Hong Kong Flower Show 2009

The Hong Kong Flower Show 2009 is being held at the Vicrotia Park during March. It is suppose a yearly show organized by the Hong Kong Government. Several kind of beautiful flowers were displaying in the park. Peoples can enjoy a good atmosphere with plant, in the season of early spring, in the center of the city.

According to the introductory of the show website: The event will showcase exquisite flowers from worldwide and a rich profusion of exotic potted plants, beautiful floral arrangements and gorgeous landscape displays by organizations from local, the Mainland and overseas. There will also be commercial stalls selling flowers and other horticultural products." "During the show period, a rich diversity of educational and recreational fringe activities will also be organized for the enjoyment of visitors of all ages. They include student drawing competition, photo competition, exhibit competition, music and cultural performances, floral art demonstrations, plant maintenance workshops, green stalls, guided visits, recreation programmes and fun games."

In 2009, the show opens from 9am to 9pm from 13rd to 22th March, a $14 fare is require for each admission, senior citizen and child can enjoy a half price. Moreover, senior citizens who aged is 65 or above can enjoy free admission in weekdays.

Official website of Hong Kong Flower Show 2009: http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/green/hkfs/2009



Transport: Exit E, Causeway Bay MTR or Exit B, Tin Hau MTR

Bruce Lee, the Master of Kung Fu.

Bruce Lee is a famous action movie star in the world.

This statue of Bruce Lee, is located by the sea side at Tsim Sha Tsui.

China Space Expo – Space Odyssey

Discovering our space is one of the great curious topics in China. The history of studying our space has been applied in many different areas, such as fortune telling and farming. Nevertheless, the history of Chinese people traveling in space was not long until 2003, the first Chinese astronaut successfully stayed in space for 21 hours. It is the first step of China space exploration.

In Hong Kong, there is recently an expo related to China space exploration. I have visited this “China Space Expo – Space Odyssey” to understand the more about the history of space exploration in China. In this expo, you can see the ancient rocket used in Ming dynasty till the recent ShenZhou re-entry capsule. Space suit, astronaut sleeping bag, space water dispenser and space toilet were also displayed. In the area of space odyssey, you can also found the astronaut training equipment. There are also different test to see how fit you are, such as color blindness test, blood pressure measurement and hearing test. Test result showed that I have mild hearing deficit, since I cannot hear the sound of 500Hz. This show also provides chance for youth to understand more about space discovery, through simulation and control centers. I enjoyed understanding more about China space discovery. Finally, I bought a set of four 4D-puzzle there as souvenir. You can see the model astronaut.

[Special thanks to Tina Lee for devoting this blog]

Official Website: http://www.chinaspaceexpo.com/

Admission Fee: $80 (Weekdays) / $100 (Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays)

Venue: Pop TV Arena, Austin Road West, West Kowloon

Transport: Exit A MTR Kowloon Station, KMB Route 8、11、203E、215X、270A

Lunar New Year Fair 2008

The Lunar New Year Fair starts operate on last Friday (1/2-2008). Although Hong Kong is cold recently, people still enjoy visiting the New Year Fair. Here are some photos and videos taken on 3/2-2008 (Sunday).

Transport: Causeway Bay or Tin Hau MTR

Red Pockets - Chinese New Year.

Hi,

It has been two weeks since last update. The temperature in Hong Kong has been around 11 with cloudy sky and occasional showers for a week. It is my excuse for not updating the blog because I don't want to move in cold weather.


I have to say Happy Chinese New Year to all of you!!!

The cold weather just matches the the festival atmosphere of Chinese New Year. Most Chinese people think that cold weather is more like a Chinese New Year.

Chinese New Year will be on 7th Feb (Thursday). Usually, there will be 3 consecutive public holidays for the first three new year days. Traditionally, Chinese people visit their relatives and friends for celebration. Childrens and unmarried youngsters are very happy because they can receive RED POCKETS from their parents, relatives and married friends.

