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

Visitor Information Services

You may wonder if you can get a Hong Kong map for tourist or having information of tourist route in Hong Kong. Although you can go online to check the most update information (for example, visiting our blog), but maybe you are not bring your notebook computer with you, or you didn't find an Internet Cafe. Then you can go to the Visitor Information Services Centre operated by the Hong Kong Tourism Board.

You can find a series of leaflet about Hong Kong, maps for shopping, hiking and traveling around, information about racecourse, theme parks etc. Moreover, you can get a visitor's kit for you to design you own travel route.

The locations of the service centres are:

Hong Kong International Airport 1
Transfer Area E2 (7am - 11pm daily)
Web kiosk for tourist information available 24 hours

Hong Kong International Airport 2
Buffer Halls A and B, Arrivals Level, Terminal 1 (7am - 11pm daily)
Web kiosk for tourist information available 24 hours

Hong Kong Island
Near Exit F, Causeway bay MTR Station (8am - 8pm daily)

Kowloon
Star Ferry Concourse, Tsim Sha Tsui (8am - 8pm daily)

Lo Wu
Arrival Hall, 2/F, Lo Wu Terminal Building (8am-6pm daily)

Visitor Hotline (multilingual)
+852 25081234

Hong Kong style wedding invitation cards

In Hong Kong, the period of October - December is a peak season for MARRIAGE. Many Hong Kong grooms and brides like to have their big days during this period. (In Chinese wordings, we call marriage as "close the sky window"). This is a symbol of good luck in Chinese culture.

source: http://chanelkelvin.com

This is my friend, Chanel & Kelvin's wedding website. Their took gorgeous wedding photos. Take a look and sign the guestbook to bless them, thank you ;)

Just last week, I received 2 wedding banquet invitation cards from my friends. I expect to receive one or two in coming weeks. :)

Here shows 2 invitation cards I received recently and the one I hand-made by myself in my wedding.

The leftmost one is my masterpiece.

You may discover there is a Chinese word printed on all the card. Can you find it? Yes, it is "double-happiness", "喜喜".

Red and Gold are lucky colors in Chinese culture, so you NEVER find a white, blue or black wedding cards because they are sad colors.

Here are the close-up.
The bride is my wife, the groom of course me. :>

Tai Mei Tuk and Plover cove reservoir

Tai Mei Tuk is a famous outdoor recreation site in Hong Kong. It is located in the Plover Cove Country Park.


This is one of the little boat wharf. You may take a boat or enjoy your fishing time here.






There are many public BBQ sites and BBQ shops around Tai Mei Tuk.








If you don't like BBQ, you would attracted by the different restaurants. There a number of HK style restaurants, western style and even Thai food.







Plover cove reservoir is the second large reservoir in Hong Kong. It is enowned for its magnificent main dam. Measuring near 2km in length and some 24 hectares in area, it is Hong Kong's longest dam. It is also the world's first "reservoir in the ocean".

People enjoy riding bicycle while some of them like to walk on the dam. You would also see a lot of people fishing and lot of kite flying on the sky.







Somethings you should know and keep it mind. He did ride fast. Look out!








Remember to bring your camera and feed the battery. It is one of the great position watch sunset.




Transport: Bus 75K from Tai Po Market KCR Station

For more information, please find it here.

Hong Kong @ YouTube

YouTube, the famous video sharing community site, is now launching a Hong Kong edition, in order to let Hong Kong people to share more there. The new channel is mostly in Chinese character. However, the clips upload to the Hong Kong edition are also found at the international edition of YouTube.

Moreover, the Hong Kong Tourism Board is currently running a channel on YouTube, in order to provide clips to promote Hong Kong.

It is recommend to view those video clips and feel the best of Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Reality Channel is at http://www.youtube.com/hongkong

Moreover, our blog is also having a channel there, you may find some video clips there at http://www.youtube.com/hktour

Treasures of the World's Cultures from the British Museum

I have been to visit the exhibition called "Treasures of the World's Cultures from the British Museum" at the Hong Kong Museum Art. It is quite interesting that those artifacts are from the British Museum.

We can see ancient culture to present day from the world via this exhibition, including sculptures, paintings, jewellery, porcelain etc.

Venue: Hong Kong Museum of Art
Date: till 2nd December 2007
Opening Hours: 10am to 6pm except Thursdays and Saturdays. 10am to 8pm on Saturdays.
Admission: $30
Transport: Exit J, East Tsim Sha Tsui KCR Station, besides the Avenue of Stars.

