Tram Run

Originally, I had planned to run along the northern waterfront on Hong Kong Island, along the Victoria Harbour.  It offers good views.  But I have done that many times already, so the prospect wasn’t too exciting.  

When I got off the MTR at Kennedy Town, on a whim, I decided to run along the tram line, from the western end in Kennedy Town, and see how far I could go.  Perhaps all the way to Shau Ki Wan? I wasn’t really confident I could do that anymore. 

I remember living in three different places in Kennedy Town, when I was small, before finishing primary school.  Two of them brick houses and one an apartment block.  All demolished now.  But Sai Wan Estate has been there as long as I can remember, where some of my friends lived, through which I passed many many times, is still there.  There used to be a library at the periphery of the estate, where I started developing my reading habit.  I am still grateful, to the people who used to run the library.

The tram used to run along the water front between Kennedy Town and Central.  On one side of the tracks were storehouses, for rice and other food stuff.  Coolies would carry sacks of rice from the boats into the storehouses, balancing precariously on very narrow planks between the boats and the shore.  Then they have to cross the tracks to get into the warehouse.  

Near Sai Ying Pun MTR station, artists have painted very attractive murals on the walls of old buildings.  The place has been cleaned up and is now much more pleasant than I remember.  

On and around Charter Street in Central, busy street parties.  This being Sunday, the usual day off for migrant workers.  Perhaps the Rugby event also contributed to it. 

On Canal Street in Wanchai, old ladies “beating villains” for a fee.  Some of the clients seem to be Mainlanders.  A sign of the times, perhaps?

Near Victoria Park in Causeway Bay, interesting manhole covers.  

In Victoria Park, dancers were practicing.  Amazing skills.

In North Point, what looked like the skeleton of a pre-historic dinosaur was actually the skeleton of an old theatre.  I did watch some movies there, but cannot remember what those were.  What is going to happen to the building now?

Around North Point Terminus, the tram has to fight its way among taxies, cars, delivery carts, and of course, people.  It does not always win. 

In Quarry Bay, I could not resist the urge to visit the “Monster Building”.  As far as I can tell, it acquired the name not because the building looked like a monster, or was somehow monstrous.  But because some photographs of it became the inspiration for the setting of some science fiction movie, in which gigantic humanoid machines appeared. Or something of that sort. 

Finally, arrived at the terminus in Shau Ki Wan.  I remember the loop at which the tram turns around.  

During Chinese New Year, we used to come here to visit an old relative, many many decades ago.  Nothing remains now, except for the loop.  Even the trams look quite different.