Closer to a 3.5 experience but I'm feeling generous this evening…read more What exactly IS a Clockenflap anyway? Other than being extremely fun to say, I don't think anyone really knows... not even the founders. That's part of the whimsical charm, eh? This festival was definitely one of the best-organized that I've attended... and I've gone to many, many music festivals. I caught the festival bug when I was 15 (yep, my first Lollapalooza way back when it was still a traveling festival) and since then, I've attended them in different cities, states, and even countries. Show me an excellent line-up of artists and I'm there! Only the Clockenflap line-up is the festival's Achilles heel. Look, I'm completely down with supporting unknown, emerging artists but at the prices Clockenflap is charging? Almost $100 USD for a one-day ticket felt a bit like robbery. Pitchfork Festival certainly didn't charge those kinds of prices when they were first starting out. In fact, they still don't! At Pitchfork you'll get a 3-day pass for a fair $180 USD and the sweet and smug satisfaction that you're definitely seeing several bands that are on their way up, up, up. The not-so-stellar line-up, however, also means this festival isn't crazy crowded... how nice! You'll have plenty of room to occupy space without getting violated by a stranger's elbow or worse, assaulted by their beer. And the West Kowloon Waterfront Promenade is gorgeous, by day or night. Simply walking around with your friends while sipping on a cider and taking in insane waterfront views of Hong Kong while catching bits of live music - made for one of my best Saturdays here yet. Clockenflap organizers did a super job of curating some stellar food choices... there was also plenty to choose from for my vegetarian friend which was a nice bonus. And the official festival merchandise is the bee's knees! But also super pricey. I eventually gave in and purchased a beanie I had my eye on, but it set me back $30 USD. For a beanie. Maybe the coolest beanie ever, but still: ouch! Probably the most impressive organizational aspect of the fest is that it's completely cash-free. Upon arrival, simply load your wristband with cash and voila! You're free to move around the plane. If you're left with a balance, you're able to easily transfer the funds for free to your local bank account. Sorry, international visitors, but you'll have to pay a small fee for the service. Still, this is a concept all major festivals should embrace! So yeah... I'd do it again.

It really depends on how you view it. Tickets are pricey compared to other large scale festivals in…read moreHong Kong, and gosh you need to buy your own drinks and food in the venue, and they ain't cheap either. And yet, if you are comparing to music concerts in general, yet the price is in a reasonable ballpark. If you are lucky enough to have all your favourite artists / groups all schedule to perform on the same day/night, you are in for a treat. And yes, Clockenflap is getting better and better inviting heavyweight performers. For instance, we were there on Friday, watching The Anello, Clean Bandit, Damien Rice, and Love Psychedelico back to back. The other side stages, like Silent Disco and Cinema Silenzio, are pretty much optional, acting much like placeholders to fill the void in the vast space of West Kowloon Cultural District, but there are still fans into those. Last note, the payment method is probably the best among all festivals. wrist bracelet with chip attached, never have to concern about losing your silly tokens or top-up card. You can also refund the residual amount online, to a local or international bank account. Can't top that.

Large Western themed amusement park, filled with many carnival game booths, rides, and food stalls…read more There's a cover fee to get in, and all rides and games cost a few tokens (your fee pays for a bunch, and you can buy more throughout the park). If you've ever watched Mark Rober's YouTube video on carney games, you'd know most of the skill-based game booths are total ripoffs and are nearly impossible to win. However, if you wanna have a chance at winning something, I'd recommend the duck-fishing game (random chance), or any of the dart throwing games (esp the 1-hit win games). Food isn't overly marked up, which is nice. If you leave the park, reentry is prohibited. Personally, I'd recommend visiting the park at night since it can get hot and there isn't much shade, plus there's a different vibe and lighting at night. Overall, lots of fun for kids and even adults.

