G&K: Day 10

Grandma and Kelli's Hong Kong Adventure: Day 10- Tea Wood Cafe and the Science Museum

Grandma and I met Drew for lunch again - I think Mo had to meet with her language partner. We went to a place called Tea Wood which is a Taiwanese cafe. I ordered a spicy beef noodle stew which was definitely up there in my favorite lunches. It's kind of hard to eat stew with chop sticks. You have to use the big spoon to ladle up the broth and noodles then use the chop sticks to get the noodles. It was a bit messy, but so worth it. Grandma got sweet and sour pork that was served on a pineapple. The tables were unique too since they looked like shadowboxes with decorations inside the table. The silverware was also neat because the spoons were shaped like shovels and the forks like pitchforks. 

We couldn't resist getting one of their sweeter dishes as well. It was a pile of toast just dripping in butter and brushed with something to make it look gold. It came with mango ice cream and mango balls as well. So good.

Drew and I also got some milk tea. Mine was on the right and taro flavored. We had taro before in the filling of one of the dessert dumplings from Din Tai Fung. It was sweet and tasty.

After lunch Drew walked us to our couches where we waited for Mo in the mall that is connected to his office building. I got a rose flavored latte. It looked pretty so I couldn't resist taking a picture!

We took Grandma back to the apartment so she could have some time to rest from all the walking. Mo and I decided to go to the Hong Kong History Museum. We took the subway over only to discover that the museum was closed on Tuesdays. Oops! Fortunately the science museum was right next door that was open. They had a dinosaur exhibit going on that was pretty neat. The first part had animatronic dinosaurs and lots of facts. A particularly amusing part had a T-Rex that was controlled by your movements in front of it. We jumped around and ran back and forth while the dinosaur moved and roared. Walking through the museum a bit later we discovered that it was actually controlled by children who could see the people in front of the dinosaur on a video screen. We felt pretty silly after that! 

The latter part of the museum had lots of dinosaur bones. It's just amazing how big these creatures were. They also had lots of dinosaurs that were discovered in China so their names were different than typical dinosaur names that we're used to here.

Afterwards we traveled over to the area where we were meeting Drew and Grandma for dinner. We were early so we went to a sports bar to watch some of the Australian Open and grab a beer. Amusingly enough the sports bars are in the same part of town as the red light district. The bar we were at was called the Dog House and the girls were all dressed in short plaid skirts similar to the Tilted Kilt (though no, I haven't been there). But most importantly the bar was almost empty and the tennis was on!

We had to leave partway through the match to go meet Grandma and Drew at dinner. We went to a place called American Restaurant. Naturally, they did not serve American food there. We got Peking duck, tofu, and fried rice. The duck was a full duck that they sliced up for us. You put it in a pancake (which was more like a tortilla) with plum sauce and scallions. Then you rolled it up and ate it like a taco. It was really good!

After we went to another bar to watch the ending of the tennis match at another bar before going back to the apartment.

G & K: Day 9

Grandma and Kelli's Hong Kong Adventure: Day 9- Stanley

On Monday we had a relaxing morning, then Mo, Grandma, and I drove to Stanley. It's on the opposite side of the island compared to the main city so we drove there. We parked in a lot that was connected to (surprise!) another mall. This mall did have a puppy parking lot though which is pretty adorable.

Stanley had a much more relaxed atmosphere about it. No hustle and bustle like we were getting accustomed to. Lots of restaurants on the road that overlooked the water and very few cars. We went to a pizza place as a nice little break from all the new foods that we were eating. Afterwards we walked around the city for a while to shop at the shops and stalls they have set up. It definitely wasn't as big or as busy as Mong Kok, but there were lots of things to look at. After we walked back to our car to drive back to the apartment.

Grandma and I met Drew for dinner but Mo had to do some work. We went to a place called The Dining Room that also served dumplings. Their tea was really good too - it had like a peanut flavor.

We tried some different dumplings this time, like this one that had an interesting lace-like part that connected the dumplings together. It looked pretty and was tasty!

We also had a spicy breaded chicken. Even though there wasn't a sauce it had a good kick to it. Drew kept putting the peppers on Grandma's plate and insisting she put them back using her chop sticks or else she had to eat it. She did a good job getting them back into the basket! I think she's better with chop sticks than she gives herself credit for.

We headed back to the apartment, played some cards, and called it a night.

G&K-The Way Over

Today I have a surprise for everyone. Drew's cousin Kelli McKay, who accompanied Grandma Pat to Hong Kong, has been writing her own blog about our adventures during their visit. Seeing as I am an efficiency nut, it seemed a waste for me to write about their time here when Kelli was already doing it so eloquently! So, the next few days of posts will be guest authored by none other than the lovely Kelli McKay! 

