Long Walk Along the Harbourfront

Gorgeous day for a walk and admire the Hong Kong skyline

This morning my friend and I did the 11.5km walk from North Point to Kennedy Town in just over two hours. It was a great way to walk off an accumulation of calories and see the city the way I used to see it when I lived in Hong Kong.

It was already sunny and hot at just after 8.30am when we set off, and luckily we had slathered on sunscreen and wore a hat. We walked past North Point, seeing people make use of seating areas to eat a snack, look at their phones or read the newspaper, and Fortress Hill before going to Tin Hau and Causeway Bay, walking around the Police Officers' Club.

Construction for the route in Sai Ying Pun

In Wan Chai there was a running race going on -- the My Boy 3K Family Run, based off of a comic strip character. We saw many people dressed in blue T-shirts with medals around their necks and then the actual race route along the Wan Chai waterfront. 

When we got to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre it was great to see the familiar sight of Victoria Harbour and both Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. I was not able to spot any cats by the rocks though. 

Meanwhile there is construction extending from the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong so that people can walk from the hotel across an overpass to reach the walking path which will be fantastic once it's done; guests won't be confused as to how to get there and be able to enjoy the skyline by the harbourfront.

Pretty soon we arrived in Central, and spotted a military ship docked; I was surprised there were no People's Liberation Army soldiers out in front of the gates guarding the ship...

Military ship docked in Central

At the Ferry Piers there were the usual crowds hanging around waiting for friends or family before boarding together to go to the outlying islands and it wasn't as packed as it used to be pre-pandemic.

Shun Tak in Sheung Wan was basically the same, though with more pollution from the Turbocat ferries. I don't miss the noise pollution and the gasoline smell.

Soon after we arrived in Sai Ying Pun, and at Dr Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Park there were people exercising, children playing, and walking like us. But after passing the sports centre the route was diverted with lots of construction along what used to be the boardwalk.

My friend noted that not much seemed to have been completed since the last time he walked by this area. Alas will have to see how it looks the next time.

Finally we reached Shek Tong Tsui where we saw the former Instagram Pier that has been blocked off for years from public access, and soon enough we arrived at Kennedy Town.

The coffee shop Arabica is still very popular with mainland tourists thanks to Xiaohongshu, and across the street, many were trying to get a shot of themselves with Victoria Harbour in the background. There were more people taking pictures with the line of Banyan trees on Forbes Street. It is quite the miracle how the seeds for these trees landed in between the rocks of the stone wall and managed to cling on and grow into trees. 

Banyan trees are a tourist attraction in K-Town

It was heartening to see most of the restaurants and shops are still around.

Cheap Eats in Sai Ying Pun

Large clams steamed with vermicelli and spring onions on top

I met up with my ex-colleagues for dinner the other day. One of them arranged for us to eat at a dai pai dong in a government-run cooked food centre and the food we ate was fantastic, perfect for a casual group of people.

The restaurant is called Daisy's and it's a no-frills place where diners sit on plastic chairs around a round table with flimsy plastic on top. But the food is top notch.

Another round of the crispy deboned chicken 

One of the highlights was the deboned -- yes deboned -- crispy chicken. The skin was so crunchy, while the meat was tender and juicy. Another was giant clams topped with vermicelli and spring onions. Some people were hesitant about eating the large orange reproductive gland, claiming it tasted mealy. But it's part of the scallop!

Other dishes included an omelette with preserved vegetable, Chinese kale stir-fried with garlic, prawns stir-fried in salted egg yolk, another salted egg yolk with squid, string beans stir-fried with minced pork and chillis, and fish with tofu in a claypot.

In general all the dishes were pretty good and including several bottles of Tsing Tao, the meal came to HK$250 per person.

We had the added entertainment of playing with two cats who wore tops to keep warm! In general they are quite friendly.

One cat mans the stall Daisy's

My former colleague likes Daisy's, not only because it's across from where he lives, but also because it is gay-friendly, pointing out a rainbow sign in a corner of the restaurant.

Daisy's

Centre Street Market between First and Second Street

Sai Ying Pun

2547 5899

Whatsapp +852 6891 1362

Pro-Democratic Civic Party to Disband in Hong Kong

The dapper Leong (centre) steps down as chairman of the party

Another piece of the democracy that Hong Kong used to have will soon disappear. After 16 years, the Civic Party will disband because no members are interested in taking up the mantle due to political events in the last few years.

Current chairman, Alan Leong Kah-kit made the announcement on Monday after no nominations were received for the executive positions in the party. As a result the Civic Party will disband after a final vote in an emergency general meeting in February. 

Leong says no one wants to lead the party

Leong said "it was not a surprise" no one came forward, and that no one had any ideas on how to keep the party going.

"That has not been unexpected, given what happened and what transpired in the past half year or so," he said.

When the Civic Party is dissolved, Leong said he will leave politics.

When I used to go on long walks along the waterfront from Wan Chai to Sai Ying Pun or Kennedy Town in the evenings, I saw Leong maybe three or four times, walking along the harbourfront too, or standing at an observation deck in front of Tamar, watching the world go by. 

Maybe he was pondering the future of the party and his fate. He is not as active on social media as Emily Lau Wai-hing is, who makes an effort to visit her friends, now in jail; perhaps he too is waiting until he has shed all his political responsibility, or just trying to lay low in general.

The Civic Party was founded in 2006 that represented professionals including lawyers, accountants and academics. Senior Counsel Audrey Eu Yuet-mee was the party's founding leader.

Eu was the Civic Party's founding leader in 2006

The party had seats elected into the Legislative Council since 2008, but in November 2020, four of its members were ousted from the legislature for being "unpatriotic".

Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu, Dennis Kwok Wing-hang, Kwok Ka-ki and Kenneth Leung Kai-cheong were declared disqualified, which triggered mass resignations by opposition legislators, and in turn resulted in a mostly pro-Beijing legislature.

In addition, Yeung and Kwok Ka-ki, along with Jeremy Tam Man-ho and Lee Yue-shun, are currently charged under the national security law, as part of the 47 political figures and activists charged with conspiring to commit subversion over the primary elections that were held in July 2020.

Yeung, Tam and Kwok have been detained for more than 21 months, waiting for the case to go to trial. They have all pleaded guilty and have asked to be sentenced as soon as possible. Their lawyer told the High Court in September that they "have been anxious", spending almost two years remanded in custody with no chance of bail.

However, Lee was granted bail, and will stand trial together with 16 other defendants who denied the charge in late January next year.

The quartet was ousted from Legco in 2020

With these prominent members in jail, and Dennis Kwok in exile practicing law in New York, it's hard to see how there is any future for the Civic Party, let alone any kind of pro-democratic political party to exist in Hong Kong anymore.