SNAPSHOTS | HONG KONG 2018 | DAY 3

Every morning in Hong Kong was a bit of a waiting game. Out of habit (and mostly because of jetlag), we would wake up at around 7:00 or earlier. Unfortunately, there's not much to do or see at that time so we would just hang out in the hotel room. But naturally, hunger calls -- and you have to listen.

We ended up having breakfast at a cha chaan teng literally next door to our hotel. It opened right at 7:00 and had a few tables already occupied when we walked in. The breakfast menu was pretty basic and simple -- instant noodles, sandwiches, pineapple buns, etc.

My dad craved coffee while we were in Hong Kong, but good coffee wasn't so common to find. Instead, most locals drink milk tea (millions of gallons in fact). Hong Kong-style milk tea is a byproduct of former British colonial rule. It's made by combining black tea with evaporated milk, and sometimes condensed milk for sweetness. I might get my Asian card revoked for saying this, but I don't enjoy milk tea all that much. I much prefer my tea sans milk.       

Thought this was a cute little salt shaker.

My breakfast: spam and egg sandwich. Some people think of spam as ~MySteRy MeAt~ but for me, it's comfort food. Slap it between two pieces of white bread (crusts cut off) and it's childhood in a sandwich. It's something you can easily put together at home, but foods just tastes better when other people make it for you. I'm pretty sure there was a scientific study about that.

I kind of forgot what my parents ordered. One was an instant noodle soup with toppings of satay beef, spam, and eggs and the other was a vermicelli noodle soup with ham and vegetables.

We also went to a local bakery nearby. Egg tarts are always a safe bet!

At the 10:00 mark, we boarded the hotel shuttle bus and got off at Tsim Sha Tsui (TST). TST is probably one of the most popular tourist areas in Hong Kong. Lots of high-end shopping and tourist attractions.

Since I live the peasant life, Irvins Salted Egg was the only thing I was excited to find in Harbour City mall. (It's probably the only thing I could afford there anyways.)

Like Korea's "honey butter chip," salted egg chips exploded in popularity in the past year or so. Irvins is a brand from Singapore, and is supposedly the best one. They sell three different kinds of salted egg snacks, including potato chips, fish skin, and cassava chips.  The larger bags are about $110 HKD (~$18.25 CAD) while the smaller bags are $55 HKD ($9.12 CAD). Pretty pricey for potato chips, but because of their popularity, customers are limited to only 5 bags each. Naturally, we got our maximum quota and bought 15.

With their tagline "dangerously addictive," it's pretty easy to see why, although I personally couldn't handle having more than a handful each time. They're pretty heavy handed with the salted egg and curry leaf seasoning so the chips are almost too indulgent after a while. Having tried both the fish skin and the potato chip, I would definitely recommend getting the fish skin! The potato chips were a bit too soft for my liking while the fish skin was nice and crunchy.   

We stored our snack stash in a locker, and then set out to explore the waterfront. The skyline of Hong Kong Island is just incredible and a sight to behold. Definitely make time to see it in the daytime, as well as at night. 

Shots of the Clock Tower and of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.

As it was getting close to lunch time, we decided to check out Din Tai Fung (DTF) in Silvercord. If you're well-versed in the food world, you probably already know about DTF. Originating from Taiwan, DTF is famous for their xiao long bao (soup dumplings). They have locations across the world, including in Australia, Japan, Malaysia, the United States, and Dubai. In 2009, this particular location in Hong Kong was awarded a Michelin star.  

You can't go to DTF and not get their xiao long bao, so we got an order of their signature steamed pork dumplings ($60 HKD = ~$9.95 CAD). The skin is probably the highlight of these dumplings: thin, delicate, and expertly folded. We thought the filling on the other hand was a bit small, and the flavour was just average.

We also ordered the egg fried rice with shrimps ($90 HKD = ~$14.92 CAD), the drunken chicken in Shaoxing rice wine ($75 HKD = ~$12.44 CAD) and the deep fried fish with special sauce ($58 HKD = ~$9.62 CAD). The last two dishes are purposefully served cold, which was a bit of an adjustment for me. I especially liked the flavour of the fish, but thought it would've been better if it was hot. Eating it cold gave that 'leftovers out of the fridge' kind of feeling. 

More dumplings! The pan-fried shrimp and pork dumplings ($82 HKD = ~$13.60 CAD) comes in orders of six, pan-fried with a bit of cornstarch and water to create that crispy lattice coating. These were probably my favourite item of the meal!

