Green Light for Reopening Some Venues

This afternoon Dr Chan announced loosening of restrictions

 

So it's happening.

The Hong Kong government announced the relaxation of measures starting on Thursday, the seventh day of the Lunar New Year.

However there are some odd choices of why certain venues will reopen and others will not.

What will open? 

Theme parks like Ocean Park can reopen

Restaurants can operate until 10pm and have four to a table -- even though in terms of public gatherings are still a maximum of two people. Secretary for Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee said this regulation will be amended to four people soon.

Other places can open, like cinemas, gyms, massage and beauty parlours, concert halls, theme parks, exhibition centres, bowling alleys, skating rinks, and game centres.

But venues that will remain closed are bars, party rooms, bathhouses, karaoke lounges, mahjong parlours, beaches, children's play facilities, barbecue sites and swimming pools.

It boggles the mind how this government decides that for example game centres can open but not swimming pools or beaches. Children can't even play on playgrounds.

When asked about this, Chan didn't have an answer, only to say the government was proceeding with caution, and is being vigilant for any rebound in cases after the Lunar New Year.

"I don't think the next phase of relaxation will be very soon," she replied to a question asking when the other venues may reopen.

Mahjong parlours remain closed

Meanwhile people are rushing to buy an extra phone and sim card to use the LeaveHomeSafe app starting on Thursday when entering premises like restaurants, cinemas, wet markets and gyms.

The salesperson who sold me the sim card said he had already helped several customers with the same request.

I remarked that his company was lucky to get this extra business considering others are still hurting because of the coronavirus pandemic.

"Actually we don't really want to do this kind of business -- pandemic business. This app is making people spend more money when they shouldn't have to," he said, adding it was just like the mask-buying situation where the scarcity led to high prices. 

Afterwards I set up the app and tried it out this evening. It's easy to use, scanning a QR code when you enter, then press "leave" when you are leaving, though it prompts two options of "leaving now" or "already left".

Swimming pools must also stay shut

It is hoped the app can help people record their movements in case they themselves are infected, or can alert others if they were in the same place at the same time. In theory it will help speed up contact tracing and it will be interesting to see how quickly people will comply to using it from Thursday.

In the meantime I will continue to walk instead of swim for exercise, though I have die-hard swimming friends who have resorted to open-water swimming these last several months! 

 

Hong Kong Continues to Flatten Curve in Eerie Silence

Today's sunset from Wan Chai, with no one walking around outside

Yesterday Hong Kong recorded zero new coronavirus cases, and with such good news, the daily 4.30pm press briefing was cancelled.

However health experts warned that now was not the time to lift restrictions, that there had to be 28 consecutive days of no cases for that to happen first.

Four people who came back to HK were new cases

And then today the city reported four new cases, all of them infected while overseas, and so the counting down of restrictions has to be reset again.

As a result "social-distancing measures" will continue, with bars, karaoke bars, beauty salons, spas, fitness centres and pubs will remain closed, as well as barbecue pits and campsites.

However, starting on Friday, restaurants can have more than 50 percent capacity, as long as tables are at least 1.5 metres apart, or separated by partitions for another 14 days.

Yesterday I visited The Peninsula Hong Kong and was told despite the measures, the hotel's restaurants were busy with local patrons, though not all of its restaurants were open. The iconic Gaddi's which serves contemporary French cuisine had yet to be open since late January and would open next week along with Felix and Chesa.

Social distancing in restaurants will continue for 14 days

Meanwhile in Wan Chai at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong tonight, the Tiffin Lounge was completely shut down as it was a buffet concept, while the coffee shop called Grand Cafe was doing a decent, though quiet business.

All the hotels in the city are offering staycation packages, but how many people would actually take up the offer? Lots of people may still be worried about taking the health risk of staying in a hotel, while others may have lost their jobs or gone on no pay leave and would rather save their money.

