Hong Kong, Day 1
Sat, Jan. 2nd, 2010 07:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterAfter waking up at 4 in the morning and breaking a glass and spilling water everywhere (I then went back to bed and pretended it hadn't happened until I actually had to get up at 6), the rest of the day went very well. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rachelmanija and I both read cracktastic books on the plane: Vampire Diaries for her and Margaret Weis' Star of the Guardians for me. So far, I have learned from Rachel quoting various lines that Elena of Vampire Diaries looks like a sugared violet in her party dress, resembles a white tiger rather than a kitten, clutches her velvet cloak to her as she looks like a ravished princess in a tower, and has a soul of absolute beauty and a spine of steel. Or something like that. Star of the Guardians has Weis' heavy-handed infodumps and extremely unsubtle prose ("But Oha-Lau was doomed, and its doom came out of the stars as legend foretold. Doom fell, literally, on Oha-Lau in the form of a spaceplane [...] Doom did not fall swiftly. [...] Doom was poised, ready to fall. [...] Doom fell."). And yet, I remember Lady Maigrey from way back. Unsurprisingly, she was a favorite of mine: late-thirties or early-forties, scarred face, tragic connection to the villain, and a kickass fighter. Despite the book's flaws, it is still immensely entertaining.
Amazingly, upon landing, we got through the airport with no problem at all and took a taxi to our hotel because I wanted Rachel to see the scenery coming into the island. Sadly, it was very foggy so it was hard to see the jungly mountains behind the tall buildings, but I think she enjoyed it anyway. The hotel we got was a deal, so when we saw the marble-and-shiny-wood lobby, I was terrified we had somehow landed at the wrong hotel. But they found our reservation, and after we got our room, we found it was rather small, but very nice, with a giant LCD TV, a pretty bathroom, and really good service. Given the way Rachel's luck and mine combine to frequently disastrous effect when we visit each other, I even looked up the rate online to make sure we weren't somehow going to be charged more later. But no. Right hotel, right room, everything! I attribute this to the good luck pi xio Rachel got in Xi'an.
We had lunch at Starbucks, which has much tastier things here (and in Taiwan) than it does in the US. I had a turkey and mashed potato mini pie and Rachel had a sausage in flaky pastry. Both were very tasty and hot. I gasped in horror as Rachel told me that quite a few Starbucks she had been to in the States didn't have microwaves, since all the ones in Taiwan do. We then had dinner with my aunt and uncle in Kowloon, and then we ventured out to a Hong Kong 7-Eleven! The 7-Eleven here is pretty nice, though the ones we have seen so far have been smaller than Taiwan's. Also, I bemoan the lack of onigiri and 關東煮/hot pot things on sticks (including pig's blood rice cake, which is my fav) and am curious if people can pay utilities bills and parking tickets here as well. However! They did have several extremely cool flavors of Hi Chew—durian, red bean mochi with strawberry inside/いちご大福, cotton candy, candied apple (the latter two being "祭りのハイチュウ")—as well as okonomiyaki-flavored potato chips and "Black Diamond" potato chips, which supposedly taste like black truffle. I am only sad that we did not have time to find a little bakery, as we had to run back to the hotel before our ice cream melted.
After lugging our purchases back to the hotel, we watched Jet Li's The New Legend of Shaolin. It has kung-fu-fighting kids, evil eunuchs, a Poison Man whose face is literally melting, a trilobyte car, a completely random wax museum, Jet Li being so stoic that he really should have had jingling bells to emote, jokes about eating chicken butt, and a mother-and-daughter thief team. The mother and daughter are really awesome, especially the mother, who is an older woman who totally kicks ass, has sex (it's supposed to be funny, but I thought the movie managed to do it in a way that made her likable and awesome, not "Eww! Old people having sex!," which I hate), plays dead, and catches darts with her hands, mouth, and feet.
Plans for tomorrow: investigate the local drug store chains, watch Zhang Yimou's A Simple Noodle Story (film noir in period China with martial arts and guns!), wander around Central to look at tall buildings, and hopefully buy me more comfortable shoes. And find a good wonton noodle place, as well as the public library, bakeries, and other random little stores that catch our interest.
rachelmanija and I both read cracktastic books on the plane: Vampire Diaries for her and Margaret Weis' Star of the Guardians for me. So far, I have learned from Rachel quoting various lines that Elena of Vampire Diaries looks like a sugared violet in her party dress, resembles a white tiger rather than a kitten, clutches her velvet cloak to her as she looks like a ravished princess in a tower, and has a soul of absolute beauty and a spine of steel. Or something like that. Star of the Guardians has Weis' heavy-handed infodumps and extremely unsubtle prose ("But Oha-Lau was doomed, and its doom came out of the stars as legend foretold. Doom fell, literally, on Oha-Lau in the form of a spaceplane [...] Doom did not fall swiftly. [...] Doom was poised, ready to fall. [...] Doom fell."). And yet, I remember Lady Maigrey from way back. Unsurprisingly, she was a favorite of mine: late-thirties or early-forties, scarred face, tragic connection to the villain, and a kickass fighter. Despite the book's flaws, it is still immensely entertaining.Amazingly, upon landing, we got through the airport with no problem at all and took a taxi to our hotel because I wanted Rachel to see the scenery coming into the island. Sadly, it was very foggy so it was hard to see the jungly mountains behind the tall buildings, but I think she enjoyed it anyway. The hotel we got was a deal, so when we saw the marble-and-shiny-wood lobby, I was terrified we had somehow landed at the wrong hotel. But they found our reservation, and after we got our room, we found it was rather small, but very nice, with a giant LCD TV, a pretty bathroom, and really good service. Given the way Rachel's luck and mine combine to frequently disastrous effect when we visit each other, I even looked up the rate online to make sure we weren't somehow going to be charged more later. But no. Right hotel, right room, everything! I attribute this to the good luck pi xio Rachel got in Xi'an.
