Day 1.5 in Hong Kong...better late than never

Hello friends! 
 
Well. Where do I start? We literally went 110 mph every waking moment our eyes were open, as is the lifestyle that Bonnie leads, with Sundays excluded to either recoup or just do nothing. I've seen Bonnie on the other side of the coin when she visits us and the jet lag is really the only kryptonite I can really see slowing her down. She is intense, but we wouldn't have it any other way, on this visit or any other for that matter. We came, we saw, and I'd like to think we conquered...as much as 3 people could in 5 days/6 nights. I will attempt to write about everything we did, all we experienced, and all the joy and laughs we had, but just know that there is no way I could really paint the picture as beautifully on here as it was in real life. It just isn't possible. 

So here goes. 

Day 1.5: Bonnie in all her glory waiting with ridiculously amazing "Turners" sign in tow. The welcome surprise of a city efficiently moving a pulse of people around to do and see so many great wonders that it offers.

 Our first stop, Bonnie's NEW apartment in the part of the city known as Happy Valley, very fitting. She lives against the mountain side of the city with a mountain view. Her place is super nice and modern. Not huge but it is Hong Kong and it's just her there. 2 BR 1 BA and I would guess it to be about 700 sq feet. Huge for where she lives. Dropped off our bags and out the door for a pint and a bite ASAP before complete delirium sets in. We walked right down her street to one of her favorite watering holes, The Jockey. It's an Irish Pub (right at home here!) across from the practice fields in the middle of her neighborhood. Veggie burgers for the girls, cow burger for me, side o "chips" with trio of dips, ketchup, gravy (brown), and garlic mayo. Burger was insanely good (bun especially, made in house) and the fries and dips were the shiz too. Much needed as we hadn't had a real meal for going in 24 hours. This food might have been total crap cause we were extremely hungry, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't. Back to Bonnie's and serious zonk out time. 

We did it. We were officially on the opposite side of the planet, furthest of Carrie's travels to date and well, you know my history. We were stoked for our week ahead!

We wake up bright and early and set out to Stanley Market in Bonnie's Bimmer with the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car. We also were going down the wrong side of the road. This kinda blew my mind as I was riding shotgun. I kept looking at the rearview to see behind us and that wasn't happening. Very strange indeed. We walked along the waterfront at Stanley Bay and snapped some photos and then Bonnie hit up some street food....fish balls. I didn't even know fish had balls but hey, it's China and they do things different over there so...they were done with curry and reminded me of imitation crab, but fish. Processed was my guess. Not my favorite thing on this leg of the trip but at least I can say I've eaten fish balls. Stanley Market was an indoor/outdoor market with mostly souvenir type stuff. Reminded me a little of Canal Street in NY but quality stuff, and no pushy salesy people. Jewelry, clothes, artwork, etc. Very cool spot. Easily killed about 2 hrs there. 

Dim Sum was at the top of our list of types of cuisine we wanted to check out. And just so happens we walk right by one upon leaving Stanley called Shu Zhai Dim Sum Tea House. This place apparently is new and Bonnie had not been yet. Menu read nice so we were down, literally. This place is sunken down off the road, love it already. Dim Sum is basically like Spanish Tapas, small plates and portions, but Asian style. Two of my favorite concepts combined, tapas and Asian. This was a no brainer and Shu Zhai delivered on our first true Chinese style meal with flying colors. The spread of food Bonnie ordered sounded way over the top but we knocked down dishes left and right as they appeared. The pork dumplings you dip in vinegar were a huge hit as well as the tofu with spicy chilis, I don't really dig on tofu but the tofu served in China is the exception, melt in your mouth good. One dish here did not really work for me but Bonnie said I had to try it. Chicken feet. A lot of small bones and little meat, did not care for this one. The shining star came last. Sweet rice buns filled with runny mango custard. These things looked like three big eggs in a bamboo basket when they hit they table and looked even more like an egg when you cut them open. And they were very very good. One of the most memorable morsels of the trip so far. And that's a bold statement I assure you. The meal was complemented with lychee wine served with little sipping cups with a fresh lychee frozen in an ice cube then the drink poured over. This would be good with my breakfast in the morning and I would officially have a problem if I had it at my disposal at home. 

After lunch we take a trip up another side of the island, up another mountain, to Bonnie's aunt and uncle's apartment for her to pick up some personal things she had there cause she was crashing there between apts. View from this place was sssssssick, had to be one of the best in HK. Back to Bonnie's for a "quick" nap that turned into three hours which was very much needed. We then set out for Aladin Mess for some Indian food, yummers. So I get the impression in big multicultural cities, an "authentic"  restaurant outside of that of the resident culture has to really come correct to survive in such a competitive market. This place is in the Times Square district, so do the math. Hands down the best Indian food I've ever had, at least till now. Carrie says the Indian food in London is amazing so we'll have to compare. After dinner we headed out to Central Pier for a cocktail, a close up view of the IFC building, and some cool night time shots of the city from the pier. Then back home and hit the hay. Day one of awesomeness on the complete opposite side of the globe officially in the books...with a lot more to come. 

I'm only now having ANY sort of opportunity to even think of putting any thoughts down for the blog. We literally have not stopped while in China. I am writing this from about 35,000 feet in the air en route to Moscow to transfer over to head to Athens, Greece for two nights and then off to Paris, neither of which are gonna suck at all. Hope to hit up some wifi when we hit Moscow so I can post this. Sorry for the delay on our adventures but there hasn't been a moment to do it till now. I plan on doing each day of HK in it's own post because each day is very much deserving. 


Cheers and God bless, 

Andy n Carrie