From what I've heard from restaurant and hotel people is that they are projecting things to be practically back to normal by June. Even if it were to be OK, the rest of the world will not have flattened their curves to zero, so there probably won't be any overseas visitors coming to Hong Kong anytime soon.

Tiffin Lounge in the Grand Hyatt has completely shut down

It's a tough situation for everyone involved, which means everyone. Around the world.

After I left the Grand Hyatt, I walked towards Admiralty and was shocked to see the streets had no cars; if there were cars they were just parked on the street. It was so easy to cross roads without worrying about vehicles hurtling past.

On the one hand it was surprising and quiet, but the other was sad and eerie.

BBQ in Aberdeen Country Park

Meats roasted in various stages including my char siu about to be cooked

We take a break from protest programming to describe an outing we had last Saturday.

Now that the weather has cooled down considerably, my relatives came up with the brilliant plan of having a barbecue -- at 10am.

We all met at Aberdeen Centre and from there took a short mini bus or a taxi ride up to Aberdeen Country Park where there are barbecue pits free of charge. For me it was the first time taking the no. 58 mini bus from Kennedy Town to Aberdeen Centre, which took about 20 minutes.

The country park has a nice (developed) setting for barbecues

One of my uncles who lives near there went ahead earlier and occupied one of the pits which is the perfect spot: under the trees for shade protection and next to a picnic bench. Nearby are public toilets and even a commissary should you need extra snacks and drinks to supplement your barbecue.

This uncle had already placed newspapers on top of the picnic bench, then a big plastic sheet over the table top and held it down with string in three places. So professional.

My other uncle and his son started the fire by arranging the charcoal bricks like a Jenga tower but with spaces in between. This turned out to be completely unnecessary once the fire started going and the charcoal became white and the tower collapsed.

They had also brought marinated meats along, like chicken wings (two kinds), thin pork fillets in a char siu marinade, and a selection of offal, like liver. There were also processed meats like sausages and even fish balls and squid balls. And being Chinese, we also had a container of pickled vegetables, fresh cabbage leaves, corn, and sweet potatoes that we placed in the pit to roast.

Walking along the path to the Upper Aberdeen Reservoir

Once the fire toned down and the charcoal started turning white, that's when the real barbecuing began and it was quite fun sitting around shooting the breeze and slowly cooking our food. In the background I knew there were clashes going on at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, but this was a good way to get our minds elsewhere.

When I was pretty full, I asked my relatives where I could go for a walk and they gave me directions to walk to the Upper Aberdeen Reservoir. 

It was about a 15 minute walk up a gentle slope, where there are more barbecue pits. However they seemed to have attracted a family of wild pigs! The mother led her five piglets away from the barbecue pits and into the hillside and for me it was my first encounter with wild pigs so close up. The mother didn't seem to mind us humans, otherwise she would have been defensive in protecting her piglets.

A family of wild pigs near a barbecue site!

I walked passed them and kept going until I hit the upper reservoir, and it was quite an impressive sight. There were also lots of butterflies everywhere, enjoying the sun.

The Upper and Lower reservoirs were built to supply water to the west side of Hong Kong Island. The project began in 1929 and finished two years later. The Upper Reservoir stores up to 820,000 cubit metres of water, and together with the Lower Reservoir have a total capacity of 1.23 million cubic metres that served 850,000 residents.

From here I turned around to go back and again encountered the same wild pig family, that seemed to like to linger in the area... I wonder why...

When I came back the fire was perfect for roasting marshmallows and helped my cousins get that golden brown, slightly crunchy on the outside, and wobbly gooey inside. I couldn't help eating a few myself!

A scenic view of the Upper Aberdeen Reservoir

We finished in the late afternoon and needless to say there was no need for dinner except for some fruit! But it was also a good mini escape from the stress of the protests and enjoy a bit of nature (and food).

Back at Lung King Heen for Dim Sum

Taking a picture of our dim sum dishes before digging in!

Over a year ago YTSL and I made a trip to Lung King Heen and we were in heaven biting into the barbecue pork buns with char siu and pine nuts.

