rkkwan in Hong Kong, Feb 2011
 

I will be in Hong Kong from Jan 29th to March 2nd this year, 2011, covering the Chinese New Year holiday and more. Unlike my previous visits, I will have a little more spare time during this trip, and if anyone here wants to meet up for meals, short excursions or photos, please post or contact me directly. You can find my email on my profile.

For those who don't know me well, I am ethnic Chinese; grew up and lived in Hong Kong from 1971 to 1988. Still visiting Hong Kong one to twice a year.

rkkwan, we are going to be in Hong Kong for the first time this year -- but shortly after you leave.

Where do you live now?

sf7307 - I live in Houston, TX. Enjoy your trip to HK. I'm sure you'll like it.

Happy travels, rkkwan. Glad that you'll be able to enjoy some down time.

Down time? What I need is "up time". :p

Arrived in HK a few days ago. We're having a fairly warm CNY Eve and public holidays. Up to around 20C/68F. Low humidity, but kind of hazy.

Went to Victoria Park on Monday to check out the flower market before the main crowd arrived. News report say flower prices are up this year (even 30%), due to cold winter, good economy and weak USD/HKD.

Compared to my last visit over 20 years ago, I found that the sizes of the peach blossom much smaller. People used to get 7-8ft ones, but now the majority are smaller ones. I also didn't see too many cactus plants that were popular in the 70's and 80's. Due to cold winter so far, the narcissus are still far from blooming.

Here are some pictures of food I've consumed so far. Straight from camera:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...6&l=8d3643d93e

Again, if anybody wants to meet up for local food or going places, let me know. You can find my email in my profile.

You are making me very hungry!

Just came back from the regional flower market in Tsuen Wan. Still plenty of people there at 4am. Bought some deeply discounted flowers. I was wrong about the narcissus. Because of the warmer weather the last 3 days, a lot of them actually got to bloom. :)

rkkwan: I live in Dallas. Do you know any good Chinese "Halal" restuarants and other "Halal" restaurants in Hongkong. Thank you.

lovefood - One favorite food place among local Chinese that just happens to be Halal is "Wai Kee". It is in the food center (similar to hawker center in Singapore) at the Bowrington Road Market in Causeway Bay, close to Time Square.

My parents love that place, and its speciality is the roast goose. It closes pretty early - I think at 7pm. And can be very busy for lunch.

Thank you rkkwan. I haven't been to Hong Kong. Been to HK airport on the way back from Bangkok. I would love to visit HK & SIN this year. I'm still trying to figure out when we can go, due to our work schedule. It's been a while since I went to SIN. I am all about food so perhaps SIN might be better. More options for Halal food. Your thoughts?

lovefood - I'd think so as well. While there is a significant Muslim community in Hong Kong, it's not that big; and while I'd think some Middle Eastern/South Asian/Malaysian/Indonesian restaurants here are Halal, not all indicate them being so. And Chinese Halal are few and far between.

Went down to TST last night to see what's the parade is like. I am not a fan of parade, and this one is definitely NOT worth fighting the crowds or standing there early to get a good spot for. I ended up going up iSquare (around seven floors), and viewed from way above for a little while.

It was quite eerie to walk around TST early in the evening to see almost all the stores closed. CNY is still the "quietest" day in Hong Kong in the whole year, though some larger chains do have some stores open - I guess with large companies, they can find some employees willing to work on CNY.

FYI, I think it is snowing in Houston tonight! I know you are sorry to be missing that. :)
Jane

Jane - Trust me, I won't be missing that. :p

rkkwan- We got no snow, just freezing rain and ice here in Houston overnight!

Skipped the crowds during CNY for the most part, including the fireworks on Feb 4, the 2nd day of the new year. Police said around 300K people lined the harbor to watch it, and there were 4 barges rather than 3 in previous years. However, it was kind of hazy, which diminished the show somewhat.

Spent Feb 5, 3rd day of CNY hiking around Jubilee Reservoir with some new friends. First time there in about 30 years. Even though the line of the public "green" van up there was long, it wasn't too crowded once we started the walk. Weather was awesome. One little change from 30 years ago was that the monkey community has spread from Shek Lei Pui Reservoir to the south to the Jubilee Reservoir now. They can be quite annoying.

Another difference was that when aircraft landing at HKG uses Runway 25L or R like yesterday, they flew directly over the Jubilee Reservoir for the approach. so, every 2-3 minutes, we would hear and see airplanes right above us.

We also saw a lot of photographers taking very heavy and long lenses and tripods to shoot birds there. Kind of bad when they had to set up some branches with seeds near camera-level and wait for them to come down from the tree, instead of shooting them "naturally".

Hong Kongers have always loved hiking, but even more so these days. People of all ages would go hike on weekends and holidays, which is great. However, I find it kind of amusing that they are horrible in reading maps, directions, or trail maps. Instead, they just go and ask people along the way how to get to xxx. Which is how people navigate in HK anyways - driving or walking or hiking. :)

lovefood - Read about Islam Food restaurant in Kowloon City. Had not tried it, but it's apparently famous for its beef buns. In fact, they were suing another restaurant for copying their stuff...

Update since Chinese New Year - did quite a bit of driving during this trip. In fact, I had only driven once in HK before this trip. Just drove up to the Peak yesterday, and for the first time drove through the Hung Hom Cross-Harbour Tunnel. Since it was completed in 1973, I must have gone through it 1,000+ times. Yet, first time I did the driving.

I am back home in Houston. Here are some more photos uploaded:

Flights to/from HKG on Continental and Air Canada:
http://rkkwan.zenfolio.com/coachkg0211

Hong Kong Marathon:
http://rkkwan.zenfolio.com/hkmarathon022011

Another album, from a short hiking trip around the Jubilee (Shing Mun) Reservoir above Tsuen Wan:

http://rkkwan.zenfolio.com/jubileereservoir020511