Genevieve Pang

It’s the most wonderful time of the year – because we get to sip on delicious Christmas-themed drinks! Festive mulled wine and eggnog aside, Hong Kong bars continue to show off their creative flair when it comes to crafting cocktails worthy of the holiday season. Here are some of the best places in town to try festive sips for yourself and get into the holiday mood. RECOMMENDED: Check out our list of festive workshops for something to make with your hands this Christmas season!

New Year’s Eve is the last hurrah of the year, a symbolic sending-off that always has us feeling both bittersweet and excited about what’s to come. Before gathering with friends, family, and loved ones to count down to the new year at midnight, there’s plenty of time for one last unforgettable dinner to bid 2025 a fond farewell. Here are some of our top picks for the best New Year’s Eve menus in Hong Kong – plan ahead for December 31! RECOMMENDED: Fill up your calendar with the best things to do in Hong Kong this December!

All right, sure, it’s already halfway into the month of December, but if you’re just out to get your advent calendar for Christmas 2025 now, that just means you get to play catch-up and enjoy a whole bunch of treats, goodies, and mini-gifts in one go. Whether it’s a sugary morsel, a decadent candle to brighten up the home, skincare to pamper yourself with, or a fragrant tea to pair with delicious festive gingerbread cookies, we’ve got something for everyone.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, judging by the way people are stressing out over their gift shopping! But don’t panic – even though Christmas is only two weeks away, that’s still plenty of time to plan for a meaningful and useful gift for the men in your life. Here’s our Christmas gift guide for him to make the hunt for the perfect prezzie a little easier.

Nothing screams “Christmas” quite like the tinsel, the decorations, the music, and the festive lights, but something that truly transports you to the magical atmosphere of European Christmas markets and frosty wonderlands are the smells and flavours of hot festive drinks, carefully cradled in gloved hands to stave off the cold. As the temperatures in Hong Kong dip and Christmas displays sparkle in full force, find us happily sipping on mulled wine and other hot festive drinks at these bars and restaurants around town.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year – well, other than Christmas, of course. The end of the year in Hong Kong usually means brightly lit, overindulgent, and supersized festive displays as far as the eye can see, but it also means the return of Clockenflap. Hong Kong’s largest international music and arts festival has been going strong since 2008, and as with every annual iteration, there is something for everyone. Read on to find out more about what to expect at Clockenflap 2025, and where to get tickets.RECOMMENDED: Need even more events to fill your calendar? Check out our roundup of the best happenings in Hong Kong this December

Oh yes, it’s that time of year again! As the holiday season rolls in, Hong Kong lights up with some of the most spectacular Christmas displays you can imagine. Every shopping mall, skyscraper, and outdoor venue goes all out, decking their halls with the brightest, cutest, and quirkiest decorations.  RECOMMENDED:  🍾 Festive Christmas hampers🎄 Places to buy Christmas trees⛸️ Hong Kong’s best ice skating rinks

When autumn comes to mind, most might think of the slight breeze that comes with the seasons changing, or leaves turning shades of yellow and orange. But there’s another thing that’s synonymous with Hong Kong’s autumns: hairy crabs. While some may choose to order and prepare them in the comfort of home, others prefer settling down at one of city’s finest restaurants and fully indulge. Here’s a list of the best places across Hong Kong for you to feast away on these hirsute crustaceans this autumn. RECOMMENDED: Get ready for Halloween by checking out the best Halloween parties and dinners taking place around Hong Kong!

Whether it’s street photography spots or world-class art galleries, Hong Kong is a city that’s bursting with creativity. To narrow things down and help you be well on your way to true culture vulture status (and level up your Insta-feed along the way), here are some of the best ongoing and upcoming art shows to visit around town. RECOMMENDED: Discover Hong Kong’s coolest hidden art spaces or pay a visit to the city’s top museums.

