A creative Valentine's Day at PMQ

I'm constantly impressed by HK's artists and designers, and this Valentie's Day with CharK at PMQ (元創方)--a newly revitalized hub for HK's creative scene--didn`t disappoint.

Photo: CharK

According to PMQ's website, it was original the site of HK's first government school. After World War II, the site became the Police Married Quarters for married junior police officers and was in used until 2000. It wasn't until April 2014 that the PMQ started operating as a venue for HK`s designers and popup stores.

It was fun walking around to check out all the shops. I think each shop use to be a living quarter, and the still has many of the original window frames. There are a tons of cool shops selling unique designs in from jewelry to home furnishing. A few of the shops even offered Valentine themed workshops. It was sweet seeing couples were making rings for each other in a jewelry making workshop.

This cool bamboo bike outside on of the shops caught our eye. (Photo: CharK)

There's also an art installation called "Adventures of the Goat" in celebration the Lunary New Year. It was really cool that only a single projector is needed to create the colorful moving images. A couple of other "Goat" (theoretically the CNY's 12 zodiacs should be a Ram...) themes were seen around the PMQ. The dangling goat in the main hall looks pretty cool and is made from a number of origami goats.

The details in this short movie was amazing (Photo: CharK)

Hundreds of origami goats (Photo: CharK)

I was pleasantly surprised by the rich coffee and chocolate souffle that is being served at the Bread and Butter Cafe inside PMQ. The food is pretty good for such a small place.

It was a good lunch at Bread and Butter Cafe (Photo: Cath)

CharK and I found our way to PMQ after a recommendation from a friend visiting from San Francisco. This creative spot in HK's Soho district is a fun date place and a great place to check out some local designers and goods.

A tea house from Japan's Edo Period

The Amazake Chaya (Tea House) was probably one of the most interesting places I came across on my visit to Hakone. CharK and I reached the Tea House after a short hike through the Ishidatami (stone paved) road. 

Photo: CharK

The tea house was built during the Edo period and sits along the Tokaido road. The tea house was originally a rest spot for travelers, able to  snack on mochi and amazake (sweet malted rice drink) to replenish their energy. 

Photo: CharK

According to Odakyu's guide of the tea house, the menu here is still the original one from back in the day.

Photo: CharK

The warm and fragrant tea house was a nice break from our windy walking. I felt so warm sitting next to the heater (which doubled as a stove for the kettle) and made it possible to drink the cold red shiso juice. I loved sitting at the wooden tables on tree trunks--I could imagine what it was to be like a traveller in this period.

Photo: CharK

Simple yet delicious mochi (black sesame and roasted beans) Photo: CharK

I imagine this tea house would make a great field trip for school kids. As a kid I love visiting the Pioneer Villages and learning about daily life by being in the actual site of where it all happened.

Photo: CharK

Lastly, here's a tip to travelers arriving by bus. The public bus comes every 30 minutes on the weekday, so remember to check the bus schedule (just across the street from the tea house) before heading inside. There's not much to do around the tea house, except the other entrance into the Ishidatami site.

Jet Setting Hello Kitty style

Hello Kitty is ubiquitous in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and of course Japan. You can find everything from Toasters to steering wheel covers with that moniker. So I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to fly on a Hello Kitty plane on my recent trip to Japan. Eva Air operates a Hello Kitty Jet on various international flights including Taipei to Paris, Seoul, Hong Kong and various Japanese cities.  I flew on this plane during my return flight to Hong Kong from Japan.

Eva Air's Hello Kitty commuter plane traveling between Taipei and Japan; and Taipei and Hong Kong (Photo: CathC)

Aside from the plane, there's a clear Hello Kitty theme at Taiwan's Taoyuan Airport--like the public telephone booths and waiting area. The trip back to Hong Kong included catching a connecting flight in Taipei. The connection in Taipei was hilarious. CharK and I didn't care where we were sitting on the plane and booked the same seats for both the Tokyo-Taipei and Taipei-Hong Kong flights. We got off the plane in Taipei, and literally took a loop around the waiting area. We went through security again just to get back on the same plane and sit down where we were for the last 3.5 hours!

