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
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