A Midsummer Night’s Dream Comes True

Am I dreaming? But it’s such a great Summer Sunday night. Too good to be true!

You know it’s a great Sunday if you can:
a. Go shopping and find great bargains;
b. Chill at the beach, showered by the setting sun;
c. Dine at a fancy seaside restaurant; or,
d. Enjoy some great live music for free.

You know you are living the dream of many if you can,
e. Do all of the above.

And that’s what I did last Sunday. Don’t get bitter and jealous just yet, as I am about to show you, my friends, how to raise the level of awesomeness of your regular weekends and get yourself vibed up for the coming work days. The feel-good factor was clinically proven (by me) to last for 72 hours in the condition of extremely exhausting and heavy daily workload, and possibly longer in less demanding environment.

To kick start the series of stress-relieving treatments, head down to Citygate Outlet where great discounts and good deals are everywhere to be seen. Definitely a paradise for shopaholics.

The musical fountain at the mall excites kids and adults alike.

After a few hours of crazy shopping, take bus DB01R at the bus terminal right next to the mall to Discovery Bay’s scenic Tai Pak Beach. Let yourself get pampered in the warm, late afternoon sun and gentle, refreshing sea breeze . It may not be the best spot to enjoy the setting sun, but the rays break into vivid colours giving the sky an ever-changing magnificence.

No wonder it’s called the magic hour!

Imagine walking down the cozy beach with your loved ones, how romantic!

Follow the light and you will find great food served with nice, soothing music.

Another great thing about DBay is whenever your belly growls, you can always hop in the nearest diner and indulge yourself in great food and wine. There are more than 20 restaurants of different cuisines and price-ranges scattered around the deck area. Some of them offer alfresco dinning, splendid sea view and even the firework shows over Disneyland. Although it’s rather easy to get a swell meal there, ever so often, too many good choices makes you indecisive, so why not do a little research to decide ahead where to dine?

And here comes the highlight of the dreamlike, rejuvenating weekend:
“A Trilogy of Musical Journey at D Deck” is a series of free concert on the waterfront promenade, featuring the 8-piece house band of the Hong Kong Country Club, Edwin G and Friends. The talented, multi-cultural band will delivery 120 minutes of captivating musical entertainment on the first Saturday and Sunday of August, September and October, from 7-9pm

Last week was “A Weekend of Jazz and R&B”. I am not a big jazz music fan and therefore didn’t recognize most of the number, except for the jazz reinvention of Olivia Newton-John’s biggest hit Physical, but I still found it irresistible to swing and dance along. Families and friends crowded around the small stage while kids dancing freely with hands up in the air.

The midsummer concert was opened by a crowd-pleasing instrumental number.

Kids were wowed by the sweet yet powerful singing from the lead vocal.

A boy chatting up a girl during break time.
Boy: The band is sooooo good
Girl: Wow, you are so clever, you know so much about music.

And when the spot light was out, everyone left with a big smile!

The concerts coming up next are : All-time Favourites of Broadway on 4th and 5th September, and Hollywood Movie & TV Theme Songs under the Stars on 2nd and 3rd October. Trust me, you wouldn’t want to miss the fun!

To sum up the remarkable night, I can’t find any word more appropriate than those of Shakespeare:
I am that merry wanderer of the night. – Midsummer Night’s Dream.


For more details on the music nights, go to http://www.dbay.com.hk/
For shopping details, please always go to visit CITYGATE OUTLET'S facebook, you can always check out some products with big discount.  Highly recommend to check that for all my friends.

Row, row, row your boat…

Row, row, row your boat
Fiercely in the sea…
If you see a dragon screams,
Don’t forget to swim.

Yea, you hear the song right. It’s my Dragon Boat Festival special remix with imaginary drum beats! So, it’s Dragon Boat Festival, or Tuen Ng Festival, again and as a family tradition, we headed to the beach and we picked Tai Pak Bay in Discovery Bay this year.

The weather was so fine! Flags with blessings written on were everywhere around the town.

As I later found out, the 21st Discovery Bay Dragon Boat Races & Carnival was, in fact, quite a big tournament with a total of 56 teams competing for various champions. Some were representing Discovery Bay residents and business corporations while others were from professional bodies. So you can imagine the excitements and big, big crowd….

The beach was jam-packed with teams of rowers and their families and friends.



Kid: OMG! Dragons are landing on the beach! Is it some sort of seaborne invasion?

I better run!....Oh, wait, it’s just another team’s turn to game!

Don't forget the ladies!

The first thing we did, after a brief wander around the beach, was settle down at a cozy spot on the beach, spread the giant picnic cloth and laid out our stash- Oolong tea and bamboo wrapped rice dumplings.

I had exactly 10 seconds to take the picture before
the dumplings were devoured in the speed of light!

Now that we had tamed our stomachs, we started to enjoy the jolly ambience of thunderous drum beats echoing the loud cheering and applause. The happy noise was so ear-splitting that, according to my Granny, it’s only a couple of gongs and cymbals away from the perfect showcase of a big celebration in Chinese culture.

When my family was busy chilling, sun-bathing, chit-chatting or PSP-ing (kids nowadays!), I took my time walking up and down the beach looking for photo opportunities. The scene of little kids playing in the water made me smile and also jealous as I was sweating like a pig in the heat (it’s 32’C, for god’s sake!)

Trust me! She is gonna be the next Beyonce!
She sang and danced in front of my camera for almost 2 minutes.

