Cheung Chau

It is cool that autumn is here. It is good to go rural area for a walk. However, a simple country side may be too "natural", let go to a outlying island for fun.

Cheung Chau, is one of the quite popular outlying island in Hong Kong. The town centre is so crowd in weekends since many local people will come to have a walk. Moreover, to have seafood dinner, or BBQ. You can also come to have a walk, no matter have good seafood, you can also rent a room for a night, there is a good seaside hotel located there.

You can see the traditional culture of the people original living in Cheung Chau, most of them are fishermen before, so, you can also enjoy the scenic of the boats in Cheung Chau.

It is very cool to ride in Cheung Chau, you can rent a bike and shuttle around the island. But if you want to hike, you can also go to the hilltop, there is a famous Cave, called Cheung Po Tsai Cave, which is a place a pirate lover called Cheung Po Tsai's to store his treasure before.

Transport: Ferries from Central Pier 5. The Central Pier can be reached by MTR, Exit F, Hong Kong Station.

2008 Olympic Game Specialty Shop

We are all happy that our country is going to organize the Olympic Games in 2008. The souvenir are being sold in the country. Beside Beijing, the city of most of the games being there, several cities will join the games with support to the same.

Hong Kong is one of these side city that going to hold equestrianism. We all enjoy that such international event are being held here.

The Specialty Shop are located in every big city in China, I have been to those in Qingdao and Shenzhen. However, there is one located in Hong Kong. It is recommend to have a look there, or you may interest to buy some small souvenir, such a key ring back to your country as small gifts to your friends.

Address: G/F 34-36 Cameron Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Transport: Exit B2, Tsim Sha Tsui MTR Station

Little Sheep Again

We have introduced the "Little Fat Sheep" (Official english name is "Little Sheep") to you previously. However, beside Hot Pot, the restaurant is serving "Yum Cha" during day time. Moreover, the serving is a little bit different, it is a "unlimited order" with a fixed price counted by head.

This is meant that you can order "Dim Sum" whatever you like. Although "Little Sheep" is a brand name of Northern China, but the Dim Sum serving here are mixed style with Southern China. Furthermore, some of the dim sum are using sheep instead of pork, the taste is special, as Canton style dim sum are mostly using pork as inside stuff.

I was there with friends for afternoon tea time, with unlimited order of dim sum, we ate too many dishes and tried several type of dim sum.

By the way, save the resource of the earth, just order those you really want, and please don't waste food. :)

Price (per head):
$50 (Monday to Friday 11:00am-1:45pm), $40 (Monday to Friday 2:00pm-4:00pm)
$56 (Sat, Sun & Public Holiday 11:00am-1:45pm), $46 (Sat, Sun & Public Holiday 2:00pm-4:00pm)
Plus 10% Service Charge

Address: 1/F, 26 Kimberley Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon
Contact Number: 27227633
Transport: Exit B2, Tsim Sha Tsui MTR Station

Evening Out-patient Service

It seems very trouble if you feel sick on trip, however, you may need a doctor if you really not feeling well, especially for children. Your hotel may provide medical service, but, it may be expensive, and the service may be not available in evening or midnight.

I’d like to show you some information of evening out-patient (outpatient) service. If you are not Hong Kong resident, you need to make full payment at emergency room of public hospital. However there is no special queue for tourist, so you may sometimes take several hours to wait at emergency room, if your case is regarded as “not critical”. Therefore, it is suggested you go to the private clinic and hospital.

There are several private hospitals and clinics providing 24 hours or evening out patient service. Here is a list of those services located in urban area of Hong Kong.


Clinics:
T Y Healthcare (Evening out-patient service till 2am)
Address: B/F 473 Hennessy Road Hong Kong (Exit B, Causeway Bay MTR, Station)
Contact Number: 2836 6288

T Y Healthcare (24 hours out-patient service)
Address: G/F 483 Nathan Road Kowloon (Exit C, Yau Ma Tei MTR Station)
Contact Number: 23850105

T Y Healthcare (Evening out-patient service till 2am)
Address: G/F 748 Nathan Road Kowloon (Exit B2, Prince Edward MTR Station)
Contact Number: 31025678

Health is essential to our life, no matter who are you.

The healthcare system is quite good in Hong Kong. The system take cares to local and foreign people, so it is not a problem to access medical service in Hong Kong.

This is one of the major public hospital in Hong Kong.

Taking the Star Ferry

The Star Ferry is the most popular tourist route for you to travel from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon side. This is also the most traditional way for Hong Kong people to travel over the harbour, before the tunnels are built.

