travelswithalice

November 09, 2014

Wan Chai

Jeff drove us to Wan Chai market for lunch. Still no protesters in sight but judging by Jeff's annoyance at the traffic problems they're causing, the Occupy Hong Kong  movement has gotten very unpopular as patience runs thin among the locals.

Serge & le Phoque was closed so we decided to walk around. I finally got Annette her long awaited Japanese lunch boxes at a dry goods shop that was packed with loads of interesting stuff. Walked to Star Street to see if Chez Patrick had recovered from its funk. Sadly, it hadn't. So walked some more and settled on a tiny health food type Mediterranean style hole in the wall for a frightfully healthy lunch. My carrot, apple, and ginger juice was redolent with beneficial guilt-free spa smells:

Of course all this was thoroughly negated much later by the obligatory cocktail hour at the Grand Club. Stuart and I and all the good people manning that happy place on the 31st floor commiserated with each other at the thought of its impending closure. In January, the Grand Club will close for a complete redo. Sad. 

Goodbye, we'll miss this beautiful sanctuary.

Winnie did promise to let me buy my favorite chair though. 😍

Labels: Grand Club, Grand Hyatt, Occupy Hong Kong, Wan Chai

posted by Alice Dimalanta Jones  # November 09, 2014

Hong Kong

At the hotel, a warm welcome and a belated birthday greeting. Only two months late. 😀

It still feels like coming home despite the changing landscape.

From my hotel window:

The drive from the airport took me on a roundabout swing around alternative routes redrawn by the Occupy Central protesters. I was hoping to snap pictures of the protesters but it was raining and I didn't see anything worth snapping. The drive was a little disorienting, but the protest now seems to be a nonevent in this pragmatic city.

Except for the traffic. These days, traffic is the biggest concern in and around Central. 

Yesterday the hotel car took me to Prince's Building to meet up with Stuart and ex-Citi friend Patrick for lunch at Alfie's. I managed to get some pictures as we went round the houses. 

From my car window:

Later, the car  got stuck in traffic soon after it set out to pick us up from Landmark. 

We took the MTR. I had never seen such crowds, even in typically crowded Hong Kong. At the Wan Chai exit, Stuart led me through the rush to the escalator and I held on to his belt as the crowd swept us along. It certainly wasn't the normal rush hour crowd. 

Even with their much depleted ranks, the protesters are successfully targeting important thoroughfares in and out of the city. Consequently,  public transport is becoming an unwelcome experience for a lot of car-crazy Central denizens.

Today, we'll attempt to get to Serge & le  Phoque in Wan Chai market. Failing that, we'll at least take pictures of the occupiers up close. 

Labels: Hong Kong, Occupy Central

posted by Alice Dimalanta Jones  # November 09, 2014

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