CX A350 to Hong Kong, the Mira Moon Hotel, and a Run to Victoria Peak

[yflyer]

The rooms themselves were stunning...



The Full Moon rooms are very large by Hong Kong standards, at 38 sq meters.



The decor combined Asian themes and colours with dark wood, splashed of red, and cool white marble floors, alongside glossy white-lacquered wood panelling on the walls.



Partial views of the waterfront...



This was a lot technology in the room that was useful without being intimidating.

iPad-based hotel directory -- you could also use this for web surfing and reading.





Adjustable lighting...



Apart from in-room internet and wifi included in the rate, there was a portable mobile wifi hotspot provided on a complimentary basis, which you could bring around Hong Kong -- this gave you internet access almost everywhere you went in HK.



A Nespresso machine which used regular Nespresso coffee capsules was also installed.



Adapter and stationary in a compartment on the glass topped work desk.

[yflyer]

The spacious bathroom...









The theme and inspiration for the hotel design was the ancient Chinese folk legend of Chang Er, the Moon Goddess of Immortality, and the Jade Rabbit.

Rabbits were part of the design theme of the hotel, and they were everywere.







Maybe it was another symptom of OCD, but there was always another rabbit to spot somewhere in the hotel...

[yflyer]

Breakfast was a semi-buffet in the 3rd floor restaurant area, which also doubles as the restaurant "SuperGiant", open for lunch and dinner, specialising in Spanish tapas.





There is a "secret" garden attached to the restaurant, where you could dine outdoors...



Fruit, cold cuts, smoked salmon, and cheese.





Bakery items...



Congee and two types of Dim Sum...



Choice of breakfast main, cooked to order...



The Eggs Benedict...



"I wish there was an Asian breakfast option, like noodles...." I remarked to Mrs yflyer.

"...all the local food you want for breakfast is right outside the hotel...how can the hotel compete with that?", Mrs yflyer replied.

She had a point!

[yflyer]

Small but well-equipped gym...





Outside our room, from the lift lobby, we could see the Hong Kong Jockey Club, less than a kilometer away.

[yflyer]

Overall, the Mira Moon was a wonderful hotel...one of the nicest hotel rooms I have stayed in.

Sure, there was no pool, and there was only one restaurant within the hotel itself. If you are looking for a grand hotel, this may not be for you.

But the Mira Moon is lovely in a way few hotels are. I appreciated the intimacy and cosiness of the hotel, not to mention the convenient location in the heart of Causeway Bay. And why would you need more restaurants in-house when Hong Kong must have one of the most vibrant dining scenes anywhere in the world.

The partnership between SPG and Design Hotels group is not so well known at the moment (I only learnt about it when I browsed the SPG website to search for a HK hotel), and redemptions have only recently become available. This really opens up possibilites for SPG redemptions, not just in HK with Mira, but in other Design Hotel properties in other cities around the world too. A very promising development for SPG members.

For this sometimes jaded traveller, our large and beautifully styled room at the Mira Moon was one I really looked forward to returning to each day, or even during the day as a pit stop before heading out again. This hotel is now my favourite in Hong Kong -- I cannot recommend it highly enough...

[yflyer]

We spent the next few days exploring vibrant, chaotic Hong Kong.



This is a city more frenetic, lively and more densely populated than Singapore.

Some parts of the city resemble Singapore, with glass clad skyscrapers...



...but much of the Hong Kong we saw was grittier, more congested...



...and at night, it was as bright as day, with light from the buildings reflecting off the fog and sky to suffuse the night sky with an eerie glow.



Messier than Singapore? Definitely...but what it had that Singapore still does not have is a certain economic buzz and excitement...there was so much happening, whether it was businesses, shops, services or restaurants...the sheer density of activity, and the pace at which life ran...it was just mindboggling.

I'm not saying we in SG should strive to be like this, and this type of lifestyle would drive some of us mad, but I just had to admire how easy it seemed to connect a buyer with a seller, and vice versa.

All these were just observations from street-level, but I suspect this drive, and hunger, to strike a deal is in the culture, and probably extends into corporate boardrooms as well.

[yflyer]

We wandered the streets of Hong Kong.



Mrs yflyer had things to buy...



Certain Asian / Chinese food items were either better here, or only available in HK and not SG.



While sale and consumption of sharks fins globally is on the decline, the folks in Hong Kong appear not to have gotten the message.



