This is the only free WiFi we have found in Paris. Hope to write you all and give the positive activities from Athens. Just not going to hang for any amount of time in a McDonalds.
Off to more trekking round Paris!
A n' C
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Dodging Bullets
Let me start off by saying if you ever have to go to the airport in Moscow, take a moment before you do to get your wallet and computer out and reschedule your entire trip to avoid this place at all costs. Lord have mercy. We get to sunny Russia and leave our nicely air conditioned plane and walk up the tunnel directly into Hell. After 10+ hours on a plane I am slightly mental to begin with. The first 30 minutes off this plane I thought my head would spin off my body and explode in this craphole of an airport. I don't really wanna get into it but just avoid ever going there. At least you can't say you were never warned. Understaffed and unorganized. We could have done the same experience in the HK airport 75 times over in the amount of time we exhausted in Moscow, no exaggeration. Only thing I can say positive was the bathrooms were clean and had seats on the toilets, so the jury is still out on which airport sucks more-Manila or Moscow. All part of the adventure and experience, and it makes for a great story.
So we go to our gate, so ready to get out of this place. Not an employee of any kind in sight, airport or airline. Large group all around this gate with tics to Athens written on them. We're good right? Look to a couple of Russians around us, "are you going to Athens?". Smile. Nod. Okay, fine and good but I'm pretty sure these people have no idea what we are saying to them. Great. Slight panic comes over that we are not in the right place. The 3 people next to us jump up and start hauling it to the opposite side of the airport. I tell Carrie to hang tight and I completely tail this family. They shoot down some steps to a totally different gate. I'm in full on panic mode now, please God don't let us get stuck in flipping RUSSIA! I race back to Carrie who by this point had realized the same thing I had, we were at the wrong gate! Holy Mother of God. We run like two lightning bolts to the steps this family disappeared down where we found our gate, which was actually a bus that drove us out to our plane? Giant bullet for this day successfully dodged. This was single handedly the closest we have ever been to the gates of Heaven and Hell. I am going to be very nice to people from now on cause I'm convinced if I go to Hell, God will send me back to this place for eternity.
So. Another 3 hour flight still ahead to Athens. Upon arrival at the Athens airport, we are happy to find a full staff of people smiling and doing their jobs. Yay. We have arranged a driver through our hotel for transit as we were arriving at 11:30 pm and we don't know anything about the area, $65 EURO or just under a $100 US. We arrive at baggage claim and see a few guys holding signs, none that had our name on them. Slight panic rushes through. I attempt the ATM in this area only to be denied due to reasons I cannot decipher. We were told we could charge the transit ride to the room upon arrival so we're still okay, but no driver in sight. Well, we step outside to try and grab a signal on the phone to call the hotel but they say he should be there. We suggest we'll just take a taxi? They inform us that all taxi drivers are on strike due to their failing economy. A good bit more panic rushes over. At this point we have no currency, no driver, and no taxis. Not the best start for our trip to Athens. We go back in to find our non-English speaking fellow holding a sign that reads "CARRIE TURNER" in all bold letters. Enormous bullet number two for this day successfully dodged. I have never been happier to see my wife's name ever before in my life. We were seriously SOL had that dude not shown up. We would have been thumbing it or walking to our hotel, which probably would have taken two days. I have no idea what we would have done.
I am going to leave this negative post here to rot forever and come back with all the wonderful stories of Athens on a completely different post. I don't even want these two extremes sharing a page together.
