A Pleasant Weekend

Too Much Choice

We need living room and dining room furniture and storage pieces for clothes and other stuff, so that we can put you all up in style when you come to visit.

To that end, I went to the Horizon Plaza in Ap Lei Chau Saturday. Twenty-eight floors of upscale furniture and home furnishings, interspersed with designer outlets and various odds and sods. Actually, excluding the left-out floor numbers, it was only 23 floors. Did I just say, “only”? Talk about too much choice. The furniture was sufficient, I didn’t need the touch of Chabanel thrown in.

You could tell it’s an upscale joint by the modern Toto fixtures in the common area washrooms on each floor. I’ve been in million-dollar (Canadian) homes with worse amenities.

The stores ran the gamut from Euromodern to antique Chinese and everything in between. There was even a patio furniture store with BBQ grills to make Bobby Flay envious. The juxtaposition of stores filled with Chinese antiques and playing Christmas carols struck me as odd. I’m working on it; it’s not like I have a choice.

I saw a few things that Dale can look at when she gets here. The antique Chinese armoires and chests were beautiful, and the modern furniture with Chinese touches also looked nice.

Ap Lei Chau is an island off the southwest corner of Hong Kong Island, across from Aberdeen. It is a residential area consisting mainly of large apartment complexes, and, I believe, is one of the most crowded sections of the city.

The Hong Kong School of Motoring (government operation) is across the street from the plaza, and there is a Ferrari dealer in the plaza. I guess the student drivers and driving test takers can go across the street to drool before and/or after their lessons.

After what I went through (literally and figuratively), I gave myself permission to splurge on a steak dinner. I went down to Soho (South of Hollywood Road) and ate at an Argentinean restaurant that had received some good reviews. It wasn’t expensive, but it wasn’t wonderful. The meat was good, but it lacked something. I don’t think it was charcoal grilled. They also served the baked potato wrapped in foil – another no-no. The wine was pretty good though.

The East Asia Games

Hong Kong is hosting the 5th East Asia Games. It’s the largest sporting event ever held here and the largest of these games so far. Saturday night at 9:00, I was jolted by explosions. I looked out the living room window and saw fireworks going off down by the harbour. I realized it was for the official opening of the Games. That was just a short hors d’ouevre. At 9:15 it started up again and lasted for 15 minutes. Spectacular! They even had some set off from the roofs of the tallest buildings in town. The fireworks reflected off the high-rise towers, adding to the effect. There were dozens of local tour boats in the harbour, all lit up. I took some pictures with my phone, but they didn’t come out well. Every day I stare out the window – it’s worth the rent just for the view.



Sunday at the Museums

I went off exploring on Sunday, walked down to and around Central, looked at some of the office towers a little more closely, then hit two very good museums.

The Bank of China building is one of Dale’s favourites. It starts out as a rectangular block, then loses a quarter every ten or fifteen stories until it is one quarter its original size. Interesting, but apparently has bad fung shui. It is an I.M. Pei building.




The HSBC tower is like the CIBC towers in Toronto. The new one next to the old, except the old one here is nowhere as tall as the old Commerce Court. The new one has been dubbed “The Robot”; from one side it looks eerily like a Transformer, complete with huge cannon-like protuberances on the roof.



I looked at the Lippo Centre closely for the first time. I like it. It’s new and not in the guidebooks I have.

While touring the skyscrapers, I visited the Museum of Tea Ware in Hong Kong Park. I had missed it during my first visit (see Oct. 19). It is housed in a Victorian-era heritage home (Flagstaff House) and includes rooms dedicated to the history of tea, the different types of tea and the method or ceremony for preparing each to drink. The highlight is a history and beautiful collection of tea pots and assorted tea wares from a thousand years ago to contemporary designs. Guess what? I found a tea in their gift shop that I had not tasted before. I think Dale is going to have to keep me on a short leash. I could easily start a new hobby – collecting tea pots and wares.

After Central I walked to the ferry dock and went over to Kowloon, where I walked through Tsim Sha Tsui East and visited the HK Museum of History, a museum dedicated to the natural and human history of the city and area. It’s a great museum. I got there for the free, English-language tour. It was advertised as lasting 1½-2 hours, but our docent ran us through in an hour and a quarter – not enough time to really look at any of the exhibits. I knew enough and got enough more to provide me with a basic understanding that will be helpful in future visits.

The only problem with going over to Tsim Sha Tsui is the hawkers on the street who accost you constantly. Walking the mile or so from the Ferry dock to the museum and then back again I was offered watches, suits, handbags, saunas, massages, meals and things I didn’t understand (and I’m not sure I wanted to) at least 50 times each way. Why anyone would think a guy with a three-day growth, wearing grubby jeans and plugged into an iPod, would want a Rolex or a custom-made suit is a mystery to me.



Only a few observations this week:

• Saw a number of Buddhist monks today. I hadn’t seen any before today.

• Hong Kongers love puns. Many of the stores have names based on puns. Three from this week:

o Discount household accessories store – Homeless

o Store selling lacquered Chinese plates and gifts – Good Laque

o State-Of-The-Arts Gallery