Hong Kong Part I

I'm super fortunate to have travelled to many different places; USA, Europe, China, Taiwan.. the list goes on... However, most of my friends were flabbergasted when I told them I've never been to Hong Kong before. "What?! you've been to USA but not Hong Kong? How's that possible?" Eh... it is kinda possible. 

Tackle the further places when you're young and free & go to those nearer ones when you're older and bogged down by life

Sun Tzu Art of Travelling

Ok.. lame.. purely meant as a joke k. Don't take it too serious Sun Tzu Fans. Anyways I finally went Hong Kong this year and frankly I doubt I will be heading back anytime soon. I found HK to be quite similar to Spore, besides being more hasty, dusty and packed. Food's good but shopping isn't that fantastic though. Nonetheless, some snippets of my HK trip.

I love love love my hotel! Was soooo extremely glad my companion booked this place. We stayed at Lodgewood Hotel which is about 5-10 mins walk from Mongkok MTR. Location is brilliant, service is warm and hotel is new, clean and great! I mean.. just check out the lobby! It ain't the cheapest though, I think I spent about $80 a night.

Lodgewood Hotel Lobby 

We took Cathay and landed at around 5.30am. We had to wait till about 6am as the trains only start operating then. We boarded the train (do share a cab if you're in a group of 4 and can fit into 1 cab, as it;s cheaper) to Mongkok, left our luggage at the hotel and went to Tim Ho Wan for breakfast. We were insanely early and had to wait outside as they weren't open yet.

Tim Ho Wan

It's our first meal in Hong Kong and already you can see the gluttony in us. The century egg porridge was smooth but came in a really small bowl.

Century Egg Porridge

The Ma Lai Gao is da bomb man! It's super fluffy and extremely fragrant, if only it wasn't that sweet.

Ma Lai Gao

The Chee Cheong Fun was uüber smooth and could slide down your throat effortlessly. We had the Char Siew and Pig Liver version. I thought the Pig Liver tasted kinda weird... not cos it's pig liver but becos the pig liver totally didnt taste like pig liver. It's was purely confusing. The Char Siew version was ordinary despite being wrapped inside a kick ass Chee Cheong Fun.

Pig Liver Chee Cheong Fun & Char Siew CCF

I guess this needs no intro. The legendary Char Siew Buns from Tim Ho Wan. It was crispy hot and yet boast a soft and fluffy texture. I thought the buns were pretty good though a tad too sweet.

Char Siew Buns

It was kinda sad the pathetic amount of filling inside these buns, I just wish they could filled it up a lil more. The filling was pretty tasty albeit a lil too sweet.

BBQ Buns

We also ordered the Lotus wrapped rice which was ok, tasted pretty much the same as Spore's version; nothing much to shout about.

Lotus Leaf Wrapped Glutinous Rice

The Carrot cake, on the other hand, was slightly different from Singapore's version. THW's carrot cake is way softer and has chunks of radish like textured "carrot" in them. My friends didn't quite like the soft texture and preferred Singapore's starchy version instead.

Carrot Cake

The Har Gows were decent but ordinary. Siew Mai was very tasty and had a good balance of shrimp to pork ratio.

Har Gao

Siew Mai

The Osmanthus Jelly was a nice way to end the meal. Besides being way too sweet for mu liking, the Osmanthus flavour really pulled through resulting in the pleasant refreshing taste of the jelly.

Osmanthus Jelly

Besides, the Ma Lai Gao, the Osmanthus Jelly and the Char Siew Buns. Tim Ho wan, didn't quite blow me away. I guess all those raving reviews kinda propelled my expectation way too high and so I wasn't quite prepared to face the reality of the normality of the dishes.

Tim Ho Wan Fare

After a gut bursting berakfast, we headed down to Aberdeen Harbour and checked out the yachts and Jumbo Floating Restaurant.

Jumbo Floating Restaurant

We took a sampan and "cruised" around, peeping into others' yachts.

After which we headed towards the city area and grabbed ourselves some dim sum. I was still really stuffed but shared a Nai Huang Bao with my friends. I kinda knew the Nai Huang Bao wouldn't have that flowy-molten-salted-egg-custard texture but I gave it go anyways. Yup I was right...

Nai Huang Bao

It was around 3 plus when we headed back to the hotel to wash up and get some rest. At approx. 4 plus we set out again to conquer The Peak. We popped by a small cafeteria for lunch cum dinner. The food is ok, nothing that fantastic. In fact, I'd rather have my regular $2.50 fish ball noodles than that gigantic but ordinary fish cake noodles for $4+. 

What was interesting was their lemon coffee! yeah u heard that right, Coffee + Lemon! It worked, interestingly.. go try it at home!

Eyebrow raising lemon coffee

We hit the peak at around 6+ and there was a long queue ahead of us; I reckon we took at least 1/2 an hour to head up to the peak.

Posing with our tickets and being all tourist-y

Goofying around

The tram ride up the peak was fun! it's amazing how powerful the trams are! I never knew Hong Kong was that hilly. It's no wonder you seldom see a fat Hong Kong-er. 

The view from the peak

Next destination: The Central Mid Level Escalators. It's basically an area filled with many escalators and boast a collection of many restaurants and cafes. In fact, it is the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world! Covering 800 metres in distance! CL was the guide so I'm not too sure how to get there but basically we alighted from Central and sort of made our way there. All I know is.. it's pretty near Lam Kwai Fong!

Central Mid Level Escalators

I read about this dessert stall called "Leaf Dessert" at 2 Elgin Street, from one of those food blogs and was begging CL to locate it.  As usual CL managed to find it, he is not called the walking GPS for nothing! :) 

I know Hong Kongers can get really rude and angsty but boy! this stall's lady owner brought angst to a whole new level! She had an attitude which stink like F***, that's how I would describe it in words. I know, who expects tip top service from a road side stall right? ok fine, on to the food then... I found their dessert too sweet for my liking. The black sesame paste was way too diluted and had a hint of almond taste to it which I absolutely hate. We also ordered the Honey Dew Sago which was really really sweet. The green bean seaweed dessert was pretty interesting; although the sea weed had this really "sheng" taste to it. CL commented the Wanton mee was pretty good but I thought it was kinda too salty. Best dish would have to be the glutinous rice balls. They were so soft, yet chewy and fragrant. 

I forgot where I read this review from but honestly, in my humble opinion, dont waste your time. You'll be better of at Yee Shun (to be blogged real soon) instead! 

Clockwise top right: glutinous rice ball, wanton mee, honey dew sago, green bean sea weed, black sesame and the stall

Quite incredibly fulfilling for 1 day in Hong Kong right? We were shag max and hit the sack once we reached the hotel. Oh how I loved the hotel.. till then XOXO