MY JOSE RIZAL TOUR SERIES: Rizal in HONG KONG (November 1891- June 1892)

MY JOSE RIZAL TOUR SERIES: 
Rizal in HONG KONG (November 1891- June 1892)

Jose Rizal, is the national hero of the Philippines. He was born on June 19, 1861 at Calamba, Laguna and died by firing squad on December 30, 1896 at Rizal Park at the age of 35. He was charged and convicted of rebellion by the Spanish court and sentenced to death.

HIGHLIGHTS OF RIZAL'S LIFE IN HONG KONG

1. This is where Rizal planned a new organization which was later to be named, La Liga Filipina. 

The source of this information was a letter from Graciano Lopez Jaena written to Jose Rizal in February 1892 while Rizal was in Hong Kong which mentioned Rizal founding an association named Liga in Hong Kong. (See page 331, of "The First Filipino" by Leon Ma. Guerrero.)

Also, when the revolution started, statements were made to authorities that the Liga statutes were sent by Rizal from Hong Kong.  (See page 332, of "The First Filipino" by Leon Ma. Guerrero.)

2. This is where Rizal formed the idea of establishing a Filipino colony in North Borneo (Sabah). And from Hong Kong, he went to North Borneo (Sabah) and successfully negotiated the terms of the settlement with W.B Pryor, the administrator of North Borneo.(See page 336-337, of "The First Filipino" by Leon Ma. Guerrero.)

His intention was to relocate his family there and around 300 families from Calamba who were evicted and being persecuted by the Dominican friars for failure to pay the rent on the land they are tilling.

3. Rizal started writing in Tagalog the 3rd volume of his novel (the first is the "Noli Me Tangere", and the second is the "El Filibusterismo.")

OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER ABOUT RIZAL'S LIFE IN HONG KONG:

1. He was practicing his profession and was a successful opthalmic surgeon.

2. Almost a month after he arrived in Hong Kong, he was able to bring his father, brother and brother-in-law, and later, his mother and some sisters to stay with him in Hong Kong to escape the persecution of the friars. For a few months, they were happy together, before Rizal returned to the Philippines to be arrested by the Spaniards.

GREAT SOURCES OF INFORMATION ON RIZAL'S LIFE IN HONG KONG:

1. The book, "The First Filipino", by Leon Ma. Guerrero.

See Chapter XV: A Choice of Islands (pp. 319-343)

2. The website Life and Writings of Dr. Jose Rizal by Dr. Robert L. Yoder

See Chapter 12: Hong Kong at http://joserizal.info/Biography/man_and_martyr/chapter12.htm

The ownership of the website Rizal's Life and Writings at joserizal.info was formally turned over by Dr. Yoder to the National Historical Commission of the Philippines on February 28, 2013. See more details of the news here.

3.  The website of the Jose Rizal University

Timeline of Rizal's life in Hong Kong at http://www.joserizal.ph/tr48.html

THE VIDEO BELOW IS A BRIEF SUMMARY OF RIZAL'S LIFE IN HONG KONG (courtesy of Gadnat)

TO FOLLOW THE FOOTSTEPS OF RIZAL IN HONG KONG, WE VISITED TWO PLACES:

1. The Clinic of Dr. Jose Rizal at D' Aguilar Street

2. The residence of Dr. Jose Rizal at Rednaxela Terrace


Map of the tour is shown below:

View Hong Kong in a larger map 

The red dots are the location of both places

THE CLINIC AT D' AGUILAR STREET

How to get there:


1. Exit the Central MTR station at Queen's Road.

This is what you will see when you exit the Central MTR station at Queen's Road

2. D'Aguilar Street is perpendicular to Queen's Road.

3. Jose Rizal's clinic near the corner of D'Aguilar Street and Stanley Street, beside Hublot store. Hublot store is at the corner of D' Aguilar Street and Stanley Street

This is D' Aguilar street.
The clinic is the one with the red gate

What you will see:

The clinic is used to be located where the Century Square building stands.

