A day in the park

Yesterday's trip to HK's iconic Ocean Park was a lot of fun. Seeing all the different sharks and fish up close made me realize just how large they actually are. 

I love how the aquariums are designed with 360 degree tanks that you can walk around and see sharks and other fish swim up beside you. Being able to see schools of fish pass overhead makes me feel like I was scuba diving in the sea with these animals.

The new shark aquarium (Photo: CharK)

The dolphin and sea lion show at the Ocean Theatre on the Summit was as a lot of fun to watch. The dolphins performed a lot of jumps and tricks, and the sea lions also sang and danced. Seats to the show gets filled up starting about half an hour before the show starts. But I didn`t mind waiting for the show to start because the theatre has a spectacular view-- overlooking the Summit and out towards Lamma Island.

A view of Lamma Island from Ocean Park (CharkK)

Some of the midway rides (CharK)

The very well trained dolphins performing synchronized routines (Photo: CharK)

What`s also great about the Park is the basic logistical issues like purchasing ticket and getting there. I highly recommend taking the 629 Citybus which leaves from Admiralty MTR Station and heads directly to the Park entrance. The short ride and more importantly the bus frequency makes the trip back and forth relatively painless. 

The only downside to the park was the tendency for many of the visitors to jump the lines. While waiting in line to get on the cable car, this mom and her young son (maybe around 4-5) casually walked on the side of a number of people who were already in line and then suddenly cut in front of us. I suppose we should have said something to indicate we didn`t like her cutting in front of us, but we were just so shocked by the blatant disregard for others already in line. She simply said to her son that they should wait in line even though he was hungry and then cut right  in as if nothing was wrong. After that seeing this mom and son cut in front of us, the two elderly ladies behind us got very antsy and started pushing up against me. Seeing how the line was going to take another 30 minutes to the cable car, and we`d have to ride in groups of six people, CharK and I decided to get out of the line and just take the tram down to the other side of the park. Running into people like that are the park was a bit of a downer but we just chalked it up to the culture of some of the visitors there. Unfortunately no one was enforcing line jumping, which is one of park rules...

The park entrance looks very pretty in this blue light (Photo: CharK)

Despite the cable car experience, we walked around the park a bit more and stayed to watch the light and pyrotechnic show at the Aqua City Lagoon just before heading home. The show was very impressive, fireworks along with a water fountain as a 360 degree screen for projecting images of dragons and other visual effects. The craziest part was how much heat was generated from the flames that periodically lit up the lagoon throughout the show. I felt the heat on my arms and face even standing about 3 meters away from the edge of the fountain!

Photo: CharK

Another tip for heading to Ocean Park: you can get free admission on your birthday if you happen to hold a permanent HK identification card. (That's how we celebrated CharK's birthday this year!)

Learning to read

The annual HK book fair is an event I look forward to each year. Even though I had only finished half of the books I had bought at least year's fair, I'm convinced I can do better this year. I realized that I started to lose interest in some of the psychology/social books because I getting stuck on a lot of the Chinese. And even though there were interesting observations about social behaviors (e.g. like how people tend to fill up seats on a public bus) and there really wasn't a hook for me to continue reading.

This year's reading list for CharK and I 

So this year I decided to try some Chinese novels which have been translated from popular Japanese young adult novels. These light-hearted novels have a romantic comedy theme which seem to have interesting storylines. Also CharK found a great dictionary app that'll help me get through the Chinese. I'm confident I'll do better with this year's reading list!

Rather than just reading a definition from a typical Chinese-English dictionary, this Cantonese Phonetic app can actually pronounce the word. In addition to pronouncing the different ways the word can be sounded, it gives the definition (in English) as well as common phrases of that word. The app is actually based on the Chinese University of Hong Kong's Chinese Character Database website. Having it on my phone is really handy, especially since I can use input a word directly via my touchscreen keyboard.

A great Cantonese-English translator tool for your mobile phone

This app has been pretty easy to use so far and I have made it through the first page of my novel fairly easily. I think this is going to be one of my favourite apps on my phone. It will be especially helpful for getting around HK on a daily basis and I won't have to worry about not being able to read something on a sign or restaurant menu!

World Cup Fever

Momentum for this year's World Cup has been building up in HK for months now. To generate buzz for the event there have been from TV specials travel shows to Brazil, McDonalds serving burgers from the competing countries, and most recently a meet-and-greet event with former English footballer Michael Owen.

