Hong Kong Trip 2015 Recap

We've been back from our 3 weeks Hong Kong trip for more than a month now, and it just doesn't feel like that was that long ago. I WANT TO GO AGAIN! It's been taking me way too long to write about our trip and it's been driving me kinda insane because I have so much to share with y'all! I'm going to break down the trip into a few posts, starting with this first one as an intro.

We go to Hong Kong about every other year so we always try to go for as long as we can, so we can spend enough time with the family and also explore the city and the countryside. It's the third time Adam and I have travelled to Hong Kong together. The last couple times we went during the summer, and the heat was just inescapable.

This time we really wanted to take advantage of the cooler weather in Hong Kong, since we went in February, so we could do more outdoor adventures. Plus, we were really excited about Chinese New Year so we ended up staying in Hong Kong for the entire 3 weeks and didn't take any side trips to other Asian countries.

The passed Chinese New Year was my first time being back to celebrate New Years with my family since I moved to the States 15 years ago. Talk about making up lost time! Everyone was of course happy to see me over New Years, especially my Ma. After all, it was kind of her idea that we'd visit in February, plus plane tickets were at the lowest I had ever seen. Needing or wanting to take a trip to the Kong? Go in January or February. Prices usually jumps back up during and after Easter. We were super psyched when we booked ours for less than $900 per person through Cathay Pacific. Are you maybe wondering what we had to pay when we went during the summer? A whooping $2400 PER PERSON. Yep. You do the math. That's a hugh difference, and we pretty much got the best deal this time.

BUT WAIT! There's more. The morning while we waited for our delayed flight (because of high winds), they told us, out of no where, that we got upgraded to Premium Economy, for FREE! Hum. Was that luck? Probably. Was it also because I checked us in one minute after the check-in time? Most definitely. So it turned out that checking in as early as you can does pay off like you can never imagine. We were of course thrilled!

BUT WAITTT! Omg, yes there's actually more. We got bumped AGAIN coming back home! We were just floored by our luck, and absolutely ecstatic at the check-in counter (no, we didn't scream like teenage girls but it certainly was a high-five moment on the inside!) And just to give you an idea... we would have paid about $9,000 for flying Premium Economy both ways. We only paid $1,800.

Wow, nelly.

We know that things like that can seem such a small thing to get excited over. But come on, let's be real here. Neither Adam and I are high ballers. While we get that some people do have the means to travel in class, we just felt like we had won the lottery. We were happy and excited going there and coming back.

Our entire trip was great. I love seeing and hanging out with my family. Everyone is just so generous and kind. They might not all speak English fluently but they certainly tried their best when talking to Adam who didn't know what was going on most of the time. I do wish, so badly, that he could understand 'cause he's been missing out on a lot of good jokes and good laughs. Some things just aren't the same when translated.

So as planned, the trip this time around was just incredible. We hiked, then we hiked some more.

The weather was gloomy on most days we were there because it was the beginning of spring and clouds were over our heads a lot. However, we did get lucky with having a lot of sun on the day we went to Lantau Island. It was one of my favorite day trips in Hong Kong.

Whenever we weren't doing stuff with the whole family, we enjoyed going out on adventures ourselves. We hiked up to Tai Lam reservoir via the mountains and country parks near where I grew up. One of Adam's favorite places to go is Mongkok, simple because there's tons to see. And we always find ourselves in interesting places looking at something while eating awesome street foods. We also betted on some horses at the Happy Valley racecourse, and spent some time doing some grocery shopping at the local wet market and a brand new supermarket. There were a few days where my parents took the afternoon off, and drove Adam and I all around the New Territories. There were even times where we poked into places that we almost weren't allowed to go to, next to the Hong Kong and mainland China border. My aunt and uncle, who live on Hong Kong Island, also drove us around the island one day, and we finished the day with a huge sushi dinner in Wan Chai. Little day trips with my aunt, my mom, and my sister to Lantau and Cheung Chau were just amazing, and we absolutely loved it.

So with all that being said, I'm gonna sign off here for now and work on writing out the rest of our trip. Hope you enjoyed the few photos and come back for more!

公和荳品廠 Kung Wo Soy Products

So before we went on our trip, I did A LOT of homework. And a lot of my research was taken from OpenRice.com. It's a website that manages restaurant reviews generated by users, and there's tons of it. You can filter by neighborhood, cuisine, price range, ratings... It's a site that I can trust, and often can get a sense of what people are talking about by looking at the submitted pictures. You might be also wondering why it's called "open rice". In cantonese, the characters 開飯 are pronounced hoi fan, means "let's eat". You use it like a verb, "What time to hoi fan?" meaning "what time is dinner starting?". Now, if you take each of the character and translate them directly, you'll get hoi as in open (or start something), and fan as in rice. Things often get mistranslated there though, people can make mistakes in translating each characters separately verus translating the phrase or word. In this case with Open Rice, they decided to keep the weird brand name that makes absolutely no sense to westerners so they could keep a common phrase short and sweet. The Cantonese language is all about short and direct (and filled with slangs) so why not keep things interesting and odd and go with OpenRice?

