Birthdays and rooftop patios

I felt very special this year, celebrating my birthday with CharK on a rooftop patio. HK has a number of restaurants, bars and lounges on the balconies of skyscrapers, but neither of us had ever been to one. The view from Sugar`s balcony is really spectacular. Located on the 32nd floor of East Hotel in Taikoo, we had a great view of Kowloon and the Kai Tak airport.

I suppose this is the kind of panorama views you could see living in a penthouse in HK (Photo: CharK)

The nice thing about being out of the way from the crowds in Central and Wan Chai, is that even without reservations, we only waited for about 20 minutes for a seat on the deck on a Friday night. We really lucked out on Friday night, CharK and I got to enjoy our drinks at a corner of the balcony.

Inside the bar there was a DJ playing music but he seemed kinda bored. I suppose in a regular club, there'd be dancing and some interaction with the clients. But here, the bar and couches take up where the dance floor is. Not sure what kinda of music was being played, a mix between funk and dance. But all in all it is a good place to just sit and relax, after a long week.

A cozy corner to enjoy the view (Photo: CharK)

My favourite snack of the evening, chorizo sliders (Photo: CharK)

Another view of the HK skyline (Photo: CathC)

Gentrification of Tin Hau

What's interesting about HK's neighborhoods is the variety of architecture that exists in one small area. Like in Tin Hau, there are one-storey shops in the midst of high-rise condominiums. In recent years, Tin Hau area has been transforming from one of the city's older neighbors to an up and coming trend area.

I usually pass by Tin Hau on the way to other areas of Hong Kong Island, so I'm not familiar with the neighborhood and was pleasantly surprised by the variety of cuisines here. Within the couple of blocks around Wun Sha St. and Tai Hang Road are Japanese, Singaporean, Taiwanese, and Chinese restaurants. Walking along the narrow streets I came across ramen shops, dai pai dong, cha chaan tan, and cafes.

Iniitally CharK and I ate lunch at a local ramen shop which operates as a traditional noodle shop. There`s only bar seating and you can watch the ramen chefs make your food in front of your eyes. You can choose between a few bowls of ramen (like Nagoya, Hokkadio,style) or you can make your own--picking the broth and toppings.  I had the pork bone with black truffle broth with toasted garlic. This was one of the most flavorful bowls of ramen I've had in HK. The prices were pretty reasonable too. Ranging from ~90 to 120HKD plus 5-25 HKD for any extra toppings like bbq pork or seaweed. We ordered an extra side of seaweed for the ramen (23HKD), which turned out to be a generous portion--6 pieces of toasted seaweed.

A traditional Japanese ramen shop serving handmade noodles (Photo: CharK)

The atmosphere of the restaurant seemed pretty authentic, with orders called out in Japanese and lots of childhood toys and cartoons used as the restaurant's main decorations.

After lunch CharK and I walked around to explore the neighbor and was surprised to learn that autobody shops/garages are the mostly frequented businesses. There are also a number of cafes and tea shops in the area. We shopped at one called which served a large variety of coffee--from Americanos to mint cucumber lattes.. While we waited for our coffee, a number of cool looking cars drove by with fancy rims and other modified car parts. That was one tricky thing about walking around, constantly watching out for cars in the narrow streets/random sidewalks.

I love this building--rennovated traditional apartment sitting on top of a trendy coffee shop (Photo: CharK)

Of course in Hong Kong, why wouldn't there be a Hello Kitty themed cafe? (Photo: CharK)

It seemed that Tin Hau is an up and coming neighborhood. Lots of older shops have closed down with new, modern-looking ones taking their place. With the cafes and western restaurants opening up, I guess Tin Hau is becoming more like Sheung Wan? Hopefully the prices for the restaurants here don't increase too drastically with these new shops.

Easter Long Weekend

CharK and I explored Lamma Island (南丫島) on Friday with a fellow Canadian and colleague of CharK's. I love hiking on a long weekend because there's plenty of time rest up after the exercise! The ferry ride over from Central was particularly fun compared to going to other nearby islands like Discovery Bay or Cheung Chau because the ferry over to Sok Kwu Wan (索罟灣) is an open air two-storey ferry. The waves were choppy and I was literally rolling around on the bench and feeling the sea breeze on my face.

Probably the choppiest ferry ride I've been on in HK (Photo: CharK)

After we got off the ferry, we hiked from Sok Kwu Wan towards Yung Shue Wan (榕樹灣). This was probably one of the more family and tourist friend trails we've been on. The trail has limited stairs and mostly wider paved paths. Along the paths were vendors selling herbal teas, frozen pineapples and of course, popsicles-- all great snacks for a hot spring hike. We did the trail "backwards" and this was a good approach since there were fewer people going this way.

One of the many lookout points along the trail--looking back towards Sok Kwu Wan (Photo:Chark)

But perhaps the most surprising thing we saw was the "warships" off in the distant sea from the Lo So Shing Beach (蘆鬚城泳灘). I wasn't sure why they were out there, or which country they belong to--but I'm guessing they are China's? According to Wikipedia they are part of the naval force protecting Hong Kong.

The Type 037-II boat just off of the Lamma Power Station (Photo: CharK)

A view of the Lamma Power Station from the trail (Photo: CharK)

Of course we had to stop by to see Hong Kong's only wind turbine. I`ve only ever driven by wind turbines set up on farms in Canada. So being able to stand directly underneath one was very impressive, just looking up to at the giant blades spinning. It was worth the hike up the steep path up to the wind turbine, to see one up close. Today, the sign on the wind turbine showed that it was producing 0.2 kW.

A view of the Wind Turbine from the ferry ride over to Sok Kwu Wan (Photo: Chark)

A view of the wind turbine from the look out pavillion about 50 meters from the base of the turbine (Photo: CharK)

After the hike the three of us feasted on a seafood meal by the pier. The mantis shrimp is my new favourite dish. I didn't realize shrimp could be so meaty (like lobster tail). The famous "typhoon shelter crab" was delicious as well--nice and peppery.

What a feast--black bean razor clams, garlic scallops, salt and pepper mantis shrimp, and typhoon shelter crab (Photo: CharK)

I really enjoyed the seafood dinner on Lamma Island. The selection is great and is even cheaper than Sai Kung which extremely busy with tourists. Also you can sit right beside the pier, and get a much closer view of the sea. Happy Easter everyone!