Fireworks

I went to Cyberport, a small business and residential area which is aimed for IT firms to host the businesses, located at the southern district of Hong Kong Island.

A small scale of firework was shown there on Friday evening, I visited during the evening and enjoyed the event there.

This event was one of the celebrations for the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). The 1st of October will be the National Day of China, there will be another firework show along the Victoria Harbour in the evening. If you are coming to Hong Kong soon, welcome to join the firework show.

Delicious sweet bean curd (豆腐花)

Today afternoon, I went with my wife to Sham Shui Po for sweet bean curd (豆腐花). We went to a small soya bean restaurant where is crowded with customers. We ordered 2 bowls of sweet bean curd and a plate of fried Tofu. The texture of the sweet bean curd is so soft and smooth. Really good taste that I ever ate. They cost about HK$28.

Hong Kong Tram

To enjoy the original Hong Kong, I would say taking tram across the Island is good and the only choice. Especially if you want sightseeing but not walking on street. The fare is just $2 for each trip. Hong Kong Tramways start from Kennedy Town in the west of the Island, go eastwards to Shaukeiwan, it passes through most of the areas along the northern part of Hong Kong Island. Say:

• Series of store selling dry Chinese sea-food in Sai Ying Pun
• Metropolitan of the city, Central and Admiralty
• Old town in Wan Chai
• Shopping arcade in Causeway Bay
• Racecourse in Happy Valley
• Residential areas in Kennedy Town, North Point and Shaukeiwan

The double-decker tram in Hong Kong is not equipped with air-conditioner, however, it is very cool to be sitting inside the upper decker. The whole trip of a tram may take 1.5 hours, however, trams are travelling shuttle between Central and Wan Chai within 30 minutes. I hope you will enjoy traveling on Hong Kong Tram, no matter a long trip or just shuttling inside the city.

The photos are taken in Wan Chai, I walked along Johnston Road, where the traffic is not quite heavy, I can easily take the photos at the corner of the road.

Nam Sang Wai

The place becomes popular since a crocodile was being placed in Shan Pui River anonymously a couple of years ago. And, several TV dramas and films were taking some shots here, especially wuxia film (Chinese classic fighting style film). I walk around this area and enjoyed the beautiful scene here. The grassland was very soft, the feeling was very good when you walked on it. The wooden area was very classic, this made me free of the troublesome of living in a metropolitan. This is a good place for leisure.

You can drive to Nam Sang Wai directly from Yuen Long. Or take the taxi at the Yuen Long Railway Station.

Dinner @ Causeway Bay

Yesterday night my friends and I went shopping and dinner at Causeway Bay. We met at Sogo and shopping for a while. And then we went to have dinner at our favourite "Little Fat Sheep" hotpot restaurant. We reserved the table at 9pm which there will be HALF PRICE afterwards :) Four of us ordered 3 different dishes of sheep and some vegetables. The soup base was excellent and the sheep was fresh.

Golden Bauhina Square

I have to go to work in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) some day. A "Flag Rising Ceremony" is held in the "Golden Bauhinia Square" beside the HKCEC every morning, at 8 am. I have to report duty at 8:15am in the morning, therefore I arrived there at 7:55am for brief breakfast, then wait for the flag rising to start at 8am sharp. I'm watching the ceremony inside HKCEC, which is 180 degree different from the general public and tourist.

Normally, tourist standing in the square to watch the ceremony, they are also facing to the HKCEC, so you can see a crowd in the left side of the video. The flag rising ceremony is normally organized by the Hong Kong Police, the nation anthem is playing while the regional flag of HKSAR and the national flag of The People's Republic of China.

The tourist association promotes this event very much. If you are living in Kowloon side, simply go to Tsim Sha Tsui and take Star Ferry to Wan Chai. The "Golden Bauhinia Square" and HKCEC is besides the ferry pier.

Kowloon King, Hong Kong style Graffiti

"King of Kowloon" (九龍皇帝), the name which is deeply flashed in every Hong Kong citizen's memory. Tsang Jo Choi(曾灶財) is King of Kowloon. He just passed away (age 86) in July 2007. He is famous for his graffiti in public area. He claimed he is the king of Kowloon.

Many people think that he suffered from mental illness. but to me, he is a kind and an ordinary elderly. Anyway, his life and his graffiti have been a page in Hong Kong history.

I went to Olympican City located nearby Olympic MTR station for exhibition of the masterpieces by King of Kowloon today. Here are some of the pictures I took. :>

Mister Softee

Mister Softee is popular in Hong Kong. There are fourteen ice cream vans running on Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New territorries. The Mister Softee vans in Hong Kong sell four products only.

• Soft ice cream
• Nutty Drumstick
• Large Cups
• Jumbo Orange

These vans usually parks in popular tourist attraction. This photo was taken in Tai Mei Tuk.
You must try the Jumbo Orange. I always buy it when I see the van.