After lunch, my mom wanted to see the "Avenue of Stars." Modelled after the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Avenue honours different celebrities with statues and their handprints. The original location by the waterfront was closed for renovations, so we had to walk further than we originally intended to their temporary location.  

Tsang Chi Wai was a big part of my childhood. Who else remembers Super Trio? (I had to google the actual name of the show since we always called it Super Sunday (the day it aired) as kids.)

Eventually we got tired of walking in the heat, so we took the shuttle bus back to the hotel to rest up before dinner.

Dinner was at Four Seasons Claypot Rice, a humble eatery located in Yau Ma Tei. Claypot rice is basically what the name implies. Rice is cooked and served in a clay pot, topped with chicken, pork, Chinese sausage, or whatever your heart desires. The pots are traditionally cooked over charcoal stoves, and then served with soy sauce. The addition of soy sauce in the scorching hot clay pot helps create a layer of crispy rice at the bottom of the bowl.

We ordered two claypots, one with Chinese sausage and chicken, the other with Chinese sausage and pork chop. The meats were nice and tender, but as a whole, the dish was just okay. It's mostly rice anyways, so it's not the most exciting thing you can eat. It's probably a dish that better suits the winter as it sticks to your ribs.

Finally some green veggies! There's so many different kinds of Chinese greens that I'm not 100% sure what kind this one was, but if I had to guess, this was steamed morning glory (or water spinach), served with fermented bean curd sauce. I made the mistake of dipping my first bite into too much sauce and was hit with a pungent salt bath. 

Another dish they're known for is their duck egg oyster cake. Baby oysters and green onions are mixed together in an egg batter, and then basically deep fried into small pancakes. As you can tell by their glisten, these were extremely oily and greasy.

This restaurant is packed with locals and it's really a place with no frills. Good to experience once, but not sure if I would go back.

The restaurant ended up being super close to Temple Street Night Market, so we walked over to check it out.

It's quite similar to what you would find at Ladies Market over in Mong Kok, although stalls don't begin to set up until the evening. Still a fun place to walk through.

Day 3, fin.

- CT

SNAPSHOTS | HONG KONG 2018 | DAY 2

As expected, we woke up the next morning feeling rather jetlagged. Our plan for the day was to just get acquainted with our surroundings and explore the area of Mong Kok. 

Mong Kok is one of the busiest and most congested districts in Hong Kong, if not the world. You'll find the famous Ladies' Market here, as well as Sneakers Street, Flower Market, even Goldfish Street. Spoiler alert: it's exactly what it sounds like. 

Our hotel provided a free hourly shuttle bus that stopped in Mong Kok and in Tsim Sha Tsui. Mong Kok was relatively close to the hotel, but it was still nice and convenient to take the bus since we were going to be walking all day anyways. Also, an air-conditioned bus beats sweating it out in 30°C heat. 

We found Capital Cafe, our first destination for breakfast, pretty easily. Capital Cafe is a "cha chaan teng," or a Hong Kong-style diner. As a former British colony, these types of restaurants offer dishes with a Western influence. Think macaroni in soup, corned beef sandwiches, and milk tea. We were pretty lucky to get the last available table, as a line quickly formed behind us.

My mom and I ordered two items to share: scrambled eggs with black truffle ($42.00 HKD = $6.96 CAD) and French toast with kaya jam ($26.00 HKD = $4.31 CAD).

There's bad scrambled eggs and then there's good scrambled eggs. For whatever reason, Hong Kong has really good scrambled eggs. They add Hokkaido milk and butter, resulting in creamy soft curds. So simple, but so good! I didn't really notice any "black truffle" flavour from the bits they sprinkle on, so you're better off just getting the scrambled eggs on toast by itself. Much cheaper at $20 HKD, but same delicious satisfaction!

As for the French toast, Hong Kong-style is *the* way to go. How is the Hong Kong version different? Well for one, it's literally deep fried and served with a slab of butter on top. Add a good slathering of Kaya (coconut) jam in the middle and you're pretty much eating dessert for breakfast.    

My dad ordered one of the Western breakfast combos advertised on the table. Scrambled eggs, bacon, corn, baked beans, hashbrown, and toast. It also comes with a drink; my dad got an iced milk tea.

After breakfast, we walked around the surrounding area. Not a lot of shops were open yet as it was still pretty early in the day. Remember Goldfish Street? Here's one of the hawker stalls.

