Lan Kwai Fong

It is 9:00 PM in the Friday evening, after a full week of hard working routine. It is about time for me to relax and enjoy the life. The first thing that comes up in my mind: "What about calling some buddies and hanging around at Lan Kwai Fong?" Sure Lan Kwai Fong is a very unique place that lots of bistros, bars and nightclubs sit in a tiny "L" shape cobble stone lane. It is located in the heart of Central surrounded by all the skycrapers. When the night is still young, the lane is packed with thousands of people who are looking for excitement.

Want to experience yourself? It is easy to get there, e.g. take the MTR and get off at Central, look for the sign directing to Lan Kwai Fong.

Mountain-Top Experience

Ever wondered where the banner image of our blog is showing? It's a place you shouldn't miss during your visit in HK: the Victoria Peak.

Portrayed as a tourist attraction, I, as a Hongkonger, also like paying a visit to the Peak whenever I have time. It is such an all-in-one experience that simply nobody can resist. The excitement starts at the Hong Kong Park, where you can spend an hour or two relaxing yourself before embarking on the Peak Tram going all the way up to the Peak. Many say it is the most thrilling ride of all because the steepest part of the route is 27 degrees to the horizontal. Last time I tried to lean 45 degrees backward without actually falling!

Once you get to the destination, the Peak, there are numerous activities awaiting your discovery. First and foremost, shops selling HK-local souvenirs are around to whet your appetite. Bored of shopping again? No problems! How about having a picture with Jacky Chan, David Beckham, or Tiger Woods? Your dreams come true at Madame Tussauds, a wax figure museum housing celebrities from all over the world. Make sure you bring along with your camera (and have enough battery and memory space).

Here comes the most spectacular part of the day: a 360-degree panoramic view of Hong Kong! The brand new Sky Terrace (on the Peak Tower) is a scenic spot that no visitors should miss. Be it day shot, night shot, portrait, or landscape, you can definitely get some stunning pictures as long as you press the shutter LOL.

There are still heaps of goodies up on the Peak, but I'll let you explore them further yourself. Have fun!

Fire Dragon

Shopping at Mega Box

It was public holidy for Mid-Autumn festival yesterday (26th Sep). I went to Mega Box in Kowloon Bay with my family. When I arrived Kowloon Bay MTR station Exit A, I tried to find a signage in the Telford Plaza II to bring me down to the place, however I couldn’t find it. I eventually asked the Customer Service. She told me there were two ways to go, either walked by 15 minutes or took a shuttle bus. I decided to take a bus as I don’t know where it was. We followed her instruction to find IKEA, went downstairs to find the shuttle bus stop. Wah…very long queue. It was lucky that the queue was moving quite fast. We queued up less than 10 minutes to get on the bus and brought us down to the mall.

Oh…..it was an amazing building. The building was red with a big screen inside which grasped my attention quickly after I got off the bus. When I went inside, it was so huge with at least 14 floors.

Big screen in the middle of the mall !

The shops are centralized and grouped to different floors for ease of shopping. We went to SpotLight at Level 5. There are a lot of variety of material can be found here. You don’t need to go to the very hot and crowded shops in Sham Shui Po to find it, or buy it from ebay or internet in the future. It looked like IKEA but cheaper with more variety. The bed sheet has different color, pattern, size and style. They sold a variety of raw material for warping gift also. The towel sold at HK$57 per piece. Different type of cloth was selling at HK$10 per meters, too. We did not buy anything, but we had already spent 2 hours in the shop. I will come back next week.




Then we moved to B&Q at Level 3 and 4. It was a DIY shop with more than 100,000 sq. feet. It provided one-stop solution service. There were expertises to provide design, material quotation and report the progress of the renovation. Also, they sold all types of materials for renovation, including floor, wall and paints, etc. It was more convenience to shop for everything in one shop instead of shopping around in different shops in MongKok. It makes me thinking about to re-decorate the house again.

Bath or quick Shower ?!!

Beautiful and colourful tiles !!

Lantern Carnival

Lanterns are only played by children? If you visit the Mid-Autumn lantern carnival at Victoria Park, you must change your mind because of the beautiful arts. This year lantern carnival takes the simple life of chinese ethnic minority as a subject. Lanterns have been put on different ethnic minority clothings. In order to show chinese myth fable, totems equipped with woods and dragon are displayed.

After the dinner, family members sit on the Victoria Park lawn, enjoy the moon cake and admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon. Children grasps the lantern and the fluorescence stick to play, a piece of happy and warm atmosphere is fully filled on the Victoria Park.

A nice resort in the New Territories

It seems that most of the popular tourist spots are located on Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Peninsula, people always neglect many nice places in the New Territories, Hong Kong Gold Coast is an example. It is a large tourist resort located at Tuen Mun, near Castle Peak Bay. The main facilities include the resort hotel, shopping mall, restaurants, barbeque site, yacht and country club etc. Walking along the Continental-style buildings, you feel like staying in a European small town. Due to this special feature, many couples choose to take their wedding photos there. On every weekend and public holiday, you can find booths selling handicrafts and artists displaying their works on Art Promenade. The Gold Coast Montmartre and the new Dolphin Square are suitable for family day, but you can also enjoy an romantic moment on the long Golden Beach, the first and biggest artificial beach in Hong Kong. Don't miss the beautiful sunset, it will be an unforgettable memory in your mind.

The story behind Ocean Park

This year Ocean Park is celebrating its 30th years old birthday. Opened on January 1977, Ocean Park experienced its tough period from 1998 to 2004, the number of tourists dropped dramatically and the park had been suffering loss. Facing the challenge of Hong Kong Disney, repulsion of the old sites and recovery from SARS, people began to suspect the value of the park, some even suggested to shut it down. However, the HK government did not give up. In 2004, known as the father of Lan Kwai Fong, Allan Zeman was invited to be the president of the park, then Ocean Park began its new era, it was established a more prominent image as an ocean theme park in Southeast Asia. With the introduction of new animal species, brand new amusement rides and also the individual visit scheme from mainland China, the number of visitors reached the peak of 400 millions on the same year. It was the highest record since the park has opened and the figure kept rising afterwards. The renewal did not only attract new comers, but also brought the old visitors back to the park. The success of Ocean Park symbolized the Hong Kong spirit- aggressive, hard-working and adaptive. It is our treasure to share with all people around the world. Next time when you come to visit Ocean Park, try to think of the story behind, you may find more than what you see.