So back to Kung Wo Soy Products 公和荳品廠. When I first saw them on OpenRice, the local authenticity drawn my attention. With real estate spiking everyone's rent, it's becoming harder and harder to find small businesses in Hong Kong. A mom-and-pop shop like Kung Wo was instantly added to my "grab-a-bite" list. Located on Pei Ho Street (北河街) in Sham Shui Po (深水埗), Kung Wo does it all producing all kinds of soy goodness. With the outdoor markets going on, I was afraid not being able to find this place. But look! Good thing I can read Chinese and spotted their sign from a block away. (located right after Alibaba Halal Food and A. Kashmir Curry House.)

On the left side of the shop, you got your fresh tofu, tofu puffs, bean sprout, and fresh soy milk. On the right side, you got a lady who's been mastering the fried tofu for probably too many years to count.

Fresh tofu like this is becoming harder to find because the process is too time-consuming. And I feel that it's easier for the younger generation, like myself, to grab pre-packaged tofu from the supermarket. I wish New York has a tofu place like this!

We didn't get to try the fried tofu this time 'cause we really weren't hungry. But we did get a cup of fresh soy milk and a bowl of cold sweet tofu pudding sprinkled with brown sugar!

Later on we went to the Lady's Market and Langham Place in MongKok (which we enjoyed visiting last time). Before leaving the mall, we decided to grab some light snacks at the food court – Taiwanese fried chicken and mixed veggies!

千両 sen-ryo sushi, Hong Kong

Our trip to Hong Kong is not completed without going to 千両 Sen-ryo. Sen-ryo is a chain sushi restaurant with many locations in Hong Kong. We usually go to the one in TST, inside the The Sun Arcade on Canton Road. We got there around 6pm near dinner time so they had started dispensing tickets for seatings. They didn't have that last time when we visited a couple years ago, but it wasn't a big deal, we just asked the reception for seats and she printed out a waiting number for us. (You can also take a number yourself from the touch-screen.)

Many sushi restaurants in Hong Kong feature the conveyor belt which is very common and somewhat popular. Sen-ryo also offers dishes from off the menu, and if there's a kind of sushi that isn't on the conveyor, you're welcome to order it off the menu for the same price. Each dish is priced differently by the color of the plate, and the server would tally up the plates at the end of the meal to calculate the total cost (and of course, add those items that you had ordered from the menu also). Depends on what kind of sushi it is, a plate (usually comes with 2 pieces) could range from $18 to $45HK. Some of my favorites? Marinated tuna, real crab meat, crunchy shrimp roll, and spicy scallops!

Don't forget to have the mochi ice-cream!

Street food in MongKok, Hong Kong

I loved walking around Mongkok - there's just so much to see. We stopped by this one bakery because Adam wanted to grab a bite to eat real quick. This local bakery was like heaven to me. Yea, sure. There are Cantonese/ Hong Kong style bakeries back in New York but they become nothing compared to the real ones in Hong Kong.

Check out these dan tats, or egg tarts. There are 2 kinds of crust - a cookie crust or a flaky crust. I love them both but most of the time I go with the cookie crust because it's less messy to eat, and I like the crunchiness. And look at the price!! It's only $2.50HK per tart compared to bakeries in New York which they charge $1US, that's $8HK, per tart!

Here are some other traditional cakes and pastries. NOM NOM!

The Pineapple Bun. Don't be fooled, there's actually no pineapples inside this bun :) It's called that because this bun simply looks like a pineapple. (Okay, this bakery doesn't do it quite right.)

OMG. I LOVE the shredded coconut bun!!

I like cakes from Hong Kong style bakeries because they're never too sweet, and they're super creative most of the time. Beside the typical chocolate and vinilla, they offer great flavors like green tea, mango, red bean... It's truly where "east meets west" :)

Green Tea Mousse Cake, it's only $10HK ($1.30US) a piece!

Chicken Pies, anyone? :)

When you're in Hong Kong, you gotta try street food. There're some classics like 雞蛋仔 gai dan jai (mini hot cakes), fish balls, fish shu mai. Just all kinds of food on sticks :)

I picked up a bag of salt and pepper squid that was crunchy and chewy. Street food in Hong Kong can often go in and out of trends, but the salt and pepper squid is a true classic.

Don't forget the 雞蛋仔 gai dan jai (mini hot cakes). This is the original. You might be able to find them in other flavors like chocolate, green tea, etc...

And this is what ice-cream trucks look like in Hong Kong :)