Cheers
A
PS- DON'T EVER GO TO MOSCOW
So we go to our gate, so ready to get out of this place. Not an employee of any kind in sight, airport or airline. Large group all around this gate with tics to Athens written on them. We're good right? Look to a couple of Russians around us, "are you going to Athens?". Smile. Nod. Okay, fine and good but I'm pretty sure these people have no idea what we are saying to them. Great. Slight panic comes over that we are not in the right place. The 3 people next to us jump up and start hauling it to the opposite side of the airport. I tell Carrie to hang tight and I completely tail this family. They shoot down some steps to a totally different gate. I'm in full on panic mode now, please God don't let us get stuck in flipping RUSSIA! I race back to Carrie who by this point had realized the same thing I had, we were at the wrong gate! Holy Mother of God. We run like two lightning bolts to the steps this family disappeared down where we found our gate, which was actually a bus that drove us out to our plane? Giant bullet for this day successfully dodged. This was single handedly the closest we have ever been to the gates of Heaven and Hell. I am going to be very nice to people from now on cause I'm convinced if I go to Hell, God will send me back to this place for eternity.
So. Another 3 hour flight still ahead to Athens. Upon arrival at the Athens airport, we are happy to find a full staff of people smiling and doing their jobs. Yay. We have arranged a driver through our hotel for transit as we were arriving at 11:30 pm and we don't know anything about the area, $65 EURO or just under a $100 US. We arrive at baggage claim and see a few guys holding signs, none that had our name on them. Slight panic rushes through. I attempt the ATM in this area only to be denied due to reasons I cannot decipher. We were told we could charge the transit ride to the room upon arrival so we're still okay, but no driver in sight. Well, we step outside to try and grab a signal on the phone to call the hotel but they say he should be there. We suggest we'll just take a taxi? They inform us that all taxi drivers are on strike due to their failing economy. A good bit more panic rushes over. At this point we have no currency, no driver, and no taxis. Not the best start for our trip to Athens. We go back in to find our non-English speaking fellow holding a sign that reads "CARRIE TURNER" in all bold letters. Enormous bullet number two for this day successfully dodged. I have never been happier to see my wife's name ever before in my life. We were seriously SOL had that dude not shown up. We would have been thumbing it or walking to our hotel, which probably would have taken two days. I have no idea what we would have done.
I am going to leave this negative post here to rot forever and come back with all the wonderful stories of Athens on a completely different post. I don't even want these two extremes sharing a page together.
Cheers
A
PS- DON'T EVER GO TO MOSCOW
One last thing
Before I get to Athens I'd like to recap the last day in HK because it is very worthy. We sleep in on day 5 to get ourselves well rested before the second leg of our journey, the second half of the globe basically. So rest was slightly needed. Casual stroll down the streets of Happy Valley, same casual stroll we had on our first night there, kind of back where we started and no complaints about it. We hit up B's favorite Dim Sum spot(3rd time she had eaten there that week) per our request due to proximity and how much we enjoyed the first Dim Sum place on day 1. This one was a bit more authentic but not quite as good as the one in Stanley, probably the American in me shining here but I'm just being honest.
After lunch we head to B's favorite shopping mall that had a public restroom that looked like something out of Asian version of Star Trek, I wanted to take a photo but I figured that might make me look like a total A-hole so I opted to refrain. Spent about 2+ hours shopping here. Back to B's for a little down time before dinner.
Dinner rezzo's on the last night at a "must do" in HK according to B, Mel, and Ryan, who also would be joining us for dinner, at American Restaurant Peking. After the experience we would call this a must do as well. This is like a Chophouse '47 but the Chinese version, except it was extremely bright as opposed to extremely dark. Pretty much a zero for ambience. Not a single piece of artwork, no music, and blaring bright lights. But after we got settled in I didn't care. We let the locals do the ordering and we were just along for the ride. This place has been in Wan Chai HK for over 60 years and was very popular with sailors coming to port and surrounded on all sides by the Red Light district of HK. Which goes arm and arm with the sailor/port deal. The name is also very indicative of drawing in American sailors.
