Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Cattle Depot Artists Village, Ma Tau Kok

After meeting by chance outside the law courts, Loy invites Oi Lin to a photographic art exhibition at the Cattle Depot in Ma Tau Kok. I did actually pop down here a few years ago and it's well worth a visit even if there is nothing going on inside. The Govt has given it a bit of a clean up, but thankfully have gone against their usual form and left much of the original buildings intact. It's free to enter.

This place operated as an abattoir until around 1969 when slaughtering duties were transferred to a new site in Cheung Sha Wan and this site was kept as a quarantine depot for various livestock including cattle, pigs and sheep. It remained in use until 1999 and anyone who was in Hong Kong in the 1990s may remember the livestock trains that used to roll down the East Rail (then KCR) line. I can always remember my first experience standing on the platform at Tai Po and watching everyone take a step or two back from the edge. I had no idea what was going on until the train rolled by and I was hit in the face with the smell of the pigs in the back. Quite overpowering.

Knock Off - Jean Claude Van Damme (1997) - On Lok Factory Building, Ma Tau Kok

In a very bizarre turn of events, Lin Heung restaurant toilets seem to have a time and space continuum portal inside because when JCVD goes to try and find Schneider, he miraculously appears at the top of a factory building on the other side of the harbour!

Back in '97 the building had a massive Coke advert painted in the side (I'm sure they paid for it to be on film), these days the building has a more sober beige paint job.

I find the view back the other way a bit more interesting though. You can see quite a bit behind Paul Sorvino's head including the Cattle Depot - a former abattoir turned into artists village - it's the low rise brown buildings to the left of Sorvino's shoulder. You can also see the old airport at the back.

A quick look over JCVD's shoulder reveals and interesting old block occupying the corner of Ma Hang Chung Road and Kowloon City Road, but this place is now an empty site awaiting redevelopment as you can see from the Streetview picture below.