Birthday & Culinary Highlights In Hong Kong

A combination of the global financial crisis and the pound at a record low meant that the timing of my trip to Hong Kong this month couldn't have been worse, so with the prices of stuff in the shops almost double what we would expect, we decided to spend our money on getting some good food in instead.

We flew by Finnair for the first time because they were the cheapest option and my great-uncle won't fly by anyone else after he enjoyed his last flight with them so much. The flight into Helsinki was ok, but I was too mesmerised by the snowy fields on the approach to worry too much about the short plane journey. Unusually for a European flight, we were also fed with some hot food on the way - a portion of meatballs, gravy and mash - akin to the stuff you get in Ikea restaurant, but a bit sloppier. It tasted ok, but I didn't take to the rye bread very well.

Connection at Helsinki was smooth, but it's no Changi when it comes to shopping. The plane to Hong Kong was a brand spanking new Airbus A340, probably less than a year old and with the best entertainment system I've seen on a plane so far (dare I say, even better than Singapore Airlines!). The selection of films was pretty good and I finally got to watch Wall-E. Two more bog standard airline meals later (the Finns seem to like putting pumpkin in their food) and we finally arrived in HK.

After sorting out our hotel room (we stayed at the Royal Plaza in Mongkok) and grabbing a bit of rest, we wasted no time in heading over to Langham Place, where Tony completed our first mission and acquired a special birthday present for his sis (can't tell you what it is yet, as it's a secret until March). The first evening meal was in the Langham food court and although we took a look at Pepper Lunch (as strongly recommended by my sis and her bf) the smell of black pepper was a bit overwhelming, so I opted for the Hainan chicken rice instead and Tony went for a curry.

The next day was my birthday and we had originally planned for me to go present hunting in TST, but after a lot of wandering around, I didn't actually find anything, so we headed back to Mongkok and had an early evening meal at a place called Simply Thai in Grand Century Place, downstairs from the hotel. We'd noticed that the place seemed quite busy at night, so we dropped by before the evening rush and enjoyed a special lamb cutlet green curry, salt and pepper soft-shelled crab and made-to-order Thai roast chicken, all washed down with a cooling lychee, orange and cranberry fruitshake. For HK standards, it was a tad pricey, coming in at around $450, but for food of that standard, we were prepared to pay UK food prices.




The reason we ate early was because we had tickets (thanks to a helping hand from my cuz) to go and see Hacken Lee and Alan Tam in concert at the Coliseum. The venue had been closed for a few months for refurbishment and this was only the second performance since the re-opening. The concert was a bit different from other HK pop concerts that I'd been to because there was much more of a party atmosphere and everyone got up to dance and join in - normal for a Western gig, but highly unusual for the more reserved Chinese. The stars had been sponsored to work up some "muscles" for the show, but I think it was the men in the audience who were more excited when the female dancers came on in skimpy outfits to perform some pole-dancing routines. When it was time for Hacken and Alan to strip off and show us their bits, it just deteriotated into a bit of a comedy. When Chin Ka Lok dropped by to do his stand-up guest routine, then we knew it was time for a laugh. Oh, and the music wasn't bad either - a full 3 hours of old classics and new hits, with Hacken proving that his voice is just as good singing live. Making Alan try and sing all his 100 mph lyrics songs was pretty cruel, but it made me chuckle. Definitely a birthday to remember!



Although we spent the next few days wandering around a load of shopping centres, we still didn't actually buy very much. Instead, we did our usual rounds of all the tasty fast food places - Maxim's MX, Fairwood, Cafe de Coral (not so good) and then we also did our fair share of the good stuff too. One gem we picked out was a "Handmade Udon" restaurant on the top floor of apm (mall) in Kwun Tong, where they served up boneless chicken wings udon for me and crabmeat and scrambled egg udon for Tony - totally delicious and all for about a tenner. Tony then proceeded to go nuts at Muji and spend about $350 on freeze-dried soup, tandoori marinade, mango lassi powder and mango sauce. Looks like fans of our BBQs are in for a treat this year!

