Working in Hong Kong is very intensive than in other countries. Nevertheless, people who work at a typical Hong Kong-based company are often entitled to 12 or even fewer days of annual leaves. Every year, netizen posts the “Annual Leave Guide” to teach others to mix the annual leaves with public holidays so that their vacation can be longer. People take leaves and travel outside Hong Kong to relieve stress during office hours. But according to my years of observations, their travels look much more stressful than working at the office. ...

Last month, I announced to kick start a project, A Year in Hong Kong, to rekindle my photography passion. The best way to start is to resume my hiking habit. Last year, we went to Hung Heung Lo Fung. This time, we planned to revisit Hung Heung Lo Fung and extend our journey to the nearby mountains. Hung Heung Lo Fung is located west of Braemar Hill, North Point. According to the legend, a Hakka family who settled in Kowloon in the 18th century built a Tin Hau temple in Causeway Bay. As the number of worshippers increased, they bought a red incense burner. The temple was then called the Hung Heung Lo Temple. The mountain at the back of the temple was named Hung Heung Lo Fung. ...

In the previous article, I suggested readers cook meals instead of eating out. In reality, there are chances that you have to eat out. Having rehearsals outside the living place recently, I ate out with my girlfriend frequently. Often times the restaurants upset us. It’s almost a trend for restaurants to increase their meal price after the Chinese New Year – usually a couple of dollars per dish. One day, we went to a cafe. We could still recall the menu from last year. Half of the dishes were HKD 90 or less. Today, these dishes are gone – most cost over HKD 150. “This might be the last time we eat here,” I told my girlfriend. We didn’t want to spend too much as we thought it was a bit overpriced, so we ordered the cheapest dish, a dessert and an espresso. Luckily, the waiter still served us well – at least they weren’t rude. ...

This Thursday, I will perform in a concert, Bands around the World, organised by Sforzando Wind Ensemble. The band will begin with a sorrowful piece, Cry of the Last Unicorn. After that, the band will perform a series of music pieces about different places in the world. In previous years, most of us could only stay in Hong Kong. Now, most of the travel restrictions are relaxed. Before travelling the world, let’s enjoy the concert with music from around the world. ...

Kung Hei Fat Choy! According to the Chinese zodiac, this year is the Year of the Rabbit. In Hong Kong, rabbit-related decorations are everywhere in shopping malls and commercial and residential buildings. Can the rabbit appear on the milk-based coffee as well? Of course. Recently my girlfriend challenged me about whether I could make a rabbit latte art. I have been making rosettas and rippled hearts for more than 2 months. I wanted to try something new, so I accepted the challenge. ...

Happy birthday to my blog! Newcomers might find it weird that there are only 20 blog posts. But old readers know I have an old blog that was written in Chinese. The first blog post there was on January 20, 2022. After 100 blog posts, I changed my written language and created another blog. As an amateur blogger who doesn’t write much during work, blogging is an intensive activity. I have to decide the topic for the target publication day. If it is a technical or tutorial post, I need to further study the topic to write. Sometimes I have to practise it or perform experiments and record the finding. The blog post should then be much more valuable to the readers. If it is a travel blog post, I must spend much more time selecting the photos and retouching them before writing. If it is a story, I have to ensure the storytelling is good to understand, and the reader should find key takeaways after reading it. ...

Last September, my hairstylist told me he couldn’t serve me anymore because he partially lost his vision. Before meeting this hairstylist, I really had unwell experiences matching a hairstylist. I hate communicating with them. They threw me lots of unknown terminologies. Most results didn’t match my expectation. Having a hairstylist who had served me for 12 years, I didn’t want to find another replacement. Therefore, I decided to learn to cut my own hair. ...

During the pandemic era, there were a lot of restrictions on cinema in Hong Kong. Cinemas were closed for over a hundred days. There was a time when customers couldn’t eat or drink in cinemas. Some people weren’t allowed to enter the cinemas for many reasons. The restrictions ruined the atmosphere of watching movies. Instead of going to the cinema, people watch Netflix at home if the movies are available there. ...

Recently, Facebook and Google Photos reminded me day and night of my last time travelling outside Hong Kong. Social media keep pushing the photos posted by my friends, mostly travelling outside the town. It’s been 3 years since I last travelled outside Hong Kong. I visited Fukuoka with my girlfriend for a week. After that, the world entered the “pandemic era”. The world is now in the “recovery era”. Many countries have opened their borders. Hong Kong people often imagine Japan as their homeland. When Japan opens its border, they escape from Hong Kong and return to the “homeland” they are imagining. Although I don’t treat Japan as my homeland, I will visit there in March, too. ...

One day, I met two friends. We went to a coffee shop, bought two cups of coffee, and chatted. One of the topics was whether to buy an espresso machine. “Think twice before you buy it,” I said, “it’s not as easy to brew an espresso as you might think.” In fact, this wasn’t the first time I faced this question. Imagine that you are sitting at a cafe with your friends. You enjoy chatting with them and having an egg benedict. A moment later, you receive a cup of caffe latte topping with pretty latte art. How cosy it is. ...