Still dreaming about them, we came back again with another friend to give us the excuse to order more food!

The excellent rice rolls with char siu and preserved vegetable

We were given a late reservation of time of 2.15pm and we were worried there wouldn't be much food left, but in fact a few other diners trickled in after us. Even Chinese executive chef Chan Yan-tak made an appearance in the dining room.

One of our favourite dim sum this time was the steamed rice rolls with char siu and preserved vegetables (HK$100). That's not a combination you find in other dim sum places and now I'm wondering why not!

The preserved vegetables have a savoury taste and also help balance out the sweetness of the char siu. The crunchiness of the vegetables also adds a nice texture. The rice rolls were so thin and yet they didn't break when we picked them up. Amazing.

While I love har gao or steamed shrimp dumplings (HK$99) with bamboo shoots, I have to say these ones weren't particularly outstanding, boring in fact. Maybe it's because no MSG was added.

Baked whole abalone puff with diced chicken

I ordered steamed assorted mushroom dumplings with celery (HK$99) and this too was almost refreshing in a way, along with a bit of a crunch that was very delicate. The same could be said with the steamed scallop dumplings with vegetables and wild mushrooms (HK$99).

The baked whole abalone puffs with diced chicken (HK$82 each) were YTSL's highlight. She liked the east-west taste as the pastry is very buttery, the abalone cooked perfectly. We also liked the baked beef puffs with mushrooms and preserved vegetables (HK$99).

We eagerly anticipated having the baked barbecue pork buns with pine nuts (HK$99) and upon picking them up I was amazed at how thin the pastry was in holding the hot, sweet, gooey filling inside. When I bit into it, the familiar sweetness of the char siu was there, the fat taken out so it was all lean, but wait -- where were the pine nuts?

Barbecue pork buns with pine nuts

Mid-way through eating the bun I finally tasted them, but I remembered last time there were many more pine nuts in the filling. Was it cutting costs? Pine nuts aren't cheap either. Nevertheless the pine nut taste lingered in my mouth.

In the end with a mango sago cream dessert (HK$90) the bill came to HK$1,370 for three including service charge. It's not cheap but it's not Tim Ho Wan either! Saving up for the next trip to Lung King Heen...

Lung King Heen

4/F, Four Seasons Hong Kong

8 Finance Street

Central
3196 8888

Fact of the Day: Eating Too Much Red Meat

Too much red meat isn't too good for you, increasing the risk of cancer

Did you know that you might be eating too much red meat everyday?

A relatively small survey of 1,013 Hong Kong people found 26 percent of them were eating twice the amount of red meat recommended at over 160 grams per day.

The survey conducted by the Anti-Cancer Society found during hotpot, barbecue or Korean grill meals, the average consumption of red meat was 270.1g, while for processed meat it was 103.2g.

Hotpots and Korean grills entice people to eat too much meat

Dr Rico Liu King-yin, chairman of the cancer education subcommittee of the Anti-Cancer Society says no more than 510g of red meat per week was recommended, which comes to a daily limit of 73g or the size of two mahjong tiles.

In that case I am over the daily limit a lot!

"Studies suggest the risk of colorectal cancer could increase by 17 percent for each 100g portion of red meat eaten daily," Liu said.

Last year, the World Health Organization classified the consumption of red meat as probably carcinogenic to humans, while processed meat was carcinogenic to humans.

The local study also found that respondents were aware of the increased cancer risk of eating too much red meat.

"I think this is in part due to a lot of people in Hong Kong having a habit of going out for meals, in which they cannot control the portion of food served," he said.

The daily amount of meat should be 73g or two mahjong tiles

Uh huh. Especially hot pot and Korean barbecue restaurants, where large platters of meat are on the menu.

However, Liu said healthy eating could lower the risk of cancer by 30 to 40 percent, and that red meat should not be avoided entirely because it is rich in nutrients.

So keep that in mind folks -- you should only eat two mahjong tiles' worth of meat per day...