A HONG KONG KIND OF SEPTEMBER

A HONG KONG KIND OF香港的

This city is surrounded by sea. Here’s how to enjoy it

REPEAT AFTER US: Hong Kong isn’t just high-rise. The rest of it is country parks and… water. That’s why this month’s column is dedicated to all things liquid.

Starting with eating fish, which in 2017 also means preserving it. The goal of this month’s Kin Hong Seafood Festival (1), a local initiative, is to promote awareness of seafood sustainability. A range of restaurants around town are getting involved – including Sai Ying Pun’s

Fish School; the Upper House’s Café Gray Deluxe;

and Wooloomooloo.

For something more rough and ready, pull up a plastic chair and a bottle of Tsingtao at one of the waterfront restaurants in east Kowloon’s Lei Yue Mun (2) or, if you’re feeling flush, sail to Po Toi Island and chomp fresh abalone and prawns to your heart’s content at Ming Kee Restaurant – or at least until the return ferry.

There’s a new inflatable waterpark in Tai Po, the very seriously named CORE. From the website it looks a little like a blow-up Mayan temple, full of trampolines, water slides and icebergs to jump around on. (Somebody in our office even suggested it as a team bonding exercise. Howl.)

Hong Kong’s diving isn’t the best in Asia – but in how many other places can you swap your suit for a wetsuit and be snorkelled up within an hour of leaving the office?

Mandarin Divers (3) runs courses around Sai Kung’s

Clearwater Bay, and further north among Sai Kung East Country Park’s many islets

(4). Autumn is when the visibility is decent, and you’ll spot juvenile sweetlips (fish, naturally). Or, there’s always that not-really-very-lastminute junk trip (5) before autumn arrives… 請跟我們講一次這句話：香港除了高樓大廈之外，還有許多郊野公園和大量的……海水。本月就讓我們來看看與海水有關的東西。

不如就從食用魚類開始吧。在2017年，吃魚同時也要注意保育魚類。本月舉行的健康海鮮節（ 1），就是以此為目標。這項活動由本地機構發起，旨在促進公眾關心魚類保育，鼓勵進食可持續生長的海鮮。城中多家餐廳均響應參與， 括西營盤的Fish School、奕居的Café Gray Deluxe與

Wooloomooloo等。如果想一嚐街坊風味的海鮮菜式，不妨到東九龍的鯉魚門（ 2）去，在海傍的海鮮酒家內拉張塑膠椅坐下，再叫一瓶青島啤酒來伴海鮮餐；若是荷豐滿，就去蒲台島的明記海鮮酒家，痛快地大啖新鮮鮑魚和大蝦，一直吃到心滿意足為 止，或者吃到回程的渡輪出現才罷休。

大埔出現全新的充氣水上樂園，名叫CORE。從他們網站上發佈的圖片看來，這個水上樂園有如充了氣的瑪雅廟宇，裡面有大大小小的彈床、水上滑梯與吹氣「冰山」，可以將人彈到水中。編輯部有同事甚至認為這是培養團隊精神的良方，我對此就不敢苟同了。

雖然香港並非亞洲最佳的潛水地點，但勝在方便。試想全球有多少個地方，可以讓你離開辦公室，不需一小時就可抵達一個即時換上潛水衣浮潛的地點？文華潛水（ 3）在西貢舉辦潛水課程，上課地點有清水灣及北面西貢東郊野公園附近多個小島（ 4）。秋季水底視野清晰，你可以見到成群的石鱸幼魚。

還有，在秋季來臨之前，總還有時間來得及租船出海遊船河（ 5）……