When in Hong Kong Stay at the Mental Asylum

For quite some time I have wanted to head around to the west instead of the east as going east you always have to spend a night traveling 550 MPH and I am lucky to get an hour or two of something remotely related to sleep, with the result being horrid jet lag that takes 3 days (for Europe) and 5 days (for India) to recover from. So after numerous attempts I finally did it, with a few days in Hong Kong on the way.

So exploring this option I did a search for 'quiet places to stay in Hong Kong' and most of the hits were essentially there is no such thing but one thing came up called the Heritage Lodge in Lai Chi Kok on the campus of Jao Tsung-I Academy, a recently renovated arts and cultural center that the website describes as:

The Lodge is part of a building cluster in red bricks boasting over one hundred years of history, Jao Tsung-I Academy.

For more than a century, this place has reflected the historical and social changes of Hong Kong. The heritage cluster, through its sequence of historical events, conveys many stories. Its various functions in different periods, providing a convincing testimony of Hong Kong’s social landscape over time.

In 2009, under the first batch of the “Revitalising Historic Buildings Through Partnership Scheme” of the HKSAR Government, formerly Lai Chi Kok Hospital is now revitalized into “Jao Tsung-I Academy” (JTIA). It is a cultural hub that promotes Chinese Culture and facilities world-wide cultural exchanges, at the same time contributing to the needs of the Society at large.

http://www.heritagelodgehk.com/en/ 

But a quick search on Lai Chi Kok Hospital came up with a Wiki entry:

The hospital first served as the labor's dormitory of The Chamber of Mines Labour Importation Agency in the 19th century. In 1912, the British Army set up the Lai Chi Kok Barracks and stationed for two years. It became Lai Chi Kok Internment Camp later in 1924. The camp was then closed until the establishment of Stanley Prison in 1937.
In the same year, Hong Kong became an epidemic zone under the spread of smallpox.^[3] The site was then rebuilt to a hospital for infectious diseases. Those patients from the hospital for leprosy,^[4] which was located in Hei Ling Chau and closed in 1974, were sent to the reconstructed hospital. The hospital was later changed to serve long-term psychiatric patients after the number of leprosy patients declined.

In the early 2000, the Hospital Authority planned to send her 400 mental patients to different psychiatric hospitals and transformed the site into a long-term nursing home under the supervision of the Social Welfare Department for patients who were queuing for such service. While the SWD refused to take over it, the HA then set up H.A. Care Limited to manage the hospital. In June 2004, patients are relocated to Caritas Jockey Club Lai King Rehabilitation Centre, which completed in April 2005, and the former site of Lai Chi Kok Hospital was returned to the SAR government.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lai_Chi_Kok_Hospital

So after reading this I thought maybe I should look elsewhere, which I did but turned up nothing than fancy high rise hotels at high prices.

Not finding anything else I took the plunge and put in a reservation at the indentured servant's quarters cum military barracks cum prison camp cum small pox quarantine facility cum leper colony cum mental asylum conveniently located near a Metro station and on a hill overlooking the city, and I have to say its great. If I stop in Hong Kong again I will definitely be staying here again.

It is beautifully renovated and filled with artists space, theater, galleries etc.

Now on to Hong Kong....Coming in from the airport on wonderfully developed Metro system, even fancier than Delhi's, one finds underground cities at each of the main Metro stations with hundreds of shops, restaurants, banks etc  

The city is mostly these massive 40-70 story apartment buildings

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong

 Since arrival I have been enjoying pomelo a very thick skinned fruit somewhat like grapefruit but about 4 times the size, which seem to be very popular here as the shops are filled with them of various varieties. In India they have pomelo trees too but it seems they are consigned to forest food as I never see them in the market.

As far as jet lag prevention, the daytime flight to the west makes a major difference but in the 9-12 hour time zone change nothing eliminates the impact completely.

A few days of real Chinese cuisine (along with some excellent Thai for lunch this afternoon, shredded mango and tofu salad with cashews and peanuts and long eggplant braised with Thai basil was pretty amazing).

And I realized this afternoon I have yet to see an obese Hong Konger yet