Although, it was nice too see the crew did a pretty good job cleaning the seats (removing the initial stickiness off arm rests that was there when we boarded in Tokyo).

Waiting to board the plane from Taipei back to Hong Kong (Photo:CathC)

Many of the amenities you'd find on a plane were done in the Hello Kitty theme, including pillows, snacks (nuts), cutlery, even the vomit bag! With so many airlines operating these short commuter-routes, the Hello Kitty theme seems to be smart method to win-over passengers, especially those with children.

It was nice to see what the fuss is all about but I can't say I would purposely schedule my flight plans to flew on this plane again. It was odd to see the hand moisturizer bottle disappear half way through the flight...

The decked out Hello Kitty plane  between Taipei-Hong Kong (Photo: CathC)

But I was impressed by the attention to details with this theme down to the boarding pass and luggage tags. I loved the cute playing cards that were available on board.

The cutest luggage tags I've ever seen (Photo: CathC)

The flight home on the Hello Kitty Jet was a fun way to wrap up our trip to Japan.Many airlines boast their luxurious seating designs or amenity kits. But these are mostly exclusive to First or Business class. So I wonder if this type of themed planes will catch on with other airlines? Incorporating a popular theme seems to be an inexpensive way to make the flying experience a little more special for the common flyer.

Hiking in the clouds

My friend from Toronto and her sister flew in for a visit a few days before New Year, and together we hiked up the Ngong Ping 360 Rescue Trail towards Ngong Ping Village.

This trail follows the cable car path for most of the way and I could hear the excited visitors inside their cabins as they passed overhead. The view of the Chek Lap Kok international airport was pretty nice from up here.

The steep rocky steps of the Ngong Ping 360 Rescue Trail (Photo: CharK)

The cable cars were about 80% full even on this foggy day (Photo: CharK)

One of the hardest part of the trail was the steep stair climb up towards the lower cable car stop (Photo: CharK)

I've never hiked in the winter before and since the day was a bit foggy, I felt like walking through clouds during parts of the hike. Usually I can see the surrounding islands from the mountain but the foggy weather made the view into a different isolate world. My friend described it as being like "Lord of the Rings". Being a rescue trail meant it's a nicely paved path. But some of the wooden planks were quite slippery. In fact some of the other hikers we saw had to pull each up to keep from falling down. 

I loved hiking through this foggy mist. There was actually sign warning "beware of very steep trail ahead" (Photo: Chark)

 It was a very strange feeling to feel sweaty and cold at the same time because the temperature was below 12 degrees Celsius near the peak. But we finally made it to the Ngong Ping Village right before sunset. I was so happy that I was able to catch a glimpse of the Tian Tan Buddha even in this fog.

The Buddha and Po Lin Monastery off in the distance (Photo: CharK)

 It was a very strange feeling to feel sweaty and cold at the same time because the temperature was I was suprised to find the Ngong Ping Village was closed so early in the evening. It was about 6pm when we got there and pretty much all the shops and restaurants were closing. The only place still opened was Starbucks. So we picked up some drinks and walked around briefly before heading back down to Tung Chung. 

So this hike was my pre-New Year resolution to to exercise more and turned out pretty successful...Now I can check off of Lantau Island as another hiking destination!

~Happy New Year~

The bright Christmas lights around the city

HK is especially beautiful this time of year with all of the Christmas decorations up. I must have taken dozens of photos of the various decorations and displays around the city. Every year the malls and other tourists attractions try to draw in the largest crowds with the best displays. Here's around up of my favourite Christmas decorations for 2014.

