十勝豚丼 (Tokachi Butadon), Sports Depot, Sapporo, Hokkaido

This restaurant's branch in JR station has been ranked as the no. 1 in various food forums.  The Forums killed that place.  In my last visit, it wasn't as good as before due to the super speedy grilling and serving.  So I walked about 20 minutes to the north east of JR station to try this branch.  The fond memory came back.  The place wasn't that empty as shown in the below photos.  I just took the time after the guests left.  I'm getting curious to go check out its origin place Tokachi.  

Nadaman Garden, Grand Park Hotel, Nakajima Park, Sapporo

There is another branch of this restaurant group in Nakajima Park of Sapporo.  Came here on a sunny day.  It's quite a contrast to see the snow covering the park outside and the mountain range of West Sapporo.  It was a bit more relaxing than its sister branch in Daimaru.  The dishes were served in a very right timing, as noted from the below 2 photos that some steam could be captured. 

True colour, at Aurora Town, Sapporo, Hokkaido

Aburiya (灸屋), Bisse, Sapporo, Hokkaido

Passed by this mall for checking restaurants.  Those look quite expensive.  Then I almost forgot this place until a friend mentioned about some bargain lunch from this restaurant.  Got here for a very early brunch at 11am.  Perhaps I was too hungry enough not to browse the menu in details and simply ordered a basket of bowls.  The salad was dried out as if it stayed for hours in the fridge.  The sashimi don wasn't too fresh.  The serving portion was also quite small.  The grill eel was a bit disappointing.  It's not nicely grilled but the good thing they don't use heavy soy sauce.  As when we left the restaurant, we found out lots of customers are in line.  That told why the restaurant had to prepare some food in advance.

Promoting local domestic tourism, Hokkaido

I have been seeing how the local Government has worked on their domestic travel for their local people to visit the other places by promoting some travel and food fair.  That's one important point for not relying too much on foreign money.

Tully's Coffee at HTB (Hokkaido Television Broadcaster), Sapporo, Hokkaido

Finally I could see this giant building, across on the south east of Cross Hotel, had been finished over 6 years.  I believe that would be the complexity of the whole building infrastructure especially for a TV broadcaster.  Somehow I don't like animation or cartoon characters but this one drew my attention and so I had to sit down for a drink at Tully coffee, right on their entrance floor.

San Ka La (山旮旯), Vela boutique hotel, Wanchai, HK

In the recent years there seemed to be a "renaissance" of Cantonese due to the strong opposition of the Cantonese provincial government against the central Government for discouraging the use of Cantonese dialect of 10 years ago.  Later on, the revival of nostalgic Cantonese culture came.  Lots of local tea rooms and old brands being re-branded.  Furthermore, some colloquial Cantonese words and idioms have been in another era of renaissance.  

Was introduced to this place on Morrison Road facing the junction of Happy Valley and Causeway Bay.   The place was just on the ground floor of Vela hotel.  Noticed it also has a live stage for some local indie music groups to play live.  Even though you may not be into live performance, this place is good if you look for some easy and open environment for food and drinks.  

Taikoo Place, open garden, HK

It was almost 20 years ago, I had a chance of viewing the future of Taikoo Place being revamped with super tall buildings but in the same time a big open green area.  Time flies.  Today I could see part of the green area and yet another new project called Blue Print (again, a very boring term co-working space/serviced office/event venue).

As when I noticed how the construction kept their dust/mud not to be spread out, like regular water sprinkling and the trucks being cleaned before leaving on the road...etc.), I realised this part is really important for the neighbouring environment.  It seemed not many places are practising it, when I saw how dusty it could be in cities like Saint Petersburg, Helsinki and Melbourne...etc.

Business/First class lounge, Finnair, Helsinki Airport

A few minutes after I took the photo of this lounge area, it was crowded with guests standing and eating.  The seats were just right outside of the rest rooms.  The meal and drink choices were quite limited.  I could say this is the worst travel lounge I have ever been to.

Business class, HK-Helsinki, Finnair A350

Seems like more and more airlines are retrofitting their business class seats to this herringbone seat.  The only difference may be in the storage and and the cushion/overnight bag.  On the seat, the cushion was a bit too hard and rough in quality.  The Marimekko's pillow, overnight bag and blanket weren't too comfy though it looks quite colourful.   Interesting the first main meals weren't appealing but the pre-arrival brief meal was much better (the noodle with mushroom/chicken served on the outbound flight and the salmon puff on the inbound).