Did I say I don't like museums?

Boat on Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong.

Shortly after our trip to China, everything went wrong, because Peter got ill. And would he go to a doctor? Oh no! We had fight after fight about it, until eventually even he had to admit he needed to see a medical professional, so finally, I got him to a health centre. The doctor there told him he needed to go to A and E immediately. We went in a taxi to North Lantau Hospital. Amazingly A and E wasn't that busy there and he got seen quite fast, but he needed an ultrasound and they didn't have the appropriate machine there, so they put both of us in an ambulance and took us to The Princess Margaret Hospital in Kowloon. Peter has been in this hospital before. He spent eleven days as a patient there several years ago. It was not somewhere either of us ever wanted to go back to.

To make everything worse our ambulance ride across Hong Kong coincided with a horrendous black rain storm. The roads were flooded, the rain was pounding down, visibility was nil and there was an incredibly violent thunderstorm.

A and E at The Princess Margaret Hospital was absolutely heaving. All we could do was sit and wait. Eventually Peter's name was called and we were told he was going to be admitted. I stayed with him as long as I could, then made my way back home without him.

Peter stayed in hospital for four nights and I visited him twice every day. It felt like months rather than days.

The only positive thing I can say about this whole experience was that the view on the walk back from the hospital was beautiful, especially at night.

View on the walk back from the hospital.

View on the walk back from the hospital.

Actually I am being unfair. Other good things were that Jason and his wife Phoebe very kindly gave up their day off to come and visit Peter in hospital. And my new friend Sunal offered to cook for me while I was doing all my hospital visiting. I told her there was no need and that I'd be fine, but I thought that was very kind. Actually in the end I sort of regretted saying no, as I frequently ended up coming back home late from the hospital, exhausted and starving. I largely ended up living on omelettes.

Peter's back home now, but there's no way he's well enough to travel back to The UK, so we will have to cancel our flight with Qatar and stay here for the summer. Months of excessive heat and rain with the odd typhoon thrown in. Sigh!!!!!

After the hospital experience, I was so tired I declared I was never going out again, but naturally after a few days of being stuck in, I was desperate to go out and do something. It's much better to do stuff indoors rather than out at the moment, so I settled on another museum visit. I decided to go to The History Museum, because I haven't been there since its renovation finished and because there was a special exhibition on about The Tang and Sui Dynasties called 'Prosperity and Magnificence – Civilisation of the Sui and Tang Dynasties in Shaanxi Province'.

The Sui Dynasty preceded The Tang Dynasty. It stretched from 581 to 618 AD, just thirty-seven years. Although it didn't last long, it was very important. The Sui Dynasty was founded by Emperor Wendi. In 589AD, he conquered the southern Chen Dynasty which brought about the reunification of China after nearly four centuries of political fragmentation. The second Sui ruler, Emperor Yangdi, was responsible for the construction of The Grand Canal, a massive waterway linking the northern and southern regions of China. This in turn improved the economy and transport systems of the whole country.

The Tang Dynasty is considered to be one of the most successful periods in Chinese history. It stretched from 618 to 907AD, but it was only made possible due to the foundations laid during The Sui Dynasty.

Hong Kong History Museum is located in East Tsim Sha Tsui. It is directly opposite The Science Museum.

Hong Kong History Museum.

Hong Kong Science Museum.

There were several different exhibitions on in The History Museum and I did have a quick look at some of the others, but I mainly want to focus on the 'Prosperity and Magnificence' one.

'Prosperity and Magnificence.'

'Prosperity and Magnificence'.

The first thing I noticed was horses seemed to play a very important role during these dynasties. The exhibition started with copies of several stone reliefs known as the Six Steeds of Zhao Mausoleum. These depict six war horses belonging to the Tang Dynasty Emperor - Taizong. These stone reliefs originally guarded the entrance to his tomb in Shaanxi, China. Nowadays four of these reliefs are housed in Xian Beilin Museum and two are on display in The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Emperor Taizong.

The emperor's favourite horse was Saluzi. During the Siege of Luoyang in 621 AD, Saluzi was struck in the chest by an arrow. This relief shows the emperor's loyal General Qiu Xinggong pulling the arrow out.

Saluzi and General Qiu Xinggong.

A second relief depicts Quanmaogua. This poor horse has been pierced by nine arrows representing the nine battles it survived with Emperor Taizong.

Quanmaogua meaning Curly.

