non-Chinese speaking Asian a few of them from India.

Though there are many interesting things to see in these two tourist locations but all of us were in a rush because the whole morning gone wasted by the tour guide who took the whole bus lot unnecessary to a local souvenir market and a shopping mall.

This is Shirley and Xing’s first time to China. But I have been here once in 1991 myself.

“Splendid China Miniature Park” and “China Folk Culture Village” are two separate tourist park opposite to each other separate by a highway.

In Splendid China Miniature Park are models of famous places and buildings in China.

Touring the miniature park is like touring whole China in a couple of hours.

Opposite Miniature Park is the second park Chinese Folk Culture Village that displays scenery and historical architecture of traditional Chinese culture.

Though both parks are both about China. One theme on China's ethnic groups and the other theme on famous sites and architectural heritage.

One article I read descript visitors as following:

“ ..... It seems that men and boys prefer looking at the detailed scaled models and learning about Chinese architecture and geography while women seem to prefer seeing the costumes of ethnic groups in China and visiting the various houses and the portrayal of ethnic village life….”

This exactly happen to our family when we visited the 2 parks. From the following photographs you can see Xing (the boy) and me spend more snap shoots on minature architecture while Shirley enjoyed dressing up as a native Chinese.

龍門石窟大佛像 The Longmen Grottoes (lóng mén shí kū 龍門石窟)

Dragon's Gate Grottoes.

Photo above : Image on top is miniature we visited. Image inserted below (web photo) is the real Grottoes in Luòyáng City in Hénán province.

The Longmen Grottoes is one of the three greatest grottoes of China. The site was inscribed as one of the World Culture Heritage in 2000 .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longmen_Grottoes

亭樓關門之滕王閣 Tengwang Pavilion

Remark :

In 2003, Splendid China merged with the Chinese Folk Culture Village to form Splendid China Folk Village (锦绣中华民俗村 Jǐnxiù Zhōnghuá Mínsú Cūn).

Tai O - a charming world of itself in Hong Kong

Above : Tai O - photo from interenet 2010

Tai O is a very charming small town a long distant away from Hong Kong city. This fishing village town is 1 hour by mini bus from Mui Wo. And Mui Wo town is another hour by ferry to the city. The 2 hours journey separate Tai O from the hectic city life and have its very own feels of old, and quiet, and peaceful. A unique quiet secluded island kampung (village) life.

I did not have photo of this little town but I down load a few from the internet just as an illustration. The few places are places I been to.

Tai O is a fishing village located on the western tip of Lantau Island.

Its unique preserved fish and cultural heritage, Tai O is well known for its slum-like houses which built on stilts and along the waterway, in order to avoid high tides. While the Chinese stilt-house community is an attraction to the outside tourist I am more attracted by the island concrete houses and temples. These concrete structures are thought not ancient but at least a hundred years old.

I spend lengthy hour strolling along a quiet rocky sea side with very few people. I could not find an image of this location from the internet. On one corner of the sea side is a small dark house constructed of cement and rock. Seem no electricity and water supply. Look as if a hermit is stay there.

27th December 1997 Shirley's Birthday Dinner at Tin Ning Flat

Today is Shirley's birthday. I came to Tai O for the occasion. She and Xing stay with Gloria family in Tai O while I put up in a small hotel room in Kowloon.

Tin Ning House

Tin Ning House is one of the 9 Falts in Lung Tin Estate ( 龍田邨) is Hong Kong Housing Authority public rental estate in Tai O.

Glorea family of 3 stay here.

14th December 1997 Sunday At Foz airport.

Our last photograph taken in South America.

The 4 and half years life in South America now seem like an imagination that my Malaysian friends not interested to believe.

If not diary entries and many these photographs snapped during the years to remind the days gone, as I aged, I myself might even confused as yet another long dream cause by too much coffee the previous night.

From Foz airport on 14th December 1997, we board VASP airline and through the plan window we watched this great continent of South America gradually out of sight under the white cloud.