We woke surprisingly fit and healthy, no hangovers just a need for liquid and by 9.30 we were in the taxi to the MRT. The MRT is clean and very efficient, it took few little time to get to out into the Hong Kong heat and onto The Bald Man’s favourite method of transport...... a tram! It was a fabulous way to travel through the city, slow and clunky giving you lots of time to look through the streets to the Kowloon hills and sitting at the on the top at the back gave us loads of scope to really enjoy the ride. Our mission was to find Mark’s favourite restaurant for lunch which just happened to also be in the Time Magazine top 10 things to do in Hong Kong. Mark had found out that morning he had be offered a new job, so with much joy in the air we met in on of the busiest little restaurants I have seen in the world. The Tsui Wah cafe is a cha chan teng restaurant which were made popular by traders in the boom times wanting places to eat that mixed Asian and European cuisines. Unlike the popular fusion restaurants of our times which are predominately Asian lead, the Cha Chan Teng style was to add a sweet/sour sauce to spaghetti or Pork Chop, apple sauce and steamed rice. Tsui Wah’s is an insight into passionate eating. Tables were piled high with take away dishes that get couriered out to the high rises offices where the bankers can get their fill without having to leave their desks. We got in early and we needed to, 10 minutes later the place filled like a flash flood. I chose a pork dish with fried (crisp) noodles, mushroom and onion. Mark had a firm favourite, the brisket stew, Claire, Hainese Chicken Rice and the Bald Man went straight in for Chowder and Roti. The thick sweet milk tea was as awful as I remembered it to be, but it was so right to drink it. We ate with gusto and headed back into the heat with a group of girls jumping straight into our table before we had even moved away from it.
We left Mark to skip his way back to work and the 3 of us took the travelators up hill to have our foot massage at Happy Feet. One look at our sleeping baby and we were up two floors into a private room for 50 minutes of pure luxury feet pampering. The little lady doing the Bald Man’s feet took one look and called a Farrier in to attend to the Kiwi feet in front of her. The oldest man i’d seen in Hong Kong arrived with a tool kit, sucked through his teeth and said “bad, very bad” before getting a large razor out to start his attack. The lovely Bald man looked somewhat frightened at what was about to happen, but the result made him skip a little and pronounce he had “new feet”
Next on our agenda was Kowloon via the Star Ferry which at $0.40NZD is the cheapest transport ever. 5 minutes later and stunning views of Hong Kong Island we disembarked at pottered our way to the Peninsula hotel to see if we could get to Felix bar and to gaze at the glory of their lobby. High tea was in full swing and as fantastic as it looked I wasn’t prepared to hang around. Instead we went to Hullet House to the Parlour bar and supped on cocktails and a plate of fabulous sandwiches (must remember to put anchovy in my egg mayonnaise when we get home...) From there we went to the Bar at Aqua, 29 floors up and looking out across the harbour. A view to amaze. However the waitress decided the Bald Man wasn’t colourful enough and threw a tray of drinks over him, much to his digust and mine when he leapt around trying to dry off for 5 minutes. Still the replacement chocolate martini was as superb as expected.
We left Mark to skip his way back to work and the 3 of us took the travelators up hill to have our foot massage at Happy Feet. One look at our sleeping baby and we were up two floors into a private room for 50 minutes of pure luxury feet pampering. The little lady doing the Bald Man’s feet took one look and called a Farrier in to attend to the Kiwi feet in front of her. The oldest man i’d seen in Hong Kong arrived with a tool kit, sucked through his teeth and said “bad, very bad” before getting a large razor out to start his attack. The lovely Bald man looked somewhat frightened at what was about to happen, but the result made him skip a little and pronounce he had “new feet”
Next on our agenda was Kowloon via the Star Ferry which at $0.40NZD is the cheapest transport ever. 5 minutes later and stunning views of Hong Kong Island we disembarked at pottered our way to the Peninsula hotel to see if we could get to Felix bar and to gaze at the glory of their lobby. High tea was in full swing and as fantastic as it looked I wasn’t prepared to hang around. Instead we went to Hullet House to the Parlour bar and supped on cocktails and a plate of fabulous sandwiches (must remember to put anchovy in my egg mayonnaise when we get home...) From there we went to the Bar at Aqua, 29 floors up and looking out across the harbour. A view to amaze. However the waitress decided the Bald Man wasn’t colourful enough and threw a tray of drinks over him, much to his digust and mine when he leapt around trying to dry off for 5 minutes. Still the replacement chocolate martini was as superb as expected.
Lamma Island, a trip away from the bustle of Hong Kong Island on a little Rainbow ferry through the busiest shopping channel in the world. Huge Containers laden with goods ploughed through the waters knocking the smaller ferries from side to side. We headed west around the coast, Claire pointing out the ridiculously ugly housing that reaches millions just for the view. I caught the sunset as perfect as it could only be, a simple orange ball glowing and dropping quicker than I wanted. It was a moment I wanted to capture for ever.
Endless high rise apartment blocks did Mexican waves and we bobbed our way across the bay towards an island that rose out of the water with undulating shape. As we docked Claire pointed out all the tribal flags that waved to welcome us down the jetty. Our dinner destination was a restaurant called Rainbow where all sorts of seafood was in glass tanks fresh for our picking. My only request was crab and I let Mark chose the rest and boy what a job he did. Scallops so big and plump they were more than a mouthful, served with glass noodles and crushed garlic. We muddled it with soy and chilli and the sweetness of the scallops still shone through. A steamed fish with Soy and ginger was soft and flavorsome. The Bald man said it was a snapper but not as we would no it in NZ.
My request for crab was dually noted with a flower crab so amazingly sweet and another that was cooked in garlic and chilli with fried puff rice and coconut. SO incredible. Little lobsters with cheese sauce were hoovered up by the bald man at speed and we ordered more prawns in chilli and garlic to finish off. The Bald Mans favourite Sauvignon Blanc was on offer by the bottle so we quaffed a couple of those to help all the seafood go down. The flags waved, the plastic chairs were bright and beautiful and the staff attended our every demand.
We all slept soundly on the ferry on the way back and all awoke again at the house when the taxi dropped us off. A wee scotch later and we were in bed. An amazing day in HongKongaDingDong. Our huge thanks to Claire and Mark for a fabulous couple of days
Endless high rise apartment blocks did Mexican waves and we bobbed our way across the bay towards an island that rose out of the water with undulating shape. As we docked Claire pointed out all the tribal flags that waved to welcome us down the jetty. Our dinner destination was a restaurant called Rainbow where all sorts of seafood was in glass tanks fresh for our picking. My only request was crab and I let Mark chose the rest and boy what a job he did. Scallops so big and plump they were more than a mouthful, served with glass noodles and crushed garlic. We muddled it with soy and chilli and the sweetness of the scallops still shone through. A steamed fish with Soy and ginger was soft and flavorsome. The Bald man said it was a snapper but not as we would no it in NZ.
My request for crab was dually noted with a flower crab so amazingly sweet and another that was cooked in garlic and chilli with fried puff rice and coconut. SO incredible. Little lobsters with cheese sauce were hoovered up by the bald man at speed and we ordered more prawns in chilli and garlic to finish off. The Bald Mans favourite Sauvignon Blanc was on offer by the bottle so we quaffed a couple of those to help all the seafood go down. The flags waved, the plastic chairs were bright and beautiful and the staff attended our every demand.
We all slept soundly on the ferry on the way back and all awoke again at the house when the taxi dropped us off. A wee scotch later and we were in bed. An amazing day in HongKongaDingDong. Our huge thanks to Claire and Mark for a fabulous couple of days
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