We had lunch at Starbucks, which has much tastier things here (and in Taiwan) than it does in the US. I had a turkey and mashed potato mini pie and Rachel had a sausage in flaky pastry. Both were very tasty and hot. I gasped in horror as Rachel told me that quite a few Starbucks she had been to in the States didn't have microwaves, since all the ones in Taiwan do. We then had dinner with my aunt and uncle in Kowloon, and then we ventured out to a Hong Kong 7-Eleven! The 7-Eleven here is pretty nice, though the ones we have seen so far have been smaller than Taiwan's. Also, I bemoan the lack of onigiri and 關東煮/hot pot things on sticks (including pig's blood rice cake, which is my fav) and am curious if people can pay utilities bills and parking tickets here as well. However! They did have several extremely cool flavors of Hi Chew—durian, red bean mochi with strawberry inside/いちご大福, cotton candy, candied apple (the latter two being "祭りのハイチュウ")—as well as okonomiyaki-flavored potato chips and "Black Diamond" potato chips, which supposedly taste like black truffle. I am only sad that we did not have time to find a little bakery, as we had to run back to the hotel before our ice cream melted.
After lugging our purchases back to the hotel, we watched Jet Li's The New Legend of Shaolin. It has kung-fu-fighting kids, evil eunuchs, a Poison Man whose face is literally melting, a trilobyte car, a completely random wax museum, Jet Li being so stoic that he really should have had jingling bells to emote, jokes about eating chicken butt, and a mother-and-daughter thief team. The mother and daughter are really awesome, especially the mother, who is an older woman who totally kicks ass, has sex (it's supposed to be funny, but I thought the movie managed to do it in a way that made her likable and awesome, not "Eww! Old people having sex!," which I hate), plays dead, and catches darts with her hands, mouth, and feet.
Plans for tomorrow: investigate the local drug store chains, watch Zhang Yimou's A Simple Noodle Story (film noir in period China with martial arts and guns!), wander around Central to look at tall buildings, and hopefully buy me more comfortable shoes. And find a good wonton noodle place, as well as the public library, bakeries, and other random little stores that catch our interest.
(no subject)
Sun, Jan. 3rd, 2010 04:59 pm (UTC)(I need to figure out how to install a proper Chinese typeface in Chrome.)
(no subject)
Sun, Jan. 3rd, 2010 06:00 pm (UTC)If you have a chance and aren't afraid of getting down and dirty, head over to Mongkok where there is tons of street food and places to eat and little boutiques and just a lot of crazy awesome stuff in general.
Yes, we can pay utility bills at 7-11 but I don't drive so I'm not sure about the parking tickets. Some 7-11s are nicer than others; some of the larger stores sell fishballs, hotdogs, noodles, freshly made milk tea, etc.
(no subject)
Mon, Jan. 4th, 2010 01:29 pm (UTC)Ooooo, good to know about the 7-11. I am kind of obsessed with going to chain stores around Asia (I am very excited about the chocolate pie at the McDonalds here and in China and must now check if Taiwan has it too) and seeing what each one has.
(no subject)
Mon, Jan. 4th, 2010 02:07 pm (UTC)Have you tried the Portuguese-style egg tarts at KFC? They're quite good. They're originally indigenous to Macau but KFC mades a passable imitation.
Speaking off Taiwan, I went a few years ago and I remember being amazed by the corn soup they sold in their McD's. (It was delish!)
If you get a chance, go to Tsui Wah Restaurant for some local Hong Kong-style cafe food. I love the milk tea there and the fishball noodles and 炸醬麵. They have several branches, but the best is the one in Central.
Okay, I will stop here because I can talk nonstop about where to eat in HK.
(no subject)
Sun, Jan. 10th, 2010 04:38 pm (UTC)And thank you so much for the rec! We went to Tsui Wah our last day there, and it was extremely good, though I sadly totally forgot your food recs and got the baked seafood rice instead. Maybe when I go back some day....
OMG. You can talk all you want about where to eat in HK even though I am not there anymore and will shrivel up out of jealousy! I love talk about food places any time!
(no subject)
Mon, Jan. 11th, 2010 01:49 pm (UTC)I'm so glad you liked the food at Tsui Wah! I just ate there again yesterday. I'm addicted to their milk tea, sadly. (By sadly I mean AWESOMELY.)
Come back to HK soon! I'll prepare a list of places you need to try.
(no subject)
Wed, Jan. 20th, 2010 10:49 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Mon, Jan. 4th, 2010 12:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Mon, Jan. 4th, 2010 06:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Mon, Jan. 4th, 2010 06:22 am (UTC)I never did dare brave the Brown Table though (the stuff on sticks). Someday I'll go with someone who either knows what things are or will eat the things I buy and don't like (I hate wasting food, so I wasn't as adventurous as I should have been).
(no subject)
Mon, Jan. 4th, 2010 01:31 pm (UTC)US Starbucks food kind of sucks =(. It makes me so sad because it is really good around Taiwan and HK (the China Starbucks were not as impressive).
(no subject)
Mon, Jan. 4th, 2010 10:13 am (UTC)