Hong Kong 2

HAPPY  THANKSGIVING!! We wish we could be there with you.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Victoria Peak and Foodie Tour

It’s hard to believe we went up Victoria Peak just this morning.  This day was packed.  We left our guest house in Causeway Bay around 8:00 this morning and walked through Admiralty and Central to the tram at the base of Victoria Peak.  The tram route is very steep and we quickly ascended into an opaque blanket of hazy fog.  From what we’ve gleaned the views from Victoria Peak are spectacular, both of the mountains and the city development below, but we couldn’t really see much of anything.  After arriving back down at the base we meandered through Hong Kong Park and happened upon the walk-through Edward Youde Aviary, home to some very unique birds, many of which are found in the Philippines.  The design and layout of Hong Kong Park feel intentional, similar to many parts of Central Park in NYC, but HK is much more garden like with fewer opportunities for running, biking, etc.  We stopped in briefly at the Flagstaff Museum of Teaware and tried out the foot massage stone path (painful!) before leaving the park and heading back to our Causeway Bay neighborhood for a quick lunch.  After being unable to locate a recommended tea house, we stopped at a small noodle shop and shared wonton soup and green onion cake.  We picked up a doughnut at a stand across the street before heading back to get ready for our foodie tour.

Foodie Tour

We were surprised to see eight other participants were signed up for the same tour as us: one couple from San Francisco, a couple from Montreal now living in Abu Dabi, a couple from Melbourne, a woman working for the Hong Kong/UK tourism board visiting from the UK, and the administrator of a Philadelphia-based dance ensemble.   Our walking tour brought us to six stops and several street markets.  Our first stop was Tsim Chai Kee Noodle, a family-run noodle shop serving only three dishes.  We sampled bowls of fresh shrimp wonton soup in shrimp broth.  We were told after that often wonton soup is served in a clear broth and thus a bit less flavorful than our thick shrimp-based version.  Onto our next bite, we packed into Lung Kee Restaurant, which specializes in roasted meat.  The tour thoughtfully arranged for us to eat our barbequed pork rice before heading next door to see all of the queued up carcasses waiting to be roasted.  We learned the whole pig can be hung (gutted) inside the huge ovens and only takes an hour and a half to roast.  Also, skinned ducks and geese can be differentiated by the bump on a goose’s nose…useful information for our next butcher visit.  Starting to feel full and lethargic the way one gets after eating lots of meat (Happy Thanksgiving, by the way) our third tasting was the sweet and energizing sugar cane juice.  For those of you who have chewed on raw sugar cane with its celery-like texture, the juice tastes similar.  We also smelled the cauldron of turtle jelly, a gelatin steeped in tea and valued for its antioxidants.  We walked through some neighborhoods in the process of being gentrified.  Our guide sadly explained that the high rents and pressure from outside developers had recently forced one of the last remaining homemade soy sauce shops to close.

Our fourth sampling introduced us to true Chinese tea at the Tea Studio.  Ivan, the owner, is a licensed tea connoisseur—his title from the university.  He explained the various stages of tea fermentation, appropriate brewing temperatures, and the proper way to hold and pour tea.  We were closing in our final half hour of the tour by the time we left Ivan and our guide rushed us over to Dim Sum Square for dumplings and fried pork rolls covered in caramelized sugar.  And since no true feast is complete without a sweet finale, we ended with warm egg tarts at a tiny bakery.

We were pleasantly pleased at how much we enjoyed our four hours with the foodie tour and have a whole new list of activities to fill our remaining day and a half.  Lots of love and more updates tomorrow…

morning traffic on HK island

cars drive on the left side of the road here so there are warnings for pedestrians not used to looking for traffic in that direction

looking down from the peak's tram stop into the fog below

foggy weather at the top of the peak

the supposed view from the peak

our view

guide to Hong Kong Park (home to aviary and tea museum)

entering Edward Youde Aviary, Hong Kong Park

yellow-faced Mynahs

next to one of the many Bali Mynahs

netting roof of the aviary surrounded by skyscrapers

Lippo twin skyscrapers

Teaware Museum

foot massage path with two styles of tiles: smaller, dense collection on the left and larger, more spread out on the right

Fog and sky scrapers from HK Park

won ton soup with onion cake for lunch

fried donuts after lunch

exterior of our lunch joint

our foodie tour

first stop: won ton soup in shrimp broth with egg noodles

enormous sieve-like ladle for won tons in the kitchen

won ton soup ready to be delived

second stop: barbequed pork rice

carcass queue

cooked carcasses hanging in the window of our restaurant's next door roasting shop. From left to right: duck, goose, chick, pigeon

fresh fish at one of the market stalls

Our tour guide (in blue cardigan)

walking up to our sugar cane juice stop (boarded white storefront on the right used to house the homemade soy sauce)

vat of turtle jelly

turtle jelly

Banyan roots used to reinforce retaining walls around the city

fun zebra exterior of a sky scraper

Buddhist temple. incense coils burning for family members.  Names of deceased are written on yellow tag hanging down from coils

fourth stop: tea studio

our welcome green tea

ornate detail on furniture at tea studio

decorative pressed tea

demonstrating the correct way to hold Chinese teacup

practicing pouring tea with one hand

showing us the correct pouring technique

fresh tea

now pouring real tea

fifth stop: dim sum

hot and crispy pork buns 

Siu Mai and shrimp dumplings

sixth stop: Hei Lee Cake shop

lots of cookies and things

egg tarts

busy food stall near our hotel

Dad, remember when you used to give my tiger balm for all of my pains?