Ok. Now on to the food. When we are seated the lazy Susan in the middle round table, that could easily accommodate 8, had a dish of salted peanuts, fresh sliced cucumber and red pepper dressed with a citrus vin, and a large bottle of local beer. The average age of the waiters is about 45 and they appear to be walking around like they've got an inside joke and your not invited to the punchline. Nice and attentive just...different. One waiter had a fairly long white hair growing out of a mole on his cheek. When I say fairly long, I mean like 4 inches. I noticed it within 3 minutes of being there and could not bring myself to look away from it. Wowsers. Ok. Food.
The specialty here is whole cooked Peking duck. The whole bird brought and showcased at you table after it is cooked and then sliced table side. This is why you come to this place, although EVERYthing else that landed on our lazy Susan was superb. I know I use that word a lot but I mean it when I do. This meal is in a 2-way tie for numero uno with the Portuguese meal in Macao. Duck was cooked throughout on all parts but was still juicy and succulent. A good bit of fat content on each bite and....yeah. Omg. Omg. Omg. Yes yes yes yes yes. I like duck, I like duck a lot. So. You take these delicious slices of succulent duck and place them on a very thin hot tortilla shell, along with a few slices of white scallion and cucumber(I left the cukes off cause it overpowered it a bit for me), a quick smear of a sweet reduced plum sauce, roll in the tortilla and enjoy. I mean, really enjoy. Tortilla so thin and light, only real purpose is to hold this delicious mixture together for you. So effing incredible, yet simple. Other dishes were sizzling shrimps(everywhere in Eurasia says shrimps for the plural of shrimp) which were breaded prawns(huge) served on a hot metal skillet and finished on the table with a generous sweet and sour type sauce poured over. Splendid. Meal was rounded out with steamed pork dumplings, best we had all week, fried rice and tofu.
An absolute feast of epic proportions and more than we could finish. It broke my heart that this could not go home with me for a late night duck sandwich, would have made the best snack after a few more beers. Instead B boxed it up for a homeless lady she always passes by in Wan Chai and gave it to her. At least it did not go to waste and was for a good cause. I would only recommend American Restaurant for groups of 5 or more. Everyone there that night was in large groups and all round tables throughout, I saw one with a family of twelve doing it up big. Very nice establishment. We will return to this restaurant on our next visit, and I hope the waitor with the extremely long mole hair is still there:D
I am writing this from the plane en route to Paris and I can't even begin to explain how stoked we are about that. Transit from Athens to airport was easy as easy gets. Airport to Athens....not so much. I will tell you all about it on the next post, which I hope to finish before we land!
Cheers
A
After lunch we head to B's favorite shopping mall that had a public restroom that looked like something out of Asian version of Star Trek, I wanted to take a photo but I figured that might make me look like a total A-hole so I opted to refrain. Spent about 2+ hours shopping here. Back to B's for a little down time before dinner.
Dinner rezzo's on the last night at a "must do" in HK according to B, Mel, and Ryan, who also would be joining us for dinner, at American Restaurant Peking. After the experience we would call this a must do as well. This is like a Chophouse '47 but the Chinese version, except it was extremely bright as opposed to extremely dark. Pretty much a zero for ambience. Not a single piece of artwork, no music, and blaring bright lights. But after we got settled in I didn't care. We let the locals do the ordering and we were just along for the ride. This place has been in Wan Chai HK for over 60 years and was very popular with sailors coming to port and surrounded on all sides by the Red Light district of HK. Which goes arm and arm with the sailor/port deal. The name is also very indicative of drawing in American sailors.
Ok. Now on to the food. When we are seated the lazy Susan in the middle round table, that could easily accommodate 8, had a dish of salted peanuts, fresh sliced cucumber and red pepper dressed with a citrus vin, and a large bottle of local beer. The average age of the waiters is about 45 and they appear to be walking around like they've got an inside joke and your not invited to the punchline. Nice and attentive just...different. One waiter had a fairly long white hair growing out of a mole on his cheek. When I say fairly long, I mean like 4 inches. I noticed it within 3 minutes of being there and could not bring myself to look away from it. Wowsers. Ok. Food.
