Nice escape from the congestion of HK island. Awesome that there is a small playground for kids in…read morethe courtyard. Ate at the Dragon Room. The daikon dumplings are pretty awesome.

Review on Fitness Room only…read more Since my California Fitness membership expired and I have been in a flux between jobs, I could not commit to a gym yet and have been getting kind of restless. Lucky for me, the great LCSD (Leisure and Cultural Services Department) has arrangements that perfectly suit my needs! There are government sport buildings scattered all over the city, and they usually come with basketball, badminton, pools, dancing rooms and FITNESS ROOMS, depending on which center you are at. The Smithfield Sports Centre is relatively new, is right next to the Kennedy Town MTR station, and has a decent fitness room, slightly larger than a residential clubhouse fitness room. Only drawback is there is no barbells. (dumbbells yes, up to 60lbs) In order to use the fitness rooms, you have to take some form of course that demonstrates you have sufficient knowledge of training, i.e. you are not stupid and won't injure yourself. It can be either a personal training license, a course offered by a university and the easiest and most common route is to take a "Briefing on the proper use of Fitness Equipment" class, offered by LCSD fitness centers around town. The class is free, and lasts for 3 hours, ending with a multiple choice test at the end. The catch is that it is hard to sign up and courses in accessible areas are usually snatched right when they are released, leaving you with options in outlying islands. But it is worth it, because once you are done, you are set for life to enjoy the fitness rooms across Hong Kong, and it is ridiculously cheap - HK $14 per session or HK$180 for a month, 50% off if you are a full-time student. So yes, some centers are more ghetto than others, with Kennedy town ones being newer and more decent. But your taxes have already paid for this, might as well sign up and show up. Details at: http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/fitness/index.html

This place is old but functional, completed in Dec 1988 it's still pretty busy and it's become a…read moreneighborhood hangout spot of sorts. It's 5mins walk from Quarry Bay MTR, and If you pass by sometime you'll see elderly folks chatting and chilling at the small garden area outside the entrance. Hikers pass by the building because the entrance to the HK Island hiking trail Mount Parker is outside. So while this place is a bit rusty, it is far from obsolete. The sports center is small compared to other Government Sports Centers, only two floors, 6/f and 7/f. In the two floors, they managed to pack a table tennis room, 2 squash courts, basketball court (convertible into a volleyball court or 4 badminton courts), a dance room (189m2) and a small fitness room (165m2). Like I said, the place is a bit old and visibly so, and the ventilation is not so great in certain areas. But the place is still busy during off-work hours and classes are regularly held in the fitness rooms, so the much newer Island East Sport Center (2001) one MTR stop away has become a good alternative. Staff here are mostly similar to their patrons: old-timers who are friendly and talkative. That also pretty much sums up the sports center, a bit barebones, weathered, but genuine and neighborhood-friendly.

Hong Kong has a sports center in each district & is a great place to play basket ball, badminton,…read morevolleyball, dodgeball, you name it. It's low cost but you need to book the courts in advance which goes quickly.

I love coming to the swimming pool at the SCAA on weekday mornings! It costs HK$28 per entry to the…read morepool, which is a little bit more than the public swimming pools, but it's worth it (this is an extra fee on top of the SCAA membership fee). The water is just so much cleaner than the Victoria Park swimming, the locker room is much bigger and less cramped. You do need to bring your own amenities: towel, shampoo/conditioner/soap, and a lock for the locker, but it's quite easy to manage. If you want to do lap swimming, there are specific lanes for it - look for "circle lap swimming" yellow signs.

I never realized the value of having a sports club sponsor a rugby team up until recently. I've…read moreplayed rugby for Causeway Bay and for many years all we had was a changing room and a couple of showers. Hong Kong Football Club has... Hong Kong Football club and a few other teams have their own fancy clubs. Some how we managed to get the SCAA on board and since then I've discovered things about the place I would have never imagined. It has a huge range of facilities, including bowling as well as the other more boring sports like badminton... or squash. There are also a couple of restaurants within the complex that cater to different preferences in terms of cuisine and cash flow. Most of the time I go there (with my team) to eat in their new Inside Out restaurant, a simple place that serves great burgers, lots of beer, and has one sports or another playing on big screens. It was obviously designed to support sports teams as it's partitioned off from the rest of the floor, which happens to be a DIY barbecue. It's certainly better off that way, for safety reasons, considering the amount of alcohol consumed during the meal. And there was me, walking by the place twice a week thinking why on earth would people want to join that place just for a driving ranger?! It turns out there is a lot more than meets the eye and still more for me to experience. It's a great place to go with a group of friends for a list of occasions - drinking games while golfing, a hardcore gym workout, or just a meal with the family, it's got it all.