It takes 6 minutes for you to cross the harbour, you can enjoy the fresh wind form the harbour, feel the sunshine, or have a good dream with the lights in the evening.

Routes of Star Ferry:

Central - Tsim Sha Tsui
Fare: Upper Deck $2.2, Lower Deck $1.7
Operating Hour: 0630-2330
Frequency: 6-12 minutes

Wan Chai - Tsim Sha Tsui
Fare: $2.2
Operating Hour: 0730-2250
Frequency: 8-20 minutes

Cocktail Bun and Pineapple Bun (雞尾包與菠蘿包)

Cocktail Bun and Pineapple Bun are two of the famous Hong Kong style food. However, Cocktail Bun is not related to Cocktail, and there is no Pineapple inside Pineapple Bun . By the way, both buns are sweet pastry. It is a typical food for breakfast or tea-break.

The fillings of Cocktail Bun shredded coconut, sugars and shattered bread.
The topping of Pineapple Bun is just sugar, however, it is fried and place as a checkers pattern originally, the style is like a pineapple, so it was named. However,the pattern is no longer like this nowadays, it is just a piece of fried sweet toppings.

You can get these buns at bakery, especially those old style bakery. Moreover, most supermarket named "SUPERSTORE" also sell fresh buns.


Cocktail Bun (Right) and Pineapple Bun (Left) are two famous Hong Kong style food. It is mostly for breakfast of lunch time tea.

Shopping @ Causeway Bay

Though Hong Kong is a tiny city, it is a shopping heaven for tourists. There is NO GST (Goods and Services Tax) for your spendings!

Many branded shops are here in Causeway Bay. Watch lovers can go for an Omega and/or Rolex just opposite to the Times Square :) Women can get a handbag from Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Chloe, Prada, Salvatore Ferragamo, Loewe, Bally, Furla, Lancel :) Searching for a limited edition? Go Milan Station and France Station!

You can spend a whole day for shopping here. Have a break, there are coffee shops (Starbucks, Pacific Coffee, Haagen-Dazs) nearby or you can enjoy a movie too!

Transport: Time Square - Exit A, MTR Causeway Bay Station

Cinema Admission @ Time Square: HK$45-$70 per ticket

Cha Chaan Teng (Hong Kong Style Restaurant in Western Cuisine)

Want to have a cheap but nice western style breakfast in Hong Kong? Go "Yum Sai Cha".

Yum Cha is very common in Hong Kong, however, normally it takes an hour to complete a meal, because people like to read newspaper, gossiping during yum cha. However, for a fast breakfast in the modern city, I'd like to recommend you to go to "Yum Sai Cha", besides having fast food.

So, what is "Yum Sai Cha"?
In Cantonese pronunciation: "Yum" means "Drink", "Sai" means "West or western" and "Cha" means "Tea".

One of the majority role in "Yum Cha" is the chinese style tea. Therefore "Yum Sai Cha", is to have a meal with western tea or coffee.

Cha Chaan Teng are very common, they provide cheap western style cuisine, such as sandwich, toast, fried egg, ham, sausage etc. This is normally good for fast breakfast for me. If you haven't book breakfast from hotel, or don't want to "Yum Cha" every morning, let's try to find a Hong Kong style restaurant for "Western Tea". However, Cha Chaan Teng also serve lunch, tea and dinner, beside the above food, they also provide noodles, pasta, rice etc. Maybe you can have a trial during tea break, for a bowl of noodle there.

The chinese character of Cha Chaan Teng is 茶餐廳. Although you can find Cha Chaan Teng in almost every street, but they may not have english speaking staff and menu in residental district, so it is suggested that you can go to those in Central, Causeway Bay or Tsim Sha Tsui.

The photo is a typical breakfast in Hong Kong style restaurant.

Egg Tart (蛋撻)

Egg Tart is another popular pastry in Hong Kong. It is manly egg custard inside, with the a baked outer crust. The shape is similar to this English style tart served during tea time. In Hong Kong style, the crust of egg tart is "Butter-flavoured shortcrust pastry" OR "Puff pastry".

Hong Kong people usually have Egg tart during tea-break in the afternoon. Normally, it is sold by dozen, or half-dozen.

You can find egg tart in most bakery is Hong Kong, however, most supermarket named "SUPERSTORE" also sell egg tarts.