Giving Red Pocket( is money contained inside a red pocket) is a Chinese tradition which means fortune, prosperous future and good health to the red pocket receivers in the coming year. During the holidays, we will eat traditional Chinese foods. I will talk about the foods next time.

Have a nice day.

Learn Chinese at MIT Open Courseware.

Have you ever think what is the most popular spoken language in the world?

According to the Summer Institute for Linguistics (SIL) Ethnologue Survey (1999) the top spoken language by population is Chinese (Mandarin).

In Hong Kong, you may hear that (if you know Mandarin) there are a lot of people talking in Mandarin on the streets, restaurants and shopping malls. The reason is that there are a lot of tourists coming from China. The Chinese tourists talk in their native language, Mandarin.

So, it is beneficial to you if you can speak a little bit of Mandarin or at least understand what they say.

I found a website from MIT providing free online Chinese learning course at
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Foreign-Languages-and-Literatures/21F-101Spring-2006/CourseHome/index.htm


Enjoy it.

The Year of Rat (Chinese New Year)

The Chinese New Year day in 2008 is on 7th February. You can enjoy interest fairs, shows, scenic and shopping place around the city, if you are planning to visit Hong Kong during the Chinese New Year period.

During the last 5 days of the year (2nd - 6th February this year), there are several flower markets operating in the cities. The famous one is in Victoria Park (Tin Hau or Causeway Bay MTR). You can find several kind of seasonal flowers there in the wet market section. However, some funny and low price produce are on sold at the dry section there.

The flower market normally operate from the afteroon to 11pm, for the first 4 days. And will operation till 6am in the new year eve, so please can enjoy the countdown in the market at midnight. The price of the products in the market are reducing after midnight of the new year day, so you can enjoy having cheap things there.

At the new year day, there will be a parade showing around Tsimshatsui, to celebrate the most happy date for the Chinese society. On the second day of the new year, there will be fireworks show at the harbour. There two events are the major programme during the new year.

For shopping, most of the shopping mall are still operating during new year holidays, however, some traditional chinese style shops may be closed for 1 to 3 days. However, if you go to those major shopping mall, you can still enjoy there.

More information about Chinese New Year event in 2008:

http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/showtime/mega/cnyc/cny2008.jhtml

Game, Comics and Cosplay

Online games, portable electronic games device, comics, animations are quite popular among the young generations in Hong Kong. Therefore, exhibitions, fairs and shows about such products are also popular in Hong Kong. Several events are held in the city among the year. For example Comic Festival and Game Show in the summer, and Animation and Comic Festival during Christmas.

These shows attract young people to join, other than the games and comics, they also like to collect the accessories of the games and comics. Moreover, during such events, cosplay show and competition are one of the major programme to attract people. Cosplayer are acting as a role play in the story of a comic, or game. They may dress up like the image of the comic and let people to take photos. For competitions, the cosplayer are trying their best to win the prize.

That's quite interesting and worth the see the young culture in Hong Kong.

HK Marathon 2008, 17 Feb 2008

HK Marathon will be her 11th anniversary on 17 Feb 2008. It is a big Day for all runners.

HK Marathon is recognised as the biggest sport event in Hong Kong. Over 40000 runners participated in the 2007 contest.

I ran HK Marathon for 3 years and will join Half-Marathon (22km) this year. It is a really big physical and mental challenge to me.

Hong Kong citizens are becoming more aware of their health. We do exercise regularly.

Jogging and running are the most popular among the varieties of sports.

You can find quite a lot of people, either youngster or elderly running and jogging in the government owned running tracks.


More information about HK Marathon 2008 at HK Marathon.

The one in orange is me. hahaHA...

Western Market (西港城)

Western Market (上環街市) is an old building. It is a "Declared Monument which was built in 1908. It was really a wet market twenty years ago. However, the newly market complex was built nearby, and this building is quite classic in style, so the government keep it and convert it to current status. It was reopened in 1991. The English name reamins Western Market, but the Chinese name is changed to 西港城.