A trip to HK is not complete without a trip to Sai Kung for seafood. Okay, so it's a bit pricey, but when it's so fresh it's staring at you as you walk into the restaurant, then you really don't mind paying over the odds for it. Tony was ogling at all the tanks outside the restaurants that make the lobsters at Glamorous look like a fishpond. After checking out all the offers being thrusted in our direction by the promoters on the street, we opted for a 'Special meal for 2' that consisted of lobster e-noodles, salt and pepper squid, fresh steamed fish, flash-boiled prawnies and veg - all for $420. We then added a place of fleshy razor clams for $228 to top it all off.



We saved Disneyland for the second week, after all the kids had gone back to school and the workers had gone back to work. It was also $50 cheaper after the Chinese New Year holiday period. There were still plenty of mainlanders around, who annoyed Tony greatly by their sheer lack of manners and respect and inability to stand in a queue without shoving, but the waits weren't too bad and the weather was lovely. We got in photos with Goofy, Pluto, Stitch and Chip 'n' Dale and front row 'seats' for the parade. Most of the rides were really sedate, but Tony was pleasantly surprised by Space Mountain and came out really giddy. I thoroughly enjoyed my first Disneyland experience, but I'm not sure if I want to bother with the other parks - wonder what would be worse: queuing with mainlanders or queuing with Americans.



The last few days were spent visiting friends and family and that always means more great food. My uncles splashed out on a new year banquet that included roast meats, a whole roast goose and big fat fresh steamed prawnies, but Tony was a bit disappointed that they didn't opt for more lobster! My friend took us for some Taiwanese beef noodles, which were tasty and she also co-erced her Indonesian maid to make us some traditional fragrant soup-rice-noodles. Dim sum and sushi were disappointing - we can actually get better in the UK, now that is something I never imagined I'd say.

We don't usually eat at hotels that we stay at in Hong Kong, but when we passed by the hotel restaurant on the way out every day, we couldn't help but notice the posters (and the food out) for the daily evening 'Lobster & Prawns' seafood buffet. After checking on the budget, we worked out we had enough to splash out on the $368 per head charge and the hotel was kind enough to offer a 10% discount for guests. With about 120 different things on offer to eat, we were like kids in a candy store when we arrived at 6:30pm and were shown to our seats. Among the selection was cold Boston lobster, barbecued lobster, lobster in sauce, baked tiger prawns, seared Kobe beef, lobster and shark fin bisque, sharks fin and mushroom soup, emperor prawns, sashimi and sushi made to order, crabs legs, tempura lobster balls (our favourite - we had about 6 sticks each!!), roast lamb shank, chilli garlic lobster claws, lamb chops in black pepper sauce, German sausages, cold meats, DIY hotpot and roast beef. Then there were the desserts - birds nest Portuguese tarts (YUMMY!!), creme brulee, blueberry cheesecake, mango sorbet, bread and butter pudding with vanilla sauce, birds nest coconut pudding, home-made cookies and chocolate, profiteroles and all the watermelon and pineapple you could ever wish for!
(Unfortunately, we were FAR too busy eating to take any pictures, so you'll just have to take my word for it how good it really was!!)

After an hour and a half, we had to be rolled out of the restaurant. Fortunately, it wasn't too far back to the hotel room!!

Also worth a mention was the Little Fat Sheep hotpot restaurant - we went to the branch in Mongkok. Unsure as to how big the portions were, we went for some squidballs, beefballs, lamb, prawnies and veg. The broth was a wholesome Chinese medicinal soup, which nicely brought out the subtle flavours of the food. You don't need to go for spicy when it comes to hotpot.

We checked the list of places we still had to eat at on the last day and the only one outstanding was Korean BBQ, so we decided to splash out on a lunch BBQ platter - beef, chicken and mini octopus, rice, soup and side dishes for $148, plus an extra dish of lamb for $98 to round off our 12 days of Hong Kong's culinary highlights.
Can't wait to go back again!!