THE RESIDENCE AT REDNAXELA TERRACE

How to get there:

1. From D'Aguilar Street, walk back to Queen's Road

2. Walk along Queen's Road going toward Cochrane Street.

3. Ride the Central Mid-level escalator at Cochrane Street.

4. Follow the Central Mid-level escalator till Caine Street.

This is Caine street. You cannot cross the street so you need to go up the walkway.

Rednaxela terrace is near Jamia Masjid.

5. Cross Caine Street through the pedestrian walkway.

7. Rednaxela Terrace is to your right.

Dr. Jose Rizal's unit is no. 2 so it's further at the back.

What you will see:

'

Although the marker is posted here, Dr. Jose Rizal's residence is still further at the back of this path up the stairs.

The path beyond the stairs

Dr. Jose Rizal's residence is around this area.

He paid thirty-five pesos (P35.00) to D. Mallunko for the rent on the premises of A-2 Rednaxela from January 1st to 31st. (http://www.joserizal.ph/tr48.html)

Shows the steep route that Dr. Jose Rizal takes to go to his clinic at D' Aguilar Street

Lang Leav in Manila: Artist's Talk and Book Signing at the Ateneo

Lang Leav in Manila: 
Artist's Talk and Book Signing at the Ateneo

It was by accident that I attended Lang Leav's book signing. The real fan of Love and Misadventure and Lang Leav is my daughter, Marge. She was so excited to get a slot at the online pre-registration for the artist's talk at Ateneo. Then, her school scheduled a retreat so dismissal time went beyond the usual time. 

Hoping she will able to catch up after the retreat, I volunteered to hold her slot at the talk and book signing. But the retreat went overtime. So she missed it.

For the multitudes of fans who wanted to attend this talk and book signing but couldn't for some reason or another, I'm making this post to share with you the wonderful experience I had during this event.

At the entrance of the venue
At the 5th floor of the Rizal Library of the Ateneo de Manila University, Q,C.

Registration for the talk and the book signing
Fully booked personnel checks if your book has a Fully Booked sticker or receipt.
Then you are given a numbered stub for the book signing.

In case you don't have a Fully Booked sticker or receipt, 
or if you bought Love and Misadventures at a different bookstore, 
you can buy books at the venue.

HIGHLIGHT OF EVENTS DURING THE ARTIST'S TALK

FIRST PART: Lang Leav talks about her life and how she stumbled upon her talent writing poetry. Below is a partial video of her talking about her life.

SECOND PART: Question and Answer portion. The audience were allowed to request Lang Leav to read their favorite poems from Love and Misadventures. 

Below are videos of some of the poems she read:

Listen to Lang Leav read "The Wanderer", "Souls" and "All or Nothing"

Listen to Lang Leav read "Angels"

Listen to Lang Leav read her favorite poem "Sea of Strangers"

THIRD PART: Book Signing and Photo Opportunity

People are requested to line up  for the book signing based on their numbered stubs.

After book signing, you can have your photo taken with Lang Leav.
Fully Booked assigned someone to stand at the front of the line to take your photo using your camera or smartphone.

SPECIAL THANKS TO THE FULLY BOOKED STAFF FOR ALL THE CONSIDERATION THEY EXTENDED TO ME. THEY TRIED TO WAIT FOR MY DAUGHTER TO CATCH UP FROM THE RETREAT SO SHE CAN MEET HER FAVORITE AUTHOR, WHICH CAN BE A ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME EVENT. THEY WERE SO CONSIDERATE AS TO UNDERSTAND HOW IT IS TO BE A FAN OF AN AUTHOR WHOSE BOOK YOU LOVE SO MUCH.

I NOW UNDERSTAND WHY FULLY BOOKED IS NOT JUST YOUR ORDINARY BOOKSTORE. IT IS MANAGED BY PEOPLE WHO ARE BOOK LOVERS THEMSELVES AND COULD UNDERSTAND THE CONNECTION THEIR CLIENTS CAN HAVE WITH THE AUTHORS OF THE BOOKS THEY READ.

