Red roast whole baby pig 大紅乳豬全體, East Ocean Restaurant Wanchai 灣仔東海

Last week I brought my SE Asian business friends to a gala dinner at East Ocean Wanchai, after Tsui King Lau and American Restaurant. So I ordered the "wedding/birthday" dinner set and the first one is this whole baby pig. Again, all cameras got ready. The last one - the giant East Ocean's big lotus seed bun aroused a big "wow". After the dinner, I found out the entrance of East Ocean Wanchai is still the same as 20-30 years ago (below right photo). What a memory!

Season's greeting - holiday's strike

2 weeks ago Cathay Pacific announced its extra bonus to be paid to all the staff as a result of a profit gain. Today the staff union of Cathay Pacific announced their strike in the coming holiday's season. Again, this is the sequel of those "spoiled" HK "big kids". They think the bonus is taken for granted and they should get it. On the contrary, they initiate the strike at this critical peak season. Don't they ever think it will spoil the travelers only vacation of the year. It's not a single event but as I know quite a no. of teenagers and persons in their 20's think they should be given naturally and think this is part of their given life. Really pathetic.

德智體群美 - (not in exact English translation as Morality, Wisdom, Physical, Gathering, Art)

Read some news about how some students gave away HK$40,000 (US$5,200) and 8 iPhones to his school mates in exchange for those recipients to say "Big brother XXX" in front of his fond girlfriend. Also read some news about how those college graduates claiming on "no property after graduation" and that made him lose his girlfriend. These 2 incidents seem to be unrelated but the common thing is money over everything. Of course, money is important but it's the person who works hard to earn money on his own living. From those rich kids getting spoiled to the graduates getting frustrated because they didn't get what they think they should be given.


In the old time, I recall we used to be taught about 德智體群美 in primary school, but now most parents do spoil their kids too much and sometimes materialize their love to them. They may think this is their own business on how to love their kids but when their rich kids going back to school. This is a virus. They show off. They make all the others follow, be envious or jealous, and greedy, selfish and materialistic. They compare. They get lost. They think the world owes them a lot. Keep on complaining and keep on getting discontented.

Sizzling prawns on hot plate by American Restaurant 鐵板京燒蝦球 (美利堅)

In holding a conference in HK and arranging various Chinese dinners including this renowned Peking restaurant in town. Besides Peking duck and the cold shred chicken, this sizzling prawn is a must and brings a vibrant atmosphere with all cameras on focus.

Lunch by the pool, Mandarin Oriental BKK

I believe MO BKK is one of the few hotels I am interested in ordering food and drinks. When I noticed a mango lobster salad on the menu, I thought of the old time MO HK cafe where they serve my most missed mango lobster salad. So good to see this one and it's a nice fresh up from the warm hot sunny day by the MO pool. Verandah also made some authentic club sandwich. Veggie very fresh!

Inspired by "Spirited Away" (千與千尋) - animation movie by Hayao Miyazaki 宮崎駿

Last time at the MO stay, we found out 3 pajamas were put in the room. As a MO fan, a subconscious thought of taking one of those as a souvenir came up. However, better not for some reason, and supposed this pajama is for sale if you wanna take it home. That reminded me of a Japanese animation movie called "Spirited Away". It's about how

Red Mullet by Le Normandie, Mandarin Oriental Bangkok

Red mullet is very difficult to do it well without ginger and scallion. If it's the fat body red mullet, then it's even more challenging since it's very smelly. I often cooked the fat body red mullet in pan frying and sealed in ginger scallion soy sauce. Steaming is only for the long tail red mullet 長尾紅衫魚. Long tail red mullet has a very special meat texture and sweetness. Besides, it has less bones than the other red mullet. When I was about to order this red mullet at Le Normandie, I hesitated what kind of red mullet they would choose. Though I am not 100% sure if it's a long tail red mullet or some other species, they got the right one. This one is perfect in a sunny tomato sauce. Another childhood memory delight.

Challenge your dislike - Chicken liver pie, Le Normandie, Mandarin Oriental Bangkok

Chicken liver is one of the food I take the least, except the "BBQ golden coin chicken liver"(金錢膶). When I notice this one on the lunch menu of Le Normandie, why not give it a try for the French cooking. Le Normandie didn't disappoint me. You see that tiny rosemary on the tie. It sparks the "light bitter aroma" of chicken liver. The little yam on the left is awesome. It seemed to me this is quite Chinese actually. Again there are many similar things between French and Chinese cooking.

Pool Villa, Aka Guti Hua Hin, Thailand

Originally I was looking at this Aka Guti. However, I read some comments about the pool being not maintained well. I then went back to their original Aka. The 2 Akas are in a 500 meter distance. The funny thing is that the first night in this pool villa in a water shortage. I then got to give up my complaints and fortunately the stay was very short. However, here I met a kitty that I felt like I was brought back to my childhood. What's more, the first time I had much fun in playing a RC helicopter, speed boat and submarine.

Pool Villa, Aka Resort Hua Hin

Stayed here for 1 night and got transferred to their sister resort because there was a power failure problem from 9:30pm til 2am. It's completely dark and I had to walk to the receptionist with my camera's LCD light. I thought of our Angel as she often carried a torch on trips. Now that she must be having her laugh on her and I respectfully accept it. The next day I commented to the manger about this power failure and that they should have some contingency plan and at least some emergency light since power failure isn't that uncommon.

Donald & Jimmy, out in the dark

Have been chatting with Pixmation about my idea of getting a fierce look dry salty fish for a mysterious fish head with horrifying teeth in the dark. Unfortunately that fierce look salty fish was gone. I had a carpet search during lunch time in Wanchai market but failed to find a proper one, though I got one for my food purpose. To satisfy my trying for shooting objects in darkness, Donald & Jimmy immediately volunteered themselves as the models. Below were taken on 50mm 1.4 lens at 1/200 shutter speed, F16, ISO 100 with my ivory door at 2 feet away bounce off flash. Gotta need more time for practising.

Aka Hua Hin, Thailand

Aka Hua Hin is located on the hillside back on Hua Hin downtown. It takes about 20 minutes to downtown. The resort is very unique with plenty of green and ponds, lake and a big swimming pool in addition to a private swimming pool in each villa. The resort has a separate wing called Aka Guti. To be continued....