The specialty here is whole cooked Peking duck. The whole bird brought and showcased at you table after it is cooked and then sliced table side. This is why you come to this place, although EVERYthing else that landed on our lazy Susan was superb. I know I use that word a lot but I mean it when I do. This meal is in a 2-way tie for numero uno with the Portuguese meal in Macao. Duck was cooked throughout on all parts but was still juicy and succulent. A good bit of fat content on each bite and....yeah. Omg. Omg. Omg. Yes yes yes yes yes. I like duck, I like duck a lot. So. You take these delicious slices of succulent duck and place them on a very thin hot tortilla shell, along with a few slices of white scallion and cucumber(I left the cukes off cause it overpowered it a bit for me), a quick smear of a sweet reduced plum sauce, roll in the tortilla and enjoy. I mean, really enjoy. Tortilla so thin and light, only real purpose is to hold this delicious mixture together for you. So effing incredible, yet simple. Other dishes were sizzling shrimps(everywhere in Eurasia says shrimps for the plural of shrimp) which were breaded prawns(huge) served on a hot metal skillet and finished on the table with a generous sweet and sour type sauce poured over. Splendid. Meal was rounded out with steamed pork dumplings, best we had all week, fried rice and tofu.
An absolute feast of epic proportions and more than we could finish. It broke my heart that this could not go home with me for a late night duck sandwich, would have made the best snack after a few more beers. Instead B boxed it up for a homeless lady she always passes by in Wan Chai and gave it to her. At least it did not go to waste and was for a good cause. I would only recommend American Restaurant for groups of 5 or more. Everyone there that night was in large groups and all round tables throughout, I saw one with a family of twelve doing it up big. Very nice establishment. We will return to this restaurant on our next visit, and I hope the waitor with the extremely long mole hair is still there:D
I am writing this from the plane en route to Paris and I can't even begin to explain how stoked we are about that. Transit from Athens to airport was easy as easy gets. Airport to Athens....not so much. I will tell you all about it on the next post, which I hope to finish before we land!
Cheers
A
Sunday, July 31, 2011
And then...
Okay. I gotta get China down here so I can write on the plane tomorrow about Greece cause Greece is pretty cool, at least Athens. What a freakin day!
Alright uh...right. Macao marked the first time for ole AT to step foot in a casino. I can't say I became a monster because the budget we're on did and would not allow for it. Given the right time and place and right budget, like unlimited, yes..I could make room for another bad habit. We hit up the Grand Lisboa, the Wynn, and City of Dreams.
Bonnie(B)treated us to a show in the middle of our Macao experience. We went to see The House of Dancing Water. Google it. Actually don't. Fly to Macao and go see it. Right up there with the Cirque de Soleil so I'm told. I could devote an entire blog to this alone but it's 12:30 Athens time and I gotta gotta gotta rap up Hong Kong like now!!! Oh, and then...wait. We actually had quite possibly my favorite dinner up to this point, not including or excluding the one we just had in Athens(more on that hopefully mañana). This is a little lesser known place I am sure called Restaurante Espaco Losboa. Traditional Potuegese cuisine. Cod fish cakes, clams in white wine, olive oil and garlic(ffffreshhhhh) and fish served with their heads on so you can look at them while you dig out their cheek(best part)! And I had an asparagus soup that puts Steven and Spencer's both to the test. Yeah? I said it. Pitcher of housemade sangria and welcome to Macao kiddos. Go there. You'll thank me. After our overly indulgent lunch(every lunch so far) we picked up one of B's favorites at the bakery/cafe next door. Another authentic Portuguese dish of egg tarts at Lord Stow's Bakery and Cafe. Light pastries filled with a room temp egg custard. Ah. Yes, please. Day 4...Macao. Done and frickin done. Then we hydrofoiled our asses back to HK and called it a day and a killer one at that!
