Castle on a hill (above Hirschhorn)

A section of the ruined outer walls and tower
of Schloss Hirschhorn

An old but still habitable part of the former knight's castle

The view from the outdoor dining area of the
castle turned hotel cum restaurant

Ever dined in a castle? Some years back when visiting the Forbidden City in Beijing, I had pot noodles in a section of the former imperial residence that has been turned into a snack area -- but I don't think that really counts. So up until my recent German vacation, I'd say that the closest I ever came to doing that was having mulled wine and minced pies after a concert one cold winter evening in an English stately home known as Houghton Hall a few decades ago (when I was living and studying at boarding school in England).

But on the third full day of my recent German vacation, my German friend, her friend who was our host in Heidelberg and I went on a road trip up the Neckar River from that fabled university town that included a stop for lunch at a 13th century knight's castle that is but one of the many other castles in Germany that "offer hospitality" seemingly as a matter of course these days.

Situated on a hill overlooking the picturesque village of Hirschhorn, Schloss Hirschhorn is part ruined and part converted hotel-restaurant -- the kind of place that quite a few people choose to be married or spend honeymoons in. (And, indeed, during our visit there, we were witness to a happy wedding party!)

One on hand, although it may seem strange to think of the kind of structure that many people associate with warfare (or, at the very least, less peaceful days when those who could afford it opted to build residences on hills less for the view than for defensive purposes) having such social functions, this state of affairs provides some indication of how "normal" castles are for many Germans on account of their being such ubiquitous parts of so many German landscapes.

At the same time, it also shows that, for many people, there remains a romantic aura about these structures -- and while I wouldn't necessarily want to get married there (or married at all for that matter!), I definitely do find myself attracted to castles; not least because they appear to be places where my imagination is apt to feel free to roam... ;b

Alien or not?

Alien, football (AKA soccer) creature,
over-sized flower pot or
all of the above in Suwon town?!

Many moons ago, I mentioned in a meme entry on this blog that my ethnicity and/or nationality often has been mis-identified in many parts of the world. Well, now one can add South Korea to the list -- in that during my recent visit, I found that I apparently look Korean to Koreans! Indeed, so much of a native did I look there that people would come up to my mother -- who met up with me in Seoul a day into my Korean vacation -- and I to ask us for what appeared to be directions as well as just plain assume that we could speak Korean pretty much wherever we went in the country!

What accounted for this state of affairs? Is it, I wonder, because we often walked around without maps or guidebooks in our hands, yet seem to know where we are going? (A "trick" I learned from travelling and living in parts of the world where obviously being foreign or unsure of where one is (going) might expose one to crime.)

If so, why is it that in Beijing, my mother and I stuck out like sore, foreign thumbs even when we weren't speaking? (For the record, we were often mistaken there for Japanese, Taiwanese or Americans!) And then there was the assumption by most Taiwanese we encountered in Taipei that we were not only foreign but specifically Japanese! (And should anyone wonder, in Japan, I often get assumed to be Japanese -- or a Japanese-speaker at the very least...)

Actually, I do have a couple of theories as to why my mother and I obviously don't look like Beijingers: the first being that the ethnic Chinese parts of us are southern rather than northern Chinese; and secondly, that our clothing styles just aren't very Beijing or Mainland Chinese. But whither, then, the Korean and Japanese mistaken identities as, from what I can observe, I definitely tend to dress more casually and less smartly -- especially when on vacation -- than your average Korean or Japanese?

Whatever the reason, I have to say that there often are advantages to being mistaken for a native. Now if only I could be more polyglot and be able to speak the (dominant) language of more of the countries where I've been... and while I'm doing a bit of wishing, being able to read non-Roman alphabetic scripts would be cool too! ;b

10 highlights of my 2008

Best Thrill Ride in the foreground --
and, in the background, Best Natural Sight

In 2006 and 2007, I wrote up "10 highlights of the year" entries. Although I had intended to write my 10 highlights of 2008 before 2009 came along, certain circumstances (including my having to work on the first day of 2009 and that day falling in the middle of the week) have led to my only doing so over the first weekend of the new year. Still, better late than never, right? Well, at least I think so! Hence my going ahead and submitting my "best of" list for 2008 in this here blog post:-

1) Best Book: Once upon a time, I was an Africanist. Although that is no longer the case (along with my thinking that I'd devote my life to being an anthropologist), I actually continue to have strong, emotion-laden memories of -- and interest in -- those parts of that continent that I've spent time in. As far as Zimbabwe is concerned, I also have wondered for years now how it went from being quite a bit better off than Tanzania (where I lived for some two years) when I visited it in December 1995 to the heartbreakingly and nightmarishly benighted place that it now has been for some time. Peter Godwin's When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa (Back Bay Books, 2008) clearly explains as well as describes how the situation deterioriated while also being a very affecting history and story of himself and his family. Tragic but also not entirely without hope, this book really is a very enthralling, highly recommended read.

