bc magazine

X-Race Lai Yuen – So Much Fun!!

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The over-riding question on the bus heading out to AsiaWorld-Expo was: would 8 minutes of track time be worth $280. It sounds a lot, written in black and white like that. But, oh what fun it is and after that first run you’ll be smiling and grinning like a kid and like Oliver you’ll be asking “Can I have some more….”

The 650metre track and the max speed available will seem a touch conservative to some; but given the wide range of driving abilities in Hong Kong the balance of safety v fun isn’t bad, with one caveat which I’ll mention later. You can carry enough speed into the corners to get the rear to hang out and the straights are more like shallow curves where the restricted max speed doesn’t become to obvious.

The RIMO karts are electric powered from Germany and smooth and simple to drive. There’s a maximum of eleven carts on the track at any one time and plenty of overtaking spots exist so ‘back-markers’ will rarely hold you back.

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The track designed by Michael Kolbinger (Michael Schumacher’s racetrack designer), is one where you can drive and have fun (get too ‘dangerous’ and you’ll be black flagged) or drive looking to hit every apex for that smooth single lap qualifying time. After just a day of karting the ‘lap record’ for the current track and kart settings is 52 seconds. It’ll be interesting to how low it will go over the next few weeks.

You’ll race rain or shine, so bring a spare set of clothes if rain is forecast. Our first session was on a damp track after a short sharp shower and it showed that a damp/wet track will be lots of fun.

The elephant in the room, and it’s the main caveat to your enjoyment, is the driving skills of the other drivers in your session. The kart’s engine power output can be controlled via wifi and if a driver crashes a virtual safety (speed limiter) car is deployed and all you can do is trundle around the circuit until the other driver is moving. The second media session featured numerous ‘crashes’ and it must have been super frustrating for the other karters. 8 minutes isn’t a long session and to spend a big chunk of it at little more than walking pace isn’t fun.

So one bad driver, of which there are many locally, can ruin the session for all the other 10 drivers. There is no obvious or easy fix for this, apart from booking as a group of 11 and taking the whole session.

My second session I had the track to myself and it was great, but having got a couple of quick smooth laps in I was itching for someone to overtake.

Thoughts:
Take a big drink before starting, the track is hot in the beating sun.

Go on a weekday when the track will be perhaps be less busy and feature fewer poor drivers, and it’s easier to book a second session when you find how much you’ve enjoyed the first.

Book two sessions, 8 minutes really isn’t long enough. The track is only here until 7 August so take advantage of it. There’s also absolutely nothing else to do out out at the Airport unless you have kids who want to visit Lai Yuen. In which case still book two sessions and graciously let your other half enjoy the air-con with the kids.

You’re not allowed cameras in the karts, so if you want a photo of you in the kart you’ll need to bring a designated photographer who won’t be able to drive.

I hate emoticons in an article but X-Race Lai Yuen was great fun. Serious respect to those made it happen 🙂

X-Race Lai Yuen 2016
Date: 10am-8pm, 16 July – 7 August, 2016
Venue: AsiaWorld-Expo
Tickets: $280
More info:
Book tickets here
XRace experience: 1: Registration (10 mins), 2: Safety training (15 mins), 3: Safety gear-up and storage 4: XRace experience (8 mins).
Over 18 only
Special Airport Express $57 return tickets available.
An x-race ticket does not get you entry to Lai Yuen you need a separate $140 ticket for that.

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2016/X-Race-AsiaWorld-Expo-15-July/i-QJv4GkT

Lai Yuen Carnival 2016 @ AsiaWorld-Expo

After last year’s carnival on the Central Harbourfront, Lai Yuen returns again this summer, this time indoors at AsiaWorld-Expo. Lai Yuen offers a throw back to the Hong Kong of a generation ago when entertainment choices were more limited and kids found ways to amuse themselves.

Last year’s carnival was a throw back to simpler times and the concept if not the execution had much to recommend it, even if today’s “instant gratification” generation probably didn’t find it as much fun as the European Carnival. Lai Yuen 2015 had lots of problems the weather among them. The Central Harbourfront becomes a pond with the slightest rain and a sauna when the sun beats down as there’s little shade. The move indoors to the air-con of AsiaWorld-Expo looks to remove that problem in the hope that parents and kids will stay longer and spend more in the cool environment…

Which leads to Lai Yuen’s main problem, and it’s worse this year, it has zero atmosphere and there’s just nothing to do for anyone over the age of about 10. It’s hard to understand if this problem is generational or just the way Lai Yuen thinks. As a theme park Lai Yuen had little competition for people’s money and they really milked that unique niche, but at least it was fun. Today though, people want more and Lai Yuen comes across as cheap, offering little fun, value or reward for your hard-earned dollar.

As an example, but it’s far from unique, take Tino the throw a banana in the elephant’s mouth game that returns again this year. Two bananas cost $10. One banana in the mouth wins a 1 inch toy, two consecutive bananas an unattractive 5″ poor quality stuffed elephant. 4 consecutive (!) bananas a foot sized poor quality elephant. As with all the plushies at the few games the toys look cheap, tired and really not worth winning. Such a contrast to those at the recent Great European Carnival which were bright fun and desirable.