Labels: birthday, food, hk celebs, holidays, hong kong

Everybody Looks So Young...



I've had the VCD set of "Coincidentally" sitting around for a good few months but because the DVD player in my room doesn't like VCD's and insists on playing both soundtracks simultaneously, then I have kinda put off watching it. I finally got down to some viewing over the weekend because I managed to bag a spot in front of the main TV whilst my hubby was out and started reminding myself of what a good series this actually is.

There is a bit of a story about me and this series. I watched part of it whilst I was in Hong Kong about 10 years ago, when it first aired. I remember my sis and I really getting into it after watching from the middle but having to leave to come home before we got to see the end. Unfortunately, we didn't have an ATV rental place around here then, so we just had to go without, so when I found it available on VCD on a Malaysian website, I was really chuffed but I refused to pay something stupid like US$50 to have it shipped to the UK. So I waited a little while longer and when they finally scrapped the shipping charges, I placed my order. A week later, Yesasia started stocking it for half the price. D'oh!!

Anyway, finally getting round to watching the show from start to finish and it is as good as I remembered it to be. Lots of familiar faces there, obvious ones such as Frankie Lam, Annie Man, Kristy Yang and the not-so-obvious ones like Krystal Tin and Chapman To.... and everyone looks so young!! I'm about half way through and I am hooked, sometimes it's good to appreciate an excellent script, attention to detail on costumes and sets and some great performances from the then young cast. It's a shame that neither ATV nor TVB do anything of this quality any more.

Labels: hk celebs, hong kong, TVB

Look who I bumped into...


On my shortest trip to Hong Kong yet, I didn't actively go star-spotting because I had a load of other rushing around to do, sorting stuff and seeing various relatives, but I just seem to have some affinity with the world of TVB. Either that, or there is just too much filming going on in public there. Anyway, I was out in Tsimshatsui, visiting my usual haunt at the Silvercord food court (does cracking ramen and a half decent curry for my hubby), when we spotted a few TVB vans parked alongside Kowloon Park. Didn't think much of it really as we thought it was just the news crew out and about, but later when we went to meet my in-laws, we spotted a bit of a crowd alongside Park Lane on Nathan Road. I crossed the road to see what was happening and easily spotted Moses Chan - although he didn't seem quite as tall as he seems on the telly - but I couldn't quite make out who the girl was. So I hung around for a few minutes as they shot and re-shot the take and it was only when they'd finished and we had a chance to get a bit closer that I realised it was Gigi Lai. Unfortunately, I'd left my camera at the hotel, so I only had my mobile with me to snap a couple of quick shots, but the pics turned out pretty good. The crew were shooing people away, so I didn't stick around much longer. Have to add though that when Gigi clocked me taking photos of her, she gave me a really friendly smile!

I later found out that they were shooting for their new series "Tung Tin Gon Tam" (roughly translates as 'Psychic Cop'), where Gigi plays a goofy designer character, hence the specs and braces (for the Yanks - retainer). Moses is a cop, but you'd kinda guessed that right?

As for the rest of my trip, it was spent seeing people, shopping and eating. We really splashed out on food this time - for example: four of us sharing nine seafood courses in Sai Kung spending over HK$1000 between us, but well worth every penny! Something about eating food that was still swimming half an hour beforehand....
very Chinese!

Labels: hk celebs, holidays, hong kong

You turn 30 and the world goes mad...

People who keep up with me through my blog must be wondering if I have turned 30 and then disappeared off the face of the earth as it's been two months since I last blogged. The reality is that the last two months have just been a crazy hectic haze that I can barely remember. A combination of work, travel, ebay, TVB and hormone control has not left me with very much time to do much else, so all the stuff that somehow I used to find time to do, like blogging, translating and posting has had to be shelved.

