Let’s start this series with Bowen Road, one of the best known, easiest and oldest of Hong Kong walking trails. Bowen Road was once known as 'Third Road' as it was the third road that ran from the West to the East of Hong Kong Island - the first being Queen's Road and Kennedy Road the second. Surely we have all walked on Bowen Road before, but do we know what we are actually walking on?

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When Hong Kong was first settled in 1841, one of the immediate challenges was providing and maintaining an adequate water supply for the population. There was no government intervention or responsibility in the first twenty years of the colony - people made do themselves, either with daily trips to the streams and natural pools, or for the better off - personal wells or water tanks. The beginnings of an organized system eventually grew from a makeshift series of bamboo aqueducts which channeled water from these natural steams. With an ever-growing population - which grew from 5,000 in 1841 to 50,000 in 1860 - a decision was finally made and a series of reservoirs was built, beginning with Pok Fu Lam and followed by Tai Tam Reservoir.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The water from Tai Tam Reservoir was transported to Victoria City (or Central as it is now known), through a tunnel via Wong Nei Chung Gap. Once through the tunnel, the water was then carried by a series of permanent aqueducts, and the four kilometre 'Tai Tam Conduit', or Bowen Road, named after Governor Sir George Bowen, was completed in 1887. The water eventually found its way to storage tanks and filter beds in Albany Road - bisecting the Botanical Gardens. In order to protect the purity of the water and to allow pedestrians to traverse the city, the conduit was covered over and looking at old photos, it is not too dissimilar from what we see today.

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While the aqueduct and its wonderful arches can be seen all the way along Bowen Road, there are also many other interesting features. We start our walk at the Stubbs Road end, close to Adventist Hospital, where we can look over Happy Valley and into Causeway Bay. After a short walk, we will see one of the ten remaining Victoria City Boundary Markers dating back to 1903. As the road twists and turns from here, we start to see the first of many lovely sections of the aqueduct itself - both bridges and arches. To see them properly, you may need to sneak down one of the slope maintenance steps - not strictly allowed, but the small gates are usually unlocked and accessible. After a near twenty-minute walk, we will get to Lover’s Rock - a site many may know well and is worth a quick climb up to as it gives some better views. For those of a spiritual nature, it's also a place to pause and offer thanks to the various Gods in their various shrines. 

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A short way past Lover’s Rock and almost opposite the Temporary Playground lies a hidden pillar - the ‘South Meridian Mark’ which was laid in 1884, around the time Bowen Road was built. It was used by the Hong Kong Observatory to reduce discrepancies in measuring the actual time. The North Meridian Mark is located in the grounds of the Observatory itself on Kowloon-side and although the South one can be viewed, it is located up a set of steps reserved for slope maintenance so head up at your own risk. It's actually easy to get to - just past the playground is an open area which was actually gouged open by a pretty serious landslide in 2005. On the left hand side of the 'gouge' are the steps - open the gate and up you go. To be honest, it's not that remarkable, but worth a look once. The 'WD Trig Station' was added in 1893 - likely by the War Department.

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Moving on and at the mid-point of the road is a small park which was actually a small reservoir and dam when the road was built, but now features various pagodas and sitting out areas. I've passed this section literally hundreds of times and was quite surprised to see what it looked like when I first saw the photo below. The photo harks back to my previous remarks about water supply - once they got their act together, the first administrations did whatever they could to channel and collect water. This is also the intersection of the Wan Chai Gap Trail - one of the steepest pathways in Hong Kong – turn left up to Wan Chai Gap or turn right down to Wan Chai itself.

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We will continue on though and after another 10 minutes or so, we are above Wan Chai and aside from the modern buildings, we can also see the dome of the empty and 'frozen-in-time' Nam Shing Kwan Mansion - that's a story for another day. A little further along and the pathway opens up to show the best part of the whole conduit - the 21 granite arches which are still a wonderful feature of Hong Kong so many years after they were first constructed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moving on and after passing Bowen Road Park we soon come to a delightful old building which is tucked away just off the road. On the left side of the road we will see an old military boundary marker and a set of steps which takes us up to the old Bowen Road Military Hospital - built between 1903 and 1906. Besides being a Military Hospital which saw heavy use before, during and after WWII, after 1967 it has had a variety of uses, most notably as the location of many schools. Island School used the buildings between 1967 and 1972; Chinese International School in the 1980s; West Island School in the 1990s and finally Canadian International School from 1994 to 1999. Carmel School are the current occupiers, amongst other education centres and theatre companies. As you continue on and back to Bowen Road, look out for the hospital gatehouse which unfortunately seems not to be protected.

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We’re not far from the end now and as we approach Magazine Gap Road, there is one more old building to look out for. We know it today as the Mother’s Choice building, but this dates back to 1913 and was formerly known as ‘Iddesleigh’ – likely named after the village in Devon, England where the original owner was from. Before WWII, it was occupied as a private residence, but after WWII, it was handed over to the Commodore-in-Charge of the Royal Navy – then known as ‘Commodore’s House’ until 1979 when the government took it over and eventually Mother’s Choice in 1990. You can see the flagpole on top of the building - that surely dates back to 1979 and before. Just at the end of Bowen Road, we cross the Peak Tram tracks and if we follow the tracks down the steps, we get a great view of the building. From there, you can continue down and eventually work your way home via Kennedy Road and Central.

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