Grandma and Kelli's Hong Kong Adventure: Travel

Let me just start by saying that I'm not the best writer, but I want to get all of our days down because I'm even worse at remembering things.

So we left for Hong Kong early on the morning of Thursday, January 9th. We got through security with relative ease and boarded our flight to Seattle. After an uneventful flight we landed and had to get to a different section of the airport, which required a tram. Of course things got interesting. Going down the narrow escalator to the tram I went first so grandma could follow. Her suitcase got stuck on the side and caused both her and the bag to swing around. She looked like she just sat down on the stair and was standing again before I even got up to her. We laughed about it, continued onto our gate and then got some lunch. As we were sitting there she noticed that she had blood on the back of her leg, and said she figured she must have just scraped her leg. An employee offered to bring her a bandaid so I pulled down her sock and was met with an inch and half wide hole in her leg.

I started crying and the employee went to flag someone down to call the fire department. EMS came and told us that they would have to take her to the hospital for stitches. One helped to walk me around to Delta to reschedule our flight. The Delta employee said the earliest we would be able to fly out was Saturday. When we went back to my grandma she was being put on a stretcher and a friendly man was promising that he would try to arrange our flights for us. We get to the hospital and 9 stitches later, we missed our flight by almost an hour. Fortunately that same man called us and said that he could get us a flight out to Tokyo, Japan (our original layover) that night, but we would have to switch airports and wouldn't be able to fly to Hong Kong until the night after. But, it would get us to Hong Kong a day earlier than staying in Seattle.

So we got back to the airport, and I insisted on grandma getting taken in a wheel chair. She was not pleased. Hey, better than a second hospital trip. Delta was a great help through it all and made sure we were taken care of. They assured that we would be assisted finding a hotel in Japan once we landed. They even gave us our economy comfort seats with an extra empty seat in the middle. Our 11  flight to Japan was pretty smooth.

After we landed in Haneda we collected our suitcases and made our way to the desk that said 'hotel reservations'. He spoke almost no English and handed us a sheet of paper with about 150 hotel names on it. Okay. We went to the help desk. She also spoke almost no English, but did circle a few hotels for us and pointed us to a pay phone. No Yen. I brought out my computer and guessed at how to join the wifi network on the all Japanese page so I could look up some of the hotels. I found one near the Narita airport that had 'international' in its name. So I called them with my phone (sorry for the international charge, mom and dad!) and by speaking slowly I got us a reservation.

Next was finding a cab. We followed the signs down and actually got one fairly easily. However once we got inside it was another story. I said the name of the hotel but the driver couldn't understand me at all. Fortunately I still had the webpage on my computer so I pulled it out and showed him. He said 'Oh, Narita airport!' and took off. Well, okay. Close.

So we're in the cab for what seems like forever and I ask him if he's taking us to the hotel. He seemed confused but kept going. Eventually he pulled over to the side and pointed at my computer bag. We had another stroke of luck with the google page being up where I found the hotel address on the side. Thankfully we make it to the hotel. Good thing it only cost us ¥30,000. Oh wait, that's $280.

We check in and get our room, which was another ¥12,000. So about $112. The room was small and the bed was low, but at least we got sweet pajamas and the bathroom had a bidet! We got a good nights sleep and left in the airport shuttle at 12:10pm.

We boarded our flight to Hong Kong and got there after a short 5 hour flight. Drew and Mo picked us up at the airport and drove us back to their apartment. It was a long 48 hours, but we made it!

G&K: Day 7&8

Grandma and Kelli's Hong Kong Adventure: Day 7 & 8- Dinner Party and Cheung Chau

Saturday was a pretty uneventful day. I was feeling a little ill so I pretty much spent most of it immobile on the couch. Drew took grandma to the hospital to get her stitches checked out and they prescribed her some oral antibiotics to prevent any infection. Eventually I put myself together enough to shower and help make dinner. Two of Drew's friends came over for dinner so Grandma made lemon chicken with rice and a peach cobbler. I have seriously never seen people eat so much food. It was delicious! After they left I think we played some cards and called it a night.

Sunday I was filled with renewed energy! We decided to go to Cheung Chau, which is an island 10 km off of Hong Kong that takes a 30 minute ferry ride to get there. Trig came with us too!

Cheung Chau was a lot more rural than Hong Kong. That's not to say there wasn't plenty of tourists and people walking around though! We walked through stalls selling more clothes, dried foods, and other things but stopped to pick up a snack. It was a fried potato on a stick that we put seasoning on. Really tasty.