Things turn out in funny ways though and my net journey took a bit of a turn after writing a couple of reviews for Tripadvisor, when I came across the forums there all about travelling and stuff. After wandering about and sticking my oar in with my comments, I remembered that I hadn't been pulling my weight over at spcnet lately, especially after SC's generosity with her Christmas gift to her mods. So I returned to my 'online ancestral village' and did a cleanout of my forums. I've been thinking of doing a bit of a revival with my site, so this might be the motivation I've needed to get my arse into gear, but I need to think carefully about what kind of commitment and format I'm gonna take. There's too many similar sites now out on the internet market after the boom of the last couple of years, so I need to keep things fresh, but not have to spend too much of my thirties tap tap tapping on my keyboard. Wait and see....

Quick online diary update (just in case I lose my memory in my old age):

Chinese New Year was fun as usual, standing out in an exceptionally cold January chill and writing 'Hannah' and 'Ethan' in Chinese for the 50th time. Birthday was relatively quiet - spent in Yo! Sushi with my dearest, scoffing sashimi and teriyaki - shame there was no tempura. Valentine's Day was spent packing, as I flew out to Hong Kong and Penang the following day on a semi-holiday, chaperoning my gran and mother-in-law and acting tour guide for a friend. Trip was interesting for many reasons, but I really enjoyed talking to my gran and hearing her recount so many stories about her youth and experiences. I learned so much about the history of my family and also realised that a lot of my personality traits (including stubbornness and pride) have been borne out of my grandma. Eye-opening stuff!

After returning from Hong Kong, life has been work, cook, eat, TVB, sleep, work, cook, eat, TVB, sleep... and so on, with work taking up the majority of my time and energy. That's the thing when people realise you have become competent at your work, they start piling on the responsibility and your 9 hours at work becomes packed from end to end. Just holding out for a decent bonus at the end of June now. (Fingers crossed...)

Roll on Easter when I go travelling again... oh this is the life! Hahaha...

Labels: hong kong, life

Countdown to Hong Kong...

Been neglecting everything since I went on hiatus, wonder if I'll get back into the swing of doing the news when I come back from my travels...

There are five more working days (yeah, Saturday and Sunday included) until I head off to the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong. Got my tickets booked for the REM and Sally Yeh concerts as well as some screenings for the Hong Kong Film Festival and will have my camera on standby in case I am lucky enough to run into any celebs. Not getting too excited yet because I still have the remainder of a massive project at work to finish off, but come Tuesday evening I'll no doubt be jumping around like a kid overdosed on chocolate!



Red Nose Day tomorrow...
(click on the nose to donate!)
no doubt the people at work will be round with their buckets asking us to donate some money tomorrow. The senior managers are supposed to be dressing up and doing mad things at work - this should be quite funny. My boss has said we'll be selling cakes and snacks in our department, so I'd better go and raid my cupboards for something to take in... I think I have some chocolate biscuits or something like that.

Hmm... feeling inspired, maybe I should go and practise my news translations (and treat my long suffering readers).

Labels: holidays, hong kong

Finally gotten round to adding some links to this page... this html lark isn't that bad, well nothing that a bit of strategic cutting and pasting can't fix.

Spent the evening looking for car and house insurance quotes. What an arduous task, and like my brother says it's totally random number generation. How I can plug all my details into an online quoting site and get quotes that range from £400 to £800 for the same people and the same car is totally beyond me. Looks like it's down to the same old candidates again - I really wonder how those companies that charge twice as much manage to get away with it. I guess there must be suckers out there who still just go for the first quote that they come across. They're smart in that they don't need to waste hours sifting through all these sites answering the same questions over and over again. Cars... too expensive. Why can't we just have a decent public transport system like Hong Kong and then we wouldn't have to waste so much time, money and energy on these rustbuckets.

Talking of Hong Kong, it was officially declared free from SARS by the WHO today after 20 days without any new cases. Yay... hope things pick up for them, but I really hope they don't let their hygiene standards slip again. It would be tragic if it all started again because of a fall back to the old ways.

Labels: hong kong