But who am I to moralize. My cause isn't sharks fins and cruelty to sharks -- my cause, if anything, is cruelty to passengers caused by 10-abreast 777's and 9-abreast seating in Dreamliners !

[yflyer]

Getting around Hong Kong was easy. With an Octopus card, you could ride all forms of public transport.

Anyone familiar with Singapore's MRT would be very comfortable with Hong Kong's MTR (which came first).



The trains are very similar to Singapore's trains.



Apart from the "Mind the Gap" announcements, they now also have these new stickers which tell commuters not to try to leap into the trains, when the bell goes "DO-DO-DO" (Their words, not mine )

[yflyer]

What they do have in MTR stations that we don't have in Singapore is charging points and free internet kiosks. What a good idea.



If your phone battery dies, just plug it in and you can make your urgent call.



Internet access worked fine too...

[yflyer]

Many places were also within easy walking distance of our hotel. Google Maps worked reasonably well, although the tall buildings meant that GPS coverage wasn't perfect.

A lot to see on the streets of Hong Kong. If you thought Singapore had strange street names, there are some memorable ones in HK too.



And on the ground, they also advise pedestrians where to look to avoid oncoming traffic (Similar to what they print on the streets of London)...



But for some reason, I had huge problems on the first day or so figuring out which directon to look, because the word said one thing "LOOK RIGHT" but the arrow also pointed to the RIGHT, and in my mind I kept interpreting the arrow as the direction of traffic, which meant I turned my head LEFT to look for cars coming from that direction instead. Infuriating. Must be a left brain/right brain thing. It took me days to form the right thought pattern.

[yflyer]

A good way to get around as a tourist is by double decker tram...



Before this trip, I had never tried the trams. But Mrs yflyer had previously done so, and persuaded me to join her on her tram journeys.

The trams got you around quite efficiently, for a flat fee of HKD 2.30 (Less than SGD 0.50) per trip. You paid with either cash or Octopus card on the way out. A great way to get around.

We usually sat on the upper deck, where we had great views all round. Some trams had beautiful retro wooden benches.



Others had more functional plastic seating.



One iconic route ended at North Point Terminus, where the last stretch of the tram journey ran through the middle of Chun Yeung Street, right through a wet market!

[yflyer]

Our first meal of the trip was snake soup.

"It is close by...we can walk there." Mrs yflyer said as she revealed our lunch plan after we checked into the Mira Moon.



We entered the small restaurant, where the waiter pointed us to an even smaller table, where two other guests were eating. Shared tables appear to be the norm here and in many other establishments in Hong Kong.



We picked a couple of items off an extensive Chinese menu.

First up, a bowl of snake soup to share. A hearty herbal soup with shredded vegetables, mushroom, and snake.



Very tasty...

We also shared Chinese liver sausage on rice and blanched lettuce with oyster sauce.



Apart from snake, quite a few other dishes were sold at this restaurant, including delicious roast goose and chicken, which many other tables were ordering, but it was the snake soup that this place was famous for.

A great start to the trip.

Right after that, we headed to another restaurant for lunch part 2. There were more restaurants to try than meal slots in our itinerary, so Mrs yflyer decided that we would just have to fit two restaurants in for each meal -- often sharing dishes rather than ordering one for each of us.

We headed to Ho Hung Kee, a noodle, roast meat and congee restaurant.

This restaurant had moved from its previous location to the 12th floor of Hysan Place.





Fish skin for a starter. Looked a little like a tire tread, and probably had a texture similar to one too, but with better flavour...



A bowl of mixed meat and century egg congee...comfort food...but quite delicious.



Pig trotter noodles...pure joy on a plate...



...and a bowl of wonton soup to finish off...



Standard Hong Kong fare, but superbly prepared. A very satisfying meal.

The Michelin inspectors must have thought so, because they awarded Ho Hung Kee one star in the HK edition of the guide.

Given that this was lunch part 2, I was amazed that we finished it all.

[yflyer]

On this visit to Hong Kong, we would focus on street food and local specialties.

Michelin-starred dining? Not this time round. Apart from Ho Hung Kee, the guide played no further part on this trip.

They launched the Michelin guide in Hong Kong several years back, and the outlets with awards do display them prominently, like Ho Hung Kee did, but I suspect the Michelin food inspectors had a tough time compiling the Hong Kong guide.

There must be thousands of fantastic eating establishments in Hong Kong, many just a pushcart or a few tables tucked into a small street unit. How do you even try them all, let alone pick the best?