Then we walked along the various streets looking at the various shops. We also picked up another snack which was a kind of pancake thing with lettuce and some kind of seafood that I can't really remember. Also good!

Mo and I left Grandma and Drew to play cards while we explored the rest of the island. There were lots of trails to walk. We saw lots of temples and walked the 'mini Great Wall' as well. Since the actual Great Wall is a fairly long way from Hong Kong it was a good alternative. Trig enjoyed the walk and I really enjoyed the sights!

After tiring ourselves out we met Grandma and Drew for dinner to get some seafood by the water. We had crab, clams, and shrimp that was just so fresh and good. It was beautiful to see all the fishing boats with the sunset too.

After that we called it a night and took the ferry back to Hong Kong.

G&K: Day 6

Grandma and Kelli's Hong Kong Adventures: Day 6- Mong Kok and LKF

It was Friday morning at this point. We met Drew for lunch again at a Japanese place this time. They give you this cabbage salad with your meal that is just so light and fluffy that you put a dressing on. The jar looks like a big honeypot and I have no idea what it was, but it was tasty! We also got some panko crusted fried chicken, shrimp, and ham. I forgot to take a picture but it was really good. Drew put us in a cab after lunch and we went to the library. Grandma and I found some books about Hong Kong and Macau and spent a couple hours reading.

After Mo finished working she met us at the library and walked us to the subway station. We were headed to Mong Kok to do some shopping but it is located on the Kowloon side and the subway was the easiest, and cheapest, way to get there. The subway was clean and pleasant, and though somewhat crowded not nearly as bad as I would have thought. When we got to our location and came above ground we were greeted with a fairly big crowd and plenty of people passing out fliers. After walking over a couple streets we came to the shopping stalls.

It was literally stall after stall of everything you could imagine. Fans, jade figurines, fake purses, clothes, etc. It was very crowded with people from all over the world shopping and haggling. Thankfully Mo did the haggling for grandma and I. Seriously I think if I had to haggle I would end up paying the vendor more than their asking price. We came away with some awesome souvenirs and presents for people, though since I'm the most indecisive person on earth I didn't get all my shopping done.

We took a cab back to the Star Ferry to meet Drew for dinner at a hotel in Lan Kwai Fong (LKF), a small section in Hong Kong. They had a Groupon for dinner which had several courses and was really good. Plus it was Happy Hour so hooray for martinis!

 Mo had a salmon with I think some kind of seaweed foam on it? It looked cool!

Dessert was a chocolate cake/mousse thing with a black sesame ice cream and a white chocolate stick on it. It certainly looked fancy since they put edible gold decorations on it.

After dinner Mo took me to see the rest of LKF, which has tons of bars and nightlife. We grabbed a beer and sat outside watching people for a while when her friend Frank and his girlfriend met up with us. They took us to another place to grab long islands (mistake #1) and then to an outside park-like area that was filled with people and had a DJ. After we finished our long islands our glasses were refilled with red wine (mistake #2). We talked for a long time and then they asked if we wanted to go with them to another bar/dance club, which is about where my drinks caught up to me. We danced and had more drinks (mistake #3!) but when Mo lost her shoe under the bar we knew it was time to go home. Unfortunately for me I spent the rest of the night, uh, under the weather. Let's just leave it at that. At least it was lots of fun!

G&K: Day 5

Grandma and Kelli's Hong Kong Adventure: Day 5- Victoria Peak and Madam Tussaud's

Grandma and I journeyed out to Drew's office on the mini bus all on our own. Miraculously we didn't get lost (probably because it's the last stop on the route and they make you get off there). We went to a place called Wired Cafe on the top of another mall. The food was decent, but it had a nice view. After we went to a french bakery stand for some fresh croissants. I had black cherry and grandma got tiramisu. They were just delicious and a perfect snack with a cup of coffee. Mo met us to help finish off the croissants and then we went back to the apartment to get the car. Though driving is impractical for most of Hong Kong, it was much easier to reach the peak by driving. We got to see some stunning views of the city as well as the bay on another section of the island.

Mo and I went to another section of The Peak which was called Sky Terrace 428. It offered an even better view and included an audio tour that told you the history of various parts of Hong Kong. Well worth the trip! Underneath the Sky Terrace was (shocker!) another shopping mall. It also had a Madame Tussaud's wax museum! It was pretty amusing because there were a lot of famous Chinese people that we didn't know, but also plenty of familiar faces. I don't even want to count how many pictures we took there!

