Tai Po Market KCR Station - Now and Then

I recently took a trip back to Tai Po, my former home of six years when I first moved to Hong Kong, and coincidentally the very first place I ever stayed when I first visited Hong Kong back in November 1995. One of the best places of interest in Tai Po is the Railway Museum, based in what is the former Tai Po Market KCR station.

Sadly, the days of cows wandering around in the background are long gone, but it's a good example of how over-developed Hong Kong has become.

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - Garden Road, Central

I'll finish this film off with a nice, not often-seen view looking north down Garden Road, from a vantage point around where the road bends...most likely from the pavement on Robinson Road. The first image below is actually a stitch of a vertical panning shot. 

In the background you can see the upper floors of the Murray Building - former Govt offices recently turned into a hotel - "The Murray". In the foreground on the right hand side (with angular balconies) is the previous YWCA building. I'm not sure when it was redeveloped but the YWCA now has a much bigger property at this location. There's still a pedestrian bridge at the same location but I'm not sure if it's the same one. If it is (I think it is) then the footprint of the YWCA has changed slightly because in this image it looks as though the slope of the bridge finished flush with the side of the YWCA. These days the YWCA site is slightly to the right, freeing up some additional pavement.

The building in the right foreground is the old St John Ambulance building on the corner of Macdonnell Road. Again, this has since been redeveloped into a much larger HQ building called St John Tower.

This image below just shows the view past the bend in the road. The small hut is long gone and I think it was probably related to the St John Ambulance building. Feel free to comment if you know.

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - Brunswick Bowling, Middle Road

Zhenzhen's classmate follows her to Brunswick Bowling Alley on Middle Road. I believe this place was operating from the mid-60s on the ground floor/basement of the former Middle Road Multi-storey carpark. The carpark was knocked down circa 2015 to make way for a new high rise office block, but I have no idea when the bowling alley disappeared.

The zig-zag wall in the background of the second image was located in front of the former Mariners Club building. I'm not sure if it survived the recent development so I'll be sure to have a look next time I am down that way. On the left of the last image (with Li Ching looking past the camera) is the former Ambassador Hotel on the corner of Middle and Nathan Roads.

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - Zoological and Botanical Gardens, Central

When too many people start arriving at their apartment to harass them about one thing or another, Zhenzhen tells Lin Min she will meet him at the park later. By "the park" she means the Zoological and Botanical Gardens directly opposite their apartment block. Sadly, her classmates have a habit of showing up at just the wrong time as usual.

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - Austin Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

The next street we see them riding along is Austin Road, just down from the Kowloon Bowling Club which can be seen on the right of the screen next to the tree.

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - Cameron Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

After riding up and then down Nathan Road, the next shot we see of the motorcycle is as it makes its way away from the camera along Cameron Road.

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Lin Min then drives his car north along Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, which is an odd way to go when you have just left the ferry in Jordan Road. The screen shots below are a bit blurry but I thought they were worth including because they show a couple of the area's old famous landmarks that have since disappeared. The first shot shows the curved facade of the Princess Theatre at the junction with Kimberly Road. Then just after you can make out the old main block of the Miramar Hotel. Coincidentally, the original Miramar was replaced by a shopping centre and moved to the site of the aforementioned theatre and rebranded to "Mira Hotel".

We see the same spot from a different angle as Lin Min tries to follow the pair as they ride up (and then down again) Nathan Road on a motorcycle.

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - Ocean Terminal, Tsim Sha Tsui

Lin Min eventually arrives at the entrance to the rooftop Ocean Terminal carpark, which is reached via an entrance way under the Hong Kong Hotel on Canton Road. It's here where he accidentally bumps into the school's librarian who has a crush on him and thinks they are on a date, and also spots his wife and one of her male classmates out on a "date".

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - Jordan Road Vehicular Ferry Pier 2

Lin Min takes his car across the harbour via the double decker vehicular ferry which had a "temporary" pier separate to the main vehicular ferry pier originally built for, and continued to service, the single deck ferries.

This pier has been featured before and was located at the south west extremity of the Ferry Point Estate. I believe it was in place right up until the commencement of the West Kowloon Reclamation.

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - View from Estoril Court, Central

We get treated to an old view of Central from the vantage point of the couples' apartment in Estoril Court. The only way you could get a view from Estoril Court these days is from being on one of the top floors - views come with a premium these days. This sequence below is a panning shot from east to west as Zhenzhen surveys the view and then sees Lin Min coming down Robinson Road on his way home.

The building is the original "Albany Flats" - a Govt qtrs

The house on the left is the former #1 Robinson Road
(Villa Elegance now occupies that site)

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - Kai Tak Airport

Zhenzhen takes a break one day after feeling a bit frustrated with the way the couple have to keep their relationship underwraps so she heads to a nearby road (I think it's probably Jat's Incline) underneath Kowloon Peak and watches a plane land at Kai Tak Airport. An impossible view today, I don't mean because of the removal of the airport, but because of the amount of highrises that have since sprung up to block the view.

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - Good Hope School, Clearwater Bay Road

The school that becomes the focus of the film, because it's where Lin Min teaches and where Zhenzhen chooses to go to finish her schooling, is the Good Hope School at the bottom of Kowloon Peak on Clearwater Bay Road. Although originally a co-ed school (and it is also shown as being that in the film) the school has since become girls only. I believe the version we can see in the film, which is still around although greatly expanded, was built in 1964.

This bottom image shows the rear wing of the central part of the building, it has since been extended significantly with an extra two wings constructed parallel to the small road you see on the right hand side. Despite its location , the school is still within the district boundary of Wong Tai Sin.

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - Estoril Court, Garden Road

Lin Min has an apartment in Central in Estoril Court. This was the previous version of Estoril Court rather than the current one. The older version was built in the late 1950s and therefore has a bit more of an art-deco style look to it, as was popular in Hong Kong at the time, particulary with its circular balconies. The 1950s was definitely a good decade for interesting architecture in Hong Kong, and certainly a lot less generic than today's buildings.

The first two images show the roundabout where Robinson Road, Garden Road and Magazine Gap Road all meet. The entrance to Estoril Court was directly off this roundabout, the current entrance is in the same location but the roundabout has been removed and access to magazine Gap Road from Robinson Road is now via a flyover.

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - Gascoigne Road, Yau Ma Tei

As the newlyweds drive off, one of the roads we see their car driving down is Gascoigne Road. The view below is from the east looking west towards Nathan Road. You can just make out the rooftop sign for the "Fortuna Court" Hotel which was located where Hotel Stage now stands on the corner of Gascoigne Road and Chi Wo Street.

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - St Teresa's Church, Prince Edward Road West

The pair are pressured to marry by Zhenzhen's grandma who is supposedly on her deathbed, but it turns out that by the time of the wedding she is back to full health. The wedding was filmed at St Teresa's Church on Prince Edward Road West. There is a very blurry vertical pan of the church tower that I won't bother including and by the time the picture sharpens, we are already looking at the main entrance, so this is the only image worth posting. Sorry.

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - Tai Po Market Station, Tai Po

Anyone who has visited the Railway Museum in Taipo will be familiar with the old Chinese-style station building, constructed in 1913. It was actually still a working station until up to the track electrification in 1983 when a bunch of the old stations were decommissioned and then demolished. Luckily, the ornate design of Tai Po Market station appears to have been in its favour and it was turned into a great little museum that is well worth a visit if you get the chance.

This isn't the earliest appearance of the station on the blog, that accolade goes to I Spy which filmed here in 1965 (see my old post here).

This is where Zhenzhen goes to meet Lin Min as he arrives by train to visit her at home.