It seems like every time I come back and visit Hong Kong, this place is a must on my list. The new…read moreaddition this time, was of course the baby panda twins. Even with a timed ticket, there was a wait and crowds of people. Ocean Park is a whole day adventure. I absolutely love riding the cable cars from one end in Aqua city to the other end in Marine World. The waiting line can get very long for the cable cars, and we were fortunate enough to have our own. What I love most about this park is how it feels like a mini Disney World, a mix of looking at animals and also having theme park rides like roller coasters and the raft ride (which you will very possibly get wet!). While my motion sickness limits me from riding theme park rides, I enjoyed the ocean park tower overlooking most of the area, offering spectacular views from the top and the different fun animal exhibits with penguins, meerkats, aquatic creatures like mini jelly fish and sea dragons. Old Hong Kong was a nice walkthrough displaying the 50s to the 70s. The antique shop fronts were beautiful to look at. Usually I would ride the cable cars back to the entrance to leave but this time I rode the Ocean Express which felt like an underwater submarine.

Ocean Park is a classic to Hong Kong. I have heard a lot about it growing up and I always have the…read morementality that everyone should visit at least once when they are in Hong Kong. I am glad we brought our young daughters, 6.5 and 5 years old, on a Thursday in November. The weather was in the mid 60s (approximately 18 degrees Celsius), so we thought it was very comfortable. We went on the carousel and some simple rides. The park was not crowded at all so there were no waits. We also checked off several exhibits: panda, red panda, sea otters, walruses, sharks, and penguins. The panda exhibit was probably the most popular and we had to wait in line for approximately 10 minutes. For food, we really enjoyed what they had to offer at the Old Hong Kong. We shared soy sauce stir-fried noodles, fried fish ball siu mai, fried chicken leg quarter, egg waffles, and iced milk tea. They are very standard, classic Hong Kong street food. I was a bit disappointed that two of the food kiosks were closed because I wanted a bowl of cold tofu pudding. We would consider revisiting when the girls are older because there are several roller coaster rides for older kids by the North and South Pole sections. A few other positive notes: The bathrooms are clean and well maintained. The MTR is super convenient.

Excellent view on the top of the building. No jeans allowed. The service lady gave me a pants to…read morereplace the jeans. The dish taste great. Good experience.

members only, 43rd floor great view. easy to get business done at the bar.read more

Hong Kong Disneyland offers a very enjoyable and unique Disney experience. You can access the park…read moreeasily by train which drops you off directly at the entrance. We chose to take a taxi instead and the ride was just over 20 minutes across the water which was still very convenient. One of the biggest highlights is the shorter wait times compared to Disneyland in the US. The park feels much more spacious and less congested as you move between each section, even though the rides themselves are just as exhilarating. The region exclusive merchandise is a huge plus and makes shopping feel more special. Unlike the US parks, adults here often dress up and you are allowed to bring tripods and larger cameras which adds to the overall atmosphere. The food, snacks and drinks are also very reasonably priced. Fast passes are relatively inexpensive and can be well worth it on weekends. We were able to skip a few 60 minute plus lines for about 30 dollars which felt like a great value. Overall, Hong Kong Disneyland is a fun, relaxed and well designed park. If you like Disney, this is definitely a must try experience.

Our family of four and a few friends visited on a Monday in November. The weather was incredibly…read morecomfortable at approximately 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius). A thin light jacket would suffice for later in the evening. The theme park is clean and equipped with water stations for people to replenish their bottles. There are also plenty of bathrooms and we did not have to wait in line. For lunch, we dined in at the Plaza Inn. Five of us shared two orders of siu mai with scallop, one order of custard bun, braised e-fu noodles, sweet and sour pork, and stir-fried chili peppers with black bean garlic sauce. The food was freshly made and very flavorful. Service was attentive and friendly. For a theme park, lunch at less than $30 per person is reasonable. For dinner, we dined in at the Royal Banquet Hall. We were not particularly hungry so the five of us shared the baked pork chop rice and sizzling platter with steak, chicken, sausage, green beans, and fries. The portions were fairly large but we cleared everything. The pork chop is very tender. The sizzling platter was mediocre but it was nice to have some greens and the kids would never reject French fries. As for entertainment, our young girls, 6.5 and 5 years old, checked off everything that they liked. The average wait for the rides was mostly around 20 minutes so it was very reasonable and manageable. In addition to rides, my girls also enjoyed the shows, parade, and fireworks. They did most of the walking on their own until the last hour and they fell asleep before the firework show started. We had to wake them up by giving them chocolate so they could enjoy a few minutes of fireworks before we left to get a head start and beat the crowd to the MTR.