Day 5 we chilled, shopped, ate(can't remember at this point) and relaxed with our friend Bonnie, I mean B. We are so grateful for her generosity, hospitality, and splendid job of putting together the most memorable 5 days we've ever had. Thank you so much Bonnie for the wonderful time in your wonderful city.
Now I gotta peace out and catch up to Carrie on the shuteye. Flight to Paris @ 10:30am mañana and hope to give you all a post on our day we just spent in Athens. Wowsers. Acropolis what?!
I don't think a single post, even the ones before we left Greenville, have had an accurate time on when they were posted/written. Which sucks cause I definitely don't have any clue on what day/time it is anyways. So I guess it's kind of indicative of the trip in general. So in other words, disregard the time especially and maybe even the date. Damn technology, can't keep up with the Turners, ya heard?! Next stop Paris, next post Athens. Stayed tuned friends...
PEACE AND G'NIGHT
Alright uh...right. Macao marked the first time for ole AT to step foot in a casino. I can't say I became a monster because the budget we're on did and would not allow for it. Given the right time and place and right budget, like unlimited, yes..I could make room for another bad habit. We hit up the Grand Lisboa, the Wynn, and City of Dreams.
Bonnie(B)treated us to a show in the middle of our Macao experience. We went to see The House of Dancing Water. Google it. Actually don't. Fly to Macao and go see it. Right up there with the Cirque de Soleil so I'm told. I could devote an entire blog to this alone but it's 12:30 Athens time and I gotta gotta gotta rap up Hong Kong like now!!! Oh, and then...wait. We actually had quite possibly my favorite dinner up to this point, not including or excluding the one we just had in Athens(more on that hopefully mañana). This is a little lesser known place I am sure called Restaurante Espaco Losboa. Traditional Potuegese cuisine. Cod fish cakes, clams in white wine, olive oil and garlic(ffffreshhhhh) and fish served with their heads on so you can look at them while you dig out their cheek(best part)! And I had an asparagus soup that puts Steven and Spencer's both to the test. Yeah? I said it. Pitcher of housemade sangria and welcome to Macao kiddos. Go there. You'll thank me. After our overly indulgent lunch(every lunch so far) we picked up one of B's favorites at the bakery/cafe next door. Another authentic Portuguese dish of egg tarts at Lord Stow's Bakery and Cafe. Light pastries filled with a room temp egg custard. Ah. Yes, please. Day 4...Macao. Done and frickin done. Then we hydrofoiled our asses back to HK and called it a day and a killer one at that!
Day 5 we chilled, shopped, ate(can't remember at this point) and relaxed with our friend Bonnie, I mean B. We are so grateful for her generosity, hospitality, and splendid job of putting together the most memorable 5 days we've ever had. Thank you so much Bonnie for the wonderful time in your wonderful city.
Now I gotta peace out and catch up to Carrie on the shuteye. Flight to Paris @ 10:30am mañana and hope to give you all a post on our day we just spent in Athens. Wowsers. Acropolis what?!
I don't think a single post, even the ones before we left Greenville, have had an accurate time on when they were posted/written. Which sucks cause I definitely don't have any clue on what day/time it is anyways. So I guess it's kind of indicative of the trip in general. So in other words, disregard the time especially and maybe even the date. Damn technology, can't keep up with the Turners, ya heard?! Next stop Paris, next post Athens. Stayed tuned friends...
PEACE AND G'NIGHT
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and Boats...and crystal cabins
And then...
Day 2 we went to the Peak, one of the highest points in HK that overlooks the entire city, this was NUTS! Take your breath away and get your palms all sweaty NUTS! And then we got some pastries/breakfast at Deli France(chain I think in Eurasia) and then we went to an even higher level and then we did some shopping and then we ate some really good Pho at a place with a killer view called Yummee Pho-it's new too, only been open a week and was the bomb. They had pork belly skewers(:D) and really spicy chilis. Fresh and delish.