I had a great time taking my toddler here on the weekend. There are a lot of different types of…read morerides and carnival games. When I went there weren't a lot of long lines and we could get on a ride with very little waiting. My son really enjoyed it and really didn't want to leave. Adult tickets cost 130 hkd and come with 10 tokens and children tickets cost 90 hkd and come with 7 tokens. The rides cost between 3-6 tokens so you can go on a number of rides with the entrance ticket.

Even if you're not a fan of anime, anime conventions are fun places to be. People watching becomes…read more200% more interesting. Things are bright, loud, and you get pumped up even without knowing what's going on. And people are just generally really, really nice. Want to take a picture? Sure! Let's talk about our favourite show! Ani-Com (Animation-Comic) Hong Kong is THE anime and gaming convention of Hong Kong. As such, it was filled to the brim with visitors and queues stretched for hours. It showcased all the latest and greatest anime merchandise and gaming feats. Despite all this, I went in feeling overwhelmed and left feeling a little underwhelmed. The Good: 1) The cosplays were really, really, REALLY good. What, you made that huge sword out of cardboard, glue, and dreams? What, you're actually a man but through the power of makeup, you look like a 12 year old girl??? It's not just one or two really cool ones either, EVERYONE is really good! It's like they collectively raised the bar to crazy high standards. 2) Some really cool vendors came by. I believe it was Playstation that set up these virtual reality driving pods. Would've been cooler if I could actually try it but as with everything, it was another 2 hour line up. At the same time, they also had a lot of competitions going on, from Yu-Gi-Oh to that Japanese drumming game, which were fun to cheer on even if you didn't know what was going on. The Bad: 1) Despite all the stuff...there just wasn't enough stuff. The convention didn't seem that big. As someone who wasn't lining up and purchasing merch, the main area (1B) can be fully explored (even eating at the food court) in about 1.5 hour. 2) So let's say you want to browse some stuff. The stuff you want to look at is INSIDE a booth....that requires you line up at least 30 minutes to get in. Isn't part of going to an anime con about ogling hot anime figurines? I'm not gonna do that if I have to line up 30 mins without the intent of buying anything. JUST LET ME OGLE. 3) The independent artists area is always cool to check out. You don't have to shell out $$$ for officially branded stuff when you can get very beautiful fan-made art. So why is this a bad and not a good? There was extremely little variety. Everyone there seemed to be selling art that catered to little girls or pervy men. Where's the Attack on Titan, the Stein's Gate, Parasyte, Erased....ANYTHING other than questionably young women in skimpy outfits. Sigh... The Odd: Have you ever seen a whole group of male photographers descend upon a possibly underaged female cosplayer? I literally saw 20 guys towering above a girl posing cutely on the floor, like a bunch of otaku vultures. It felt predatory and creepy but was amusing to observe from afar, like a nature documentary. Even with some of the underwhelming aspects, Ani-Com is still an interesting experience. It's not expensive and it's a great way to kill a couple hours. Apparently this year wasn't as great as the previous years (they had a giant replica of the One Piece ship for example), but if you ever want to see some amazing costumes and some creepy people drooling over those costumes, there's no better place to do it! (ﾉoヮo)ﾉ*:・ﾟ*・ﾟ* (81/100) - 2017