A Symphony of Lights

"A Symphony of Lights" becomes Hong Kong's main scenic spot since 2004. There are 44 buildings participating in the play along the harbour side of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. The show starts at 8pm every night and there will be special firework effects during the special holidays, e.g. The National Day. Come to Hong Kong and enjoy our beautiful night scene with this Guinness World Records!

Elements - Shopping Mall of MTR Kowloon Station

"Elements", the newest Shopping Mall in Hong Kong.

Since the station started operated nice years ago, it is just a quiet place, only for the airport express interconnection. However, a new shopping mall, Elements, here was grand opening in October, it is great that the shopping mall may bring more traffic to the railway station.

The shopping mall called "Elements", it is connected directly to the railway station. The mall is divided into five areas, with different topics of Wu Xing: metal, wood, water, fire and earth, which represent the "Five Elements" (or Wu Xing) in the natural phenomena of the traditional Chinese philosophy.

Besides stores, the shopping mall also equipped with food court, cinema and skating court. the combination of the business is quite similar to megaBox in Kowloon Bay, however, the area is wider, with compare to megaBox, people may feel more comfortable to be here. Come to Elements next time you visit Hong Kong.

Transport: MTR Kowloon Station or any bus to MTR Kowloom Station, for example 281A from Mong Kok.

Bakery? French Fries? Wings?

There are many Hong Kong style snacks along the streets in crowd areas like Causeway Bay and Mongkok. I just recommend this "cake shop" - Danish Bakery. People always queue up not because of its bread and/or cake, but they are looking for the famous hotdogs, french fries and chicken wings. You can located Danish Bakery at the corner of Caroline Hill Road in Causeway Bay.

Transport: Bus Route 10 from Central

Golden Computer Centre

I went to the Golden Computer Centre in Sham Shui Po looking for the latest notebook computer. My notebook has been using for 3 years already, it is time for a refresh :) There are many brands and models but I target HP, Lenovo or DELL. The prices of the latest models ranging from $8,000 to $12,000. The specification includes Core 2 Duo, 2GB Memory, 160GB harddisk with the latest Microsoft Vista (Home Premium/ Home Basic/ Business) installed. I am still debating because I still have to compare the number of years of warranty and discounts :-P Any advice?

Golden Computer Centre - Sham Shui Po MTR Station D2 Exit

(Tourist MTR 1-Day Pass and Airport Express Tourist Octopus are available)

The Reptile House (Tuen Mun Park)

This is the first Reptile House in Hong Kong. Although it is just a small exhibition room, with 245 square metre area, displaying some reptiles inside Tuen Mun Park. However, it is quite interesting that you can watch snakes closey. The Reptile House opened in 1999.

I saw bamboo snake, Tortoise, different types of Gecko, Lizard and Dragons in the Reptile House. Actually, The Reptile House is now having 20 species comprising of 43 live, which is displaying inside.

Most species of reptiles are "protected animals" that you cannot import to Hong Kong, moreover, it is even prohibited to raise at home.

Tuen Mun Park is the central park of the Tuen Mun Town, a mainly residential area in north- west part of Hong Kong. A large shopping mall called Tuen Mun Town Centre is opposite to the park. Beside The Reptile House, the park has an 1 hectare artificial lake, Water Cascade, Model Boat Pool and more than 2000 trees, to provide a great green area for the peoples live in this district. There are some amateur playing Chinese classic musical and song in the park, there is a booth for them to enjoy themselves. The following video is showing the musical, this is similar to those in Temple Street in evening, however, they just play for enjoying themselves during daytime.





Opening Hours of the Reptile House: 9am - 6pm daily
Opening Hours of the Park: 24hrs
Admission: Free for the Park and the Reptile House

Transport: Exit B, KCR Tuen Mun Station

Hong Kong Disneyland

No matter you are a super Disney fan, you have to visit our theme park - Hong Kong Disneyland! Halloween is coming soon and "The Dark Side of Hong Kong Disneyland" is now showing.

Hong Kong Disneyland is located on the Lantau Island. Undoubtedly the most convenient way to arrive there will be by the MTR. Take the MTR to the Sunny Bay Station and interchange another Disney-decorated train to the Disneyland Resort Station.

There are Fantasyland, Adventureland, Tomorrowland and Main Street, U.S.A with numerous games, street entertainment, parade and fireworks which you may have to spend a day or two inside Disneyland. In order not to miss any game, a "FASTPASS" can help you. If you are a super fan, I recommend you to stay a night in the Disneyland Hotel and even hold a wedding banquet there! There is package price of staying with the tickets of Disneyland too.

Transport: MTR Disneyland Station