Last year’s carnival at least had a convenient location and Victoria Harbour as a backdrop. This year there’s nothing and no attempt made to create a fun vibrant experience of a day at an amusement park. It uses the Lai Yuen name and peoples faded memories of the fun they had there to get them to visit the ‘new Lai Yuen’ and then fleece them blind on their one visit. Why, because all in all even for parents with kids – and there’s nothing here for anyone else – there’s no reason to return it’s just boring with potentially long queues.

It’s a shame because with a different approach and mindset there’s surely a profitable market for a summer carnival market that combines nostalgia with modern technology to create a unique Hong Kong carnival. Sadly that’s not Lai Yuen 2016.

Lai Yuen 2016
Date: 10am-8pm, 16 July – 7 August, 2016
Venue: AsiaWorld-Expo
Tickets: $180, $140
More info:
$57 daily return MTR tickets are available

Zerve Plus Grand Opening – 12 July, 2016

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Zerve Plus celebrated it’s Grand Opening on the 8th floor as the original Zerve on the floor above celebrated it’s Second Anniversary. A fun night was had by all with free flow, beer pong, cup slap, darts.
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Rúla Búla Ladies Night Launch – 8 July, 2016

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Rúla Búla launched it’s Friday Ladies Night with free vodka mixers and aromatised wine-product cocktails for the fairer sex.
Click on any photo for the full gallery of images.

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Happy Owl Launch @ Zuma – 6 July, 2016

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Subscriber drinking app Happy Owl launched at Zuma with an evening of gin flavoured cocktails and tasty canapes.
Click on any photo for the full gallery

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Bruce Lee… Welcome to Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s favourite son Bruce Lee is welcoming arrivals to our wonderful home town at Chek Lap Kok courtesy of a series of awesome illustrations by Milton Wong.

The eleven 10 foot tall illustrations, set against the backdrop of Victoria Harbour, feature Bruce Lee with his nunchaku in the film Game of Death.

The exhibition, which runs until November, is organised by the Bruce Lee Foundation. All images by Milton Wong

1 July Protest March, 2016

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The streets of Hong Kong were thronged with tens of thousands of protestors and protest groups as the annual 1 July protest march peacefully and bluntly displayed people’s anger at CY Leung and his incompetent group of Beijing loving sycophants.

That so many groups with such wide ranging causes can find common cause and anger at 689’s incompetence, greed and destruction of Hong Hong explains why Beijing is cracking down so hard on freedom of the press.

One of Hong Kong’s ‘disappeared’ bookseller Lam Wing-Kee was supposed to lead the march, but pulled out at the last minute over the personal safety fears for him and his family.

A heavy presence of fully armed, pepper spray carrying and gloved up police looked to make the day as irritating as possible for marchers, groups and the general public.
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Megabites – 31 July, 2015

Newly Open: Maya Cafe Takeaway
It’s all very good saying you want to eat healthy, but locally it can be a hassle to find a place offering fresh tasty food that you actually want to eat regularly; even more difficult to find takeaway! No longer. The team behind Maya Cafe (forcefully shutdown by a greedy landlord) have now opened a takeaway shop at 173 Des Voeux Road, midway between Central Sheung Wan.

The new outlet offers a broad menu of vegetarian, vegan and gluton-free meals, drinks, snacks and desserts. As much as possible the ingredients are organically sourced from local farms, with most dishes made fresh when you order them.

If you still harbour the illusion that vegetarian food means a dull plain lettuce, tomato, cucumber salad then wake up. Maya’s menu, as was the Wanchai Cafe’s, is full of tasty, textured and flavoured dishes that more than hold their own against the best restaurants in town. bc opted to try the quinoa salad, frittata with tomato sauce and the zoodles with alfredo truffle sauce

The baked eggless frittata in tomato sauce and herbed mashed potato is made locally sourced organic tofu that perfectly imitates the texture of a traditional frittata not too soft or too hard and with a lovely rich soya bean flavour the tomato sauce contrasted delightfully and mashed potatoes made fresh and blended with cashew cream and herbs set off the frittata and tomatoes sauce nicely.

Zoodles are noodles made from spiralised zucchini, an intriguing crisp fresh alternative to pasta – although you do need to eat them promptly as unlike many of the other dishes on the menu zoodles do not sit well in the fridge. The alfredo truffle sauce is cashew cream with a truffle twist and goes great with the crisp fresh zoodles for a light filling meal. A very flexible ingredient, even suitable for vegans, cashew cream is simply finely ground cashews which have a slight natural sweetness, allowing the creation of a wide range of sweet and savoury sauces.

Maya Cafe’s signature quinoa salad is lovely blend of textures, tastes and flavours, the crunchy slightly tart red cabbage, contrasting the green cabbage and cashew cream slaw. The carrots a slight sweetness and the quinoa a grainy healthy texture and flavour. An uber healthy salad that tastes delicious.

It’s not only takeaway, a delivery service will soon be up and running and they offer corporate and social catering – everything from a boardroom lunch to a junk trip.

Maya Café Takeaway
Shop G7, Nan Fung Tower, 173 Des Voeus Road, Tel: 2111 4553
Nan Fung Tower is a new building, the main entrance is actually on Wing Wo Street.

Closing
Delaney’s Wanchai has been shoved out the door by it’s landlord of 21 years and will be closing on the 13 August. Until then all standard drinks are at 1994 prices.