Mong Kok is also famous for its street food. I was on a quest to eat stinky tofu this trip but we were either too full for it or the specific stall I found wasn't open yet. I did, however, get my curry fish ball fix! Only $10 HKD for a skewer. 

The stall we ordered from was literally next door to another street food stand. We chose this one as there was more people in front of it. Go where the locals go!

Off to do some shopping, we went to Langham Place, the largest shopping mall in Mong Kok. I'm not sure if this was a pop-up or a year-round thing but there was a Gudetama area in the main atrium selling all sorts of branded drinks, cookies, and ice cream.

Gudetama (a lazy egg) is literally my spirit animal. 

Muji food haul. The pasta sauces are surprisingly good.

Also, can Muji open up a store in Edmonton? And can Uniqlo come with?

After shopping through Langham, we started to get a bit peckish. We went to the 4th floor food court in search of Yum Cha, a modern restaurant chain serving up Instagram-worthy dim sum. The literal translation of Yum Cha is "drink tea."

Dim sum is not proper dim sum without drinking tea, so "yum cha" is a term that encapsulates the whole meal and experience.

One of the most recognizable dim sum dishes is sui mai. Here, the shrimp & pork dumplings w/ crab roe ($59 HKD = $9.80 CAD) is given a twist with a green spinach skin. Truth be told, the meat was pretty fatty and I thought it was expensive for what it was.

One of their signature dishes that everyone orders is their hot custard molten buns ($49 HKD = $8.14 CAD). Liu sha bao is one of my favourite items at dim sum. Salted duck eggs are typically used in preparing the filling, giving the normally sweet dessert buns a touch of savoury. The buns at Yum Cha are decorated with a pair of googly eyes, so that when you poke a chopstick through, you can pretend it's puking up some molten custard. Morbid, but cute.

Another popular dish is their baked pineapple puffs ($59 HKD = $9.80 CAD). Pineapple cakes are a traditional Taiwanese pastry that contain a pineapple jam filling. Here, the puffs are shaped into little birds and presented in their own little bird cage. Superrrrrr extra.

(But I love it.) 

Our last dish was spicy turnip cakes ($59 HKD = $9.80 CAD). Cubes of lo bak go (turnip cake) are wok-fried with XO sauce, peppers, bean sprouts, and lotus root chips. At home, Wok N Roll does a pretty good version.

Overall, I thought Yum Cha was a fun spot to enjoy some creative dim sum. A bit pricey for sure, but can you really put a price on happiness?

Leaving Langham, we stumbled upon a bunch of small outdoor markets. My dad got a fresh sugarcane juice to quench his thirst.

My mom would buy fruit from these markets to eat back at the hotel. Mostly longans which are easy to peel and eat. My personal favourite are mangosteens (bottom left).

Next up, Ladies Market! This street spanning one kilometre basically sells everything. Souvenirs, cheap trinkets, electronics, and questionable fake designer goods. Be prepared to bargain! And don't be afraid to walk away to get a better price. Most of the time, there will be another street stall selling the same thing for cheaper.

All sorts of food keychains! Grabbed a couple for my sister who collects keychains from around the world.

Engrish magnets. My personal favourite is "sausage looking."

Another cool moment at the Ladies Market, we saw a crew filming some sort of action scene with actors chasing each other down the street. Look mom, maybe I'll be on TV!

After going back to the hotel to rest, we went out for dinner later that night at one of the few remaining dai pai dong restaurants in Hong Kong. Dai pai dongs are big open-air food stalls where food is literally cooked on the street. Due to changing laws, dai pai dongs are a slowly disappearing breed of restaurant, with only 25 licensed dai pai dongs left in the whole of Hong Kong.

Oi Man Sang is one of them, and has been around since 1956 in the Sham Shui Po area. The kitchen is literally in the middle of the street, while seating is a mix of indoor and outdoor tables. We chose indoor (God bless air-con). Kudos to the chefs working outside next to burning, flaming woks.

We ordered three different dishes, all popular high-sellers according to the symbols on the menu. The first dish is a quintessential dai pai dong staple, stir fried clams with black bean and chili sauce ($88 HKD = $14.62 CAD). This was spicier than we expected it to be but it was still delicious!

Next, deep fried squid w/ peppered salt ($98 HKD = $16.28 CAD). According to my dad, this would be a good "drinking" food. I could see why. Crispy, salty, garlic-y. This would be up anyone's alley.

