Yuen Long Amenities

One of the great things about living in Yuen Long (besides the bike trails, proximity to the Tai Tong County Park  and food) are the public amenities.  Most, of which, are clustered in the same area:  along Yuen Long Tai Yuk Road.

The first public amenity is the  Yuen Long District Sports Association Jockey Club Complex (long name!).  It's a space where the locals can participate and organize sporting events right in our district…opposed to traveling down to Kowloon.

While reading up on the sports complex, online stated that this complex was built back in 2011.  It was meant to "nurture public interest and participation in sports" as well as developing young athletes.  It's a wonderful sounding place, where there are a myriad of sporting activities that can be joined.

I haven't really joined any of the activities, but I have seen people practice dragon dancing outside of the building.  And inside the complex there is a wall of plaques and even a window of trophies that have been won.  So, it seems like this complex is quite busy with activities.

It's like the YMCA almost…where kids can go and do their sports thing and get off of the street (like the streets are that bad here!).

Right outside of the Sports Comlex is a beautiful walking area…where there are benches to sit out and enjoy the sun.  The walking area goes straight towards Yuen Long Park.

It's also where my favorite scent lingers…osmanthus bushes run along the median of the walking area…

Along the way to Yuen Long Park is the Yuen Long Swimming Pool…the public amenity I probably use the most.  It was this year that we realized that there was the option of swimming through the winter, as the main swimming pool is now a heated pool.

Usually, in the summers this place is packed, but, in the early mornings, there are only a few older citizens swimming in the lanes.  So, if you like to do laps, the early mornings are ideal!

It ranges from $17 - $19 HKD for admission into the pool.  You can also buy a monthly pass for $300 HKD if you swim daily.

In the evenings, this place is a great place to take a stroll.  There are always people out with their families just walking and enjoying the cooler evenings.

Yuen Long Park, again, is where this pathway leads to.  This place is often quite busy during the spring, summer, and fall…because it's a great place to just chill and hang out.  This past weekend, people were out with their families, setting up tents and picnic blankets…it was quite a nice scene.  It makes me think of Capitol Hill in the summers…when everyone is just sunbathing at Cal Anderson Park!

Another public facility that I use a lot is the track at the Yuen Long Stadium.  Often times, I've seen the Yuen Long Football club practicing here too.  It's actually a really fun thing to watch them train…though I've never really seen a game.  It's nice to know that we have a football club of our very own.  Makes me think that Yuen Long is bigger than it really is!  I mean, most days, I can walk from one part of Yuen Long to the other in 15 minutes…along Castle Peak Road…so, it seems like quite the small district to me!

Usually, during the early mornings or late afternoons are the best times to walk/run the track.  It's free, just walk in and jump on the track.  It's quite nice and padded.  And people like to stick to their lanes, just like the swimming pool, which is nice.

A little bit up the road is the Yuen Long Theatre, where quite a few English shows can be seen. But, I do admit that the majority of the time, I'd rather head into TST or Wan Chai to see the shows because they're always bigger, better, and badder.  The shows that I've seen at the Yuen Long Theatre were all right.  They do make for a nice little date night activity though.  And it is nice to have a theatre nearby.

The final public facility that I'm blogging about today is the Yuen Long Town Hall.  It's like every other town hall, I guess.  There are spaces that you can rent…there are events held inside…and there are administrative things that go on here that deal with Yuen Long district.

Right beside the Yuen Long Town Hall building is a little play ground and also court…another public facility!

I actually didn't realize that there were a good amount of public amenities in Yuen Long.  It does make living here quite nice.  Most everything is in  walking distance, but I guess everything in HK is quite in walking distance (since districts are pretty much self contained).  There are loads of places that are child-friendly to go to…like the swimming pool (where they also offer swimming classes) and the park, where a lot of the locals celebrate festivals at.  It's a really nice little district to live in…I should realize that more often!

Yuen Long Park Walk

Top New Year's Resolution:  Get MOVING!

Happy 2016!

It's the perfect time of the year to get out and be out.  Since "winter" came on, I've been taking long walks in the park to get in some thinking time and also some exercise.  It's a lot better than walking around Yuen Long town, where there are constantly crowds padding around narrow sidewalks.

Around Yuen Long Park, there is an exercise trail called the Quali Walk.  It's a short little walk, which, I suspect, was paved for the Easy-Stroller (Someone who just likes to walk at their leisure and enjoy being in nature).  It's a great little walk that rounds the base of Yuen Long Park, which is a sort of park build on a hill).

I personally prefer going up and down the stairs to get more of a workout and to also overlook Yuen Long Town.  I highly recommend checking out any park in the districts around Yuen Long.  Some of them are quite awesome…like the Tin Shui Wai Park up near Yuen Long, Victoria Park in Causeway Bay, or Hong Kong Park in Admiralty.  Those are just a few of the beautiful, nature-filled ones that I've often enjoyed a little walk through.

This late afternoon, though, while walking up and down the hill of the Yuen Long Park, I decided to make my way over to the waterfall.  I decided to checkout how the coy was doing in the little pond that was down on that end.