If you stick to the traditional view of Michelin fine dining, then there are probably places in HK that fit the bill, and aspire to that ideal, but one can also argue that the traditional criteria used to assess establishments worthy of a star or three can be a bit of a straitjacket, and to try to apply these criteria to local Hong Kong cuisine and restaurants is doomed to controversy.

All that said, no guide of this sort is perfect. I guess one has to start somewhere. I think it is great that Michelin is evolving to take into account different styles of cuisine and dining. The fact that they also have a separate category of recommendations for street food also looks to be a step in the right direction.

One day I'll ask Mrs yflyer what her approach to choosing restaurants is. I have no idea how she picks what she wants to eat. The internet plays a big part. She gets good word of mouth advice from friends too.

There may be a restaurant 100 meters from the hotel serving the same dish. But no...she gets us onto a tram for a ride 20 minutes out of town, and then delegates the Google Maps navigation to me to cover the 10 minute walk to the chosen restaurant.

On this trip, at least one outlet serving the dish she was eyeing appeared to be closed for the day. At another address, a note on the door said that they had moved to a different location, and we walked the one plus kilometer journey to the new location.

It was all worth it though. We saw a lot on the way to our different eating locations, and the meals we had when we eventually found the restaurants was invariably satisfying.

[yflyer]

That evening, we headed to Tai Wing Wah at Stewart Road in Wanchai for roast pigeon. This was tasty: hot, crisp and tender, with surprisingly moist and fine flesh.



We accompanied the pigeon with lard rice...the restaurant provided rice, and we added the lard oil and soy sauce to taste.



Yes, lard oil, in a huge clear plastic bottle. Free flow...as much as your arteries could handle...



The next day, we headed to Pottinger Street...



...to Yat Lok...



...to eat Roast Goose...



Yummm...this was so good.



Goose tastes quite different from duck. I didn't realize how different until this meal.

[yflyer]

After lunch at Yat Lok, Mrs yflyer went off to do some shopping, while I decided that it was about time I headed out for a run.

My plan was to get to the Peak Tram station and catch the tram up to the Peak Tower, and then do a 10km run around Victoria Peak, taking in the view as I jogged along the paths and trails there.



What I didn't count on was the queue at the Peak Tram station.





Good grief. I had to be back in time for dinner. I didn't count on a queue like this.

I spotted one of the staff managing the queue.

"Hello, may I know if there is a way to walk up to the Peak Tower?" I asked.

"Yes! Just follow the path..."

She pointed to a path running alongside the tram line.

"Thank you!"

OK...the Peak Tower is at an elevation of 396 meters. Should be doable if I go slowly.

I would start my run right here and jog to the top...



A tram went by just as I was starting out. I waited for it to pass before began...



I headed up...and up...



Eventually the path diverged from the tram track...evidently I would be making a big loop around the hill before reaching the peak, including more than a few zig-zags along the hillside , and crossing several narrow roads...



...but as I approached the top, the views became more and more spectacular, with the Hong Kong skyline spread out below...



...I passed number of other people on the way up-- most were walking, some with pet dogs in tow...

At one point, as I huffed and puffed my way up, I saw ahead a group of young men on a walk on the way up to the top. They had paused to wait for a colleague was was clearly winded, and taking slow steps to catch up with the group waiting ahead. It ended up being an impromptu race with me about 50 meters behind, jogging up the incline at a good clip, with the man just 10 meters behind the main group, inching slowly towards the group with slow deliberate steps. The group began cheering him on: would he get to the group first, or would I?

By that point I was short of breath too...but somehow overtook him at the last minute to get to the main group first...they started cheering and laughing and a couple high-fived me on the way up.

"Our friend is an old man!" They said...

"See you at the top! Or maybe a little further up the hill...if you see me lying unconscious on the path later, please call an ambulance!" I joked, before continuing to run up the slope...at that point I was becoming quite short of breath myself...

"I see the Garmin on your wrist! You'll be fine!" One of them replied, as I pushed on ahead...

Eventually the Peak Tower came within sight, with the last stretch of the way along the road itself...



I finally arrived at the top, and was rewarded with a spectacular panorama...



There wasn't even need to pay for admission into the Peak Tower building itself...the view was probably almost as good from the public areas outside the building.



In terms of distance, it was just 3km along the path. A lot longer than the tram, which is denoted by the dotted line on the map below, whereas the running route is highlighted in red. The map makes it look like the Peak Tower is very near, doesn't it!



Of course, the elevation of almost 400m meant that I had quite a workout on the way up.