Hong Kong (Wait wasn't I just here?)

Following our brief stop in Bangkok Justin and I were off to Hong Kong, my second time there in just over three weeks. Neither of us are big on collecting hotel points so this time around I had to downgrade from the Grand Hyatt. I must say, however, that our hotel, while a bit farther out of central Kowloon, was still one of the more comfortable places I've stayed on this trip.

Justin's flight left Bangkok early in the morning, although mine was scheduled for midday departure. Considering Justin's tight time schedule I wanted to coordinate flights, but I booked mine with airline miles - why actually pay for a flight I can get with miles?? The first available flight left Bangkok around noon, so Justin had a few hours to himself in Hong Kong before I arrived. (I would have taken an earlier flight if it had been available, but hey, sleeping in isn't so bad!)

Old(er) apartment blocks near our hotel. Our place was
new but a bit far from central Kowloon. We got a better
feel for a typical Hong Kong neighborhood though.

Luckily for me this time around there were no vomiting incidents in the streets of Hong Kong and we got out and about, making the most of our two and a half days. Justin knows two women from Hong Kong through a study abroad they did together in college, and had arranged to meet up with them during the visit. They both were happy to show us around the city and ride our culinary tour of Cantonese food. Did I mention that Justin is a foodie? I love trying new food wherever I go, but Justin takes it to a new level; he'd researched food that I had never even heard of and had a bucket list of dishes to try. As for me, I take the lazy way and generally just wander into local eateries or outdoor market areas to try local varieties. It was cool with me to just take a backseat and let Justin and our hosts make the food choices.

Oh and Justin also likes to take lots of pictures of food. That works out well for my blog! Here are a few photos of our meals in Hong Kong:

dinner on our second day in Hong Kong

more from dinner

dim sum for dinner the following night!

steamed dumplings

In addition to eating - yes we managed to do a few things that didn't involve food - we explored both Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, visited a night market on Temple Street, the Hong Kong avenue of stars, went for a run along the harbor, and rode to the Peak. Oh and we also hiked one of the territories numerous parks, although this particular one was home to hundreds of monkeys!

Let me expand a bit on those highlights. Let's go in order - so first the night market. Temple Street market is a famous destination in Kowloon that gets busy after the sun goes down. Vendors set up street stalls selling a variety of products, most of which are cheap trinkets, souvenirs, sun glasses, watches, and the like. There are also some interesting antiques (and knock offs) for sale at certain stalls, but the most intriguing area was a row of fortune tellers adjacent to the market. Ordinary Hong Kongers, not immune to stereotypical Chinese superstitions, consult the fortune tellers with matters both life-changing and mundane. Some speak English and draw curious tourists, but despite Grace and Eunices' prodding, neither Justin nor I were eager to give it a try.

at the market with Justin

The Avenue of stars, also in Kowloon, celebrates stars of the Hong Kong film industry and is modeled after the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The most photographed part of the avenue is a Bruce Lee statue - I didn't recognize many names, but of course even I know Bruce Lee. The only other names I had heared of were Jackie Chan and Jet Lee. Actually the most photographed part was probably downtown; the Avenue of Stars is right over the water with a great view of the harbor and Hong Kong Island.

Bruce Lee at the Avenue of Stars

View from the Avenue

The run is pretty self explanatory, so let me move on to Victoria Peak, or simply the Peak. As the name suggests the Peak is a mountain, and although only 1,800 feet (500 meters) in elevation, it's location on Hong Kong Island offers amazing views. From the observation deck one can see downtown, the harbor, Kowloon, and possibly the surrounding islands and mountains in the distance toward the Chinese mainland.

I say the mountains and islands are possibly visible because the majority of our three days in Hong Kong the harbor and Kowloon were draped with thick cloud cover. Winter and spring are generally cloudy in Hong Kong, but these clouds were different. Pollution has been on the rise as smog from neighboring mainland China moves southward and as affluent Hong Kongers drive more cars on the already crowded motorways. It's a shame that such a great view was blocked by smog; I don't know if the summer is much better, but it seems the haze is here to stay. Our third night, after dinner with Grace and Eunice, the sky cleared slightly so we hurried up to the Peak for a nighttime view of the city.

With Justin, Eunice, and Grace on the Peak

View of downtown; Kowloon is a bit hazy in the background

Our second day in Hong Kong Justin and I went to Kam Shan Country Park, one of many surprisingly peaceful and open parks sandwiched between built up Kowloon and the Chinese border. What makes Kam Shan unique are the roaming packs of monkeys that reside in the park; some 70% of the territory's monkeys reside in or around Kam Shan. The indigenous monkeys all but died out early in the 20th century, but non-native Rhesus and Long-Tailed Macaques that were released into the wild soon began to multiply (http://www.strippedpixel.com/monkey-mountain-hong-kong/).

Today there are thought to be over 2000 monkeys and counting in Hong Kong. Their numbers have been boosted by flocks of park-goers who enjoy feeding them peanuts and other snacks. People seem to be oblivious to countless signs warning visitors not to feed the animals; unfortunately a cute photo op feeding a monkey encourages them to get ever closer to humans. They are still wild animals, however, and I wouldn't want to get on their bad side, especially those who like to roam in packs of 5-10 fully grown adults.

can't get away from the monkeys!

Just a little bit closer!

And before I conclude our stop in Hong Kong I have to mention a late night stop for snake meat soup in Kowloon. After a dim sum dinner Grace and Eunice were eager to show us a famous shop which specialized in snake products. Not snake-skin shoes or wallets, but food and drink! Luckily we were stuffed from dinner and couldn't stomach much more food (especially snake soup!). We shared an order of the soup and tried a couple shots of snake liquor. We could choose between liquor made from the guts, blood, skin, or penis - no Asian delicacy would be complete without somehow including male genitalia!

My delicious (sort-of) snake soup. Actually it wasn't that bad.

Now the liquor wasn't the best: the green stuff, made of
snake guts, was terrible. It made the others seem good!

Posing with what very well may be our meal's family member.

Of course each body part had purported health benefits ranging from improving eyesight to curing impotency (maybe the two are related?). Nearly every strange food I've encountered in Asia, from dog meat soup to snake blood, supposedly helps men get it up. I guess that's a surefire way to get guys to eat disgusting food! And the snake liquor was child's play compared to what I found stashed on a shelf in the shop: baby mouse wine! I'd read about this stuff before, and its really not that hard to figure out: a bottle of moonshine with dead baby mice. The mice can't be more than a few days old lest they start growing hair. I've heard it tastes like gasoline, or something worse, but thankfully for me I didn't dare try it. The snake guts were more than enough thank you!