The event at East Point City earlier this afternoon started with media interviews (Photo: CathC)

To be honest I don't really follow the sport. But all of this hype is bringing out some very interesting displays to celebrate the upcoming tournament. Like Christopher Tan's nanoblock exhibition on the World Cup, which features a spectacular depiction of Rio de Janeiro. I love how colourful the display is and was really impressed by the number of different buildings and iconic sights that are represented.

Look at all those colourful buildings! (Photo: CathC)

A cute representation of the stadium (Photo: CharK)

The World Cup starts this Thursday, I wonder if anyone will be trying to catch the games at work? I remember a World Cup tournament took place while I was in graduate school. My labmates set up a projector/screen to stream the tournament from online tv stations. It was a fun time because even our supervisor joined in to watch!

A different view from the Peak

A friend from Toronto is in town for a visit and he was keen to checking out the hiking trails in HK. So we decided to take him to Victoria Peak Garden and hiked out way down the Hong Kong Trail Section 1 towards The University of Hong Kong.

Most tourists tend to gravity towards the Peak Tower as there are spectacular views of the Hong Kong skyline from here. But there actually is a higher lookout from further up the Peak, at Victoria Peak Garden. The view from here is out towards Pok Fu Lam Country Park and you can even see the outlines of Cheung Chau and Lamma Island. Our hike to Victoria Peak Garden from the Peak Tower took about 30 mnutes and along the way we came across what I think is the city most tranquil children's playground at Mount Austin Road Playground.

All the palm trees and greenery make this park almost resort-like; even the washrooms seem nice (Photo: CathC)

We passed by the Gate Lodge of the Former Mountain Lodge, the summer residence of HK's Governor. The Gate Lodge is a Declared Monument in HK and was built in the 1900s. The Mountain Lodge was demolished in 1946 according the a government website, and reported to be designed as a Scottish style lodge. The Gate Lodge was constructed in a Renaissance Style.

We must have passed by at least 5 or 6 different gazebos along the Governor's walk to Victoria Peak Garden. Each were located in separate areas of the spacious and picturesque garden.

Today we saw three different bride and grooms having their photos taken here. (Photo: CathC)

The view from the Victoria Peak Garden was spectacular. I was amazed that even on a hazy day like today, I could see so far--to Cheung Chau. Even though it was the long weekend, there were only a handful of people here enjoying the view. This is my new favourite spot on the Peak.

Panoramic photos were invented for views like this. (Photo: CathC)

There's even a small snack shop up here. (Photo: CharK)

The hike down from the Peak Garden led to some interesting finds, like this hole in the mountain--a possible remnant from the war?

We took a short break once we reached the crossroads at Lugard and Hatton roads to take some more photos. There was even a man selling dried fruits and nuts here.

The hike down the Peak had some amazing views of the surrounding areas like the Tsing Ma Bridge.

The last part of our hike Lung Fu Shan into the University of Hong Kong felt the toughest because it had a tons of stairs and the paths were more rocky than the previously paved sections. But still there were many locals running through this part of the trails. There was also a small waterfall in the middle of the trail. The water looked pretty clear too.

Photo: CharK

The combination of the amazing city views and challenging path makes this my favourite hiking trails so far. So now I can say I've hiked both up and down Victoria Peak!

Kwai Hing's Industrial Area

One of the biggest adjustments about living in HK has been dealing with home repairs. For some reason it seems much more difficult to find spare or replacement parts to appliances and plumbing. Recently the switch on our fridge door burnt out, but our search for a replacement switch at a number of 五金鋪 ("Five Gold Store" aka hardware store) turned up nothing.

The switch that turns the fridge light on mysteriously burnt out (Photo: CathC)

When I called Whirlpool's Service Center about the problem, they said we could call technician to fix the problem or just buy the switch and fix the problem ourselves. to see what the options were. Initially getting the technician to fix the problem seemed to be a good solution it was so difficult to get the part ourselves. But after hearing the service call (excluding the cost of the part) would cost 420 HKD alone, we decided it'd be worth the time and effort to trek out to Kwai Hing, New Territories to pick up the replacement part ourselves.