#5 The LED maze at Shatin's New Town Plaza

Although not particularly a Christmas theme, these LED flowers(?) dangling outside of the maze are still very pretty (Photo: CathC) 

Hard to imagine this 8000ft^2 maze is actually on the roof of the mall (Photo: CathC)

#4 HK Skyline along the Victoria Harbour

The Christmas signage on the city's skyscrapers make the light show extra special (Photo: CharK)

#3 The multi-storey Christmas tree at Kwloon Tong's Festival Walk

You can take a photo with Santa Claus inside the castle at the base of this brilliant Christmas tree (Photo: Cath)

#2 Christmas Snoopy at Kwun Tong's APM

There are literally dozens of these life-sized Christmas Snoopy around the mall (Photo: CathC).

#1 The Christmas snow global outside Hysan's Place in Causesway Bay

The details on the house make the whole thing look so delicate (Photo: CathC)

Seeing these decorations make me extra happy during the festive season. Hope you've enjoyed them as well--Merry Christmas everyone!

Wandering around the HK brand and product expo

Today was my first time attending HK's annual produt and brand expo at Victoria Park in Causeway Bay. The fair gathers around 2 million people (according to an SCMP report) every year as people are eager to get deals on everything from groceries (e.g. shampoo, sauces, and dried seafood) to electronics and cookware. This year on opening day one local firm offered their air conditioning units for 1 HKD for three lucky buyers.

Although the line was constantly moving, I was still in line for about 30 minutes (Photo: CathC)

Aside from deals on groceries, I was most interested in trying some street food. Something I was not expecting was darian flavoured egg tarts. I've tried the Portuguese egg tarts and milk tarts before, but darian was a new flavour. It had a very pungent smell and creamy taste like the filling in darian pancakes. 

I liked the creamy Portuguese tart on the top was better than the smelly darian one (Photo: CathC)

After dessert I moved onto the savory X.O. sauce white raddish cake. Not surprisingly the crowds to these food stall were pretty large. By 3pm the rice noddles were all sold out at one particular food stall. I love the fact that street food is just grab and go, that with all the people there the wait for a snack is minimal.

Braving the crowds for the street food stalls (Photo: CathC)

Spicy white raddish cake (Photo: CathC)

After fueling up with this and other street foods like tofu skewers and green apple ice cream I was ready to walk around to do some shopping. I was impressed by all the shopping carts that people were lugging around to stock up on groceries. Chinese woks were another popular item that people were buying. I ended up getting a variety of Chinese soup mix bags and some Macanese peanut candy, which were about 10~ off. Even though this trip didn't end up being a big haul it was still a fun even to walk around.

Lots of local HK companies and manufacturers set up booths at the event (Photo: CathC)

It's a Snoopy Christmas

The malls are filled with Christmas decorations once again and the Snoopy Display at Kwun Tong's APM is my favourite so far. What's great about the display is that aside from Snoopy, his siblings; Andy, Marbles, Olaf, Spike; and Belle were also featured.

I thought the toddlers standing among the dozens of life-sized Snoopys made for an adorable photo-op--so did most of the families there. There was a constant stream of parents waiting to have a close-up of their kids and the Peanuts Gang.

Seeing these life sized Peanuts characters made my day (Photo: CathC)

I also liked the fashionable Snoopys and Belles that were on display. Famous designers like Nina Ricci and Enrico Coveri put together outfits for the famous duo. These outfits were so colorful and fun!

Snoopy and Belle are dressed by famous fashion designers (Photo: CathC)

Nearly 2-storey tall Snoopy Christmas tree (Photo: CharK)

In addition to the Christmas display, various Snoopy models were placed around the mall. I came across another one featuring Snoopy from different decades. I was surprised to see how different 1950s Snoopy was from the rest. He looks very young to me, almost like a puppy compared to the others!

Snoopy through the decades--1950s Snoopy looks so young compared to the others (Photo: CathC)

The Snoopy display was a nice way to start off the competition for holiday displays. Can't wait to see what else is in store for the reason of the season!