Hong Kong - a Culinary Adventure

This is a lovely snap shot of Hong Kong and there is clearly a lot to explore - but not sure whether a Culinary Adventure with a 5 year old would be a good idea - South Korea was enough thank you.

Novotel Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport Hotel

view from our window

We had to be at Immigration early in the morning so there really was no other choice and it was interesting to read that you paid for a 24 hour stay...

I wonder how many other hotels can do this?

Check in was wonderful - swift, efficient, paid for and the information shared. A professional organisation.

Then there was the room - a simple room which did nothing more. In retrospect I do feel that there was going to be renovations for the room in the next year BUT it was clean, towels, toilet and beds...

We even ordered room service - which was swiftly delivered. The food was good but where was the table and chairs - our mistake - always think what you are going to eat and where you are going to eat it.

The water was hot and there was a selection of rubbish on the television - but only one TV channel for children?

We slept well - but why was the Internet not free?

IT, QR codes and Hong Kong

I recognised almost immediately that there was a plethora of people with their smart devices I should not have been surprised by the number of adverts scattered about with a QR code on it.

Even the coffee shop Pacific World which not only had a QR code but you could pay with it as well.

I believe that this is the way that companies must embrace or suddenly they will be left behind and they will wonder why?

So how many Apps did we use?

Well I have to admit that we found it easier to take a photograph of the online map - from the App - because the cost was too much using 3G - thankfully my telephone was not able to use this facility.

But I would say the best App was - Discover Hong Kong...

But I did like the App with the MRT map on it...

Both written by the Hong Kong Tourist Board.

I did try a lot of Apps though...

A lot of fun...

Plastic bag levy

I would have to say that I was not against the idea of a plastic bag levy from a supermarket.

I know that I am sometimes guilty of excessive plastic bags and I do tell sellers that I do not need to have a plastic bag.

Would there be less waste?

Would Thailand be able to adopt this idea for their shops?

Cafe de Coral 大家樂

This was a restaurant that we chose to go in because it seemed like a good idea.

There was clearly a way of selecting a number of dishes - similar to how we order our food in a local Japanese restaurant in Phuket - Zen.

Chuen is wonderful with this because I no longer choose and Chuen knows what I like and I got something ordered. My set dinner was not good and it was a little cold.

Chuen's set was fabulous. We also received a hotpot and a burner which heated up the mixture. This certainly was powerful - a shame Chuen looked a little closer because the lettuce had dirt spread on it...

People use of Technology

As I was getting more and more frustrated with trying to get a free Wi-Fi service I kept noticing that there were a great many people who were using their Internet devices and they were using them everywhere.

I do think that if a company needs to capture the Chinese market then the Internet / QR codes / Apps etc will be the key.

Here is a typical example - 4 of the 5 people on the subway were using their devices.