2) Best Concert: I feel very lucky to have been able to attend -- in a single year -- concerts headlined by such as Joanna MacGregor, Midori, her brother Ryu Goto and Trey Lee. For all of the considerable prowess of the afore-mentioned talents, however, there really is no question for me as to what was the best concert I attended in 2008; not after being witness to Yo-Yo Ma and the HKCO performing. Suffice to say that Ma is a musician who deserves his exalted reputation; with the icing on the cake being how, when performing, he seemed able to enjoy himself, the music that he was producing and the very process of collaborating with fellow musicians.

3) Best Filmophile Facility: Its theatre's screen is not the biggest in Hong Kong and there are movie fans who will scoff at its restrictions against eating or drinking when taking in a movie but the Hong Kong Film Archive is one of the greatest things in the Big Lychee as far as this film geek is considered. This not least because its programmers have allowed for me to view Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin (1928), Ivan the Terrible Parts I (1944) and II (1958), Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail (1929), Zhu Shilin's Sorrows of the Forbidden City (1948), The Dividing Wall (1951) and Festival Moon (1953), and so much more there in 2008 alone!

4) Best Hike: The hike from Wu Kau Tang to Sam A minimally covers a distance of 10.5 kilometers but I'm not sure whether that measurement includes the return leg back and doubt that it includes the walk to take in the Bride's Pool that my two hiking companions on the day and I decided to apend to our hike. Still, it wasn't its length alone that caused this Northeast Hong Kong hike to yield material for not one but three separate photo-essays but, rather, the number of interesting sights (like abandoned villages as well as different geographical and geological situations) that we got to view along the way!

5) Best National Cuisine: There's no denying my love of Penang food and Klang bak kut teh. Nevertheless, my favorite national cuisine in the world actually is not that of my native Malaysia but, rather, Japan. And while good Japanese food can be found in many parts of the world (including Hong Kong, as can be seen by my favorite restaurant in the territory being a yakitori-ya), my latest visit to the Land of the Rising Sun in the summer 2008 -- in particular, the experiences of partaking of such as the Genghis Khan barbecue lunch and ramen dinner in Sapporo and the evening eating marathon in the centre of the kuidaore no machi -- i.e., the city where you eat ‘til you drop that is Osaka -- that is Dotonbori Street -- served to reconfirm that Japanese food really is unparalleled in its native land.

6) Best Natural Sight: I knew things were bad but it's still pretty disconcerting to get statistical confirmation that in 2008, Hong Kong air pollution was the worst since records started being kept. Besides fears of what the air pollution will do to one's physical health, something else I've definitely noticed is how polluted air days are so gray and depressing. On a related note, I also notice how much I psychologically perk up at the sight of bright blue skies. No longer something to be granted, they now are things I truly treasure. Let's just hope that they will not be rare sights a la rainbows (or, even rarer, starry skies) in Hong Kong in 2009... :S

7) Best Sporting Event: No, not something Arsenal-related because 2008 has not been a particularly great year to be a Gooner. (Indeed, I'll state for the record here that the current Arsenal side is the worst under Arsene Wenger ever!) Instead, and even though I was one of those slow to catch the fever, count me as one of those eventually won over by the hype and drama of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. So much so that not only did I watch more of the Olympic Games on TV than I thought I would but also ended up doing such as giving people -- and taking lots photos of -- more fuwa than I ever thought I would! ;b

8) Best Television Series: It's true enough that since moving to Hong Kong, I rarely spend time in front of the TV. Indeed, I'll go so far as to admit that I tend to only turn to the TV when I come down with a cold or the flu; and then only after I feel I've spent too many hours resting and/or reading in bed. In short, it's the rare TV show that I'll watch for its own sake. In 2008, that TV show was The Wire (in particularly, Season 5 of the series). So, now that it's wrapped up for good, would recommend suggestions as to what I should turn to next should the TV viewing bug bites once more...

