There are three different MTR stations circling the museum, but a combination of Google Maps and Citymapper informed me that my best bet was Che Kung Temple.
Outside of the station, while waiting for my phone's GPS to catch up with me, I managed to head off in the right compass direction, but unfortunately the wrong road. What I learned (fortunately only 30 seconds later) was that I had to head off in the wrong direction first so that I could cross the nearby river to a pathway that would take me directly to the museum.
As I approached the museum, I was treated to what sounded like traditional Chinese music, which I assumed was coming from the museum. However, it turned out to be music group practice from the Sha Tin Government Secondary School, which is located next door.
Outside the Heritage Museum, two of its main exhibits were represented outside by a statue and by illustrations on the pillars of the portico.
A number of the galleries in the museum are free entry, although the exhibition I was particularly interested in seeing was ticketed. After I had found the correct queue (no, not the one for local residents to pick up their discounted tickets) and paid the extortionate price of 20 dollars (Hong Kong dollars, which equates to about £2), I was directed up the escalators to the right of the centrepiece staircase (which appeared to be more an artifact than functional stairs).
The first gallery at the top of the escalator was the Cantonese Opera Heritage Hall, containing a substantial collection of objects that surprisingly concerned themselves with the heritage of Cantonese Opera.
Further around on the same floor was the exhibit I had trekked (okay, stood on an MTR train) halfway across Hong Kong to see: the Hall of Mental Cultivation of The Palace Museum - or to give the exhibition it's full title: The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Hall of Mental Cultivation of The Palace Museum - Imperial Residence of Eight Emperors.
The Hall of Mental Cultivation is located in The Palace Museum in the Forbidden City in Beijing (in China) and is currently closed for renovation, leading to a number of the artifacts being used for a touring exhibit.
The Hall of Mental Cultivation was the political centre of the Qing dynasty and used as the living quarters of the Emperors after the Yongzheng Emperor moved there from the Palace of Heavenly Purity, claiming that he could not remain there as it reminded him of his grief for his father.
The exhibit was laid out in a manner that I assumed was representational of the layout of the Hall itself, with furniture from the palace arranged as it would have been within the rooms, along with a number of artifacts, short films, and an odd bunch of security guards wearing large badges containing pictographs advising visitors that flash photography, eating, and drinking were all prohibited within the exhibit - which is a novel way of making sure that people read the signs.
After the Hall of Mental Cultivation, I wandered around the rest of the museum. Unfortunately, a number of the galleries didn't allow photography due to copyright restrictions (I'm not sure how long copyright lasts in Hong Kong, but some of the objects I wasn't allowed to photograph were centuries old).
A mini-highlight was the Bruce Lee exhibit. The museum has a gallery dedicated to Lee's life and philosophy, including a number of props and production-related material from his films. In addition to that exhibit, a further collection of Bruce Lee memorabilia was on loan to the museum at the time I visited.
The final gallery I visited, which I only spotted as I took a quick tour of the gift shop (didn't buy anything) was dedicated to Jin Yong.
And for those who don't know what Wuxia is (I have to confess that although I'd heard the term before, I couldn't have told you) - it translates to "martial heroes" and includes films such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; House of Flying Daggers; and Kung Fu Panda.
The exhibit detailed Jin Yong's history, and also provided an explanation of the illustrations on the pillars outside - they illustrate the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan, who are characters from Jin Yong's Legend of the Condor Heroes.
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