Ritual has it that the water dragons swim, live (and probably sweat) in is blessed. Such water can wash away bad luck and keep you healthy for years, making swimming an unmissable activity of the festival. And then, this hit me: We used to go swimming on Tuen Ng Festival, how come we don’t do this anymore?

“Are we abandoning the tradition or is it because of water pollution?” I asked my mom. And her reply? “Oh, we are just lazy.” It explained so many things! Anyways, here are some blessed kids.

Oh, they are building sand dune. How cute and classic.
“No! it’s a volcano. The water is lava!”

When I was young, I loved digging rivers that connect to the sea…
“No! These trenches are for war-use!”

“Nice hat, dude.”
“Yours too, bro.”

To take a break from the noisy beach, I took a stroll to the DB Plaza where more than 60 booths were set up. There were game stations, stalls selling home-made merchandises, food and clothes, and a centre stage for magic and acrobatic shows.

Here maybe less noisy than the beach, but was as crowded.

Kung Fu performances and Chi Kung tricks! The master hammered the long, thick nail through the wooden plank with nothing but his hand!

Just like every “Believe-it-or-not” show, you got to test if the board was real.

Look at the kids, they were totally intrigued!

Well, that’s about all that happened to my Tuen Ng Festival in Discovery Bay. Sorry to disappoint if you want to know who the boat-racing champions was because a.) I don’t know (and don’t care) and b.) I didn’t stay for the finals. Dragon boat races are not about winning anyway, but to be a part of the tradition, and most importantly, to have some fun!

Ahoy! Me hearty! To the great, grand ship! We are headin’ home!
Aye! Aye! Captain!

Transportation tips to Discovery Bay:

Buses from Tung Chung MTR station (DB01) and Sunny Bay MTR station (DB03)usually jam-packed in weekends and special occasions, you can do the shopping at Citygate Outlets first and join the special occasions next time; another way, you can take the ferries from Central (Pier 3).

Awww... Cuteness Overload at Discovery Bay!

The crowd was sooooooo huge!

The government keeps saying the birth rate in Hong Kong is too low, but if you were at the Easter Egg Hunt Fun Fair at Discovery Bay (DBay) last Friday and Saturday, you would doubt that.

In fact, the scene of thousands of kids kneeling over Tai Pak Beach hunting Easter eggs was so overwhelming that it felt like half of Hong Kong’s 3-8 year-olds were actually there digging hard, while the other half were having fun at the many game stations at the open-air market next to the beach.

There were, really, many many many children in DBay the day I visited. Howls of laughter echoed through the entire bay and brightened up the cloudy day. Even the cool sea breeze wasn’t that chilly when the many sweaty, red-faced kids were running around, warming up the beach.

A big group picture before the digging began.

In its fourth year, the Egg Hunt Fun Fair had 30,000 colourful Easter eggs buried, waiting to be unearthed by the cutesy, hyped-up kids. Apart from the fun of discovering hidden treasures, the eggs themselves were actually prizes that worth of about $300,000 in total! It made the $150 entry ticket, which included a food and beverage voucher of $80, a good bargain!

Mental note to myself: Take all my little cousins and nephews to the fair next year and form my personal gold-digging army!!

Children stayed behind after the egg-hunt in the hope to dig out something other than trash.

Or, maybe they were building sand castle?

YET!!! However wonderful and profitable the egg-hunting game was, what truly amazed me and made me (almost) want to be a kid again were the super cool stall games set up next to the beach! They were no lame ring-throwing or shooting games, but creative and action-packed challenges: Sumo-wrestling! Slide in a bucket! Mini egg hockey games, paint station and also another mini egg hunt!

Wrestler champion in the making. His dad looked more determined to win than the little boy.

Fight! Bang! Clash!

more close combat action. The onlookers had so much fun watching cheering for the contenters.

MOM! ~~Catch me!


We found many colorful eggs! can we cook it tonight, mom?


Egg hockey keeps the kids screaming and running around.



Painting station

The must-haves like Easter egg making workshop, balloon castle and goldfish games were pretty popular as well. When parents were not busy chasing after their kids on the loose, there were great food and beer for the dads and open-air market for the moms.

Open-air market for mums. There were clothes, home decorations and even safety vault for sale!

Food stalls for dads.

It’s a pity that I had to leave DBay so soon that day, otherwise, I would have grabbed a book and chilled at Dymocks & Gallery Café, enjoying the coffee and the sun! OR dinner at the 2 storey ZAKS, overlooking the Disneyland firework would be a splendid idea as well!

If you have missed the Easter fun fair, there’s always a next time. Event/ticket details should be available early March. You can check out http://www.ddeck.com.hk/ or Lantau Traveller will give you a heads up next time.

Here is one good, but inconvenient, thing about DBay you have to know- you can only get in and out of the place by public transports. (That explains the exceptionally fresh air and the many white golf carts around the area) Buses from Tung Chung MTR station (DB01) and Sunny Bay MTR station (DB03) are, in my opinion, more accessible and cost-effective as the ferry service from Central (Pier 3) is rather pricey ($31) and the pier may not be considered well-located to some.

Anyway, the point is, it’s usually jam-packed on the way to DBay during holidays and special occasions. So be ready to meet the crowd way before you enter the beautiful bay.

Awww. Cuteness Overload at Discovery Bay! (愉景灣復活節尋蛋記)