9) Best Theatrical Production: There's no question that the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre's production of De Ling and Empress Dowager Ci Xi is on the old side. After all, the 2008 edition was the fourth revival of a play that was first performed back in 1998. In addition, many of its cast members -- notably its 81-year-old leading lady -- are on the... mature side. But, post catching a performance of this historical drama, can but conclude that old is gold re the production but also its wonderful star, Lisa Lu. (And yes, meeting and interviewing her most definitely was one of the highlights of my time at bc magazine -- heck, my still not too lengthy journalistic career!)

10) Best Thrill Ride: This category has more candidates than usual this year, including the world's largest ferris wheel over in Osaka and rollercoasters over in Ocean Park. But the award has to go to that which I'd also consider to be the best cable car ride I've ever gone on: Hong Kong's Ngong Ping 360 which takes passengers from Tung Chung all the way up to the Ngong Ping Plateau whose residents include that impressive statue popularly known as the Big Buddha. :)

Hong Kong Olympics 2008 (photo-essay)

Chalk it down to it due to my being on the same continent as Beijing but try as I might, it seems like I can't avoid getting caught in the hype of the 2008 Olympics after all. And even though I wouldn't go so far as to say that I've been majorly gripped by Olympics fever, I've already ended up watching more of the Olympic Games coverage on television -- including not only the Opening Ceremony but also a few badminton and tennis matches, some gymnastics competitions and Yelena Isinbayeva's world record-breaking 5.05 meter pole vault -- than I thought I would.

In much the same way, while I don't think that the Beijing Olympics' fuwa are even half as cute as Hello Kitty, Dear Daniel, Winkipinki or the Totoros, I've belatedly realized -- as you will too post viewing this photo-essay -- that I've ended up taking quite a few photos of them along with other Olympics paraphenalia scattered about Hong Kong. (And if you didn't realize by now, not all of the 2008 Olympics' events are taking place in Beijing. Rather, the likes of Hong Kong as well as Shanghai and Tsingtao are among the other cities that are getting to host part of these sporting mega-event.)

The main word is Beijing but Hong Kong's
Olympic connection is made clear on another banner

Walking through the apm mall in Kwun Tong,
I wondered aloud what this countdown clock
was counting to -- only to be informed that
it was for the Olympics, of course! ;b

Inside Central MTR station is another countdown clock --
this one, as can be shown by its surrounding decorations,
more explicitly referencing the 2008 Olympics (and
the equestrian events for which Hong Kong is the venue)

Fuwas on display outside the Hong Kong Cultural Centre

More fuwas -- this time
on a tram stop's billboard over in Wan Chai

There are no signs to explicitly announce that
this outdoor sculpture by the Hong Kong Arts Centre
is Olympic in nature but the colours, rings and horse motif
gets one thinking of the Olympic Games all the same

The Olympic Bridge in Causeway Bay
(which doesn't have space for mention
of the Olympics after Beijing's!)

Weird as it may seem, I'm reassured to see that
not all of the Olympic visuals are polished looking
as well as commercial in nature :)

Some more Beijing "must see"s

A couple of days ago, I wrote a longer than originally intended blog entry about Beijing's Forbidden City. This time around, it's my intention to devote the better part of this post to discussing a few other "must see"s that lie within the capital city of the People's Republic of China. However, it would be remiss of me to not also mention a particular famous portal that actually is part of the Forbidden City and, in fact, is the main entrance to it.

Tiananmen (trans. "Gate of Heavenly Peace"), as it is so named, is the traditional front as well as southern most entrance into the Forbidden City. Originally built in 1417, the 34.7 meter high, 62.7 meter long and 27.25 meter wide structure -- which comes complete with such as a rostrum, terracing, a glaze tile-roofed gate tower, five watch towers and five entrances of its own -- is easily recognized these days by way of having a giant portrait of Mao Zedong hanging just above its central door.