More information can be found at the official website of this exhbition: http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/Museum/Arts/english/exhibitions/eexhibitions_s_20070701_2.html

Avenue of Stars (星光大道)

The Avenue of Stars, located at the East Tsim Sha Tsui, along the seaside, with the view of Victoria Harbour. It is aimed to celebrities of the Hong Kong film industry. It modeled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, with the hand-print and autograph of the famous acting stars along the avenue.

Here is the official URL of the avenue: http://www.avenueofstars.com.hk/

Transport: Exit J, East Tsim Sha Tsui KCR Station
(Tsim Sha Tsui MTR Station is interconnected with East Tsim Sha Tsui KCR Station)

A Street-side Culture Show

During weekends, some cultural groups will play around along the sea-side in Tsim Sha Tsui. This shows one of the cultural show. The building at the back is the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, which is a main scene the tourist must visit. The famous and beautiful Victoria Harbour view is just behind the camera.

Buy electric products in Hong Kong.

If you are planning to buy latest models of Electric products like mobile phone, digital camera, MP3, Sai Yeung Choi Street in Mong Kok is definitely your first choice.

There are so many electric stores located at most popular shopping area like Mong Kok, Tsim Sha Tsui, Causeway Bay ... But there are also many black shops too. So, watch out.

Yet, I suggest you to buy electrics from 3 most reliable with good reputation stores (Broadway, Fortress and Gome). Many local hongkongeses also brought electrics from them, so it give you some idea of reputation they are granted.

If you walk along Sai Yeung Choi Street, you will discover that there are total of five Broadway chain stores. So, I think it is more appropriate to call this street to "Broadway Street" (just kidding) ;)Salesmen at Broadway are nice, provide professional advice on all kinds of electrics. They are especially good at digital cameras, mobiles, mp3 ... Latest models are all here.

Here Gome (centre) and Fortress (right) are just located back-to-back.

For Gome, I think their target customers are from China. I just feel the shop decorations are somehow different from the Broadway and Fortress.
For Fortress, if you like to shop freely and only want salesman get involved when required, Fortress is a good place.

Usually, the prices are usually displayed, so no worries about cheating.

Last, but important that if you can locate one of the 3 electrics stores, you can always locate the others because they always located just within a street or back to back. So, it save you a lot of time searching where the electric store are. It also provides convenience to customers to compare price, models and services.

You can reach Sai Yeung Choi Street at Mong Kok MTR Exit E2

Roasted Chinese Chestnut

It's getting cold in Hong Kong, wouldn't it be great if you find something hot and delicious for your snack?

I would highly recommend the Chinese Sweet Chestnut! I know you must have ate chestnut before, but not the Chinese one. These chestnut are native in China and we still roasts it with the anicent method. Personally, I do not prefer those using a machine to roast the chestnuts, it's because those chestnuts do not smell as good as that using the traditional way. (Maybe I'm a old-fashion guy, haha)

I bought 1/2 lb roasted chestnuts and it costs HK$12 only. If you've bought them, you must not set them aside to let them cool! The marvellous thing of roasted chestnuts is that you must eat them as soon as possible! Feel the heat and smell it! I could not stop eating them. I wish I could also let you smell them instead of just showing the photos.

Besides chestnut, the hawkers also sell roasted sweet potato and roasted eggs, give it a try!

It's not easy to find those hawkers selling roasted chestnuts. You need to find it by chance, however, you may try to find them in these locations:

1. Near the entrance of Kowloon Mosque and Islamic Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui
2. Under the bridge between Argyle Street and Yim Po Fong street in Mong Kok

Shopping Mall Show

Harbour City, is one of the traditional shopping mall in Hong Kong. It located at the southern edge of Tsim Sha Tsui. It is a famous shopping centre for tourist because you may find almost every famous brand name here. You can event spent a whole day here since there is cinema, small playground for child, food court and view station.

Moreover, the shopping mall organize some cultural activities during long weekends, for example some exhibition and music show will be there. The following two videos are some shows that I ever been watched there. One is a young orchestra, and the other is an unplug music show.

Transport:
Any bus going to "STAR FERRY" in Kowloon; or
MTR Tsim Sha Tsui Station or KCR East Tsim Sha Tsui and walk for 5 to 10 minutes following the road sign of STAR FERRY.

Tai Fung Lau Peking Restaurant

Last night my family and I went to try Tai Fung Lau in Tsim Sha Tsui for its famous "peking duck" dish. We ordered cold pasta with cucumber and peanut butter, fried egg white with milk and serve with vinegar, vegetables with chinese ham, and the main dish - roasted duck. It was served with a piece of wrapper and sauce. The skin of the duck was so crispy and not much fatty. And finally the dessert of sweet fried banana. We rated this restaurant 5 stars.

