Crossing over the border into Hong Kong was kind of similar to arriving in Taiwan - it's cleaner than China, there's no spitting and the people are polite, although a bit reserved. I think it's all for the same reasons as Taiwan too - the locals want to be viewed as a separate entity from China, which is fair considering they were a British colony for over 100 years. Since 1997 however, Hong Kong has been a Special Administrative Region of China, but they have a different political system and independence in other areas.
My cousin Michelle met us at the metro station and took us back to her flat in the New Territories area, where they were kindly letting us stay for a few days over Christmas. As it was Christmas Eve, we just had time to stock up on supplies (booze) for Christmas Day which seemed to have rolled around bloody quickly again.
Michelle's husband Jacky had to work until the evening on Christmas Day, but Michelle made us the perfect Christmas breakfast - bagels with scrambled eggs and bacon, fruit, champagne and orange juice. It had been a long time since we'd had a traditional Christmas so we'd both been really looking forward to it. That, and being able to spend it with family. After going out to get some chores done, we spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out with Michelle and her son Jackson (JJ). Not surprisingly it took a little bit to get used to two strangers in his house, but he soon warmed up to us and kept us entertained over the few days we were with them. He is the cutest and coolest little kid, and he ended up taking quite a liking to Kurt (who's just a big kid anyway). Christmas night Jacky was home and some of his family came over for a veritable feast of a huge roast turkey with gravy and sauces and veges galore. We gorged and it was awesome. Then it was time to engage the second stomach's for dessert - strawberries, raspberries, marshmallows and ice-cream balls with chocolate fondue. Enough said. Then it was present time, which JJ absolutely loved as he was inundated. We'd got him a couple of presents, one more annoying than the other in that it plays an annoying song (Gangnam Style) while spinning around with flashing lights. Of course JJ soon figured out how to turn it on and off himself, so I'm pretty sure all the adults were hoping the batteries weren't long life! He loved it though, and it always makes Christmas more fun having kids around to share in their joy and excitement.
There is some amazing food in Hong Kong, so on Boxing Day we all went out for yum cha where we left it up to Jacky and Michelle to order us dish after dish of delicious dim sum. There were steamed dumplings of varying kinds, some of the best barbecued pork buns ever, chicken feet, tripe, sweet custard buns...the list goes on. It's a quintessential experience not to be missed if you're ever in Hong Kong.
Another experience we couldn't miss, and which Kurt had been waiting for, was going to the Boxing Day night races at Happy Valley Racecourse. It's a big drawcard for tourists so we weren't at all surprised to see a shitload of westerners there for the occasion. After paying the HK$10 entrance fee we had just enough time for Kurt to place a bet for the first race, then we settled in with beers to watch. It's quite an impressive racecourse, made even more so by the view of the Hong Kong cityscape towering above. It was a great night, and many beers and many bets (quite a few wins too) later, we managed to find our way back across the city, even squeezing in a ride on a double decker tram.
We had planned to get the very steep tram up to the top of Victoria Peak for uninterrupted views out over the city, but unfortunately the weather was too hazy the whole time we were there so we didn't think it was worth wasting the money for a pointless trip. Instead, we got the iconic Star Ferry across to Hong Kong Island, which offers some pretty great views. And it's cheap as chips. We spent the rest of the day wandering around Central, and because we knew it would be a long time between drinks, we had to have a decent burger and thickshake. Happy bellies = happy people.
Getting out to sample more of Hong Kong's culinary greats, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to eat at the world's cheapest Michelin star restaurant. Tim Ho Wan has a few outlets in the city and is, of course, an extremely popular choice for both locals and tourists alike. We'd read that it fills up fast, so we wisely turned up early enough to get in without having to line up. Being a dim sum restaurant, we chose a variety of dishes, but of course we had to include the favourites - dumplings and barbecued pork buns. These buns rivalled those of the place we went a couple of days earlier with Michelle, Jacky and JJ, but they were quite different - they had a slightly sweet, crispy outer shell instead of the usual steamed bun. All in all we sampled seven different dishes, and along with tea, our bill still only came to HK$145 (a mere AU$21). Now that's what I call fine dining.
Being our last night in Hong Kong, we headed down to watch 'A Symphony of Lights' - the nightly light and laser show (accompanied by music of course) displayed on the buildings in Victoria Harbour. Again, it's a very popular tourist thing to see, so we had to compete with crowds of people to get some photos of the show. It only goes for about 15mins so afterwards we headed to the Temple Street night market to see what was on offer. Nothing that we wanted as it turns out, but it's great if you want to get your shop on.
We only had a few days in this vibrant and bustling city, but we saw, and more importantly, ate, enough to keep us going. It was so good to see some family after so long too, and we have to thank Michelle, Jacky and JJ again for their amazing hospitality and letting us invade their space over Christmas. It was a great way to end the year, and now it was time to head to new pastures - next stop, Nepal.