Art lovers are in for a treat this month as Christie’s Asia Pacific gears up for its Hong Kong 20th/21st Century Autumn Auctions, where an exceptional collection featuring the biggest names in modern and contemporary art has been lined up. Answering to the growing demand for artworks by masters and visionaries, the sales are headlined by Pablo Picasso’s Buste de femme, Zao Wou-ki’s 17.3.63, Yoshitomo Nara’s Mumps, David Hockey’s Table with Conversation, Yayoi Kusama’s PUMPKIN [TWAQN], Claude Monet’s Printemps à Giverny, effet d’aprés-midi, J.M.W. Turner’s The Grand Bridge at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, and many more, showcasing diverse artistic movements.

Christie’s Asia Pacific is commemorating the first anniversary of its new Henderson headquarters with a slew of autumn auctions, among them a sale highlighting Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian Art as part of the launch of this new department. Leading the event is a rare, newly reattributed figure of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion – an exquisite gilded copper alloy sculpture that is emblematic of a new art style that rose to prominence during the 13th-century Yuan court under the purview of Aniko, the renowned Nepalese artist. Other notable pieces include the figure of Manjushri and a rare thangka attributed to the 10th Karmapa, Choying Dorje, depicting parinirvana. Now’s your chance to see these masterpieces before they head into private collections.

Head to Sotheby’s Maison in Landmark Chater for a limited-time exhibition examining the complex and enduring interplay between desire and death – fundamental forces shaping the human experience. Inspired by the works of French philosopher Georges Bataille, Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud, and Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, ‘Eros/Thanatos’ combines mythology, art history, and psychoanalysis to uncover how artists have navigated the tension between ecstasy and dissolution across centuries. Curated with a memento mori message in mind, ‘Eros/Thanatos’ encourages viewers to reflect on the feelings of desire and death, and the contradictions that define existence.

As part of the celebration surrounding its new gallery space in the Southside, De Sarthe is launching two exhibitions concurrently. ‘20th Century Narratives – In Conversation’, the gallery’s second show, presents a curated collection of post-war and modern paintings and sculptures, featuring the likes of Yayoi Kusuma, Marc Chagall, Giorgio de Chirico, Chu Teh-chun, Joan Miró, Henry Moore, Jack Tworkov, Bernar Venet, and Zao Wou-ki as they are brought together to represent a transcontinental artistic exchange.

De Sarthe is inaugurating its new gallery space in the Southside with a new solo exhibition featuring contemporary Hong Kong artist Lazarus Chan. ‘Poetics Policy’ is an immersive journey that investigates the influence of policy-making on art, reality, and machine intelligence through multimedia and interactive artworks. Adding a dystopian touch, the exhibition features an AI-built living system as an imagined simulation of the future, which is governed by the artist, but used to emphasise that the essence of art is found in the policies guiding its creation, rather than in the generated texts or imagery.

A new exhibition at M+ showcases 12 immersive installations by pioneering women artists from Asia, Europe, and the Americas, including three new works by Asian artists. Dream Rooms: Environments by Women Artists 1950s–Now emphasises the multisensory experience of art and highlights women’s contributions to installation art, a field often overshadowed by male artists. Visitors can actively engage with the environments, which include nine historic pieces that have been painstakingly reconstructed, such as Aleksandra Kasuba’s Spectral Passage (1975), which invites individuals to journey through interconnected nylon structures as a metaphor of the life cycle; Judy Chicago’s Feather Room (1966), an all-white space filled with 300 pounds of feathers; and more. M+ will also host talks with co-curators Andrea Lissoni and Marina Pugliese to discuss the concept behind the exhibition, and a panel discussion with the three Asian artists whose new, commissioned work is part of Dream Rooms. Additionally, M+ Cinema will screen three documentaries about some of the exhibited artists to supplement the show.

