minalism travel

Practicing Tai Chi In A Public Park – Photograph from nydailynews.com It is a sunny and relatively warm Saturday morning for January. You would think that after spending at least two years waking up at the crack of dawn on Saturday mornings, to travel all the way from South London to East, while I was working for the Barnardos Aut' & About Scheme , that I would be accustomed to being out and about at this time. But no, it's still a struggle, so I get myself out of the apartment as fast as I can and on my way to meet today's adventure.  Agenda of the day: visiting elderly residents at their homes courtesy of the kind efforts of Janet Wai and SK Shum, who organise the Hong Kong Voluntary Group on Meetup , and the team of staff at the Wan Chai Methodist Centre for the Seniors. These visits have been successfully running since 2007 providing an invaluable and under-catered service to the 'real' residents of Hong Kong. My team were given three elderl...

Lunchtime can never arrive fast enough when you're hungry! And after an early start to my day, I was certainly quite starving on my journey home. I ducked into a small Vietnamese restaurant just outside Sheung Wan MTR station, that had been recommended to me many times, and picked up some simple and delicious looking take-away, Lemongrass Beef with Vermicelli Noodles and Vegetables  (sadly I was too hungry to take a picture of my tasty lunch... that's how good it was! But to give you an idea, here is a photo from a great little article I found with an even tastier looking recipe, that looks almost identical to what I ate). Lemongrass Beef Noodle Salad – Photography from  http://kokocooks.com/ Take-away noodles in hand, I got home and literally dashed in and out, wanting to squeeze in a quick run up Ladder Street and down Bonham Road, before I tucked into my delicious food, and got comfortable for a night in at my apartment. So I quickly changed into my running shor...

Ladder Street from close to the top end of this staircase street – Photograph by minalism I'm hungover. And i'm tired. I've been stuck on the couch all day feeling sorry for myself. And before you say it, I already fully acknowledge responsibility for my actions last night. Was it worth it... hard to say. But hey, it felt like fun at the time, so that is a decent enough justification, right?  By about 8 pm I decided it was time to go for a walk, so I dragged my self outside to willingly throw myself up Ladder Street, in order to finally return an overdue DVD back to my local rentals. Ladder Street has its own history,  being one of Hong Kong's first "ladder streets" of its kind, built by the British in the 1840's, to improve future development of the colony city. At around 350 metres long it ascends the hill from Queen's Road Central, crossing Hollywood Road right by the famous Man Mo Temple, up to Caine Road, taking you into the Mid-Levels....

The Hong Kong Park Aviary – Photograph by Stephen Bay The  Hong Kong park  Aviary is definitely worth while a visit. Aside of being situated in a beautiful green space it is a nice activity to add to your overall park experience.  Despite the lovely settings, I was forced to retreat as it was just too damn cold to stay outside, so I grabbed a coffee and jumped in a taxi to Hollywood Road in Sheung Wan area. I had run out of bottled water, so before I headed home I made a quick stop at a small local shop around the corner, which is more like a makeshift temporary hut used by an elderly Hong Kongese couple to run their own partially open-air convenience store. I mean, why give the fat cats the money when it's these folk that know the real meaning of earning a HARD living? Even though they don't speak much English they always make an effort to converse with me through random words of Cantonese, English and lots of hand gestures. In their own humble ways, they...

Beef Potted Rice with Egg cooked with love at the Wing Hap Shing Restaurant in Hong Kong – Photograph from openrice.com My meeting with Alia went well. We were meeting to share ideas about teaching techniques and how we can improve on our current lesson plans. Since I had rushed out of the flat to make the meeting in time, I hadn't had a chance to eat so I was pretty darn starving by the end of it. Bingo, I pass a Yoshinoya on the way home.... simple, easy and fast to be plated food. Just what I was looking for. I've eaten at Yoshinoya a few times and have enjoyed most of their dishes. It is Hong Kong's answer to Japanese fast-food. What you see is what you get. It's not exactly  Japanese culinary finesse  so I can manage my expectations and still enjoy the experience. That said, today while savouring my Chicken Demae Ramen & Japanese Tea Set my worst restaurant nightmare unfolded before my eyes... literally. While fishing my chopsticks about in my ramen...