Chairman Mao officially announced the founding of the People's Republic of China from atop Tiananmen's rostrum on 1st October, 1949. In 1988, this same rostrum was opened to the public. Consequently, visitors to Beijing are free to scale the 67 steps that lead up there -- or rather, they are able to do so after paying an admission charge that varies by season! -- to take in the panoramic views that await them of both the rest of the Forbidden City to the north, and the now infamous square that shares the gate's name to the south.

Tiananmen Square. There's no denying that the world's largest public square, one that the Frommer's Beijing guide factually describes as "the size of 90 Amerian football fields (40 hectares/99 acres), with 300,000", is inextricably linked in the minds of many people around the world -- myself included -- with the tragic events that took place there and around its vicinity on 4th June, 1989.

And it was with a sense of pilgrimage of sorts that I made my way to that public space in the center of Beijing. At the risk of sounding like I'm making light of things, however, upon stepping onto that site, the fact of the matter is that what you become more immediately aware of are the place's physical attributes rather than historical associations. For Tiananmen Square really is big in a way that you can only truly understand when you go there and see it for yourself.

Moving on and further afield: Another monumental attraction which visitors to Beijing must make room for in their itineraries is the Summer Palace. Or, rather, I should say two monumental attractions -- as there actually are two Summer Palaces to speak of: i.e., the still extant Yihe Yuan (which was first built in 1750, largely destroyed in 1860, then restored on its original foundations in 1886); and the ruined Yuan Ming Yuan (work on which began in 1707 but which was greatly expanded later on, only to be largely destroyed by foreign invaders in 1860 and then had its decimation more or less completed in 1900) .

As can be gathered by its being known in English as the Summer Palace, the Yihe Yuan which is located in what is now a suburb of Beijing was used as a summer residence cum retreat by imperial Chinese rulers. At the same time though, the fact that its Chinese name translates into English as "Garden of Nurtured Harmony" (or, alternatively, "Garden for Maintaining Health and Harmony) should clue people in to the bulk of the Summer Palace's 294 hectares (726.5 acres) being taken up by garden -- or, rather, park -- space rather than actual buildings per se.

And if truth be told, aside from three notable exceptions (i.e., the triple-tiered, stand-alone China Opera Theatre that was a favorite of the Dowager Empress Cixi; the picture-festooned 700 meters (approx. 795 yards) in length covered walkway known as the Long Corridor; and the beautiful 17 Arch Bridge that has 544 stone carved lions along its railings), the structures in the Summer Palace were far less impressive than its lakes -- notably Kunming Lake, on which one can go boating -- and the exquisite garden-within-a-garden that is the Garden of Harmonious Interests.

In view of its original buildings being no more, it's even more so that the Yuan Ming Yuan is to be primarily enjoyed these days as a park rather than anything else. To be sure, the historically minded might wish to think of it -- or, to be more precise -- its destruction as "a vivid symbol of foreign aggression and humiliation". However, a visit to that whose Chinese name translates as the Garden of Perfection and Light will confirm that, these days, many people, including many residents of China itself, treat its confines as a set of scenic outdoor spaces to stroll around and have picnics in.

On a lighter note: Individuals who have viewed Mabel Cheung's The Soong Sisters will find the labyrinthic structure variously known as Wanhua Zhen (trans. "10,000-Flower Maze") or Huanghua Zhen (trans. "Yellow-Flower Maze") that lies within the Yuan Ming Yuan to be a surprisingly familiar sight. ("Surprising" since that particular scene in the movie in which the maze appears was not supposed to have taken place in Beijing!)

Asian film fans also might like to know that the Summer Palace figures in more than one cinematic work directed by the late Li Han Hsiang. Furthermore, they may recognize that the gate which Yu Shu Lien, the character in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon played by Michelle Yeoh, passed through into Beijing in that movie is the still-in- existence Qian Men (trans. Front Gate) which is located on the south side of none other than Tiananmen Square... ;)

The glory that is Beijing's Forbidden City

A friend of mine who regularly reads this blog recently e-mailed to tell me that she's visiting Mainland China with a tour group next month. I'm not sure how many days she'll spend in Beijing but, already, since the entire tour -- which will also take in Shanghai, Suzhou and Xian, among other locales -- will only take up two weeks, I know that her time in the "Northern Capital" (which is what Beijing's name translates from Mandarin into) just won't feel enough.