Tai Kwun Contemporary is presenting a two-part exhibition under the theme ‘Stay Connected: Art and China Since 2008’. Centred around an expansive exploration of the transformations and social shifts within 21st-century China brought about by the prolific spread of the internet and digital technologies, the first chapter will take over all three floors of the JC Contemporary art spaces, running for a little over three months. ‘Stay Connected: Navigating the Cloud’ will present more than 50 pieces mapping the creative pursuits of over 35 artists and groups whose practices are influenced by social media, the internet, and digital technologies. Divided into themed segments such as artificial intelligence, information bubbles, online communities, and more, the showcase explores how to ‘stay connected’ in today’s world. Li Shuang, Li Yi-fan, Miao Ying, Wong Ping, Lu Yang, Shao Chun, Zhang Yibei, and the Xijing Men collective are among the many artists exhibiting. Collaborative duo Sun Yuan & Peng Yu – whose claim to fame is the Can’t Help Myself kinetic sculpture with a robotic arm – is also participating.

Urban sketch artist Rob Sketcherman is bringing his unique perspective of Hong Kong’s everyday scenes to the W Hong Kong! From nostalgic pictures of stilt houses in Tai O to depicting the energetic Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance and evening views of the Star Ferry Pier in Tsim Sha Tsui, Sketcherman’s lively art captures the dynamic spirit of the city through detail-oriented, colourful illustrations. What’s special about this exhibition is that there will be five screens in the hotel lobby showcasing Sketcherman’s artistic process through time-lapse recordings of his drawings, so visitors will not only see his finished pieces, but also all the thinking behind the sketches and the work that went into them.

White Cube Hong Kong is staging an exhibition showcasing the works of the seminal Japanese-American artist Isamu Noguchi. ‘A Feeling’ revolves around the pieces Noguchi created after meeting and studying under Chinese master ink painter Qi Baishi, exploring how the teachings influenced his later sculptural approach.  A selection of Noguchi’s abstract ‘Peking Brush Drawings’ and complex bronze sculptures are displayed alongside Qi’s scrolls in this exhibition, creating a narrative between the two artists. Noguchi’s work pushes the boundaries of sculptural positive and negative space, testing the boundaries of three dimensions, but his use of bronze as a medium reflects his desire to blend ancient and modern.

Witness Hong Kong through a quirky lens at Cordis, Hong Kong’s new ‘Art in Residence’ exhibition, featuring a series of surreal digital art pieces created by Tommy Fung where our city’s iconic landmarks and cultural touchpoints are juxtaposed against humorously impossible scenarios. Fung is known for his whimsical, Photoshop-manipulated images – from transforming the Hong Kong Space Museum into a giant Chiikawa head and inserting a snacking panda into a wet market stall narrative, to creating a Tesla Cybertruck version of the iconic Hong Kong red taxi, nothing’s off limits for the Hong Kong artist. ‘SurrealHK: The City Reimagined’ is part of Cordis, Hong Kong’s 10th anniversary celebrations, so mark the occasion with the hotel while taking in some fun art.

Sadly, this is not a full-fledged exhibition featuring the legendary Zao Wou-ki, but it is a special occasion nonetheless. One of the artist’s ‘Hurricane Period’ masterpieces, created   during the early 1960s as he rose to global fame, is heading to auction at Christie’s, and visitors can see it during the public previews for a limited time only.  17.3.63 is notable for its vibrant, incandescent colour, and is one of only 19 bright red large-scale paintings to be completed by the artist in the 1960s. Expressive, powerful brushstrokes are the leading feature of this vertical composition, masterfully balancing light and shadow to exude passion and confidence. It’s the first time the piece has appeared at auction, so once it sells and goes into a private collection, it may not be seen again in public for a long time. Here’s your chance to lay eyes on it.

