Bowling in Hong Kong
Bowling is a pretty common sport in Hong Kong. It's probably because it's an indoor sport that doesn't take up much space - and it opens at night as well - as we know, a lot of people in Hong Kong just like to play around overnight. It's also a pretty good activity for couples and a group of friends - somehow a lot of people in Hong Kong don't like sports that make them sweat a lot simply because of the moist weather (Another popular sport is snooker - you can probably tell why). Hong Kong Bowling team had some very outstanding records internationally. And Andy Lau, who is a superstar in Hong Kong, is also a very good amateur bowling player. I don't know if that's part of the reasons why people go play bowling.
Beach Swimming in Hong Kong
Hong Kong's climate is definitely hot and moist during summer. Just by walking on the street you can get all wet sweating. So beach swimming is one of the most common and fun outdoor activities in Hong Kong.
The easiest reachable beaches in Hong Kong are on the southern side of Hong Kong Island, but the best ones are on the Outlying Islands and in the New Territories. For the list of beaches deemed safe enough for swimming and their water-quality gradings, we cancheck the website of the Environmental Protection Department. (www.info.gov.hk/epd)
Cheung Chau Bun Festival
The annual Cheung Chau Bun Festival, which honors the god "Pak Tai" (it means "Northern King" literally) and it's unique to the island, takes place over eight days in late April or early May. This year the main procession day will be held on Friday, May 21st. It's a Taoist Festival, and there are 4 days of religious observations. It was said to be a hundred years history. Every year in May all people on the island must kept vegetarian diet for 3 days, at the last day the procession held. In midnight hundreds of young men hurried up the 3 bun towers, torn off the buns, put them into the bag or spread them over the crowd. They're supposed to grab the one of the buns for good luck. The higher bun is, the better the luck.This bun-snatching was ceased after an accident in 1978, the bamboo structure of the bun tower collapsed in the middle and many people got injured. The modern style bun-snatching came back at 2005, it changed to be a more safe, mountaineering equipped activity and a steel structure tower. If you go visit Cheung Chau a week or so before the festival, you'll see the towers being built in front of Pak Tai Temple.
Fishing in Hong Kong
It's been really a while that Hong Kong has some clean fishes for fishing. Nobody would ever fish in Victoria harbor anymore simply because of the heavy industrial pollution during the 70s-80s. Long time ago, local people in Hong Kong like to fish around the harbor for some little fishes. Of course, Hong Kong started as a fishermen village. So there were a big variety of fish in Hong Kong with great quality.
Now, most edible fishes are either imported from other places such as China, or manually fed in the fishing pool. For individual fishers, there are still beautiful places in Hong Kong where you can fish. However, those places would be around urban areas in Hong Kong of course.
The longest escalator in the world: Central-Mid-Levels Escalators
About 800 meters (2,600 feet). No kidding. The first time I had I ride there I was really amazed, and it was built after I left Hong Kong back in 1993.
One of Hong Kong Island's long problems was that while a lot of people live in the Mid-Levels, which is the lower portion of the Peak, they work in the skyscrapers down below in Central district. The roads are narrow and the walk is always more vertical and horizontal, making the journey home on foot an exhausting climb, especially in the humid seasons. The result was a rush-hour traffic jam of bumper-to-bumper taxis, minibuses and private cars.
Green Turtles and Eggs in Sham Wan, Lamma
Lamma Island is a beautiful island with a lot of nice beaches. One of them is Sham Wan (Deep Bay) to the Southwest that can be reached from Tung O Wan by clambering over the hills. A trail on the left about 200 meters up the hill from Tung O leads south to a small and sandy beach. Don't come to this beach from June to October - or you can be fined for $50,000.
Sham Wan (Deep Bay) has been traditionally the one beach in Hong Kong where endangered green turtles (Chelonia mydas), one of three species of sea turtle discovered in Hong Kong waters, still always struggle onto the sand to lay their eggs from early June to the end of August.
The Landmark in Central, Hong Kong (Part 3)
(cont'd from Part 2)
The Landmark has a beautiful fountain in the middle of the lobby that can change its computerized lighting effects. The net shape roof of the mall lobby is made of strong glass that optimizes the natural lights going through. This design was created by American artist James Carpenter and the purpose is to create an open wide atmosphere for shoppers instead a typical closed mall. Shoppers can shop while enjoying the sunlight. There is a cafe in the lobby with curvy seats. Not only providing a place for a rest, the shape of those seats are giving a contemporary style as decoration. While this luxury mall is designed very nice and considerate, the size of this mall isn't too big so shoppers wouldn't find themselves very tired walking around. If you like a well designed shopping experience while you don't want to waste too much time walking around. This mall will be for you.
Cafe Costa in Hong Kong
Another restaurant in One IFC to recommend is called Café Costa. It mostly serve Mediterranean and Fusion cuisine. It's interior style is simple but contemporary. An opened outdoor patio lets guests to enjoy the 180 degrees view of Victoria Harbour. It locates in Lane Crawford within IFC. The pink color with the light green of Macadamia Nuts brighten the interior with a little feminine modern feel. Breakfast (like British tea set) to dinner are all served all day. Recommended dishes include boiled egg with smoked salmon and caviar, baked mushroom with cheese and egg, lobster soup with toast. There are also some great choices for vegetarian and everything is cooked with Mediterranean style.
Via Quadronno Hong Kong
Other than famous "Two IFC" mall, there is also a "One IFC" mall next to it. It's the first International Financial Centre in Hong Kong. And there are definitely many good restaurants as well as stores. One of the nice restaurants is called Via Quadronno, with authentic Italian cuisine. It has 3 branches in New York, one in Tokyo and one in Hong Kong. There aren't many choices on their menu. They have appetizers, soup, spaghettis, Italian rice, main course and deserts, but the totally number of options are only slightly more than 30. However, this Italian cuisine is really authentic that they use traditional way to serve the food, which is rare in Hong Kong. To pick the best dishes that we shouldn't miss, they must be the seafood angel hair spaghetti and their tiramisu. This Tiramisu Originale di VQ New York serves bread sticks, espresso and Italian cheese individually. Guests can adjust the amount and the portion of each to mix it up. Other good dishes include a veggie soup, mushroom rice and Italian Panini sandwiches.
Fat Jong Temple
Fat Jong Temple was built in 1948 and remodeled in 1990. It's about 1000 square meters. It's one of the most famous Buddhist temples in Hong Kong. It was built along the landscape and the red columns against the white walls look stylish. There are sculpture of Buddha on the wall, together with a few other Buddha shrines. It's decorated in a blue and red. Every year when it's lunar calendar April 8, which is Buddha's Birthday Festival, there will be a lot of local believers come here for a celebration starting as early as 6am. The food, which of course is vegetarian, is quite famous here as well. A lot of people come here just for the veggie food.
Direction: take mini-bus #18 to Wong Tai Sin MTR, then take MTR to Lok Fu, get off from Lok Fu MTR Station, from Exit A walk for 5 minutes