Hong Kong - November 2021

The weather is getting cooler and November is my favourite month in Hong Kong. Nice weather and clear blue skies.

One Friday night I went to Samsen for dinner. Always reliable if not over-priced Thai food. The chef is an Australian who worked under David Thompson in Bangkok before moving to Hong Kong.

The beef satays were really good.

This is the signature dish from Northern Thailand, Khao Soi...

The rice was good too...

Saturday I met a friend for a picnic at West Kowloon Cultural Centre. We just sat on the hill and drank some Sparkling Shiraz...

Sunday night I went to a friend's place for dinner with a group of people. They cooked quite local Chinese food which was really good...

One Saturday night I met some friends at this bar on Staunton Street. Been here a few times.

Beef Pho at one of my weekday lunch locals, Hanoi Street Food...

Got up early one morning and walked up the Green Trail to The Peak before work...

Walking through Tai Kwun on my way to work...

Tried some Tea Beer. It was okay. Tasted like beer :-)

Tried a new place called Cornerstone on Hollywood Road. The chef is Australian. Had the beef tartare and the risotto. So many good weekday lunch set lunches in Central.

Finally my gym has gone mask free, as all staff and members are vaccinated. So nice to work out without a mask!

One night catching the tram to Wan Chai. That's Lippo Centre, once famously owned by failed Australian tycoon, Alan Bond..

One day I headed to the flower market in Prince Edward and had Thai for lunch...

Another day I had lunch at my favourite Chinese place...

Met friends for a coffee on the rooftop of Feather & Bone in Mosque Street...

I have recently got into sushi. This is one of my favourite takeaway dinners...

One night I had hotpot with friends. I said low spicy but it was still pretty hot! That's tofu on the left and deep fried pork with numbing sauce at the bottom right. Those orange bears melt into the hotpot soup...

Got an invite to a Christie's pre-auction viewing. This is the painting that was expected to achieve the highest price and it went for HKD140,000,000 (USD18 million) !!

Had my work Christmas party at the Harbour View Renaissance Hotel in Wan Chai...

Sham Shui Po is a poorer area of Hong Kong but many trendy cafes are popping up. One Sunday I had a walk around and had lunch. This one is called Loop Kulture...

The fig and avocado toast was great...

One day I tried the Japanese curry at my regular lunch place, Yum Yum...

Another day I went to Vietnamese in Wan Chai and had an egg coffee which I hadn't had for ages. I would love to go back to Hanoi right now!

Aberdeen Reservoir hike - November 2021

I haven't done this one for a while so one Sunday afternoon I walked from my place up to Conduit Road and then up May Road to The Peak. Then headed down to Wan Chai Gap park and then took the trail to Aberdeen Upper Reservoir.

It is a gorgeous November day, sunny and cool. This is the Upper Reservoir...

Kept going until I go to the Lower Reservoir...

Then headed down to Aberdeen and Aberdeen Harbour to Wong Chuk Hang, where I caught the MTR home.

Discovery Bay to Mui Wo hike - November 2021

One Saturday with a colleague, I did the hike from Discovery Bay to Mui Wo which is one of my favourites. Caught the ferry to Discovery Bay and walked up past the monastery.

This is at the top, looking back to Peng Chau...

And looking back to Discovery Bay...

Coming down into Mui Wo...

After was had some lunch and sangria at a famous restaurant on Silvermine Beach called The China Beach Club. Then caught the ferry back to Central.

Genting Dream cruise - October 2021

It's still not easy to travel and I have a lot of annual leave to use, so I booked a 2 night cruise to nowhere on the Genting Dream. The ship sailed from Hong Kong on a Wednesday evening. I have a balcony cabin and am looking forward to a different experience.

The check-in process was okay - about an hour from arrival at Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, to getting to my room. They had to check vaccination records and COVID test results of course. I even had to clear immigration.

My room was nice and it was great to have a balcony...

View from my balcony over the cruise terminal to Kowloon...

I had a few hours before we sailed, so I explored the ship. It is very big. Plenty of activities including a climbing wall, a zipline, mini-golf and waterslides.

The waterslides were fun - especially that blue one. I couldn't get to do the zipline. Although the ship is only 50% capacity as per government regulations, there are still a lot of people on board.

We sailed at 8pm. It didn't take too long to clear Victoria Harbour and reach the South China Sea. I elected not to pay for wifi so was offline for about 36 hours.

I had bought the drinks package so that night I sat outside as we left HK with a glass of wine. I then tried several other bars. I got excited when I saw there was live music at some of the bars, but it was all Mandarin or Canto-pop - not my thing. I sat in the karaoke bar but that was a bit boring too.

At sea...

Food in the inclusive restaurants was only average. I tried to get into the hot pot restaurant which reviewed well but it was booked out for both nights. I did go to the Japanese restaurant (at cost) which was okay but lacked a bit of atmosphere.

Spent Thursday by the pool. You had to book one hour slots, which were all taken, but they allowed stand-by...

The blue waterslide was particularly fun...

Sunset from one of the bars...

Thursday night was an Oktoberfest thing with beer and strudel etc...

I woke up Friday morning and the ship had already docked. I had a relaxing breakfast and got off the ship which was quicker than boarding! That's a photo of the cruise terminal.