Looks like the Hong Kong Space Museum’s no longer the only dome-shaped destination in town putting on mesmerising visual displays – for the next few weeks, at least.  FutureScope, a geodesic dome structure billed as “Hong Kong’s first large-scale art dome”, has arrived at Kai Tak Sports Park, along with an interactive multi-sensory experience to celebrate its launch. Open from December 19, 2025 until January 4, 2026, FutureScope will present ‘Perpetual Records’, an exhibition showcasing the collaborative works between local media art studio XCEPT and Japanese artist Daito Manabe.  Photograph: Courtesy XCEPT Visitors are invited to step into a shared universe of ever-evolving sight and captivating sound, where their active participation helps to shape and co-create the 360-degree immersive experience. ‘Perpetual Records’ is inspired by the Akashic Records – a mystical compendium of all universal events and human experiences – and translates this spiritual concept into a personalised visual spectacle. Modern facial recognition technology is used to scan visitors’ faces and ‘translate’ them into unique geometric patterns, allowing audiences to join in the digital transformation as a communal activity. Complementing the optics is an adaptive white noise and electric soundscape designed by Daito Manabe, which transforms in response to visitors’ facial expressions. Photograph: Courtesy XCEPT Aside from the exhibition, there are also ticketed performances taking place on January

Calling all Labubu fans – this is not a drill. A new exhibition has just opened at the Asia Society Hong Kong Centre and it’s all about the most beloved ugly-cute figurines in the world: Labubu and his forest-dwelling companions, the Monsters. From now until January 4, 2026, the ‘Monsters By Monsters: Now and Then’ exhibition will celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Kasing Lung’s hit illustrated characters, detailing their whimsical origins and their evolution into pop culture phenomena, and showcasing original artworks. It all started in 2015 when Lung released the Fairy Trilogy, a set of picture books depicting creatures that take inspiration from Norse mythology – these drawings would later become the eccentric characters that make up the Monsters. In some of the illustrated stories, you can even spot what look to be early versions of Labubu!  Photograph: Courtesy Monster by Monsters: Now and Then At the exhibition, visitors can dive into the past and present of Lung’s creations through various engaging zones. Start in the Journey & Paintings Zone to see a timeline of how Labubu and his friends came to be, and understand the backstory behind the ever-popular How2Work and Pop Mart merchandise collaborations. You can also admire large-scale sculptures and fantastical oil paintings of your favourite characters here. In the Sketches Zone, a collection of artwork offers a look into Lung’s creation process. Photograph: Courtesy Monster by Monsters: Now and Then Continue to

If you had your heart set on catching a magnificent display of fireworks over Victoria Harbour on December 31 to ring in 2026, we have disappointing news: Hong Kong has cancelled its popular annual fireworks show, and will relocate its New Year’s Eve countdown event to the Chater Road pedestrian zone in Central instead. In the official statement released by the Hong Kong Tourism Board on Wednesday, December 17, no reason was given for the change, but it’s not a huge stretch to imagine this decision had most likely come about in light of the recent tragedy in Tai Po last month. Under regular circumstances, Hong Kong puts on quite a show for the annual NYE countdown programme. In 2024, for example, the ‘Symphony of Happiness’ themed celebration featured four captivating fireworks displays over Victoria Harbour totalling 12 minutes, in addition to live performances by local and international singers and dancers. Whether we will get as much fanfare this year following the transplant of the NYE countdown programme to the Chater Road pedestrian zone remains to be seen. One thing’s for sure: elaborate fireworks will not be part of the equation. As of today, not much other information about the alternative arrangements has emerged, but all posts on the Hong Kong Tourism Board social media accounts have said that event details will be coming soon. All we know is, for better or for worse, at least there won’t be the usual need to post up at the Victoria Harbour promenade for hours ahea

