'Tis the Season to be Jolly.

We have not been travelling much recently and Peter is in danger of losing his silver status with the Accor Group, so he suggested doing a few nights away before the end of the year in order to try and keep it. Thus, it is that we find ourselves spending three nights in the Ibis Hotel, North Point.

When we travel we often stay in Ibis Hotels, but this is definitely more of a basic stay than a luxury staycation. Having said that, our room though small, is perfectly comfortable and has a kettle, a fridge and a safe. Also, I rather like North Point. This is the area I used to work in.

Reception in the Ibis.

Our Room.

On our first evening we went to the Harbour North Mall which is just across the street from the Ibis and ate in the Kaya Singaporean Restaurant. I had a huge bowl of laksa with rice noodles. It was delicious. I loved the spicy but coconutty flavour of the stock. Peter wasn't so lucky though. He had beef rendang which he usually likes, but here the meat was really really fatty and he didn't like it at all. We had some bottles of Singha beer with our meal.

My laksa was delicious.

Peter's rendang was not good.

The best part of Peter's meal was the Singha.

After dinner, Peter wanted a rest and I went out for a stroll. I started by wandering around the Harbour North Mall to find other places to eat. As well as several restaurants, I found an area devoted to art with cats.

Cat Fun House.

Cat with Mount Fuji.

Ninja Cat.

I later discovered that the robotic stegosaurus that I previously saw in Causeway Bay was right outside the restaurant we had just eaten in and that all around it there were Christmas themed dinosaur models. After looking at these, I headed off towards Fortress Hill.

Dinosaur Christmas.

Dinosaur Christmas in the mall.

Where the stegosaurus is currently hanging out.

Stegosaurus again.

Looks like it's had a baby.

Triceratops.

Christmas hatchling.

I wanted to look at the East Coast Park on the waterfront that I had visited during the Mid-Autumn Festival. On the way I passed Oi! These beautiful buildings on Oil Street used to be home to the clubhouse of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, which dates from 1908. Prior to land reclamation, they were located on the waterfront. They are now a Grade II historic building and are used as a centre for visual arts. I've not yet been inside. They look wonderful lit up at night.

Oi!

Oi!

After taking a few photos, I continued on to the park. This park is nicknamed the Dubai of Hong Kong, due to a building on its pier that is a similar shape to the Burj Al Arab Hotel. The park itself had some cheerful brightly lit Christmas decorations, but the best thing about it was its beautiful night time views over the harbour.

Victoria Harbour will cheer you up.

Dubai in Hong Kong.

Dubai in Hong Kong.

Dubai in Hong Kong.

Christmas tree.

Lights over the harbour.

There seemed to be a musical theme going on.

Photos inside a snow globe.

Snowflakes over the harbour.

Lights on the harbour.

Next day, we had a rather large included breakfast in the hotel. I found their breakfast menu very funny. For example, a continental breakfast turned out to be bacon, egg, sausage, hash browns, mushrooms and pancakes. That sounds very much like an American breakfast to me. The American breakfast was bacon, egg, sausage, pork patty, tomato and muffin, not very different from what they described as the continental breakfast. There was also omelette, Chinese breakfast with congee, noodles and dim sum and healthy breakfast which was cereal and yoghurt, rather like I'd expect a continental breakfast to be. Anyway the good thing about breakfast was everything was freshly prepared so it was all hot unlike when it's a buffet breakfast and everything is freezing. After breakfast, I went off to see the Christmas displays in Central.

Continental breakfast. Really!!!

Breakfast menu.

I started in the IFC Mall which was doing a Santa's Village. This was very well done. It advertised having little activities like mini sleigh rides and gingerbread making. I didn't see any of this going on, but then I never go to anything at the right time. It also had a little post office where you could write and post a message to Santa. The full grown elves were a bit reluctant to engage and looked rather embarrassed if you asked me. Perhaps elves are rather shy.

Snowman in the IFC.

The Christmas village.

Peering through the window of Mrs Claus's kitchen.

Inside Mrs Claus's Christmas kitchen.

Inside Mrs Claus's kitchen.

Inside Santa's house.

Only elves can pass through that door.

Santa's been busy making his list, checking it twice. Trying to work out who's naughty or nice.

