Historic Philippines

The driving distance from our jumping off point at the SM City parking lot in Iloilo to Hong Kong is approximately 1,570 kilometres. Which translates into a driving time of about 36 to 38 hours. Or, 3 to 3.5 hours by air.

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To listen to: Mendelssohn’s Quartet for Strings No. 1, Op 44 in D click the arrow below

When we left you last episode we had just completed our visit to St John’s Cathedral in Hong Kong and we were making our way down the ‘mountain’ back into the hurly burly of day to day life in downtown Hong Kong. As we touched down at the western end of the Battery Pathway at its junction with Queen’s Road Central I was stunned to see streetcars plying the streets. I really hadn’t ever seen a double decker streetcar. Sure, I was used to seeing the vintage cars in Toronto before we left, but never a double decker…

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That’s one thing that surely impressed me when I arrived in Hong Kong. It seems that they have a public transit system that works, they use streetcars, double decker buses, ferries and a very efficient subway system.

But we were walking and exploring as we went along. I have this saying, when we go out on an exploration. I never set an fixed plan but rather like to say: “let’s get in the car and follow our nose and see where we end up…” Essentially that is what we were doing and did we ever have some interesting discoveries.

So we headed east on Queen’s Road Central, we passed the Head Offices of Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC’s World Headquarters and the Bank of China Tower. A LEFT TURN AND NORTH ON Jackson Street, past the Hong Kong Club, as far as Connaught Road, Central. And there before us was Hong Kong City Hall and Park along with Jardine House. I was excited Jardine house – Oh my God! Like many people around the world I have read, no, I devoured, James Clavell’s masterful workTai-Pan – the story of Hong Kong and the Jardine Family go way back to the very beginnings of Hong Kong…and obviously the Company still exists today. [If you haven’t read Clavell’s Tai-Pan – it’s a great and thrilling read, make sure to pick up a copy – but, be aware though that it is a ‘brick’.]. Here is a painting of William Jardine by George Chinnery (1774-1852).

We anxiously crossed the street and entered Statue Square which is famous for the Filipinos that gather there every Sunday, otherwise it is just a little square in the middle of Central. However, it is surrounded by some of the most important institutions in Hong Kong and the region, such as the City Hall, the Legislative Council, the HSBC Building and the Bank of China Tower.

It’s called Statue Square since it is dominated by a statue of : Sir Thomas Jackson, 1st Baronet (1841 – 1915) who was the third Chief Manager of The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. He was responsible for financing the development of Colonial Hong Kong under the first large scale bank. Jackson travelled to Hong Kong in 1864 to join the Agra and Masterbank. In 1864 the foundation of the Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corporation (“HSBC”) building was being developed. Jackson joined the bank in 1865, a year after its opening and served terms as accountant in Shanghai and then from 1870 to 1874 as manager in Yokohama.

In 1876, after only ten years service in the bank and at the early age of 35, Jackson was appointed the chief manager of HSBC. He held this title, the most senior executive position in the bank, with only short breaks, until 1902. Between April 1886 and September 1887, and again for a year in 1889 and between 1891 and 1893 he relinquished the role to return to the United Kingdom where he took charge of the London office of the bank.

Under his business leadership the bank became the premiere bank in Asia. His influence was such that he came to be called the bank’s “Great Architect”. Brilliant, though also cautious, he also had the nickname “Lucky Jackson”, which probably reflected more his innate intuition as when to act quickly and boldly. On 25 July 1902 Jackson was conferred the hereditary title of Baronet. This entitled him to use the prenomial “Sir” combined with the post nomial abbreviation of “Bart.” which in modern day usage is further abbreviated to “Bt.”. His full style became Sir Thomas Jackson, of Stansted House, in the parish of Stansted, in the county of Essex, Knightsbridge.

In recognition of his services to the bank and Hong Kong, in February 1906 a statue of Jackson was unveiled in Statue Square in front of the bank’s Hong Kong premises by the colony’s Governor Sir Matthew Nathan. The statue remains to this day. It should be noted that the HSBC Head Office is actually located in London, England.

But Sir Thomas’ statues is not really the only thing that dominates the square. There are magnificent fountains and they are ‘cool’. Here’s a look at them:

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After a refreshing break, we headed off again, this time we head west along Connaught Road, Central and immediately arrived at ‘my little brother’s’ hotel – the Mandarin Oriental one of the top 10 hotels in the world.

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The building that is reflected in the jet black marble of the hotel’s ground floor is Jardine House which we mentioned earlier in our narrative.

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As it was starting to rain, we headed back towards the International Finance Centre where SWMbO and Che-che did some errands as I waited for them and watched the passing crowds…

It was getting close to lunch time and I was quite ‘pooped’ so, after a quick subway ride we were back in our Kowloon Hotel base of operations. The Lobby Bar beckoned me, so I stopped by for a sandwich and a beer while the ladies, once again rushed out to get a few things. Unbeknown to me they were shopping, at least I hoped that they had been window shopping when I was finally told where they went….

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The shops they ‘investigated were:

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I relaxed considerably once I heard the names of the ‘boutiques’ they had attempted to visit…no danger there, SWMbO who used to the a ‘Professional Shopper’ has changed a great deal in the past several years and no longer partakes as she once did.

After lunch I headed for a siesta before our evening Harbour and Dinner Cruise.

Our limousine picked us up right on time at 5:00pm and we were off, now I wont detail everything we did but rather just include a series of photos – this tour by Grayline is definitely one to take if you are ever in HK and Kowloon. It’s about 6 hours in length and gives you a really good aperçu of the city.

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We were delivered back to our hotel at about 10:45pm after a wonderful tour. The double decker bus tour portion was excellent, the cruise on Victoria Harbour, the dinner on board (a buffet) and the entertainment were all very special. This is a highly recommended tour addition if you’re in HK and Kowloon for multiple days.

Here, we are, at the end of a fantastic day of discovery. But it’s to bed early for we have an early start tomorrow for our exploration of Macau. We have to leave the Hotel at 6:30am to catch our TurboJet ferry to that Island and I am so looking forward to it.

Join us in a few days for this part of the expedition.

On the Road Again! The Hong Kong, Kowloon & Macau Wanderings; Part 6 – Macau!

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