Not that I'm the greatest Beijing travel expert out there by any means. In fact, I've only ever been to, and in, Beijing -- and Mainland China itself! -- once thus far in my life! Nevertheless, if nothing else, that single one-and-a-half week visit got me realizing how much there is to see and do in that city which is already pretty huge and spread out but still looks to be ever growing.

And this even if you didn't venture out on a side trip to the Great Wall of China. Something which it really would be a great pity to miss out on -- and this especially since it would be a major case of "so close, yet so far" as, at its most conveniently accessible from Beijing (i.e., Juyong Guan), this lengthy structure is less than 60 kilometers (i.e., a mere 37 miles or so) away from Beijing -- but, simultaneously, an outing that would take up, at the very least, a fairly full day on your itinerary.

Then there's the monumental behemoth in the center of Beijing itself that requires at least a day's visit to do it justice. And yes, I know that guided tours regularly allocate just half a day (or even no more than three hours) to a visit to the Forbidden City. But look at the images at the top of this blog entry and just you try to tell me that you think half a day would be enough to spend in what is, after all, the largest and most completely preserved palatial architecture group in the world!

For make no mistake: The Forbidden City is a city, not a single palace. Heck, even the term "palace complex" doesn't quite do it justice. After all, and here I quote from a Beijing photobook entitled Overlooking Beijing which serves as a great souvenir of my September 2004 visit to the city, this former imperial residence "occupies an area of 720,000 square meters [around 864,000 square yards for those whose countries haven't converted to the metric system] with 80 palaces containing over 9,000 bays of rooms"!

In all honesty, the sheer size -- never mind the grandeur -- of the Forbidden City took my breath away. And this from someone who had previously visited other grand imperial and royal residences like England's Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace, France's Palace of Versailles and Chateau de Fontainebleau, Austria's Schloss Schoenbrunn, Istanbul's Topkapi and Dolmabahce Palaces, etc., etc.

Still, should you need more proof of the Forbidden City's ability to awe and impress, here's what popular travel authority Frommer's has to say about it on its website: "despite the flood of superlatives and exaggerated statistics that inevitably go into its description, it is impervious to an excess of hype, and it is large and compelling enough to draw repeat visits from even the most jaded travelers. Make more time for it than you think you'll need."

This is especially so if you venture beyond the well-trodden and crowded central areas of the complex that are dominated by the fancifully named Halls of Great (or Supreme) Harmony, Middle (or Complete) Harmony and Preserving Harmony; and where such amazing pieces of material culture as a single stone that weighs more than 200 tons and has been elaborately carved with dragons, stylized clouds, equally stylized waves and interlocking lotus flowers are to be found.

In particular, I'd highly recommend that visitors to the Forbidden City not pass up the opportunity to venture into both its Western and Eastern Axes (the latter of which requires an extra 10 Yuan worth of entrance costs on top of the basic 40 or 60 Yuan (depending on the season) admission fee for the general Palace Museum but truly is 10 Yuan that's worth paying).

Incidentally, more than one Beijing guidebook that I've looked at has cautioned that the Western Axis is in a state of heavy disrepair. However, many of the buildings in that part of the Forbidden City appeared to already have been restored -- or, at least, worked on -- when I visited back in September 2004.

Consequently, I was able to get quite a bit out of my explorations of such as the historically significant Hall of Mental Cultivation as well as the Six Western Palaces, one of which -- the Palace of Gathering Elegance -- is particularly notorious for having been the actual residence for several years of the Empress Dowager Cixi.

For all this though, I'd still say that the Eastern Axis is my favorite part of the Forbidden City. For one thing, perhaps in large part because of that extra 10 Yuan charge, it's the least crowded -- and consequently also the quietest -- section of the Forbidden City.

For another, it's where certain of the imperial residence turned museum's more incredible artefacts -- including large pieces of painstakingly sculpted jade (one of which weighs an incredible 1.07 tons!), antique artwork and imperial jewelry, not to mention the famous Nine Dragons Screen which dates back to the reign of Emperor Qianlong -- are housed.

To sum up what I've been trying to say all along in one single concluding paragraph: No visit to Mainland China, never mind Beijing, will feel complete without a tour of the Forbidden City. At the same time, no visit to the Forbidden City will feel complete without also taking in its Western section and, particularly, Eastern Axis along with the complex's central areas. Consequently, you really ought to spend at least one day there in order to be able to sufficiently take in and appreciate the wonder of it all.