After that we watched the sun set on the other side of the island and headed back to the apartment. We'd already had a busy day so we decided to stay in and watch Mulan! Mo made us a noodle dish for dinner which was delicious and peanut buttery. After watching part of Memoirs of a Geisha we called it a night and headed to bed.

G&K- Day 3 & 4

Grandma and Kelli's Hong Kong Adventure: Day 3-Dandan Noodles and the Wet Market

In the morning Mo and I exercised again and took Trig for another walk. She had to meet with her language partner to practice her Mandarin so she took us on the mini bus to Drew's office. The mini buses here are really cool forms of public transportation. They fit 16 passengers and everyone has a seat on them. They also come by every few minutes so it's no big deal if you don't fit on it right away. Plus they cost $4.50 HKD ($.60 USD). Drew took us to a tiny little Szechuan place for Dandan noodles. I have level 2 spiciness and Drew had 4. Mine was a very comfortable spice level while Drew was sweating at the end of it.

After lunch we got some macaroons and coffee. Mo met up with us back at the office building and took us to the wet market. It was down what seemed like a random side street in the city and had both indoor and outdoor sections. There were live fish, dried fish, butcher shops, and fresh produce. The seafood was so fresh we watched a shrimp escape from it's container onto the pavement.

The only thing that we bought were some tasty egg tarts at a bakery. We met up with Drew again later at a place in a different mall called SML, for small medium and large. After a walk back to the mini bus we made our way back to the apartment again.

Grandma and Kelli's Hong Kong Adventure: Day 4-Art Museum and Happy Valley

After going to the grocery store in the morning (which is much similar to our US grocery stores and NOT the wet market), we took a ferry back to Kowloon to go to the art museum. Few art museums that I've been to have had much emphasis on eastern art so it was pretty interesting to see. Their modern art is fairly similar to what the US has to offer, such as a display of large chickens that were moved around the city previously. They also still create paintings very similar to the ones that have been done for hundreds of years. This one, for example was made some time before the year 300.

This one was made in the mid 1900's.

We were also fortunate to be there at the time of a free tour all about Chinese porcelain and pottery. The stuff that they displayed was really beautiful and intricate at times.

Then we met with Drew for dinner again at a burger place. It was hardly traditional American burgers - mine was soft shelled crab. And I mean the whole crab was just deep fried and put on a bun. Grandma felt tired so she went back with Drew to the apartment while he got some more work done while Mo and I went to the Happy Valley race track. We saw more expats there than anywhere else in the city thus far. We had some mulled wine and watched the horses warm up for the race. We picked our three favorites and bid. Somehow I got 2 out of the 3 winners right and doubled my money! 

After watching a couple more races (and losing most of the money I had won) we called it quits and headed back to the apartment. Can't wait to go back next Wednesday!

G&K-Days 1 & 2

Grandma and Kelli's Hong Kong Adventure: Day 1- The 4 Hour Brunch

So we had finally made it to Hong Kong and got some sleep. We were so tired that we actually slept through the night. After we woke up Drew and Mo took us to a brunch at a hotel. We took a cab there which was really very cheap. It's $7.75 in Hong Kong dollars to $1 in the US. Cab fare starts at $22 HKD and then goes up by $1.6. I think our first cab was around $50 HKD, which is a little over $6 in USD, and you don't tip. All in all a pretty good deal.

Brunch lasted from 11:30am to 3pm and included champagne, mimosas, and Bellini's. It was more of a Western style brunch so it had salads, raw seafood, grilled food like lamb and calamari, and lots of desserts. We ate and chatted for hours. The calamari was my favorite, followed by the lamb with a mint jelly sauce. They also had these Moreton Bay Bugs - they looked like little lobsters and tasted pretty similar.

After brunch we came back to their apartment and watched Avatar on Drew and Mo's 3D TV. We were so full from brunch we didn't eat for the rest of the day. After a few rounds of euchre we called it a day and went to sleep.

Grandma and Kelli's Hong Kong Adventure: Day 2-Kowloon and Din Tai Fung

After another good nights sleep we woke up around 9am. Mo and I went and exercised in their gym and then took Trig for a walk. We saw the neighborhood down towards the city on our walk. Hong Kong is way more mountainous than I realized when I came here. The sides of the hills are covered in cement to keep from eroding, but they leave spaces for the trees to grow.

We stopped at a local temple so I could peak inside. It's a Daoist temple (or Taoist, apparently). Inside people could pray and ask questions. After that we went back and met up with grandma to cross the water to the other part of the city in Kowloon. The easiest way to get to the other side is by the famous Star Ferry.