The other horses are: Baitiwu, Teqinbiao, Shifachi and Qingzhui.

Baitiwu.

Teqinbiao.

Shifachi meaning Swift Red.

Qingzhui.

Horses were used in battles, but they were also used for much more.

Mounted warrior from the Sui Dynasty.

There were models of hunters on horseback. One had a dog behind him on the saddle to help with the hunt. Another had an empty arm outstretched, and it's thought he may have been travelling with a bird of prey. Hunters also used lynx and cheetahs to secure their catch.

Hunters on horseback. There's a dog on the saddle of the hunter on the right.

Hunter with outstretched arm that may have once held a bird of prey.

Horses were often used in sports, too and there were paintings depicting polo matches.

Polo.

Women used horses for transport and were allowed to wear men's clothes to make it easier for them to ride.They also dressed like men to participate in sports. Some of the female statues on display were wearing female clothes and had elaborate hair styles.

Female figure on horseback.

Female figure on horseback.

Female figure on a horse.

Female with hands in sleeves.

Females.

Females.

Dancing horses, who had been trained to move their heads, tails and feet in time to music, were a popular form of entertainment at grand feasts.

Dancing horse.

Foreigners who wanted to trade with the Chinese knew that horses would be well received by the emperor or powerful officials.

Foreigners offering a horse as a gift.

Of course some horse accessories survived, too, such as a pair of bronze stirrups.

Bronze stirrups.

Another thing that thrived during these dynasties was music and dancing. There was a beautiful sculpture of a musician on horseback on his way to his next performance. Unfortunately, his musical instrument was long gone.

Musician on a horse.

Many of the sculptures on display depicted musicians or dancers. The musicians' hands are positioned to hold a musical instrument, but many of these are missing or broken.

Beautiful dancing girl with elaborate hairstyle.

Black dancer.

Musicians.

Musicians.

Musicians.

Musicians and dancers in art.

Musicians and dancers in art.

Trade along The Silk Road thrived during this period and there were several statues of merchants. Some of these merchants were foreigners from countries located along The Silk Road.

Camel.

Camel.

Foreign merchant with backpack.

Most of the objects on display were found in tombs. Some scary looking statues acted as tomb guardians to keep raiders out. These statues could be of people, or animals, or even mythological creatures.

Temple guardian.

Temple guardian.

Temple guardian.

Temple guardian.

Temple guardian.

There were also some statues of gods and goddesses, such as Guanyin, goddess of mercy.

Guanyin.

There were also statues of people or things that would be useful for the deceased person in the afterlife, such as: models of houses, pottery plates and bowls, statues of courtyard officials and servants.

House.

Pottery.

Court attendant.

Servants for the afterlife.

Other items that I liked the look of included: a sundial, a carved head, a door lintel with mythological beings and some ornamental roof tiles.

Sun dial.

Carved head.

Door lintel.

Ornamental roof tiles.

I did look at other parts of the museum, but not in any great detail. I'll return to visit them on another day.

When I had finished with the museum, I decided to walk along The Avenue of Stars to the centre of Tsim Sha Tsui. It was still all decorated for the Dragon Boat Day festivities which took place here and it was very crowded. Dragon Boat Day largely passed us by this year as Peter was in hospital on it.

Dragon boat.

Dragon boat.

Dragon boat.

Dragon boat.

Dragon boat.

At the waterfront many people were posing for photographs with harbour views. Some of the professional photographers were really quite aggressive if they considered that anyone got into their space.

Harbour view.

People everywhere.

People everywhere.

People taking photos everywhere.

Even these two were taking selfies.

As always seems to be the case, there was a red sailed junk on the harbour and a sampan with workers clearing rubbish from the water.

Red sailed junk.

Red sailed junk.

Sampan.

The clock tower was not looking its best. It was surrounded by scaffolding, so there was obviously some renovation going on there. Near it there were inflatable figures from The Hong Kong Pop Culture Festival 2026. I'm afraid I have no idea who they are.

Hong Kong Pop Culture Festival 2026.

Hong Kong Pop Culture Festival 2026.

Outside Harbour City there were displays connected to Toy Story 5, which I think has just been released.

Toy Story 5.

Toy Story 5.

Toy Story 5.

Toy Story 5.

Toy Story 5.

Toy Story 5.

The temperature was in the 30's with a real feel in the 40's. I could take no more and headed home.