My cousin Michelle met us at the metro station and took us back to her flat in the New Territories area, where they were kindly letting us stay for a few days over Christmas. As it was Christmas Eve, we just had time to stock up on supplies (booze) for Christmas Day which seemed to have rolled around bloody quickly again.
Michelle's husband Jacky had to work until the evening on Christmas Day, but Michelle made us the perfect Christmas breakfast - bagels with scrambled eggs and bacon, fruit, champagne and orange juice. It had been a long time since we'd had a traditional Christmas so we'd both been really looking forward to it. That, and being able to spend it with family. After going out to get some chores done, we spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out with Michelle and her son Jackson (JJ). Not surprisingly it took a little bit to get used to two strangers in his house, but he soon warmed up to us and kept us entertained over the few days we were with them. He is the cutest and coolest little kid, and he ended up taking quite a liking to Kurt (who's just a big kid anyway). Christmas night Jacky was home and some of his family came over for a veritable feast of a huge roast turkey with gravy and sauces and veges galore. We gorged and it was awesome. Then it was time to engage the second stomach's for dessert - strawberries, raspberries, marshmallows and ice-cream balls with chocolate fondue. Enough said. Then it was present time, which JJ absolutely loved as he was inundated. We'd got him a couple of presents, one more annoying than the other in that it plays an annoying song (Gangnam Style) while spinning around with flashing lights. Of course JJ soon figured out how to turn it on and off himself, so I'm pretty sure all the adults were hoping the batteries weren't long life! He loved it though, and it always makes Christmas more fun having kids around to share in their joy and excitement.
 |
| Christmas breakfast |
 |
| Playtime |
 |
| Christmas turkey feast |
 |
| JJ playing with our annoying present |
 |
| Mmm... ice-cream and chocolate fondue |
There is some amazing food in Hong Kong, so on Boxing Day we all went out for yum cha where we left it up to Jacky and Michelle to order us dish after dish of delicious dim sum. There were steamed dumplings of varying kinds, some of the best barbecued pork buns ever, chicken feet, tripe, sweet custard buns...the list goes on. It's a quintessential experience not to be missed if you're ever in Hong Kong.
Another experience we couldn't miss, and which Kurt had been waiting for, was going to the Boxing Day night races at Happy Valley Racecourse. It's a big drawcard for tourists so we weren't at all surprised to see a shitload of westerners there for the occasion. After paying the HK$10 entrance fee we had just enough time for Kurt to place a bet for the first race, then we settled in with beers to watch. It's quite an impressive racecourse, made even more so by the view of the Hong Kong cityscape towering above. It was a great night, and many beers and many bets (quite a few wins too) later, we managed to find our way back across the city, even squeezing in a ride on a double decker tram.
We had planned to get the very steep tram up to the top of Victoria Peak for uninterrupted views out over the city, but unfortunately the weather was too hazy the whole time we were there so we didn't think it was worth wasting the money for a pointless trip. Instead, we got the iconic Star Ferry across to Hong Kong Island, which offers some pretty great views. And it's cheap as chips. We spent the rest of the day wandering around Central, and because we knew it would be a long time between drinks, we had to have a decent burger and thickshake. Happy bellies = happy people.
Getting out to sample more of Hong Kong's culinary greats, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to eat at the world's cheapest Michelin star restaurant. Tim Ho Wan has a few outlets in the city and is, of course, an extremely popular choice for both locals and tourists alike. We'd read that it fills up fast, so we wisely turned up early enough to get in without having to line up. Being a dim sum restaurant, we chose a variety of dishes, but of course we had to include the favourites - dumplings and barbecued pork buns. These buns rivalled those of the place we went a couple of days earlier with Michelle, Jacky and JJ, but they were quite different - they had a slightly sweet, crispy outer shell instead of the usual steamed bun. All in all we sampled seven different dishes, and along with tea, our bill still only came to HK$145 (a mere AU$21). Now that's what I call fine dining.
Being our last night in Hong Kong, we headed down to watch 'A Symphony of Lights' - the nightly light and laser show (accompanied by music of course) displayed on the buildings in Victoria Harbour. Again, it's a very popular tourist thing to see, so we had to compete with crowds of people to get some photos of the show. It only goes for about 15mins so afterwards we headed to the Temple Street night market to see what was on offer. Nothing that we wanted as it turns out, but it's great if you want to get your shop on.
We only had a few days in this vibrant and bustling city, but we saw, and more importantly, ate, enough to keep us going. It was so good to see some family after so long too, and we have to thank Michelle, Jacky and JJ again for their amazing hospitality and letting us invade their space over Christmas. It was a great way to end the year, and now it was time to head to new pastures - next stop, Nepal.
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