Central Hong Kong puts up a colourful display of neon lightings no matter where you go and look, and over at the harbour waterfront, the Symphony of Lights set to wow visitors nightly at 8pm with its almost-15 minutes lightshow. I caught the show one evening from the Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade, and for anyone interested in listening to the accompanying narration, the places to be are the Avenue of Stars and Golden Bauhinia Square (Wan Chai).

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The carrousel is proving to be very popular in this town. Just go to any random corner and I bet there is yet another carrousel standing there, with queues of accompanying parent(s) and their little ones who “weaally, weaally, want to goooo” on the moving vechicles! The operator must be earning a small fortune.

This particular carrousel is found just across the road from the Eiffel Tower. It has proven to be popular not only with the tourists (well, mostly because of their kids) but locals alike. Tickets can normally bought in bulk which comes at discounted price and I’ve seen clever mommies around Paris who dishes out the ticket only one at a time. Time saving when you don’t have to queue up each time, and money saving with the reduced price to bundle of tickets.

It has been a while since I do a night shot. Not always easy, since a long day at work is not conducive to late night photowalk, plus, given it’s still summer-ish, the day remains relatively long and it doesn’t get dark till around 9pm. Well, as the day gets shorter with upcoming seasons of autumn and winter, things may change just yet.

Institut de France, the upholder of all things cultural and educational in France, stands on the Left Bank of River Seine at one end of Pont des Arts. Home to the Académie Française (whose members’ main duty is to protect the French language) and a number other academies as well as foundations, museums and castles, the Institut was built on the former site of Nêsle gate and tower that forms part of the Medieval city wall of Paris. As far as I know, the Institut is normally not open for public visits except for certain specially arranged tours and the likes.

There are two Moroccan restaurants in Dublin city centre – perhaps the whole of Dublin, or Ireland even? – and since we had a farewell party in mind, we went to Dada on South William St. I’ve been to El Bahia on Wicklow St once a few years back and it just wasn’t too spacious. Our group was initially meant for 12, then 14 plus a baby, add another, minus another (sort of). And the baby was a real angel all through the evening.

We started with a selection of appetisers to share, which included grilled merguez (I <3 merguez) among the 6-7 items on the plate. For my main, I chose the lamb tagine which was generous in portion and I couldn't quite finished. With a bit resting time, I was then ready again for dessert, when which we were served a selection of sweet pastries and ice cream, complemented with Moroccan mint tea. A big massive thank you to all my friends who made it out for the evening for my going-away do (and the lovely presents). It does make it so hard to imagine leaving them in mere few days from now.

It has been a long day. Between Castle, work, rugby (strictly as spectator), coffee with a friend, champagne reception and movie premiere, I am more than ready to be home than continuing the evening festivities with post-movie drinks and Q&A with the director. But not before taking this photo at College Green on the way home. ;)

What you don’t see in this photo is that this tree stands between two building with symbolisms from two different administrations of the country. On one side, the first purpose-built parliament house in Europe by the British, now a branch of Bank of Ireland, which still bears British royal coat of arms; across the road, the former Habitat Building which I cannot recall its initial purpose right now, bears a sculpture of Irish significance, having a proud face-off against the English stone carving. I should do a wee bit more research into this at some stage. It’s certainly interesting and worth knowing history of the city.