And then we went to the Sky Terrace, the highest point and 360 views of HK. The Sky Terrace was probably my favorite thing we did. The view from this thing is unmatched by anything I've seen....yet.
That night we went to Kowloon, a quick and scenic ferry ride away, for one of HK's best known sushi joints called Genki Sushi. This place is authentic as it gets with the dishes coming around on a conveyer belt. You just grab as they go by, save your color coded plates, tally them up based on color and pay at the end. Quite an experience in itself. Not a fancy place by any means but very authentic, and fresh fresh fresh. Oh, and on the way to Genki Sushi we stopped off to see the nightly 8pm "symphony of lights" This is a view of the entire skyline of HK at night with cheesy music playing and lights programmed with the music on a lot of the buildings, cool for about 5 minutes but definitely something cool to say you've seen. There were thousands of people out to view this, and it happens every night..crazy. The photos to be taken at this is worth the trip out regardless of the "show".
After sushi Bonnie grabbed some more street food. This time it was a dessert, egg cupcakes. Kinda like a waffle but fried up to order, tossed in a brown paper bag and you're off. Strangely addictive. We were all quite full but were making each other take the bag away as we couldn't stop ourselves from gorging on these things. There was alot of other options on the street in Kowloon with plenty of animal parts prepared many diferrent ways which i very much wanted to try but couldnt bring myself to do it on such a full stomach. Tripe, pork belly, intestines and the like, served on skewers and ready to go. Will have to hit this up next visit! And then we went home and that was day two:)
Day 3 was up and out the door early to make the trek all the way back towards the airport, about 30 minutes by way of subway, to go see "The Big Buddha". Carrie was quite excited with this excursion cause she has recently fallen back in love with yoga and has done some reading on this sacred place. Coolest thing about visiting the big Buddha is how you get to him.
A very long and scenic ride in a cable car. For about $7 pp US you can upgrade to a "crystal cabin" which has a glass bottom. I freaking loved this, Carrie(fear of heights) and Bonnie not so much. After about 15 minutes you come over this mountain and there it is on the horizon, one damn big Buddha! What a site!
Tons of shops and eateries in the little village leading up to the Buddha, commercialized but this is like one of the most visited places in HK, so this came as no surprise. HUGE hike up a ton of steps right to this sacred spot. This was probably Carrie's favorite scenic tour we did, minus the cable cars suspended way above the mountains and oceans.
After the Big Buddha we went for lunch at Tsui Wah(reminded me of a Chinese Stax Omega) and then some happy hour pints with some of Bonnie's friends at Mes Amis, a very popular place for Bonnie and her peeps. And then we went to dinner with B's(her new name as of now) favorite friend couple, second only to us of course, Mel and Ryan, who are originally from Australia and super cool to boot. We went to one of their faves called Tuk Tuk Thai. I was happy already just by the name, and the food, superb. Tiny place and packed to the gills. Then we went to Soho for shisha at a place called Guru, sweated bullets outside smoking hookah, and finished up the night at P58 for a nightcap beer or three. And then we went home with pretty much the first and only buzz we've gotten on this trip thus far. Carrie and I are pretty worthless these days when we are hungover so we have to pick our battles. And haven't really found one we can win on this journey. This particular battle included as the next morning was no joyride, considering it was on a hydrofoil boat/ferry to Macao:-). Oh, and that was day three.
Day four started on a boat. A boat that raises up and hauls ass over the water. Pretty freaking cool. Hour ride quickly over to Macao, the Las Vegas of China! I've never been to Vegas but I can now say I've been to Macao when people ask me "Ever been to Vegas?". Pretty happy about that.
And we're in Greece right now and I just realized we have rezzo's at the restaurant at our hotel overlooking the Acropolis....so gotta run. If I don't finish up HK soon I'm going to be blogging about Europe from my living room in Greenville.
Cheers!