Its been running since 1880 as a cheap way to get across the island ($2.50 in HKD, so about $.35 in USD). They're constantly running and are able to move both ways so the ferry captain doesn't even have to turn around on each side. Over on the boardwalk they have a walk of stars similar to our Hollywood one. We recognized Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, and Jet Li.

For dinner we walked to one of the many malls around here to go to a place called Din Tai Fung. Their specialty is dumplings with a very delicate casing that has a filling of your choice and soup broth. To eat it though you have to pick them up with your chop sticks and puncture the outside to let the soup drain out. If you try to just bite it then be prepared for some burns.

Dessert was more dumplings filled with a black sesame paste, which is way better than it sounds. Afterwards we made our way back near the boardwalk to watch the nightly light show at 9pm. It was actually very cool. Many of the big buildings back on the island take part in the show that is set to music.

 

Afterwards we went back on the Star Ferry to their apartment to play some cards and get some sleep.

Chinese New Years Fireworks

Fireworks in Mandarin is yanhua or smoke flower. Drew and I watched this 5 million dollar 25 min long show from his office building, which had a perfect view, and wasn't crowded like many other locations were. The fireworks were actually shot off from barges in the center of the harbor, and they didn't really get higher than the buildings themselves. But, it was by far the best show we've ever seen. Not only did they have lots of variety, but they also had fireworks that made shapes, like hearts, the number 8 which is their luckiest number, horseshoes as it is now the Year of the Horse, and I swear a flower and a Chinese character. But I might have made those last two up in my mind. The show was so long that Drew and I jumped the gun on the Rand McNally about 5 times. "This must be it...." "No, THIS must be it...." Nope. Nope... (Apologies in advance if the movie links below don't work.)

Luckily, firecrackers (not the big fireworks) are outlawed in Hong Kong, so this big show was all the fire we got to see. Apparently in mainland China, people are lighting fireworks every which way, with no concern for what's around them. Sounds seriously unsafe, and many people end up going deaf because a firecracker is released too close to them. They are very loud and fill the air with smoke. Not for me, but I bet it would keep you on your toes.

Chinese New Years Parade

Hi All,

My excuse this time is that Drew and I were having a wonderful time showing Grandma Pat and cousin Kelli around Hong Kong for 3 weeks during March. More to come on that later, but more recently, we got to celebrate Chinese New Years, the beginning of the Lunar Calendar. This year is the Year of the Horse, so horse decor is rampant throughout the city. Much better than last year's snake, I think. Traditionally, CNY is a time for families to reconnect, eat lots of food, and give the red packets and small toys to the younger generations. Sounds like a mix between Thanksgiving and Christmas doesn't it? Therefore CNY is the biggest travel time in Asia. There is a saying, "Rich or poor; get home for the holiday." For the poor migrant workers who came to larger cities like Hong Kong, Beijing, or Shanghai, this is the only time they will get to see their families. There is an estimated 3.6 billion journeys taking place this year by China's 1.35 billion people in what is often called the human race's largest migration. I'm not really sure what constitutes a "journey," but I'm guessing 1 journey is taking 1 leg of public transportation. Most of the long distance journeys are taken by train, with an estimated 258 million train trips being taken this year. In comparison, the entire population of the United States is 314 million. So, imagine if every single person in the US got on a train and traveled home around the same span of time. That's how crowded and crazy these train trips are. And we complain about traffic jams during our holidays! Some of these train trips are 15-20 hours long and most of the passengers have to stand because there isn't enough seats. Sounds horrendous, but they do it without complaining to see their families for about 2 weeks.

So, because so many people go home to see family during CNY, Hong Kong was actually very quiet. There were noticeably less people, about 75% of restaurants were closed about about 90% of shops. So, it was actually a very quiet, restful weekend for us. On Friday Jan. 31st, which was the first official day of CNY, we went to the parade in TST (right nearby the Avenue of Stars). We only got there 45 min early and had second row standing spots. Drew and I had a clear advantage with our height, so we saw everything well. I've seen more people out for the Parade of Lights in Denver.

But, the parade was fun. All sorts of interesting floats for the major Hong Kong businesses, and lots of lions. Cathay Pacific Airlines was the major sponsor, so their float went first.

This was a float for Hong Kong's Chamber of Commerce, so the float has logos from lots of local stores. 

This float is for the Jockey Club, hence the racehorse!

Disneyland!

Ocean Park. This is another famous amusement park in Hong Kong that is a bit more original than Disneyland. 

This was a little girl's dance club. The theme was Under the Sea by the Little Mermaid, and all of the girl's dresses were made from balloons. It was really really cute. They should win best dressed for sure!