Food
First of all, I want to talk about food and drink. This is not a comprehensive overview of Hong Kong food and drink; it's just some tidbits that I found interesting. The number one thing that blew my mind? They drink warm water in Hong Kong! What is this nonsense? Have you ever been extremely thirsty or eating really spicy food and only had a glass of lukewarm water to drink? It doesn't work! At least, I could not get used to it. So I became that girl with the special difficult requests at the restaurants. Except my special difficult request was a glass of cold water. And sometimes this really was a special difficult request. There is another popular drink that is a mixture of coffee and tea with milk and sugar. It pretty much tastes like a mixture between coffee and tea with milk and sugar.
Breakfast is another interesting meal. Of course, some people in Hong Kong eat cereal or eggs or toast for breakfast. But there is another very common breakfast called "congee". It is basically rice that is somehow made to have a texture similar to that of oatmeal. It is really plain tasting and you put things like soy sauce, chili sauce, ginger, pickles, or fried crullers in it. And this is the answer to that problem the Emiko and I had on our first morning in Hong Kong; we were supposed to put the fried crullers in a bowl of congee! I was able to taste congee because due to the film festival, I got to stay in the luxurious Sheraton Hotel for part of my time in Hong Kong and they had a glorious buffet breakfast spread. My days really began right with that one.
You can pretty much find any type of food in Hong Kong. Not only Chinese and burger joints but you can get sushi, pizza, French, and a ton of good Indian food. I had the joy of eating at a few pretty delicious vegetarian Chinese and Indian restaurants but my favorite meal was when I finally got to taste vegetarian dim sum. Dim sum consists of small dishes such as dumplings, buns, and many types of balls, cakes, noodles, and other dishes that is usually eaten mid-morning. It can be hard to get vegetarian dim sum as it often has seafood, pork or chicken in it. Acting on a tip from a local friend, we found a dim sum restaurant that offered a very good selection of both vegetarian and meat dishes so we were all happy. I got some vegetarian dumplings, rolls, vegetables, pumpkin pastries, and my favorite was a fried salt and pepper tofu dish.
Finally, I definitely need to mention Chinese desserts. Aside from the very popular egg tarts (not really a dessert, more of a pastry but totally delicious: yellow egg custard inside a crust), Chinese desserts tend not to be overly sweet. I tasted a soupy dish called sago at a market on the street and it tasted pretty great. It's made of a sweet liquid and balls of sago which remind me of tapioca. It also had chunks of taro in it. You eat it with a spoon. Yum. The best dessert I had was a tofu dessert from the Tai Po market in the New Territories. Apparently this place is famous for it. It is sweet liquidy tofu with a texture between that of pudding and jello. It doesn't sound particularly tasty but trust me: yum.
I did not take pictures of my food. I'm not that much of a foodie. So I apologize. I am, however, considering starting a blog where I post pictures of plates of food after a meal. I think this is a much better indication of how delicious the food was. If the plate is empty it was probably pretty darn good.
I did not take pictures of my food. I'm not that much of a foodie. So I apologize. I am, however, considering starting a blog where I post pictures of plates of food after a meal. I think this is a much better indication of how delicious the food was. If the plate is empty it was probably pretty darn good.
Day Trips
I went on two pretty awesome day trips while in Hong Kong. The first was to an outlying island called Lamma. It is a small hilly island with beaches and seafood of the legendary variety. We took a ferry from one side of the island and hiked in the rain to the other side to catch a ferry home. It is a beautiful quiet place, a kind of escape from the rampant commercialism of Hong Kong. There are no malls and no cars there so most people get around by bicycle. There are trees and beaches and colorful shops and houses. It was a really nice (though wet) hike.
My second trip was to Macau. Known for its shiny casinos, Macau was a Portuguese colony so has a bit of a different feel than Hong Kong. Emiko and I took the ferry to Macau with a man we had met the day before, a film professor teaching in the UK. We explored a beautiful buddhist temple that was over 400 years old. And since we happened to be there on the holiday called Qingming, the temple was bustling with people honoring their deceased relatives and friends. The smell of incense was strong and there were shrines all over the temple. It was really interesting to see the traditions and customs. We then walked through Macau to find the ruins of St. Paul's Church. When we did we also found all of the tourists. St. Paul's Church is really just the front wall of the church, propped up on stands. I guess it might be one of the few two-dimensional churches in existence. It is nice to look at though. We then wandered around the surrounding streets. This is the old part of Macau and the buildings look very European. You can feel the Portuguese influence here. However, the beautiful old buildings are tainted with signs advertising Gucci, Coach, and all of the other expensive stores that are all over Hong Kong. Apparently Macau could not escape commercialism either.
Crazy Coincidence and the New Territories
Here's the crazy coincidence: the girl who escorted Emiko to the first screening of her film graduated from Northwestern 8 years before me. She was also a film major and we talked about the school, the town, and all that we now knew we had in common. We hung out later in the week - she invited me up to the New Territories, about an hour north of central Hong Kong, to play badminton with her and her friends. It was really cool to see a different part of Hong Kong - the air was fresher, the feeling was more local. I think I only saw one other white person during the afternoon I spent there! We played badminton at a sports club where young children were having their very intense lessons. This was no high school gym class badminton! It reminded me of when I used to take tennis lessons years ago. We went to a pretty awesome vegetarian restaurant afterwards and explored the Tai Po market a little bit. Everything there was only in Chinese so it was a good thing I had four other people to help me out!
Crazy Coincidence and the New Territories
Here's the crazy coincidence: the girl who escorted Emiko to the first screening of her film graduated from Northwestern 8 years before me. She was also a film major and we talked about the school, the town, and all that we now knew we had in common. We hung out later in the week - she invited me up to the New Territories, about an hour north of central Hong Kong, to play badminton with her and her friends. It was really cool to see a different part of Hong Kong - the air was fresher, the feeling was more local. I think I only saw one other white person during the afternoon I spent there! We played badminton at a sports club where young children were having their very intense lessons. This was no high school gym class badminton! It reminded me of when I used to take tennis lessons years ago. We went to a pretty awesome vegetarian restaurant afterwards and explored the Tai Po market a little bit. Everything there was only in Chinese so it was a good thing I had four other people to help me out!
The Best Things
The best things were going to local markets with new friends, sitting and chatting for hours with people I just met, getting drinks with new friends, playing badminton... The best things were trying new foods, learning about new places, finding things in common with people from all over the world. I love wandering the streets and seeing everyday life, exploring areas that tourists don't usually get to go. Travelers become more open. They are more willing to go off on an adventure with someone they just met, invite you for a drink even though they don't know you, and talk about their lives with people they will likely never see again. These are the things that make trips memorable and the reasons why I want to travel more.
So, I will continue to have adventures right here until I get a chance to travel again.