Instead of getting infatuated over the colorful swimming coy, I got distorted with the statuesque sunning turtles that were sun bathing around the edges of the pond.

There weren't many coy out actually.  There was one incredibly bright red one and a few orange ones…but most of the fish in the pond were those black/gray ones that were all milling around the gazebo.

The pond/waterfall area is quite peaceful and lovely…especially because there are hardly any souls in sight.  It was nice to just walk around, take some photos, watch the turtles sunning themselves, and just communing with nature.  It was a nice little break from reality.

The gazebo, by the way, is a great little area behind the pond where you can sit and have a little lunch.  It's a great place to chat with friends too, giving enough privacy from people who are viewing the pond.  When I was there for the short 5 minutes of listening to the waterfall behind me…there were two toddlers and their grandfather who stopped in to take a rest, which was totally fine because they all seemed exhausted from biking around the park.

Goes to show…that even toddlers with bundles of energy can take in the serenity of the pond.

After my little break, I headed back over to the Quali Walk and back to the hectic streets of Yuen Long...

When you are in need of just getting out of the house and escaping some cabin fever, I totally suggest taking a walk down to the local park…even if you do live in an area where the parks are more concrete…there are always interesting things to find…to distract the mind and soak in some peace!

The Mid-Autumn Festival

When I first moved to Hong Kong, I used to call this festival the Moon Cake Festival.  It's the time of year when we get loads of moon cakes from all our family and friends.  It's also the time when we, in turn give moon cakes out to family and friends.  It's like the vicious cycle of moon cake giving.  It's a great "giving" type of tradition, though…but I'm not that much of a traditional moon cake fan.  

However, a friend helped me to get some moon cakes which she said were one of the most delicious in all of Hong Kong:  The Peninsula's custard-filled moon cakes.

I gave these to my in-laws and they shared them with their family.  Before I handed them over, I thought I'd share some photos of what you get when you buy a box of moon cakes…especially the non-traditional ones.

By the way, the traditional moon cakes are lotus paste filled.  They also have at least one salty duck egg yolk in the center.  These moon cakes are quite heavy for me, but they are a treat when you start the Mid-Autumn Festival off with a little piece.  These moon cakes are mostly double the sized of the more modern moon cakes, come in a box of four, and are usually shared with an entire family.

Some of the newer moon cakes, like the iced (snowy) style of moon cakes are more bite-sized and individually packaged.

The Peninsula's moon cakes came in a beautiful chocolate colored box. When we opened the box, there seems to be four custard moon cakes in there.  In actuality, I only learned about this after the fact, you can remove the top layer and there are four more moon cakes below.

In total, for around $280 HKD, you can get 8 lovely little custard moon cakes.  I also got these pre-ordered through my friend, which was the best thing that I could ever had asked for.  Moon cake season is always so busy.  So, the hotels that make specialty moon cakes often have a limited number and when they are sold out…they are sold out.

My in-laws gave us one of the moon cakes, which I was quite thankful for because I wouldn't have really known how amazing they were in comparison to the traditional ones!

I really like how these are quite individualized.  It liked how this morsel was still able to be shared between my husband and myself.  It also loved how it was still as rich with loveliness as the first traditional moon cake I had this year.

TIP:  When I was chatting with my friend, she suggested popping these custard-filled moon cakes into the toaster oven for a few seconds.  Then the custard will get a bit melty and runny.  The goal is to have a beautifully warm, beautifully buttery, and beautifully oozing custardy moon cake to bite into.

I will try that next year!

***Photos of Yuen Long Park from last night's Mid-Autumn Festival Celebrations!***

Evening Stroll

After dinner, we were feeling quite full and decided to take a walk over to Yuen Long Park.  We haven't really gone for an evening stroll in months because the weather has been deathly hot (including evenings)!  Turns out, because the Fall is upon us...that the park was full of evening strollers (like ourselves), as well as the occasional joggers and harmonica players enjoying the cooler temperatures!

Lovely!

Strolling around the park made me realize that pretty soon (come Mid-Autumn Festival), the park will be full of people viewing the moon and enjoying time spent with family.  

But, for tonight, it was a pretty beautiful evening where we could mosey along the paths of Yuen Long Park and commune with the little nature Yuen Long has to offer!

I love how the weather has finally cooled down in the evenings!

I love how there are little gazebos that we can sit around in and enjoy the evening breeze.

I love how it feels so safe in Yuen Long Park because there are so many people enjoying the late summer weather.

I love how there are stairs that go up and stairs that go down…really gives you lots of exercise to burn off a huge dinner.

I love how the children's play area is so eerily creepy in the evening park lights!

I love how the stone walking areas were totally abandoned…so I could have a go at walking barefoot over the stones and improve my body's circulation.

I love how the vending machines can be found dotted all around Yuen Long Park…

I love how there are water fountains all over the park as well…like this one near the public restrooms.

I love having a park so close to where I live.  (A BIG PARK at that!).  It makes living in Yuen Long an absolute joy some times…especially since the park is quite near the sports facilities (public swimming pool) and Yuen Long Theatre.  Yuen Long is just the best sometimes!