In December 2010, I headed East, invited by my friend and his family, to witness a once-in-ten-year festival that takes place in their family's village. The village of Fanling is near the border of China, in Hong Kong, and was ablaze with colour as it prepared for the festival. In the car-park, an entire opera-house had been constructed in only a few days and decorated in reds, greens and blues. The skeletons of all the buildings and stages used in the festival were made with bamboo poles that were tied together in a traditional way. This construction is incredibly strong, quick and light.

Fanling's Temporary Opera House

Fanling has a central lake fenced by several cannons that used to defend the fields and village from attack. The village is a mix of peaceful spaces and dense mazes of houses. The houses are constructed as close to each other as possible. They are narrow and high and packed tight together. The corridors between the homes are shoulder width and, looking up, little light reaches the ground. The density and lack of skyline makes it hard for the newcomer to find their bearings at first. The house itself is huge but in an upwards sense. There is a kitchen and a large front room, however, there are three floors atop this. In Hong Kong, they build up, not out.

One of the key festival buildings was a temple for the ancestors. The ancestors were worshipped here, and it was the starting place for processions to the temples. 'Hell Money', a gold coloured paper money, was put in a pot and burned for the ancestors to use. This is also done in the house each day as part of prayer.

The older men of the village were dressed in grey robes, a sign of respect for their age and wisdom when they take part in rituals. Other men in brighter coloured robes were more like priests and carried out intricate parts of the ceremonies. Younger men, picked by the village, were also part of the proceedings. They were dressed in black robes and hats.

The procession route visited the four burial temples of the village founder's sons. It is from him and his sons that the village name descends. The procession was loud with heavy percussion, drum rhythms, and shouting. Various large religious items were on tables connected with two bamboo poles. Eight or so men used these poles to lift the tables and we headed off to the first of four temples. In the procession, gymnasts were dressed as lions. This was a two man system, the head man and the tail man. The head of the lion had eyes that would blink and a mouth that opened and closed, but the nicest touch was the tail that wagged. The lions danced and wiggled to the drumming as the procession moved along. The crowd extended as far as the eye could see, and we travelled from the village, for a few miles, to a temple, then back, via the other temples and neighbouring villages. It was hot and I was flagging, but the lions, the table bearers and the older men in robes, were still going strong.

Temple of the Ancestors

In the evening, there was a large outside meal with all the families. There were dozens of tables, one for each family, with gas heaters to cook large pots of food. During the days of the festival, meat was not eaten, but the food was still a very filling mix of rice, roots, and tofu. With the sauces and juices from the cooking pot, it was incredibly tasty.

During one dinner, the lions performed some of the most amazing gymnastics I have seen. There was a series of several large bamboo poles about eight feet high, and a tightrope. The lions jump up on these poles and danced. They look alive as they jumped between the poles, and you forgot that there were two men inside these outfits. Their level of physical strength and coordination was extraordinary, There was a moment when the rear gymnast, standing on a pole, lifted the front gymnast in the air. The lion looked as if he stood right up. Near the end there were two lions dancing on the poles and they opened the mouths to take a banner. The banner unfolded and fireworks were set off.

Just outside the entrance to the houses was a long red paper banner. It was about one metre wide and a hundred long. Here were listed all the names of the family members of Fanling. It was in Chinese of course, but my friend showed me the name of his family.

There were buildings with information on the history of Fanling. One had a series of aerial photographs from the 1945 to 2010. Side by side it was quite dramatic how the surrounding area developed from the 1960's through to the 1970's. What would have all been marshland suddenly explodes with housing and malls.

A Dancing Lion

Fanling is well connected to the expanding infrastructure of modern Hong Kong making a trip to the centre in under forty minutes. This probably makes it prime land for the ever expanding population. Where there were once small villages, markets or marshland there are now malls. They make malls here like nowhere else I have seen. The citizens of Hong Kong love to shop.

If you like to shop, you will fall in love with Hong Kong. It is a mixture of super-malls and street markets. Hong Kong is clean and law abiding. Throw litter and expect a hefty fine. Getting around is child's play, you can't get lost with the metro which costs pennies and runs like clockwork —take note BR. Connected to the Metro are the super-malls. These are impossibly large and come with unhelpful names such as, Phase One, Two, and Three. Due to the sheer size and the ad-hock building of extensions, the mall maps make no sense unless you have a PhD in advanced mathematics. In the Mall at Sha Tin we were hopelessly lost for several hours trying to find the children's clothing section in one of these monsters.

A Street Market Selling Foodstuffs

The shops in the malls seem to be reasonably priced and carry everything from food to designer goods, but they can consume a lot of time and look the same the world over. If you want to see the colour of Hong Kong, you need to get outside into the markets.