Address: 29-31 Chatham Road, Windsor Mansion, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon (Tel: 2366 2494)

Transport: Exit P3, East Tsim Sha Tsui KCR Station

Church

You may wonder if there is a church for you during Sundays. In Hong Kong, some churches provide English service and you can still enjoy the time with God with your language here. Here is a list of some church with English Mass or Worships, hope you can find one that suitable for you.

St John’s Cathedral

English Worship:
Sunday 8:00am, 9:00am, 11:30am, 12:30am, 6:30pm;
Monday, Tuesday 7:15am (except Public Holiday);
Wednesday 9:30am, 1:15pm (except Public Holiday);
Thursday 1:15pm (except Public Holiday);
Friday, Saturday, Public Holidays: 8:00am

Address: 4-8 Garden Road, Central, Hong Kong
Contact Number: 2523 4157
Transport:
MTR, Central Station, Exit K which leads you to HK & Shanghai Bank HQ.
Cross the HSBC building through the open Ground Floor to Queens Road Central;
Cross Queens Road Central at the traffic lights to the Cheung Kong Center;
Go up the escalator, then the stairs to the Cathedral.

North Point Alliance Church

English Worship: Sunday 12:15pm

Address: 2/F Phase II, Maxi Mall, 233 Electric Road, North Point
Contact Number: 2234 6010
Transport: MTR Fortrees Hill Station or Bus Route 2, 2A,10, 23 from Wan Chai or Causeway Bay, get off at Tin Chong Street, King’s Road. You will see Maxi Mall after passing Tin Chong Street

St. Andrew's Church

English Worship: Sunday 9:00am, 11:00am, 6:00pm

Address: 138 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon
Contact Number: 2367-1478
Transport: Tsim Sha Tsui or Jordan MTR Station

St. Joseph Church

English Mass:
Sunday 7:00am, 8:00am, 9:00am, 10:00am, 11:30am, 6:00pm;
Saturday 6:00pm

Address: 37 Garden Road, Hong Kong
Contact Number: 2522-3992
Transport:
Bus 23, 40 from Wan Chai, get off at Kennedy Heights, Kennedy Road or Taxi (location of the church is near Central and Admiralty)

The Hong Kong Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception

English Mass: Sunday 9:30am
Address:16 Caine Road, Hong Kong
Contact Number: 2522-8212
Transport:
Bus 3B, 12, 12M, 13, 23, 23A, 23B, 40, 40M from Central, Admiralty or Wan Chai, get off at Caritas Centre, Caine Road or Taxi (location of the church is near Central and Admiralty)

Street Snacks

I love Hong Kong street snacks so much. You can easily locate one of them almost everywhere. Some big stalls in Causeway Bay and Mongkok, some small ones just around any corner.

Foods are mostly deep fried pepper/eggplant with meat, deep fried beancurd, fish balls/meat balls, braised sharkfin soup, rice pancake, chicken wings, sausage, egg puffs/waffles, etc. You can have an ice juicy or sweet soup. Most of them are just $5-$10 per serving.

Temple Street

You may hear “Temple Street” is one of the bazaars in Hong Kong. I was being there last Sunday evening and met some tourists.

Temple Street, one of the famous street markets, is located at Yau Ma Tei. It is crowded in the evenings, and it is sometimes called Men’s Street, as there is another street market in Mong Kok called Ladies’ Street.

Since it is Men’s street, you will find some men’s fashions, however, as it is popular to tourist, the “fashions” are more or less T-shirts with Hong Kong style, or Chinese characteristics. Cultural stuff can also be found at the stalls, various types of toys can also be found.

Moreover, some Chinese food stalls are located along the street, you can have the local style dishes and snacks there Moreover, some “Dai Pai Dang” located in the street.

The singing part and Chinese operas will be performed, you can have a look at the traditional local culture in the city. Fortune tellers are also doing their businesses in the street, you can ask the tellers questions about your background and/or future by your face and/or hand.

Transport: Exit A, Jordan MTR Station or Exic C, Yau Ma Tei MTR Station

Nga Chin Wai Walled Village (衙前圍村)

Nga Chin Wai Walled Village, with history of about 600 years, is the only “walled-village” in the urban area of the city. The government is making agreement with the developer (who holding about 70% of ownership of the village) to redevelop the area. However, some of the historical construction will be not be destroy.

