Lunch with Mio in Central

After the dramatic events of our first morning in Hong Kong,  Susanna and I looked forward to meeting Mio Debnam, the charming and gracious RA of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Hong Kong. We arranged to meet in front of Peddar Building, a building I was familiar with as my mother's two favourite shops St Regis and Safari used to be located there. 

In front of Peddar Building. It's been 19 years since I've been there!

Mio and Me

Though the Central area of Hong Kong has changed quite a bit, there are a few landmarks that I could recognize, like Landmark, Prince's Building and the Mandarin Hotel.

Lunch!

We met Mio and took a short walk to a nice quiet restaurant (which for Hong Kong is  a rarity) for a fantastic dim sum lunch. Mio, a children's book author, and former kids magazine editor has given numerous talks and workshops for schools in Hong Kong kindly reassured me that everything would go well. With my frayed nerves calmed we proceeded to dig in to the dim sum. OK, I made the big mess by spilling stuff on the table- you can't take me anywhere -and you would think that being Chinese I would have mastered the art of using chopsticks - well I haven't!

Auntie Susanna, Mio and me.

With lunch over far too soon, it was time to head back to the hotel to get ready for the first workshop. Thanks for the fantastic lunch, Mio and it was great meeting you at last. :)

Mio will be in town as a featured speaker at the Asian Festival of Children's Content this coming May, so if you haven't booked your tickets yet please do so now.