The Integrated Dialysis is situated in Champion Building at the Junction of Nathan Road and Jordan Road.  50 years ago, it was the site of a Manson with a Chinese style pavilion on top of the building.  From the picture, the Nathan Road and the mansion can be clearly seen.  Nowadays, the Champion Building is right on top of the Jordan MTR underground station and is right in the heart of the area.

The North IDF heritage trail

1. The Jade Street and the Jade market

 Each day many visitors in the street asked us the way to ‘Jade market’.  In fact there is a “jade street’ as well. 

From our Centre in front of the Champion Building, go westwards (turn right) until one reaches Canton Road (the 6^th Street from Nathan Road).  The one will see a large jade stone, signalling this section of Canton Road is for jade trade (the ‘Jade Street’ of the IDF trail).  And sure enough, there were numerous shops and shopping centres selling jade stones and ornaments.

The street is an old one and there is an old shop selling bamboo steamer for making buns, and other dim sum.

At the end of the street, one would see a flyover and the Jade market is just underneath the flyover.  On the red walls of the Jade market, there are the words ‘Jade’ in different languages.

There are two Jade markets next to each other.  Apart from jades, there are also souvenirs and ornaments for sales.

     The Yau Me Tei Police

2. The Yau Ma Tei Police Station

The neoclassical Police station was built in 1922 in Edwardian Style.  It was just next to the Jade Market.

3. The Yau Ma Tei Temples

The temples are the most important heritage in Yau Ma Tei.  They were next to the Police Station.  In front of the temples is a large square.  In the old days, this open ground by the seaside was where people sold oil 油and jute 麻 to fishermen, hence the name ‘Yau Ma Tei’ (the place of oil and jute).

Behind the square are four temples, the central one is for the Goddess of the Sea (Tin Hau), two for the Goddess of Mercy (Kwun Yam) and one for Shing Wong. (Governor of the Underworld).

Tin Hau is the most worshipped Goddess in Hong Kong and there are over 70 temples dedicated to Her in Hong Kong.  Shing Wong is the governor of the Underworld City.  Tradition has it that when a new Governor came to a city to take up his post, he would stay in the local Shing Wong Temple for a couple of days to get acquainted with his underworld counterpart.  However, none of the Hong Kong Governors from Britain was known to have stayed in the Shing Wong Temple. 

There are two temples for the Goddess of Mercy.  It is believed that one temple was for the people north of the temples (Temple Street North) and one for the people south of the temple (Temple Street South).

The temples are worth visiting.  During Chinese New Year, the Jade market was closed for business but the temples become the centre of activities.

4. The Mido Café

On one side of the temple complex was the Mido Café.  It is an old-fashioned café serving food which was popular in the good old days.

On the other side of the temple complex, near the flyover, was the Yau Ma Tei Public Library.  All visitors are welcome and there is free wifi for Internet connection, courtesy of the Government WiFi Program. The SSID is  ‘freegovwifi-e’, the user name and password are ‘govwifi’. (see http://www.gov.hk/en/theme/wifi/program)

5. The night market

The ‘night market’ is actually the section of the Temple Street between the temple complex and Jordan Road.  It is only active after 6 pm.  There were stalls for selling various goods.  Around the temples at night, there are fortunetellers and singers. 

From the temples, go follow the lights of the stores and the night market was there. 

If one starts from our Dialysis Centre, turn right and go down the Jordan Road.  The Temple Street is the third one from Nathan Road.

The IDF South trail

From the IDF, go to the opposite side of Jordan Road, turn right and find the Woosung Street.   Woosung Battery was a well-known fortress in Mainland China and helped to repel the British in the Sino-British war.  There had been a Battery in Kwun Chung around Woosung Street and it was probably named for this connection.  

Note the barbershop in  the street.  At the end of the street one can see the Kowloon Park.

1. The Kowloon Park

The Kowloon Park was originally the Whitfield Barracks of the British Army.  It was turned into a public park in 1970.  It is conveniently situated, complete with a Chinese Style Garden and other recreational facilities. Some Barrack style buildings can still be seen.

2. The Heritage Discovery Centre

The Heritage Discovery Centre is the ‘must visit’ area of the Kowloon Park.  It runs a good exhibition on the heritage of Hong Kong.   It has a good garden and again free Wifi service is available.

 The planned Memorial Garden

Opposite the Heritage Centre is a ‘forest’ with Bauhinia and other trees. Since Hong Kong has quite a lot of organ donors, it was proposed to set up a Memorial Garden next to the ‘forest’ to commenorate the organ donors.

4. The Chungking Mansion

This building is on the expensive part of Nathan Road next to the Sheraton Towers.  It offered many budget hotel rooms.  There had been reports of fires in the past years, probably due to the overloading of the electrical system.  The conditions seemed to have improved in recent years.

In the ground floor there are many shops and there are a large number of people from many countries like Africa and South East Asia. This “United Nation’ is a good  testimony of  the metropolitan nature of Hong Kong.  There are also curry restaurants run by South Asian people.

5. The 1881 Heritage

This is the former marine police headquarters built in 1881. Now it is turned into a shopping centre. The old building and items such as old fire-engines and cannons are worth visiting.