If you only had a day in Hong Kong and I had to give you a lift to show you all of Hong Kong- I…read morewould probably just take you on the Eastern Island Corridor. This road is special enough in several sense: it crosses several districts in one go from Causeway Bay all the way to Chai Wan, you see the changing faces of Hong Kong just by sitting tight and watching the world go by. Secondly its the way that it does it which is awe-inspiring, the road leaps out toward the harbor and runs along basically the entire length of the north shore to Taikoo Shing, and then it twines itself around the city near Shaukiwan., finally ending up in Chai Wan. The view, especially coming into Causeway Bay on an early summer evening, provides you with probably the best way to see the town: you have the rest of Wanchai and Central infront of you- together with the backdrop of a setting sun. Too bad that this place could only be reached if you were driving past- they should think about building something here that could be reached on foot. What's bad about this place? Well I can wax lyrics about this place all day long but the reality is that traffic is backed up here all day long and half the time you are sitting here waiting in queue and its a rainy Tuesday afternoon. The fact that you are on an overpass means that once you are stuck here you can't go anywhere. For many people this is just a road they go home on, but as with much of Hong Kong, you really have to sit back to appreciate how nice this place is.

Contemporary urban art may not be everybody's cup of tea. Most of the time, it goes right over my…read morehead but every now and then, I would get an inkling of the artist's message. What I find interesting about Oi! is that it is not your conventional art gallery. Oi! is not big. It sits on the corner of Oil Street and Electric Road in Fortress Hill on the island. A century ago, the waterfront was right outside this property. It was logical for the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club to set up base here and operate until the government took over thirty years later in the 1930s. The historic brick buildings are specimens of the post-Victorian Arts and Crafts Architectural Movement. On the day of my visit, the theme was to stimulate our audio, visual, and tactile senses. The artists encouraged people to actually touch their creations. I like when art can be approached from more than one dimension. There was one exhibition room that was stark empty except for a porthole in the floor; and another one in which I had to duck my head because a block TV set was hanging from the ceiling. I also got to interact with other eclectic and obscure art pieces. Unexpectedly, the co-op kitchen was offering visitors complimentary miso soup on site. I guess if wine and hors d'oeuvres are served at the traditional art openings, why not offer hot soup at Oi! The idea was "they cook, you clean" so people had to do the little chore of washing the bowls they had used. I thought that was pretty neat. Everything was cool. Before heading out, I decided to use the restroom. I really wish I hadn't. They were either understaffed or negligent to have left the facility in a ghastly state. It might have been the visitors. What a shame to end my visit this way. For me, Oi! was an experience. I enjoyed the history aspect. I didn't have a full grasp of the pieces I saw but art is subjective. New exhibits rotate in periodically. Maybe next time I'll make a connection with one of them. 3.5

As we were simply walking by, I knew that this was clearly an old set of buildings that had been…read morerestored, but I was not sure what this space was exactly. With the kind staff at the customer service booth that went the extra mile to show me key parts of the facility and pointed out the specifics of the art installation spaces and the Social Gastronomy experiment space, I think I am a bit of a fan of this place. Once an old boat yard and covered mostly by water, this is a perfect example of Hong Kong recycling, reusing and re-purposing public building space. Part museum (with two installations currently: North Point Dream Properties Limited and 7-Paperholic), part social experiment on food with XCHANGE (turning leftovers and seasonal ingredients from participants and neighborhood markets into mouthwatering dishes), part community service/social hub (with talks, lectures, workshops, etc), part historical venue (Oi! is a Grade 2 Historic Building and they provide daily tours at 2:30pm, 4:45pm and 6:30pm daily). Art is really the driving factor for me with Oi!, but clearly their aim is really to connect with the community on a socially conscious level much greater than just art. But if you are not driven by social matters, note that admission to Oi! is free. The space is not large, but there is intellectually a lot going on to absorb at Oi! Although I did not have time to really understand all pieces of this space, I took a Oi! newspaper to go and have visited their website to sign up for news and events going on here. I will absolutely return to discover a bit more.

I always say that one of the most amazing things of Hong Kong is the fact that, in 10 minutes cab…read moreride, you are in the middle of nature. How many cities can say that? And how cool is that? In most other big cities, you may need to get on a train, pay a high fare and travel for a couple of hours. It also means you need to plan. That's not the case in Hong Kong and whether you are a hiker or not, you can still enjoy beautiful landscapes and retreat for a few hours. Feeling like an easy Sunday hike? One of your options is Tai Tam Tuk Reservoirs, located at the Tai Tam Country Park, in the East side of Hong Kong Island. That's what three of us did early on a Saturday morning a few weeks ago. We only walked for about an hour, contemplating the nature and chatting. It is a very easy hike, flat and signaled all the way, mostly sheltered by trees so there is plenty of shadow. We went through the main stone bridges, of similar design but different heights and dating back to the 20s. They are all English style building classified as I Grade heritage. And so is the huge dam, that you can see from afar. What impressed me more was the bright turquoise water, and the contrast with the greenery and the intense blue of the sky, which created such an inspiring view! If you are in need of a deep breath of pure air outside of the city, but not feeling like hiking up the hills, get on a cab and head to Tai Tam, you'll feel alive again.

Tai Tam Tuk Reservoir is part of the Tai Tam group of reservoirs which were erected from the late…read more1880s into the early 1910s when Hong Kong's demand for water constantly outstripped supply. Tai Tam Tuk is the biggest one of out the group and probably the one seen by most people as they make their way to Stanley, when they pass by the precariously narrow dam road that lines one side of the reservoir. This is truly one of Hong Kong's scene of natural beauty where within 20 minutes from bustling Central you can get to somewhere that's basically been untouched since the beginning of time. One of the favourite routes to take in all this would be to take a hike from Parkview (which is at the top of the hill) and walk down past the smaller reservoirs up top and then onto this main body of water where it joins back with the main road. One of the attractive features of this route would again be the masonry of the buildings here, being built at that time it had a very heavy British influence and much like parts of Hong Kong; you would at times think whether you really are on the edge of the South China sea or somewhere Somerset. This is also a particularly popular path as the route is mainly downhill hence making it easier for families and it takes around 2 hours in total. Locals and tourists alike- I will be willing to bet my money that you won't be disappointed.