Double-decker Bus

Double-decker air conditioned buses are the majority of the public transport in Hong Kong. The characteristic of Hong Kong buses is, most of them are "wearing" colorful cloths --- advertisement is dominantly cover the fleet. For my understanding, double-decker bus is one of the options in western city, most of the buses are single decker in the States. However, double decker is very typical in Hong Kong. Nearly all public buses became double-decker since 15 years ago, before air-conditioned bus is introduced. Tourists may be captured by those beautiful fleet when sightseeing in the city. Those open upper decker buses are interesting, especially when the bus is running fast on the highway, or shuttle between the narrower roads along the mid-levels.

I would like to recommend you route 15C in Hong Kong Island, this route using the bus with "open upper decker". You can enjoy open air whentravel around.

A warm dinner on Mid-Autumn festival

In Hong Kong, Chinese families will gather together for dinner during traditional Chinese festivals like the Mid-Autumn festival and Lunar Chinese New Year. Some families have their dinner in restaurants while some others will prepare dinner at home. Whatever it is, it is a good opportunity for gathering and social.

I think that eating culture can reflect the uniqueness of a country's culture. And Chinese food has a wide varieties of different foods. Even one family's dishes can be very different from another because their old families may come from different provinces of China.

Last night, my family gathered to have a wonderful dinner to celebrate mid-autumn festival. My mom be the chef of coz. We had steamed fish, chicken, steamed shrimps and soup. These are the most delicious dishes in my life. I love my family. After that, we played mahjong. Tell you, though I know how to play mahjong but I am not good at it and rarely play (once or twice a year during lunar Chinese new year). To my surprise, I winned 3 times last night. I cannnot believe it, haha.

Here are my mom's Chinese dishes. :>

Fire Dragon Dance

Tai Hang, a small district in Hong Kong Island, doing a old-fashioned Chinese dance from a nearby temple located in this area. This is called "Fire Dragon Dance". It is organized by the "kai-fong" (local neighborhood) association there, with 130 years of history. They hold up the fire dragon to run the dance for 3 evenings during Mid-Autumn Festival period. The dragon is 67 meter long, consist of 31 segments. The dragon is decorated with joss sticks. The dance is originally a religion event and now become a performance for every year. The organizer needs 200 people to hold up the dragon.

The Countryside

Hong Kong is generally known as a highly-developed city. However, we still have our beautiful nature scene. In Sai Kung, the so called "back courtyard" of Hong Kong, cover most countryside area of Hong Kong, with mountain, sea shores, beaches, villages, small town and some outlying islands (The is known as "Country Park" in Hong Kong). Hiking trails are located almost everywhere of this area. This is a good place for Hong Kong people to enjoy for leisure during weekends and holidays. People enjoy the works of God here, breathing fresh air, talking with friends, jogging, cycling, and enjoy water sports.

Da Pai Dang (sidewalk food stall, 大排檔)

Da Pai Dang is a Cantonese word, which means the dining booth located at the street-side, outdoor and open-air. People sitting at the street side, having delicious of Chinese style food. Various types of food are provided by Da Pai Dang, say, dishes are fried by wok, a Chinese type of cooking pan, with shape of V; steaming of fresh sea-food; won-ton noodle; Chinese style congee or rice etc.

Nowadays, some of the Da Pai Dang are moving to indoor, with air-conditioning, however, the street-side eating culture can represent Hong Kong style, so Da Pai Dang are still be found in some area of the city.

These booths located in Chai Wan, an indoor wet market, without air-condition, therefore, they still keeping the traditional culture: "seems to be dirty".

Lanterns (Mid Autumn Festival)

Mid Autumn festival is coming on 25 Sep. Families in Hong Kong will get prepared to celebrate this traditional Chinese festival. We will buy mooncakes, some seasonal fruits like apples, pears (梨), peaches (桃), grapes, pomegranates (石榴) , melons, oranges and pomelos (柚子). My mother will prepare a great dinner for the family on that day. Yummy Yummy...

I remember that in my childhood, my mom took me, my sister and brother to buy lanterns every mid-autumn festival. It is quite funny that eveytime, my sister chose rabbit lantern, I chose an aeroplane lantern and my brother chose tank lantern. haha... I really miss the lanterns I played in the past.

The craftsmanship of the traditional lanterns are much better than nowaday's plastic ones. I took some pictures yesterday at Sham Shui Po where there are around 4 or 5 stores selling lanterns. The stores hang their lanterns on front of their stores to get attention from customers. The lanterns comes from different sizes, shapes, colors. They are very beautiful indeed. I found a big white and color rabbit lanterns which are the same as I played in my old days. They each cost about HK$70. Finally, I bought 3 rabbit lanterns, 2 small ones and 1 medium one. They cost about HK$60 total.

Fruity Yogurt Drink

People in Hong Kong like to discover new tastes. Yogurt drink is quite popular. Yakult - a famous brand name of yogurt drink. It is originally from a Japan name, however, Hong Kong people love to drink.

Some resturants are shaking Yakult with various types of fruits, to produce different kinds of fruit-yogurt drinks. This is widely accepted by the youngsters in the new generation.

A lychee flavor yakult drink ordered from a restaurant in Causeway Bay ($22).