Fond of fondue? Nothing beats coming together to share a cosy, communal meal while the dulcet tones of festive music warble in the background, especially when the centrepiece of the table is a bubbling pot of melted cheese. Whether you prefer to dip your ingredients in cheese, or have them slathered in sheets of cheese, the Swiss were clearly onto something good when they came up with fondue and raclette. If you’re feeling the cravings, let us set your mind at cheese – there are more than enough restaurants around town that dabble in fondue and raclette when wintertime rolls around. Here are some of the best places in Hong Kong to get you brie-lieving in the power of melted cheese.  Photograph: Courtesy The Peninsula Hong Kong Chesa at The Peninsula Hong Kong No list of cheese fondue and raclette restaurants in Hong Kong can be complete without including the OG: the one and only Chesa. Opened in 1965, this institution of Swiss dining at the ‘Grande Dame of the Far East’ has been plopping pots of hot cheese in front of diners for decades, and the down-to-earth alpine cottage interiors only add to the charm.  Four choices await: the fondue moitié-moitié ($370) with Gruyère and Vacherin Fribourgois; the fondue montagnarde ($390) with Emmental, Appenzeller, Gruyère, Parmesan, and smoked mountain bacon; the fondue forestière ($420) with porcini and morels mushrooms, Gruyère, Emmental, and fresh herbs; and the raclette du Valais ($270), where hot-melted cheese is served over new

Well, this new hotel opening certainly flew under our radar right up until the dust was swept away and the doors were flung wide open to welcome guests! Global hospitality company Hilton has unveiled Motto by Hilton Hong Kong SoHo, a vibrant destination just minutes away from the Sheung Wan MTR station and the Hong Kong Macau Ferry Terminal, providing a convenient new launchpad for exploring Hong Kong Island. As the first Motto by Hilton property in Asia-Pacific, this hotel captures the pulsating energy of Hong Kong with an emphasis on community and connection. Surrounded by under-the-radar neighbourhood gems, cultural attractions, and retail opportunities, Motto by Hilton Hong Kong SoHo is designed to offer a fresh perspective on the city through the Motto lens, providing a dynamic micro-hotel solution that’s in the centre of all the action.  Motto by Hilton Hong Kong SoHo is designed around the concept of ‘Urban Fabric’, reflecting the rich tapestry of physical, spatial, and social elements that define the city. Playful, youthful, and vibrant, the interiors are a celebration of art and colour to echo the distinctive spirit of the neighbourhood. With 274 guest rooms, the hotel offers a variety of configurations, including family-friendly options with bunk beds and flexible wall beds. For larger groups travelling together, connecting rooms can also be requested. Photograph: Courtesy Hilton You simply cannot open a property in Hong Kong and not give equal attention to the cu

You’ve heard of buy-one-get-one sales, but have you ever come across a 100-percent-off sale? Us neither, but that’s what VietJet Air, Vietnam’s largest budget carrier, is doing today! For one day only to celebrate Doubles Day, December 12, VietJet is putting on its biggest sale event of the year, offering millions of flight tickets for up to 100-percent off. From now until 11pm tonight, customers purchasing an Eco ticket on VietJet can use the special code THANKS to receive a discount of up to 100 percent of the ticket price! You’ll still have to cover any related taxes and fees associated with the flight ticket, but the discount is applicable to all currently available domestic and international VietJet flight routes, and covers a flexible travel period from January 5, 2026 to December 31, 2026. Photograph: Courtesy VietJet Air A seven-kg carry-on bag allowance is included in the Eco ticket, but any other premium features, such as checked baggage, meals, seat selection, and changes to your flight booking will incur an additional cost. Some restrictions apply to peak periods, naturally, and flight times may vary depending on the route. Customers can also receive a complimentary 20kg free checked bag allowance if they book Eco tickets on international direct flights from now until December 31, 2025. Run, don’t walk, and snag your tickets now on vietjetair.com! Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Hong Kong newsletter for the best of the city, straight to your inb