Lang Leav gave this special message to my daughter, Marge, who would've been truly disappointed at not meeting her. 

This video definitely compensated for it.

Thank you, Ms. Lang Leav, for being so generous with your time!

Then she signed Marge's copy of the book "Love and Misadventure"

Lang Leav and I

IF YOU WANT TO WATCH THE FULL COVERAGE OF THE ARTIST'S TALK,

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO BELOW COURTESY OF FULLYBOOKEDVIDEO:

HONG KONG: ONE DIM SUM Restaurant: A Budget-friendly Michelin-Starred Dim sum Restaurant

HONG KONG: ONE DIM SUM Restaurant: 
A Budget-friendly Michelin-Starred Dim sum Restaurant

When visiting Hong Kong, it's a must to eat dim sum. Our favorite dim sum place is Maxim's Restaurant at Hong Kong City Hall. But if you're in a big group, it will turn out to be a bit expensive to dine at this restaurant, especially since food is chosen from carts that go around the tables and allow guests to pick from them. Seeing the food from these carts can tempt anyone to try them and lead to overestimating the amount of food they can actually consume. 

In my last visit to Hong Kong in October 2013, I wanted to eat dim sum again. But I wanted something as delicious as the dim sum at Maxim's restaurant but not as expensive. I found several blogs recommending One Dim Sum Restaurant so I visited this restaurant just to see for myself what the fuss is all about. 

WHY I LOVE ONE DIM SUM Restaurant:

1. The food is really good.

Here is the menu: 

Here are photos of the dishes we ate:

No. 028: Glutinous Rice Dumpling (HK$24)

No. 37: Steamed Rice Noodle in Barbecued Pork (HK$17)

No.11 (left): Steam Shrimp Dumplings (HK$ 22)

No. 9 (right): Steam Dumpling in Chiu Chow Style (HK$ 15)

No. 45: Steam Shrimp Dumpling with Vegetable Seedling (HK$ 18)

No 23: Steam Chicken Paws with Chili (HK$ 15)

No. 4: Barbecued Pork Bun (HK$ 13)

No. 17: Fried Egg Stick with Honey (HK$ 14)

2. The food is not expensive.

We spent a total of HK$138 for a meal good for 2-3 persons.

3. The restaurant is easy to find.

HOW TO FIND ONE DIM SUM RESTAURANT

1. It's located near Prince Edward Station.

View Hong Kong in a larger map

2. When you get out of Prince Edward Station. Below is what you will see. The restaurant is at the corner of Playing Field Road and Tung Choi Street. The red canopy is One Dim Sum Restaurant.

3. One Dim Sum Restaurant is located at Kenwood Mansion.

HOW TO ORDER AT ONE DIM SUM RESTAURANT:

Approach this lady receptionist at the entrance of the restaurant.
Get a stub to determine your order in line to enter the restaurant.

This is the stub I got.
The restaurant opened 11:00 AM. I was there 11:15 AM.
Yet I'm No. 85 in line.
The girl said it will be 30 minutes before I can be seated.

This is how you order from their menu.

MY TIPS: 

FIRST TIP: Arrive off-hours, to avoid the lunchtime and dinnertime crowd, so you don't have to wait in line. For tourists who only wish to taste the food in this restaurant, the other blogs recommend arriving at 3:00 PM. 

The line in front of the restaurant at 11:00 AM.

The place is small that's why there's a line outside the restaurant for people wanting to dine at this place. I am estimating this place can accommodate only 25 people.

SECOND TIP: If you arrive during lunchtime the way I did, it will take 30 minutes to be seated and 15 minutes to cook what you order, for a total of 45 minutes wait before eating. I suggest you order the food for take-out because wait time for take-out is only 15 minutes. 

MORE PHOTOS OF ONE DIMSUM PLACE