There is a temple of Matsu there, together with a few number of houses, which is supposed to be kept under the project. The newly developed area will become building which is starting to construct at 15 meter above the ground floor. The ground area will become a park, however it is still in design stage, hope to see the new look of this new area.

The walled-village is still there at this moment. There is a few number of residents there, let’s go to have a look before the redevelopment.

Transport:
Green Mini Bus 20M, from Exit D, Wong Tai Sin MTR Station.
Better ask the driver to stop for you at Nga Chin Wai Walled Village .
(Chinese character: 衙前圍村)

Feel the Tsing Ma Bridge

Tsing Ma Bridge is one of the great infrastructures, and also a sign of Hong Kong. You may wonder how to have a good look to it, besides travelling by bus or train. It completed in 1997, spanning of 1.3 kilometer.

Tsing Yi, is an island that being a very importation linking Lantau Island and Kowloon, the Airport Express and the main Highway (Lantau Links) are passing through this island when you travelling from the airport to the city. We can climb up to the small hills at Tsing Yi, to overlook the great appearance of Tsing Ma Bridge. However, it is just a jogging trail, therefore, you and me can easily go there and enjoy the good scenic spot there. Besides, you can also have a good daytime form taking in fresh air there.

The Tsing Yi Nature Trails (or called Kwai Tsing Reunification Health Trail) is located beside Cheung Hang Estate (or Cheung Wang Estate Bus Terminus). You can simply take bus there and will see the entrance of the trail beside the bus terminus. Follow the sign to walking up the hill, you will see Tsing Ma Bridge, Ting Kau Bridge, Kup Shui Mun Bridge, the water channel under the two bridges, Ma Wan (Park Island) and the container port. It is also a good place to enjoy the sunset. However, please bring along with torch is you really want to stay in evening time.

There is a shopping arcade at Tsing Yi MTR station, you can enjoy shopping, or have a break with coffee, dinner there.

Transport:
Green Mini Bus 409 from Exit B, Tsing Yi MTR Station or
KMB 248M, from Exit A1, Tsing Yi MTR Station

Hi-Fi Systems

When you are shopping through all the huge shopping malls in Hong Kong, you would find a lot of A/V products shops, e.g. Broadway, Fortress, etc. They only provide entry-level products and you may not able to find what you want. So you would wonder where the Hong Kong people buy high-end audio products.

If you are an audiophile, you must visit these places in Mong Kok. These shops are quite easy to locate which suit visitors. You may take MTR to Mong Kok station and these shops are just around the corner.

Yau Shing Commercial Centre
51, Sai Yeung Choi Street South, Mong Kok

Prosperity Building
6A-6E Nelson Street, Mong Kok

What to do during midnights?

I may try to play as more as possible when I travel, so I may check if there is any convenience store beside my hotel during trip. I can back to hotel in late night if there is a 24 hour convenience store near the hotel. Therefore, I may wonder if you want to know such information when you stay in Hong Kong.

Moreover, for backpackers, you may have an idea that you can play around the city in the midnight, so I'm going to show you the stores that will open during midnight.

Hot Pot
Some Chinese Hot Pot restaurants in Mong Kok and Jordan are opening till 4am or even 24 hours.

Bar
Some Bars, or lounges are opening till 5am too. If you are a soccer fans, you can go anyone of them for soccer games playing in midnight HK time.

Karaoke Box
Neway and California Red are two of the major chain karaoke box in Hong Kong. Most of their stores close at 5:45 am, you can hire a room and sing overnight.

Convenience Stores
7-Eleven and Circle K are two of the major chain convenience store in Hong Kong. Most of the stores are opening 24 hours (except those located in railway stations).

You may find any one of them near your hotel. You can go for a cup-noodle, hot coffee, sandwiches or anything, without paying for the expensive room service.






Fast Food
Some of the McDonalds and McCafe in Hong Kong are opening 24 hours. These shops will be displayed with a "24 Hours" label, so you can have hamburgers anytime. Moreover, the breakfast is served from 4 am, so you can have Hot Cakes since 4am. Some of these are equipped with pay TV to provide live soccer match broadcast.



Chinese Restaurant
Some Chinese Restaurant opens at 6am, so you can go to "Yum Cha" after the above stores closes.

Railway Museum

The Hong Kong Railway Museum is located at Tai Po, including the old Tai Po Market railway station. It is quite worth to have a look if you want to see something special, beside the major scenes in Hong Kong.

The museum is originally an old railway station, it was built in 1913, about 100 year old now. However, the building is still in good condition since the railway company is keeping it in very high standard. Beside the old station building, you can see some old train cars, especially those in the "diesel era".