My first year here and whoa. A ton of people! I attempted to come here on Sunday at 1pm but the…read moreline was out the door to Renaissance Hotel or something. about a 2 hour wait. However, I bumped into some friends who came at 10am on Sunday and they said they only waited an hour, and friends who came at 12 didn't have to wait. Seeing the line was ridiculously long, I came back on a Tuesday 3:30-4pm (Last day) and luckily, there's no line! Tickets are $35 and can be bought from 7-11 (some sell out so you may need to try more. Ones closer to Wanchai usually have more tickets) Even on a Tuesday, the crowd was not modest. I can only imagine how crowded it is on the weekend. Note to self, come only on weekdays. Inside is every comic enthusiasts, gamers, anime fanatics, toy modelers, figure collectiors, superhero fanboys/girls dreams. I'm actually not a huge fan of any of them but I've always wanted to check it out. There's a large Gundam exhibit with lots of new models and special editions and further on you can buy the kits. However, all the special editions were pretty much sold out by Tuesday. A lot are slightly overpriced too. They also had a Gunplay competition exhibit and the creativity of people is extraordinary! Unfortunately they closed that section at 5pm on Tuesday so I just nearly got through the sections. The Lego exhibit had a short line but it's really worth it, again there was a competition and people built their dream homes? I also particularly enjoyed the Lego of China with the temples. Really intricate! Inside you can buy a bunch of Lego and the larger models too, however I'm not sure if they had any rarer items left. There was of course Marvel comics with tons of iron man and ultron, hulk, and the newly released Antman. There was a One Piece exhibit but there was a line. A PS4 exhibit and you can pre-order Until Dawn. Their VR filled up quick and you will need to pre-register beforehand. They also had a VIP lounge for PS4 subscribers but that closed early on Tuesday too. There was a Google Play section and other mobile games, various comic books and animes, there was even a Chinese Anime section where I suppose the Chinese is promoting their own anime and they had some virtual reality gaming experience there too. Overall, lots to see and lots to buy. It took us about 2 hours to walk through the whole thing and I would assume longer on the weekends where it's more packed. However, I did not find it particularly different from C3 which had way less people. I saw the more cos-players in C3 and a lot of the booths are actually repeated anyways. But heck, what do I know? *** Tips: Come early, or on weekdays. Line gets super long. Tourists get to go through a different line and can bring 1 guest with them. If you have a child under 12, you can also go through the shorter line. Also if you're taking part in the the cos-play competition Favourites: Cos-players, lots to see Meh: lines lines lines! Highly coveted items sells out fast Last Words: Check out C3 as well, not too different and less hassle

Best place to party during October every year.. the traditional German October Bierfest in H.K on…read morethe rooftop car park with great views over the harbour in TST. There were loads of German food served during the festival such as Roasted pork knuckle with braised red cabbage, gratinated potatoes, Schweinehaxe, Rotkraut, Kartoffelgratin, Roast herb-marinated chickens Gebackener finish of with dessert like Käsekuchen, Schwarzwälder Torte and Apple Strudel. Everything just tasted delicious and fantastic! Entertainment and the open contests from the live band with non-stop yodelling and beers pouring everywhere. Its a bit pricey but then hey its just once a year.

Annual German beer festival with beer music sausages and pork knuckles! Let's enjoy!!read more

If you like wine, you may have visited Vinexpo. If you love wine, you did visit Vinexpo! I'm in the…read moresecond group so from 27th to 29th of last May, I was fully booked. It was the eighth edition of the fair, but my first time there. And this year, apparently, the fair had doubled its size so it was being hosted in two separate floors of the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai. One of them showing French wines only; in the other floor you could visit stands from many other countries, including Italy, South Africa, Portugal, Germany, Chile, México and Spain. And this is where I spent most of my time too. The atmosphere at the fair was lively and cheerful from early morning (too much wine already?). Busy at times, but organized in a way that you could easily talk to the exhibitors and taste their wine in no rush. I can say all of the winemakers were very approachable, kind and willing to show their produce. This fair really has a different vibe to others; very entrepreneurial, very authentic: you could tell people were very 'into wine'. They love it just as you do, and know it extremely well so it's best place to learn. Seminars and wine tastings were also organized throughout the three days that the fair lasted, which for me was a great opportunity to learn more about some types of grapes, like 'Garnacha', in Spain. I knew I liked this wine, but now I know where it comes from and how it's made. Overall, an amazing experience! Wine lovers, I'm sorry to say that we'll have to wait until 2016 for the next one. In the meantime, small wine stores may be the greatest alternative to some learning and even tasting and Hong Kong certainly has excellent ones.