The best street-markets I found were on the mainland, running from Mong-Cok to Tsime Sha Tsui. These run along Nathen Road and are famous for cheap electronics and faked fashion goods, particularly at the 'Ladies Market'. However, the Age of the Internet seems to be bringing the price of electronics into line the world over and the faked fashion industry is being cleaned up here.

Try as I may, it was almost impossible to get my hands on some fake branded goods without making traders looking nervous and directing me to shady characters who worked the alleyways. This used to be an open-air affair, but now the police visibly patrol the markets.

It is still the place to get clothing made, I have a pocket full of tailors details, if you need a fitted suite, shirt, or trousers, there will be a guy on every corner willing to help.

I preferred the mainland to Hong Kong Island during the day because of the street markets, but as the night draws in, Hong Kong Central is the place to be. This is where you will find the bars and clubs. Wan Chai is packed full of bars, stockbrokers and ex-pats, but seven pounds a pint plus is not uncommon.

View of the Bay form the Star Ferry

You can take a tour around the bay with the Star Ferry, or use it to cross from Tsime Sha Tsui to Central, on the island for an unbelievably cheap price. During the day, it provides great views of the shoreline. This is mostly skyscrapers, and office buildings, but at night the skyline lights up.

The buildings have laser displays, floodlight and illuminated decorations to light up the bay after about 8pm. Hong Kong is the city of finance and technology, so you can imagine that they really go to town and the Star Ferry gives the best view.

The Big Buddha

Hong Kong's outer Island, Lantau, has a monastery with one of the world's largest statues of Buddha. High speed ferries connect Hong Kong Island to Lantau. These are faster, more modern, ferries than the Star Ferry but have closed compartment so the lack of view makes the trip a little dull. Once on the Lantau, the views were amazing. To get to the Monastery, there is a forty minute mountain bus ride which had our ears popping from the rapid altitude change. As the bus climbs, there are spectacular views out to sea and of the mountains that ring Island. The Lantau mountains are covered in dense green woodland and looked ideal for trekking.

The Monastery was incredibly busy considering its remoteness. There is a pathway to the monastery flanked by the Twelve Divine Generals. These statues represent two hours of each day and the animals of the Chinese zodiac. My General was Vikarala, the year of the rat, 11pm to 1am.

The monastery itself is decorated with intricate carvings and decorated inside with rich reds and golds and tables of flowers where people worship. Around the monastery are small markets. The food on offer directly outside the monastery is vegetarian but they were closing, so further along we found a stall selling fish-balls. These are a fish variant of meat-balls cooked in a large steamer pot and are slightly spicy.

Buddha sits at the apex of a hill, reached by stairs aligned with his centre. From the foot of the hill, the Buddha is a majestic sight sitting with his palm's spread in the sunlight, however, his sheer size becomes apparent climbing the stairs. Buddha stands two stories high surrounded by several statues of maidens offering him gifts. The Buddha has a temple inside that can be entered from the base and exits to a viewing platform near his head. From this platform, looking down, the Monastery is a white circular construction cut into the fields, and ahead, the view is fenced by green mountains with cable-cars spider-webbed between them.

View From Inside the Monastery

A racecourse is on the line that runs through Fo Tan and, on race-days, a train direct to the stadium. The stadium is huge and after a bit of poking around to figure out how to place a bets we spent a relaxing day losing our money. The races are frequent enough and, with some fancy betting and a bit of luck, twenty quid will see you though most of the day. There are many people here on race-days, but the sheer size of the stadium means there is always plenty of space to sit down. Even when the horses are out of sight on the other side of the track, two of the largest screens I have ever seen gives a great view. Never bet on the favourite, it always came in last...

A stunning view of my losing horse

These were far from the main highlights of my trip. Never having been to Hong Kong, or even Asia, the whole two weeks are still a blur of noise and colour, and I can't remember the last time I did so much continuous walking. Two weeks is never enough time to cover everything; there are cable-car rides across the mountains that I missed, and I would have loved to have stayed a day or two on Lantau and done some hill walking. Yet, in my brief time in Hong Kong, I was impressed by the subtle mix of the modern and the traditional and had a real sense of a speed of life. For a foreigner, the language barrier poses no problems and the transport system is amazing, so I was able to explore the mainland and islands with few problems.

I wish to thank my friend and his family for this once in a lifetime opportunity to see Fanling's village ceremony and opening their home to me. I hope these few short verses convey something of this far off land and maybe pique your curiosity a little about Hong Kong.

Rory Clarke, 2011