A samba through LKF

Lan Kwai Fong is lively entertainment district consisting of a variety of international restaurants, bars, and lounges in the midst of the former hawker`s neighourhood. I always find the walk through the windy roads of LKF along the cobble stone lanes to be more exercise than I'm use to out in TKO where the roads are quite flat.

The steep cobble stone lanes of LKF which is a popular background for wedding and graduation photos (Photo: CathC)

Street vendors ready for the holiday season by selling Christmas ornaments and tabletop Christmas trees (Photo: CathC)

I had fun walking around the Lan Kwai Fong Carnival which is running this weekend in LKF. Many of the local bars had booths outside sellng beer and snacks, and traditional Chinese snacks like the dragon beard card were also being sold. I thought it was a smart idea to set up performances along the different streets. But unfortunately the small stage areas made it very difficult to get a clear view of the performers (whether Brazilian drummers, Kung Fu masters, or Jazz saxophone players).

Kung Fu masters was one of the many different performancers at the LKF Carnival (Photo: CathC)

The Toys "R" Us stage attracted a lot of kids who were hoping to get balloon animals (Photo: CathC)

Maybe it's just me but I think it's inappropriate to be handing out Okamoto balloons and paper crowns to kids (Photo: CathC)

Today was a great day for the Carnival and I enjoyed spending the time outside since it was such a nice breezy autumn day for an outdoor event.

Global fundraising for children's educational programs

Walking around Ikea always brings me a sense of familiarity. One of the more noticeable differences between Ikea Hong Kong and Ikea Canada is that the showrooms here are actually more representative of the actual living space of a typical HK apartment than that in Toronto. So multipurpose furniture and/or storage options are on the top of my shopping wishlist.

Aside from walking around and fantasizing about redesigning our apartment, I spent a lot time playing with the new plushies and finger puppets that were being sold as part of Ikea's 2013 Soft Toys for Education campaign which is raising money for Save the Children and UNICEF's children's educational programs. This is a global fundraising campaign for educational programs in Asia, Africa, and Central and Eastern Europe. Ikea Hong Kong is donating $10 HKD for every plush toy that's sold.

A squeaky carrot plushy and dragon and a fairy tale cast of finger puppets (Photo: CathC)

I was curious about the educational projects that were being funded by this campaign and found a blog that's written by different Ikea staff members who've spent time volunteering at the various sites. I thought they've done a nice job with the blog since you can get a good idea of what the volunteers experienced in each of the different projects--like building the Iharaka Primary School in Mahalevona by shipping materials in from boats. I believe Ikea Hong Kong is donating funds to UNICEF in China which is helping to build schools in the rural parts of China.

I think the Soft Toys for Education campaign is a great cause since it's global campaign and staff working in different countries not just raised money but have also volunteered in these local projects. Their work has been pretty impress as well. According to Ikea Foundation website the campaign began in 2003 and since then they've raised nearly €57 million, for 90 projects in 45 countries, helping 10 million children receive a better education.

A walk in the park

Hong Kong's mountaineous terrain makes a walk though the park a really great workout . The majority of city's natural hillside ranges from 0 to 30 degrees, which means the different areas of parks are often connected by long flights of stairs.

I visited Hong Kong Park yesterday, which is in one of the hilly areas of the city. This turned out to be one of my favourite parks. It's truly a beautiful oasis in the middle of the concrete jungle.  Aside from an artificial waterfall and lake that's swimming with turtles and fish, there's a fantastic vantage point that overlooks the park.

This vantage point located in the Tai Chi Garden (Photo: CharK)

There are two flights of stairs to this tower, one to go and another to come back down (Photo: CathC)

At first I was a bit wary of to walk up the spiraling staircase of this 30-metre tower, but it actually takes a very short time to walk up 105 steps. At the top I had a great overview of the park (including the lake, aviary, tai chi garden) and also the surrounding neighbourhood.

A mix of old and new buildings near the mid-peak area (Photo: CharK)

You can get a peak of Victoria Harbour from here (Photo: CharK)

If you like bird watching, this is a great park for that. Even outside of the designated aviary, there were a number of cockatoos perched on the trees. I had the greatest view of these birds from the vantage point.

Walking over to the artificial lake, I was surprised to see so many turtles and koi fish--there must have been at least dozen swimming around in there. There were lots of kids watching the animals and they'd normally love to feed them. But there were signs everywhere which said not to feed the wildlife, and they were actually pretty good about following them too.

This turtle looked so cute sleeping on a rock at the edge of the artificial lake (Photo: CharK)

I love these weekend outings to the parks--it's a really relaxing way to enjoy the autumn weather. I hope this cool weather lasts for a couple more months...I'm not really looking forward to the damp and cold winter months...