The ground floor of the building is now facilited with small shops selling gifts/sovenirs. There are several shops selling bus models there, they will organize "Bus Model" exhibitions every year.

The second floor are the so called "Cloth Street", different kinds of "cloth" can be found at this level.

The third floor is a Chinese Restaurant.

The market also organize flea market during weekends.

Transport: Exit C, MTR Sheung Wan Station and walk westward along the tramway for about 5 to 10 minutes.

Opening Hours: 10am - 7pm daily

Pawn Shop

Pawn Shop is the traditional financial service provider in Hong Kong. In the past, people are mortgage by keeping their golden stuff, jewelery, watches, or even bed-quilt in pawn shop.

However they can get back those stuff by paying interest later on.

Most of the pawn shop currently running are located in old building, so you can enjoy to visiting them, not only for the special style of mortgaging, but also the old-fashioned building.

Fireboat Alexander Grantham

I visited the "Fireboat Alexander Grantham Exhibition Gallery" last weekend with my fellows. It is converted from a real fireboat - Alexander Grantham. After the fireboat was retired, it is redecorate and placed in Quarry Park, as a exhibition gallery for fireboat service.

The fireboat was original built in the 1950s, it was serviced for half century. It was decommissioned in 2002. The gallery is aimed to conserve the history of the fireboat, also let visitors to know more about the history of sea rescue operation.

Address; Quarry Nay Park, Hong Kong
Opening Hours: 9:00am – 5:00pm(closed on every Tuesday, and the first 2 days of the Lunar New Year)

Admission: FREE
Transport: Exit E, MTR Tai Koo Station + 10 minute walk, through City Plaza

Chop Street (圖章街, Man Wa Lane, 文華里)

The Chop Street is located in Sheung Wan (official name is Man Wa Lane), it is just a small lane with kiosks. Most of them are selling chops, or name card printing service. It is an old street, decades before, those kiosks are printing name card with traditional way, using the stamps and hand-driven machines to print name cards one by one, so, it became a scenic spot before. However, nowadays, the printing way is modernized, but the chop business is still staying in this street.

You may go there to have a chop with your name, it can also be in Chinese character. You can see two tourist is enjoying the chops at one of the store.

Transport: Exit E1 or E2, MTR Sheung Wan Station

Hong Kong Central Library

I was self studying in the Hong Kong Central Library last Saturday. It is the main public library in Hong Kong. Besides the district libraries, most of the services are provided here.

As a Hong Kong resident, we can apply for a library card, in order to use the facilities provided by the public library. However, as a tourist, you can still coming to this big library to enjoy the service, reading books, newspapers and attending the exhibitions.

The Central Library is located at Causeway Bay, just opposite to the Victoria Park, it is a 12-stories building and was opened in 2001.

Address: 66 Causeway Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Telephone: 3150 1234

Opening Hours:
Mon, Tue, Thurs, Fri. Sat and Sun - 10am - 9pm

Wed - 1pm - 9pm

There will be special arrangement on opening hours on Public Holidays

Transport: Exit B, MTR Tin Hau Station.

Put Chai Ko (砵仔糕, Canton Style Pudding Cake)

Put Chai Ko is another famous Hong Kong style snack. However, it is originally from somewhere is Guangdong (Canton). It is a soft, palm size sweet pudding, placing is a small bow., whioch is the name "Put Chai" come from. The "Kao" means puddings, is a kind of white or yellow sugar, with red beans insides.

It is a steamed cakes, yummy and most Hong Kong children loves it. :)

You can get these pudding at some old style bakery, and some traditional vegetarian restaurant . Moreover, most supermarket named "SUPERSTORE" also sell this pudding. It cost about HK$4-5 each.

According to wikipedia, Put Chai Kao have several english translations, here is a list for your reference: Put chai pudding, Earthen bowl cake, Bootjaigo, Red bean pudding, Bood chai ko Sticky rice pudding.