In the elves' workshop.

Writing a letter to Santa.

Posting a letter to Santa.

After a wander around, I headed in to Landmark. I don't think I have ever gone to see their displays before. This one was all about Mrs Claus's Bakery and it was really good, because so much thought and detail had gone into it. It had flying reindeer, penguins, bears, gingerbread men and lots more. I only wandered around the outside and viewed it from above, but if you make a donation to charity, you can go in too.

Looking down on Mrs Claus's Bakery.

Looking down on Mrs Claus's Bakery.

Mrs Claus outside her bakery.

Close up of Mrs Claus.

The Gingerbread Man outside Mrs Claus's Bakery.

Festive bear keeping watch at Mrs Claus's Bakery.

Bear delivering flour to Mrs Claus's Bakery.

Penguin chefs.

Elf and penguin bakers at Mrs Claus's Bakery.

Elves and Penguins In the Sugar Plum Sweet Shop.

Ride a festive teacup at Mrs Claus's Bakery.

After this I had a look at Central Market. It was all about the world cup and had very little to do with Christmas. I wasn't overly impressed.

Central Market, Christmas? What's that?

I continued on to Tai Kwun. This has circus acts going on, but apparently not on Mondays, so although I saw the stage, nothing was happening there. However, there was a stunningly beautiful Christmas tree, one of the loveliest I have seen so far.

Christmas tree in Tai Kwun.

Christmas tree in Tai Kwun.

Christmas tree in Tai Kwun.

Christmas tree and stage.

Tai Kwun is a beautifully restored historical site consisting of the old Central Police Station, the former Victoria Prison and the former Central Magistracy. At this point I forgot all about Christmas and got interested in history.

I had a look around the old Victoria Prison which is now home to book shops, bars and art exhibitions.

The front of Victoria Prison.

Staircase inside the old police station.

Believe it or not, there used to be wild tigers in Hong Kong. The last one was shot and its head mounted in the old Victoria Prison

I enjoyed the contrast between old inside the Tai Kwun complex, new outside it and even the contrast between restored and modernised parts of the buildings.

Old and new.

Laundry Stairs.

The old laundry stairs.

Space between buildings.

I have been to Tai Kwun before and found it very interesting, but I couldn't resist another look around and this time I was able to get in to the former magistrates court room which had a video on reenacting former trials that took place there.

Inside the former magistrates' court.

In the magistrates' court.

I also got into the former prison cell area that is now a museum. This had lots of information about justice in the olden days of the colony when prisoners could be flogged or given hard labour. There was also information about prisoners' diet and how this was severely reduced at one point because someone voiced an opinion that prisoners were committing crimes just to get into prison to get fed. This resulted in prisoners ending up malnourished and the food allowance going up again. The former prison cells had sound effects and shadow shows going on. The cell devoted to the history of attempted escapes had a shadow climbing up the wall on a rope, which I thought was quite clever.

Inside a cell.

Hard labour.

Prisoners could only be visited by their loved ones every three months or so.

What's going on over there?

Escape attempt.

Tai Kwun is part museum, part exhibition centre, part events venue and filled with bars and restaurants, so it is quite an impressive place.

I also loved the old metal staircases on the outsides of the building. It's great to see old buildings being restored and used, so I am really impressed with this place.

Outside Staircase.

Staircase.

After this I walked down to Statue Square. There's normally a tree near there, but there wasn't this year. However, there was beneath the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank Building. They always do a good tree.

HSBC Christmas tree.

In the evening I took Peter to Harbour View Bar and Grill, just across from our hotel. They persuaded us to go for the Mexican Monday Madness Special which was nachos, quesadilla, fajitas and pizza. We ended up taking half of it away with us there was so much food, but it was all delicious.

Us in the Harbour View Bar and Grill.

Peter enjoying his meal.

Monday Madness in Harbour View Bar and Grill. Nachos and quesadilla.

Chicken fajhitas.

Pizza. The food just kept on coming.

I had considered going to look at Christmas in Causeway Bay by night, but I was so full I could only just manage to stagger home and collapse, still it was a lovely evening. Anyway we have more hotels booked and I am pretty sure that Causeway Bay's Christmas displays will get done.