Heritage-arts destination Tai Kwun is never short on original programmes, from performances to digital exhibitions and innovative displays, but its most recent launch takes a step back in time through a celebrated photographer’s lens. Running from now until February 20, 2026, ‘Book of Changes: The Art of Basil Pao’ is a thematic photography exhibition that explores the profound impact of the I Ching on Chinese life and Chinese cultural heritage through abstract visual dialogue. As one of the Five Classics in Chinese literature, the I Ching – also known in translation as the Book of Changes – is a divination and philosophy text that stems from the ancient Western Zhou period. It details 64 hexagram formations and their meanings, which can be interpreted by fortune-seekers as moral guidance and wisdom. Photograph: Courtesy Tai Kwun Pao, who began his career as an art director and designer for music records and posters, is best known for his photography work on Michael Palin’s BBC travel programmes, which were later published as large-format books. In this exhibition of images, he interprets the concepts explained in the I Ching through two photography series: The Great Walls of China and Glimpses of Silence. In The Great Walls of China, Pao’s work, inspired by Abstract Expressionism, is presented in alignment with the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching. In Glimpses of Silence, the power of nature is the focal point; vast landscapes are showcased to evoke contemplation on the role of

Last summer, for just a few days, Hongkongers were divided into two lots – those who were blessed enough to snag tickets to see actor and comedian Jimmy O. Yang perform live in Hong Kong or Macau, and those whose luck didn’t stretch that far. For those poor unfortunate souls, it’s not over just yet: O. Yang has recently announced on Instagram that he will be coming back to our neck of the woods for a special Lunar New Year performance! Yang will return to Galaxy Macau for one night only on February 21, 2026, bringing his trademark deadpan humour, self-deprecating standup routines, and sharp cultural observations to the Galaxy Arena, Macau’s largest such indoor venue. He made a name for himself with roles in the HBO comedy series Silicon Valley, Netflix comedy series Space Force, blockbuster rom-com Crazy Rich Asians, and the Hulu series Interior Chinatown, but his dynamic standup shows provide the ideal medium for his unique brand of comedy to shine. In addition to standup, the ‘Galaxy Macau Presents: The Jimmy O. Yang Chinese New Year Show’ will also feature live music performances, and the posters are boldly teasing “surprise guests” as well, so we wait with bated breath to find out who will be joining him on stage. (Sadly, there’s no news about whether he will also come to Hong Kong as part of this special CNY appearance, but we’re keeping our ears to the ground.) If O. Yang’s last standup series in Hong Kong is anything to go by – he had five shows lined up in June this y

It’s as the familiar saying goes: time flies when you’re having fun, and time has certainly whizzed past in a flash when it comes to Amber at The Landmark Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Its birthday campaign, #AmberAt20, has been spoiling diners with a wealth of extraordinary dining experiences for the past three months, and now, the grand finale is upon us. Mark your calendar for Thursday, December 16 – Amber will be hosting the chefs of three powerhouse restaurants from around Asia as part of a special eight-hands dinner. For one night only, chef Richard Ekkebus of Amber will be joined by chef Jungsik Yim from Jungsik in New York and Seoul, chef Yusuke Takada from La Cime in Osaka, and chef Cedric Satabin from Alain Ducasse at Morpheus in Macau. With 12 Michelin stars and one Michelin Green Star between the four restaurants, it’s safe to say that these chefs, hailing from some of Asia’s finest culinary destinations, form a formidable quartet. French, Korean, and Japanese flavours and inspirations will come into play to shape the unique ‘#AmberAt20 Series: Dom Pérignon Society: A Culinary Summit at Amber’ experience, which will, of course, be paired with a selection of Dom Pérignon vintages. Guests can look forward to a curated menu that demonstrates harmonious understanding and seamless collaboration between the chefs. Chef Yusuke Takada’s Black Kabocha Pumpkin, Chestnut & White Alba Truffle Dumpling / Soy Milk, Dashi, Roasted