A and C (our new names)
Saturday, July 30, 2011
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
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
\mh\ \goi\
We have been movin and shakin up in Hong Kong right out the gate. From the minute we stepped out of the airport, I realized that we were in a very efficient city. From the way the cabs came through the pick up area we were in at the airport, in an orderly and organized way, not a single horn blowing(in fact no one blows their horn here?!), not a bit of trash on the ground, all the cabs (Toyota Crowns?) are clean, seem to run well and put off no exhaust. These are all things that are processing for some reason in my insanely delirious state. Is this weird? I don't think so. These are all extremely good signs of things to come.
In a city such as HK, with an estimated population of 7 million, it seems just as prosperous as it is dense. It is really something to behold. I haven't felt like a single bathroom yet was even questionable of being used, unlike dear old Manila airport. Granted we are in the "nicer" part of the city but try going to ANY public restroom in NYC and tell the same tale I am here. I'm not gonna harp on this too long, but I think one could rank desired destinations, cities at least, and give an accurate number based on the cleanliness of the public restrooms. Hong Kong gets a shining 10 out of 10 points. Everything I have witnessed so far proves that this place is far more advanced that any place this kid has ever been. It doesn't hurt matters that we have a tour guide in Bonnie, an awesome one at that, but if I were to be visiting a large major city solo this one is currently at the top. Numerous forms of transportation, more restaurants and bars than any one person could ever think of experiencing, a completely foreign culture that speaks my native tongue very well, more German engineered cars than Germany apparently, AND clean and modern public restrooms. What more could you ask for? And as for sights to see, well I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves. Cheers to Hong Kong so far and only more amazing things to see and do still to come!
Oh, and "mh goi" in Cantonese means "thanks/thank you", which seems to be on the tip of everyone's tounge here well before you even hand them money for whatever service they are proving you, and with a smile too. A genuine smile. I figured if I learn any Cantonese while I am here I figured this is an important one, because I am truly grateful for the pride this culture shows in all that it provides for it's people and it's visitors. I hope you enjoy the pics:)
PS -- We have had some really amazing food for every meal thus far, too much too post right now with too little time. 6:19 pm HK time and we're off to sights and sushi. I hope to do an entire post devoted to all the delicious food we've enjoyed here in Hong Kong.
Cheers!
In a city such as HK, with an estimated population of 7 million, it seems just as prosperous as it is dense. It is really something to behold. I haven't felt like a single bathroom yet was even questionable of being used, unlike dear old Manila airport. Granted we are in the "nicer" part of the city but try going to ANY public restroom in NYC and tell the same tale I am here. I'm not gonna harp on this too long, but I think one could rank desired destinations, cities at least, and give an accurate number based on the cleanliness of the public restrooms. Hong Kong gets a shining 10 out of 10 points. Everything I have witnessed so far proves that this place is far more advanced that any place this kid has ever been. It doesn't hurt matters that we have a tour guide in Bonnie, an awesome one at that, but if I were to be visiting a large major city solo this one is currently at the top. Numerous forms of transportation, more restaurants and bars than any one person could ever think of experiencing, a completely foreign culture that speaks my native tongue very well, more German engineered cars than Germany apparently, AND clean and modern public restrooms. What more could you ask for? And as for sights to see, well I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves. Cheers to Hong Kong so far and only more amazing things to see and do still to come!
Oh, and "mh goi" in Cantonese means "thanks/thank you", which seems to be on the tip of everyone's tounge here well before you even hand them money for whatever service they are proving you, and with a smile too. A genuine smile. I figured if I learn any Cantonese while I am here I figured this is an important one, because I am truly grateful for the pride this culture shows in all that it provides for it's people and it's visitors. I hope you enjoy the pics:)
PS -- We have had some really amazing food for every meal thus far, too much too post right now with too little time. 6:19 pm HK time and we're off to sights and sushi. I hope to do an entire post devoted to all the delicious food we've enjoyed here in Hong Kong.
Cheers!
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