26 Aug 2013

Hai Fat's residence - part 3

When Bond is invited to dinner at Hai Fat's estate in Bangkok, he arrives later that evening properly dressed in a white dinner jacket. His cover is blown however and Hai Fat has staged a stupid trap for Bond, in true Moore spirit. Disguised as statues, two sumo wrestlers are waiting to take care of Bond, but when that fails, obviously (!), Nick Nack knocks Bond unconscious and is ready to finish him off. Then Hai Fat changes his mind and decides to let Bond live just a little bit longer. He orders Nick Nack to take Bond to his karate school.

As I've covered before, the Bangkok residence is actually located in Hong Kong, where all the scenes were filmed (although the scene where Bond exits his hotel was filmed in Bangkok). The estate is called the Dragon Garden and can be found in Hong Kong's New Territories, approx 1 hour from downtown Kowloon. There are several buildings on the estate, including the main building seen in the picture above, the mausoleum and the building where Hai Fat later gets killed. The swimming pool can also be found in the lower part of the garden. Close to the building that supposedly is Hai Fat's living quarters, is located the small white bridge where Hai Fat enters the lower part of the garden.
-Take Mr Bond to school!
Hai Fat is stopping Nick Nack just before he is about to put a spear through Bond's neck. Bond is then taken to Hai Fat's karate school outside of Bangkok (these scenes were actually filmed on location in Thailand).


The stone bridge is covered with white mosaic and the steps lead up to the house. Just above the bridge, on the right side, is the water spouting dragon, that gave the garden its name. The bridge is also visible behind the dragon in one of the first scenes where you see Hai Fat's guards walking around the place.



Bond is walking down the path that leads up to the garden from the red front gate. This path is still easily recognized and can be found just where you expect it, starting behind the front gate (covered earlier). Some of the lamp posts can still be recognized from the film. Of course none of the statues seen in the film where a real part of the garden. The Dragon Garden is still under renovation, and heaven only knows when, or if, they will open it for the public, although they had been making some progress during the past year. If anyone know something about the status of the renovation process, please let me know. The garden is a must visit when one is in Hong Kong, but since it is a private residence you can't expect to be allowed inside. 

-Grizzlyland...

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