Our last item was the stir-fried beef fillet & potatoes in black pepper sauce ($98 HKD = $16.28 CAD). Well-seasoned cubes of beef, although my parents thought it could've been more tender. The potatoes were a nice surprise! Soft and tender, with flavour permeating all the way through.


After rolling ourselves out of the restaurant, we took a bus back to the hotel. A good first full day in the books!

- CT

SNAPSHOTS | HONG KONG 2018 | DAY 1

If you've been following me along on Instagram, you probably already knew that I was in Hong Kong during the first half of August (5-15). It was unbearably hot and tiring, but definitely a trip to remember. Like my San Francisco trip, it was just my parents and I (I'm their favourite child no doubt). As my parents are getting older, I'm making it a priority of mine to travel with them while they can still get around. 

Both my parents have been to Hong Kong before, but this would be their first time exploring the city on their own -- and they left me with the task of creating our itinerary and leading the way. Lots of work and research on my part, but truthfully I wouldn't have it any other way!  

We started off the trip with a short layover in Vancouver. My parents chose to get our lunch at the Chinese place in the food court. I didn't quite understand their logic (we were on our way to the culinary mecca that is Hong Kong!! And wouldn't we get sick of Chinese food?), but surprisingly (or not surprisingly) it had one of the busiest lines.  

It was our first time flying with Hong Kong Airlines. When we first boarded the place, I noticed that there wasn't any TVs in the seats. My dad and I both looked at each other and laughed. No in flight entertainment for 13.5 hours? You're kidding right? Thankfully they distributed tablets to everyone shortly after take off. It was a lifesaver, because I can never fall asleep on airplanes. Especially with kids kicking my seat almost the entire way. (Guess who's going to splurge for business class on their next overseas flight? *This girl.*)

Two hours in, we got our first set of meals. They ran out of my first choice so I ended up getting the curry and rice not knowing it was the vegetarian option. It was edible at least. The tray also came with smoked salmon, coleslaw, a bun, and mousse cake. 

Parentals got the pork and rice option.

More snacks and food were distributed throughout the flight but lights were dim so I didn't take any photos of those unfortunately.

When we finally landed in Hong Kong, our luggage took almost an hour to arrive on the luggage belt. At the airport, we also picked up our pocket WiFi and then found the concierge desk to arrange transportation to our hotel.

We were probably up for a good 24 hours at this point, but we needed to stay up a bit longer to adjust our clocks. Our hotel was a 10-ish minute walk from the main area of Mong Kok, so we headed out in search of food.

We went to Good Hope Noodle for dinner, a Michelin recommended restaurant holding "Bib Gourmand" status -- basically a fancy title for good food at good value. Their menu is pretty simple and straightforward with three main categories: soup noodles, braised noodles, and congee. Once you order, the food comes out at lightning speed.

In Hong Kong, brisk service is the norm, especially during peak hours. They want you to get in, order quickly, shovel food down your throat and then get out. Thankfully it wasn't that busy when we were there.

I had their Cantonese wonton noodles in soup ($37 HKD). It was a smaller portion but for the equivalent of $6.20 CAD, you can't complain too much. The wontons were a mixture of pork and shrimp. It definitely hit the spot after eating gross airplane food all day. My mom really enjoyed their congee and wanted to come back here again just for that.

After dinner, we stopped at Mammy Pancake on our way back to the hotel. Another Michelin recommended place, Mammy Pancake is a chain of street stalls known for gai daan jai, or egg waffles.

Egg waffles are essentially the same as regular waffles (which they also sell) but the eating experience is a lot more fun and interactive. The small little bubbles are meant to be ripped apart and eaten one by one.

So many different flavours to choose from! Matcha, cheese, chocolate chip, you name it. Everything is made to order so no chance of soggy waffles!

We got two kinds of egg waffles -- the original ($18 HKD = ~$3.00 CAD) and matcha ($23 HKD = ~$3.86 CAD).

Definitely eat the waffles right away while they're still warm and fresh. The ideal texture is when they're crispy on the outside and a tiny bit chewy in the middle. If you leave them long enough, they'll get soggy and have more of a cakey texture.

The original is pretty classic and was a good choice. My mom thought the matcha was bland and didn't have much flavour. 

Hui Lau Shan, a popular mango dessert chain, was only a block or two away from our hotel. My dad wanted a drink so we got a mango juice with mango jelly and mango pieces for take out. It could've been colder, or maybe it was just too hot out.

As soon as we got back to the hotel, we pretty much crashed straight away. The eye bags situation was not pretty.

- CT