Wins Hung Chi-yin is a busy man. During the holiday season, he and his pastry team will produce about 200kg of gingerbread dough for their employer, the Kowloon Shangri-La. It's a lot - even for a head pastry chef.
'You can smell me - so Christmas-smelling,' he said, laughing.
Hung, though, said the task was worth the mammoth baking effort. A lot of the gingerbread dough will go towards helping Operation Santa Claus and its 13 beneficiaries.
This year the Mody Road hotel will sell gingerbread men for charity. Hotel guests and generous Hongkongers can purchase different-sized gingerbread men for HK$80, HK$150 and HK$200, and have a special message iced onto their buys.
Each gingerbread man will be attached to the hotel's Christmas tree, a six-metre Noble fir flown in from the United States. Those wanting to complement the grandeur of the mighty evergreen are invited to buy one of the hotel's 3.5-metre-tall gingerbread men for HK$2,000 each. They, too, can be iced with a special message and placed by the tree.
The gingerbread sale announcement kicked off the hotel's festive programme. The day also included the lighting of its Christmas tree, and carols in the lobby sung by dozens of pupils from the Singapore International School.