The trip to Kwai Hing took a little over an hour traveling from the Tseung Kwan O Line to Kwun Tong Line and finally to the Tseun Wan Line. It was pretty easy to find the Whirlpool Service Center, just walk up to the end of Kung Yip Street to get to the Wilson Logistics Center where the Service Center is located. The only sketchy part was taking the worn looking elevator to the 14/F where the Service Center is located.

After showing the service rep the serial number for the door switch, he was quick to find the spare part. The replacement switch cost 190 HKD. So considering the cost of the technician`s service call it was definitely worth the time and effort out to pick up the spare part (The round-trip MTR fare for the both of us cost around 40 HKD).

Today`s trip out to Kwai Hing made us wish a Home Depot or Lowes would open up in HK. These stores are nearly open all the time and would make home repairs so much easier. The Whirlpool Service Center is only opened between 8:30 to 5:30 on Weekdays and 8:30 to 12:30 pm on Saturdays.

On a search for Oldies

CharK and I went to Sino Center in Mong Kok to look for old PC games. Unfortunately we weren't able to find an old copy of Densha de Go! amongst the many copies of SIMS, Diablo, and other Chinese RPGs. But unexpectedly we both were able to find some old CDs by our favourite artists.

I had always wanted my own copy of Third Eye Blind's debut album ever since I first heard my friend's copy  in junior high. But for one reason or another I never ended up buying a copy. Even with the prevalence of MP3s I actually prefer the actual copy of this album since I happened to like all of the songs and want to have the lyrics readily available.

Considering I haven't been able to find this at the local HMV stores, I was really surprised to see it being sold at one of the music shops at the Sino Center. Since it had the original stickers, this CD seemed to be the real deal--it was definitely worth the 39 HKD!

CharK also found a couple of Yui CDs at another shop in the same mall. They were a great deal too at 48 HKD each.

Our great finds of the day at the music store (Photo: CathC)

I must have listened to Semi-Charmed Life hundreds of times throughout my junior high years (Photo: Cath)

Having this best of Yui collection means needing fewer CDs around the house (Photo: CathC)

This shopping center is a pretty popular place for young people in search of old games, CDs, and figurines, and comics (mostly Japanese). One tip I have about coming here is to bring a bottled drink with you because there are tons of shops but none sell drinks (most stores have a no food/drink policy). Also, leave the backpacks at home (it can get very crowded in the narrow hallways and tiny shops). Once I got over the crowds, it was fun wandering around looking at all the toys, games, and CDs of my childhood.

Sino Center may not be one of the top destinations in the guidebooks but it's definitely a place to hit if you're looking for a blast from the past!

Celebrating another birthday in HK

This year's birthday was spent trying yet another new restaurant that opened up at the mall downstairs. CharK and I got to Ruby Tuesday (Tseung Kwan O branch) around 7:30 and there were only about a handful of people standing around the restaurant. But the actual list of people waiting for a table was about 1-page long. It turned out they only call their guests`mobile number rather than using a sign/calling the next table to be seated.

So we walked around the mall for about half an hour, then waited by the desk for nearly another 20 minutes before we were finally seated. This system is somewhat ineffective because we weren't the only party where the hostess would call to ask if we'd like to keep our reservation and we'd respond by saying "Yes, we're actually standing in front of you."

As far as a casual American restaurant goes, this one has a pretty good menu selection and friendly staff. Our waiter was professional about describing specials and serving our meals (he actually identified which burger was which on my "Mini Trio" plate).

 Satisfying our cravings for steak and burgers (Photo: CathC)

The bbq wings in this "sampler" plate was spicy had good heat to it. The Asiago peppercorn steak was very tasty from the flame grilled smoky flavour. The blondie was just like a soft chocolate oatmeal cookie, which was delicious. The three miniburgers were: chicken, crab, and beef. The crab cake burger was my favourite and the sweet and sour sauce really went well with it.

One disappointment with our order was that this new location hadn't received their liquor licence yet (even though they've been opened for about 2 weeks!). I was flipping through the drinks menu, deciding between the selection handcrafted drinks and margaritas when the waiter told us they were still waiting for their license. He tried to sell us on the "zero-proof drinks" but celebrating with juice/pop didn't seem to be the same. So I decided to make my own Calpis Sour at home later in the evening.

(Photo: CathC)

But in the end it's nice to have another American restaurant for dinner options in the future. Today's dinner was a nice way to celebrate the start another year in HK. If the quality and serve stays the same as tonight's meal, then I think it's a restaurant we'll be coming back to.