saturday excursion

My mom and I went to an RAS lunch at an old 1920s house in the mid-levels. To get there, we took the Peak tram up to May Road, and then walked up a footpath. The track is so steep at May Road that we literally had to climb up the tram to get off... it was a very strange experience.

After a 15-minute walk up the footpath, we made it to the house. The path is the only way to get to the house -- no road access!
This is the view from the roof, where we ate lunch (all 60 of us!). The house was supposed to be demolished in the early 90's, and developed to be part of the housing complex you can see on the left. Thankfully, the "green path" that leads up to the house is protected by the government, so developers had no choice but to leave the house as it is. Unfortunately, I don't have any good photos of the outside of the house, as there were no good vantage points from the path. But it was a very beautiful example of colonial architecture.

The man who lives in the house is quite an art collector. Most of it is modern Chinese.
This painting was one of my favorites.

Each room in the house was exquisitely decorated... I felt like I was walking though the pages of an interior design magazine or a museum -- so much art to look at! I wasn't going to take any photos, but then noticed lots of other people doing so, so I decided not to miss out on the opportunity to document such an inspirational experience. :)

This is a cool room. I like the bookshelves and the fireplace and the paintings. The men in the main painting have blindfolds made of Y100 bills... very insightful...
One of the sitting rooms downstairs.

One of the guest rooms. I love the color-scheme. This was one of the only places in the house with non-Asian artwork -- the pictures are all old European political cartoons.
The resident of the house also has an extensive modern Chinese sculpture collection.

I love this one -- everything from the dazed look on her face, to the minimalistic (but very effective) use of color, to her platform shoes. So realistic! I can just picture her standing among a crowd in the Beijing train station...

"Urban Peasants"
"Melting"

"Horse"
"Existence"
"Flying Hippopotami"

Me with the dog, Kaluch (sp?). (I thought it was time I balance all the cat pictures with a good canine photo... though the black dog sort of blends into my clothes...)
My mom and me on our way out.

We walked down to Admiralty on a path that runs next to the tram. On our way we came across this huge camphor tree.

And here are some shots of interesting buildings that I hadn't noticed before.

This is the foundation stone on the Masonic Hall. I find the inscription quite creepy. "Right worshipful brother... district grand master..." I'm getting goosebumps!
St. Paul's Primary School. I like the gate and the ivy.
Wasn't sure what this building was, so I went in for a closer look.
Found out it's the Office of the Former Chief Executive of the HK Special Administrative Region. Not sure why Tung Chee Hwa needs his own special building... any ideas?
A view of the Bank of China building through the trees at HK park.