Opening Hours: 9:00am – 5:00pm
(closed on every Tuesday, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year Day and the first 3 days of the Lunar New Year)

Admission: FREE

Location: 13 Shung Tak Street, Tai Po Market, Tai Po, Hong Kong

Transport: KCR Tai Wo Station, then follow the road sign, walk for about 10 minutes.

You can follow this kind of road sign (upper), from Tai Wo Station, and follow the path located on the map and walk for 10 minutes to the museum.

(Map Source: KCRC)

Free newspapers at MTR

Good Friday!!!

If you visit Hong Kong, you may discover many MTR passengers are reading a small pile of newspapers in the morning. YES, these newspapers are distributed at the MTR stations FOR FREE.

There are as many as 3 popular Chinese newspapers to be distributed during weekdays. Most of the time, I will take one or two copies for reading. It can spend the time along the MTR journey.

Good news!~:> There is one English free newspaper (The Standard) distributed at major MTR stations (near business area) like Central, Admiralty, Tsim Sha Tsui .... Next time, if you travel by MTR, take one copy. This one is quite informative and may give you some idea of where to go and what to eat.

(3 copies I got at Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station)

Sunset

The sunset over the sea is very beautiful. In Hong Kong, sunset is quite easy to find, however, a clear day is not so frequent. By the way, if the air pollution index is acceptable, that's the weather is not hazy, the sunset is very beautiful in Hong Kong.
Here is some location that I suggested to enjoy the sunset.

• On the ferry to (or from) outlying island, including
  
  - Lamma Island
  - Cheung Chau
  - Mui Wo (Lantau Island)
  - Peng Chau
  
• Stanley (Beach of Southern part of HK Island)
  
• Repulse Bay (Beach of Southern part of HK Island)
  
• Deep Water Bay (Beach of Southern part of HK Island)
  
• Chung Hom Kok (Beach of Southern part of HK Island)
  
• Golden Coast (Tuen Mun, NT West)
  
• Lung Kwu Tan (Tuen Mun, NT West)
  
• Pak Lai (Yuen Long, NT West)
  
• Tsuen Wan Waterfront Park
  
• Tai Po Waterfront Park

Hope you can enjoy the art of God here.

Dumplings

I made dumpling with my fellow before. Dumpling is northern Chinese style food, with pork, shrimp and vegetable inside. It is easy to make dumpling, first of all, we need all the ingredients ready. The wrappers is easy to buy from local wet markets. The meat and vegetables are all chopped and mixed. Wrap the ingredients with the dumpling wrapper to complete.

Boil a bowl of Chinese style chicken soup, put the completed dumpling inside the soup and boil. The dumplings are ready to serve when they started to float on the soup.

Dumplings are easy to find in local chinese restaurants.

Doulos

I visited Doulos last Sunday. It is the eldest ship (still operating) in the world, which is built in 1914, just 2 years younger that the Titanic, and will retire in 2010. Doulos is now a ship visiting the world, with the mission of spreading Gospel of Jesus. This is supposed the last time for Doulos to visit Hong Kong. It is parked at the Ocean Terminal, Tsim Sha Tsui till 7^th October.

It is quite special for Doulos since the 300 members on the ship are come from all over the world, and they are all volunteers. They also need to pay for their daily life on the ship. However, this is a ship for Gospel, so it is worth for them, moreover, they can earn very valuable experience on the journey, with friend form different countries.

Doulos is also the biggest book fair in the sea, they sell book and earn for the running cose of the ship. The books are mainly donated from different sources.

I met Ray on the ship, he came from Taiwan and is one of the senior volunteer there, and he shows me the cabin, meeting room and his bed room. This is quite a special experience, not only joining sea book fair, but also visiting a 90 year old ship. This trip is very interesting.

Flower Market and Bird Street

Flower Market and Yuen Po Street Bird Garden - This is a street market near the Mong Kok KCR station with lots of flower shops and street hawkers. Besides fresh flowers and plants, they also provide colourful displays, sweet scents and exotic blossoms of many houseplants. During Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day, thousands of people will come here to buy flowers.

A few steps forward, you will see the Bird Street, or sometimes called Bird Market. It is one of the most popular outdoor markets in Hong Kong. Yuen Po Street Bird Garden is a Chinese-style theme park. You can find all sorts of birds in the Bird Streets. Beautiful caged birds, songbirds, birds for release, large macaw and even tiny sparrow are all can be found in Bird Street.

If you like birds and flowers, you must not miss it.

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.