So time really flies when you are up about and at work.
I've been here for exactly 100 days tomorrow. Similar to what I usually do back home: I have my developed my own routine for where I grab my coffee (on weekdays and weekends). The baristas know what I usually order. I even go to the same places for lunch and dinners sometimes. Some form of routine is good I guess.
Over two months here and I've already grown a routine sufficient for baristas to know what coffee I typically order. The speed at which the orders are processed is impeccably fast - it takes only less than 3 minutes to do up a vanilla latte at Pacific Coffee Company at Lippo. Things in HK move incredibly fast.
The shop just below where I stay even knows what I typically order for takeout: Basil pork rice or Hainanese chicken rice. Btw, Hainanese chicken rice tastes slightly different over here - it's nice but just, different. And the only reason why I continue to have chicken rice there is solely because the staff got my order mixed up once.
As I grow older, I feel that routine becomes increasingly important. Whenever I'm overseas I tend to wake up significantly earlier at around 6 to 7am than compared to at home. I treasure the moments of making my way to the usual coffee or confectionery place to start the day (regardless or whether it is a working day or weekend). I enjoy spending hours just sitting there, relaxing and basically do nothing but unwind the mind. This is possibly a habit that I had cultivated very early on during the downtimes of my national service days where I mostly hung out at Coffee Bean during the weekends.
I spend most my time on the HK island side, occasionally making trips to the Kowloon side on weekends. I hardly venture north of the area past TST (not sure why). There are many nice eateries in the area but it can be difficult to get seats especially over the weekends.
Admiralty and Central have become synonymous with work. They are nice places to go over the weekends because it tends to be less crowded but I find it hard to look for places to sit down for a cuppa. Comparatively, Sheungwan is a lot better, especially when you venture further south of the island and further uphill. My favourite place over there is Halfway Coffee which is located along the street selling Chinese antiques. It is frequented by ang mohs (or gweilos at the locals say) and mostly the affluent local community in Hong Kong. Perhaps one of the biggest differences for coffee and general dining here is that prices are way much higher (a black sugar latte sets me back by about HKD 50 or roughly SGD 9, nearly 70-80% higher than artisanal coffees in Singapore).
I haven't tried hiking yet although I have heard much about it but maybe I'll do so towards the end of the year when it's cooler or when I decide to break out of my routine of weekend coffees.