Birthday Diaries 2023

My birthday this year would be known in Hong Kong history. This isn’t a cheeky joke, check out what SCMP said about it:

Sudden downpours lashed Hong Kong on September 7, 2023, causing widespread flooding. The city saw its highest-level hourly rainfall since records began in 1884. Weather authorities issued the city’s longest ever black rainstorm warning, with the highest-level alert in force for more than 12 hours as of noon on September 8. The second-longest black rain warning was in 1999, lasting five hours and 47 minutes. Footage from various locations around Hong Kong shows torrential rainfall pounding the city.

SCMP

Is this a sign? Of good things, I hope, like blessings pouring on me this year? I choose to believe the positive way of looking at this!

Luckily, I live in an area that wasn’t heavily impacted by floods. I did remember noting that the rain was a lot noisier that night compared to when there was a typhoon signal no. 10 (the highest signal in Hong Kong) the previous week.

So I unfortunately had to cancel all my birthday leave plans for that Friday.

Fiata Pizza

Luckily, before the rain came down I had managed to have a nice solo birthday lunch at Fiata, which supposedly makes Hong Kong’s best pizza according to 50 Top Pizza. Pizza happens to be my favourite food ever, so I had been wanting to try this since I found out about it.

They have a lunch set which costs 150 hkd for a choice of pizza and a drink. I got the diavola and a coke. I loved the pizza, but I honestly cannot tell how much different it is compared to other good woodfired pizzas I’ve tried in Hong Kong, like Motorino or Baci, for example. Still, it was a good birthday meal!

After I was done, I bought some sourdough egg tarts from Bakehouse (which is a popular bakery) and dropped by Dash gift shop to check if they still had the necklace I had liked last time. They did, and it was 20% off! I consider that a birthday gift, thank you very much! I wore it to Sunday brunch days later.

The Royal Garden Spa

It rained all the way until Sunday morning, but at least it was not as bad anymore, and somehow the roads had recovered and they had patched up a lot of the damages. That’s one amazing thing about Hong Kong – they are so efficient!

So I was able to head to The Royal Garden Hotel’s Spa and avail of a massage package that my LZ friends from abroad had gifted me.

The Spa was pretty, the massage was wonderful, and it also came with delicious cookies and peach tea afterwards.

Sunday Brunch @ Vista

After that I had to rush off to Vista for Sunday brunch with friends. I had found out about this restaurant from an app called Dining City which offers discounts. They had a discount on their weekend brunch which comes with a buffet of yummy Italian food, a seafood platter for each table, some fresh pasta on a cart, a cotton candy machine so you can make your own Tang pineapple juice-flavoured cotton candy, and a plate of small pastries. It is a really good deal and the food was good! My faves were the eggplant lasagna and pizza. And on top of that, the view is amazing! Huge glass windows look over the harbour below.

Gifts

I’m blessed to have friends who gave me such generous gifts, both in Hong Kong and abroad. Aside from the massage voucher, I also got a Diptyque Baies candle, Charlotte’s magic cream, Swarovski earrings, Charlotte Tilbury air brush lip blur, and a Hermes no rinse cleansing gel.

Overall, despite the terrible weather, it has been a happy birthday.