Word on the street is that pasta is back on the map as comfort food reigns supreme in the fierce competition of Hong Kong food trends. Hongkongers are not short on choice when it comes to good – even great – Italian restaurants in town, but a new generation of laid-back pasta bars and Italian eateries have now made their way onto the scene in quick succession to spread the good word of freshly made noodles. Read on for a non-exhaustive list of the most recently opened pasta spots in Hong Kong. Buon appetito! Photograph: Courtesy David Thomas Holmberg / Twist Pasta Bar Twist Pasta Bar From the people behind Soho’s beloved Honky Tonks Tavern and Bourke’s (RIP Shady Acres, we’ll never forget you) comes Twist Pasta Bar on Bridges Street, where head chef Ben Sears puts a confident Hong Kong-inspired spin on classic Italian comfort food.  From a rich bone marrow macaroni ($180) made with Koon Yick Wah Kee curry powder – a dish derived from the flavour profiles of curry brisket noodles – to a crispy egg roll cannoli ($60) stuffed with ricotta and pistachio, Twist Pasta Bar is not afraid to shake things up. Newfangled fusion creations aside, there’s also a foolproof baked rigatoni ($180) on the menu, stuffed pumpkin pappardelle ($180), and even cacio e pepe croquettes ($60), with a curated selection of inventive cocktails to go with all the noods. Photogrph: Courtesy La Volta La Volta Chef Roland Schuller knows a thing or two about Italian food – after all, this is the man who wa

If you grew up in Hong Kong in the 1990s and 2000s, chances are, you’ve gone out to Cape D’Aguilar with your family or your classmates on a school trip. Hands up if you’ve got an old photograph of yourself posing in front of a large whale skeleton! In recent months, however, Cape D’Aguilar has not been quite the same. Namely, the well-known whale skeleton – affectionately referred to as ‘Hong Kong’s whale’ – was no longer around. Good news: We’re happy to report that Cape D’Aguilar’s most famous resident has returned to its perch – but there’s something different about it. First, a little history. How did this whale skeleton in Cape D’Aguilar come to be? In 1955, a two-month-old fin whale calf swam into Victoria Harbour, likely lost and separated from its mother. Being dependent on but deprived of its mother’s milk, it had suffered from starvation, and authorities made the decision to put it down. Its bones, however, were preserved at the University of Hong Kong, and eventually installed outside the Swire Institute of Marine Science (SWIMS) building in Cape D’Aguilar in 1991. Exposed to the elements, the poor whale’s skeleton was affected by the unforgiving coastal conditions, buffeted by sea spray, strong winds, and ultraviolet rays. Photograph: Courtesy Swire Institute of Marine Science Super Typhoon Mangkhut was the final nail in the coffin for ‘Hong Kong’s whale’. Intense wind battered the whale skeleton, deforming the supportive structures holding the bones together. I

Update, November 27: In light of the tragedy of the Tai Po fire that has been ongoing since November 26, the Arts in the Park Night Parade will be cancelled this Saturday, November 29. Stay tuned for details on whether or not the event will be rescheduled in the near future. Every year, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade turns the streets of New York into a fabulous celebration of elaborate floats, jumbo balloons, and entertainment, making the last weekend of November always one to look forward to. Hong Kong may not have a Macy’s, or a Super Mario-shaped balloon, but that’s not to say the end of this month’s going to be any less exciting. We’ve got the return of Standard Chartered Arts in the Park Night Parade, and this year’s event is designed to be a spectacle of colour, light, and rhythm! On the night of November 29, from 8.30pm to 10pm, visitors can marvel at an impressive illuminated procession dreamed up by local artists, who have come together to bring this year’s Night Parade to life. Inspired by The Adventures of Pinocchio, the spectacle will feature five giant puppets, eight creative carnival costumes, and four dance groups.  Photograph: Courtesy Hysan Development Company Limited Almost 100 performers will gather in Causeway Bay for this occasion, journeying from Lee Garden One along Yun Ping Road, Pak Sha Road, Lee Garden Road, and Kai Chiu Road to Hysan Place and back. Naturally, the highlight will be the larger-than-life puppets, including characters like the s