Update Update: More Hong Kong Fun

Sorry for the long time period in between posts: I have been out a lot these days, mostly visiting family and going out to Lan Kwai Fong and drinking. Haha!

So I went wakeboarding! If you don't know what that is, it is like water skiing but using a surfboard like thing. 

Wakeboarding is not as easy as it looks. I thought it would be very easy but in fact, I fell over four times before I could even stand up! And twice after I was able to stand up, I fell over just because I was nervous and/or didn't know what to do next. But by the end of the 30 minute session, I was able to ride for about one minute. And the feeling was amazing. Wind in my face, riding along the waves. You can see me wakeboarding HERE!!

Also, did I mention that it made my arms so sore!! It almost felt like when I went rock climbing for Pakpoom's birthday, except my fingers didn't hurt.

After the wakeboarding, my cousin realized that he had lost his keys, probably dropped them in the ocean! So when reinforcements came with spare keys, we decided to go explore a little bit. We wandered into a little Japanese store with a restaurant at the top. 

This was what we started the meal with: Kumquat Sake! It was actually pretty good, a little more sour than I would prefer, but manageable.

Next came the main course

Sashimi!! Om nom nom

The Sashimi was very fresh, at just the right temperature. The lemon added just the right amount of tart/flavor. I never had sashimi with lemon before but it was delightful.

And finally for dessert

It was basically like flan but sweeter and more "Asian"!! It was very good and we all had a good time.

My friend is fixing my ipod touch so I will make another blog entry soon with the pictures from there! Until then.

Let's go back to Hong Kong!!

Hong Kong at nighttime from MEGABOX

Sorry for the long delay. I've been very busy seeing many people I haven't seen in a while, and also visiting many family members.

So I have been on many adventures in the past few days after Macau. Let's start off with my day in Mongkok.

I decided to have a little ME time and wandered the streets of "ladies' market" in Mongkok. I picked up a few trinkets and card games (monopoly deal and cranium) on the cheap. I ended up striking a conversation in English with a person from Germany over price gauging. He was suspecting the people of raising the prices when they saw white people and I told them that this was truly possible. In the end, we worked out an arrangement where he basically *hired* me for an hour to help bargain for him and his family. So we wandered for about an hour, buying things from electronics to shirts. It was fun for me to haggle with the vendors while being able to speak English to someone! In the end, he treated me to some delicious street food and drinks, and gave me $100 HKD!

Fried pork "large intestine" OM-NOM-NOM

After this encounter, I found a place called "shopping mall" (how creative) and I walked up, surprised to find... AN ALL GUY'S SHOPPING CENTER! This was amazing to me, how every shop was dedicated to clothing for MEN. W0W unbelievable! Anyways, I spent a good two to three horus there and ended up buying two pairs of jeans, a few belts and a few shirts. I did see some other cool things in the store. There was this shop that sold 3-D t-shirts (shirts with 3-D images of Mario and other characters) but that store wasn't open and the pictures didn't show any 3D whatsoever. I did also see a shop that exclusively sold...

Figurines... made of folded paper!!

I watched the lady make them for a few minutes and it looked tedious! I did not envy her but the figures were gorgeous!

The next day was somewhat uneventful, but I did end up going with my friend to a video arcade that also had crane games! Including this one...

Ice cream crane machine!

I tried it like five times, not because I wanted any ice cream but I wanted to look PRO. But it wasn't meant to be, that ice cream was much too slippery! =(

The next day was a day full of new and interesting foods. For breakfast/lunch, my mom and I went to the "cooked food center" connected to the market to try some dumplings.

These may look like simple, regular dumplings to you but these were actually crack filled addiction dumplings... OK... maybe they were made of regular LAMB meat. But there was nothing regular about them. They were delicious! The wrap was just right, not too thick or pasty and they were cooked just right. The lamb meat was made with very little additional sauce added in, so that it preserved a lot of original lamb taste. The dumplins were so juicy and was packed with so much flavor! They were so good, my mom bought four dozen home for family! Did I mention it only cost $3.50 USD per dozen? =)

Later that night, my mom and I went to visit my aunt and cousin in Kwun Tong. We went to a mall called MEGABOX (the view from the top of the post is from there) and wandered around the shops. We walked up to the food court and tried a few items from each of the shops there.

Firstly,

Burgers! But not just any burgers, these burgers had buns made of rice! The first one was with "asian" pork and was very good, and we also tried the seafood one but it was only ok. But it was interesting to see how Asian people adapt and still put rice in every meal!

Secondly, we all had some

RAMEN! Living in Southern California for four years randomly gives me cravings for ramen so I went to grab some at the nearest store. It was actually very good, the soup base was very tasty, just the right amount of salt, with seafood and tempura rice on the side. I regret not telling them not to put bean sprouts in it but that is my own fault, not remembering bean sprouts come in these kinds of dishes in Asia.

My fingers are tired from all this typing so I am going to take a break and write about my wakeboarding adventures tomorrow! Until then! =)

Macau: The Vegas of Asia (Part 2)

After the meal, we stopped by the hotel to drop off our belongings. The view from the taxi was very scenic. Crossing one of the three bridges connecting either side of Macau led to this grand picture.

 Getting to the hotel, we decided on a quick swim at the pool before the nighttime show of a majestic performance of the House of Dancing Water. What can I say except refer to the picture below.

Just WOW!

The pool looked like something out of Hawaii or some kind of paradise. It had a beautiful waterfall, tall palm trees, abundant lawn chairs on which to sunbathe, and even its own water slide!

We spent two hours at the pool before getting ready to go to the show. We had VIP tickets in row 2, and when we sat down, were given towels to wipe ourselves off if and when we got wet during the performance!

Shazam, money tickets!

The show was very interesting but there was this weird part where they sort of time traveled and a dragon and motorcycles got involved, which was very...intriguing. After the grand performance, we went to an authentic Portuguese "diner" to grub out at 10:30 pm.

Words cannot begin to describe the food at this place. Judging from the outside, it did not look like anything special. The outer decorations were average at best, but sometimes the hole in the wall places are the ones that are indeed the best.

My mom's friend ordered for us and as I looked around, all the menu items on the walls had very distinct "names". It is hard to describe in English what I am referring to but the owner used very creative names for each and every one of his dishes. My favorite dish was this.

Curry chicken served in a bread bowl.

Unlike the soggy old bread bowls they serve at Boudin's in San Francisco, this crispy and scrumptuous bread bowl was filled with some of the best tasting curry I have ever had. I burned my mouth with every bite, ripping handfuls of bread that was still dripping with savory stew before it was all gone. My gosh, I would go back just for this place, just for this bread bowl.

Other notables:
Deep fried pork ribs: simply amazing, fried just crisp but not burnt, with just a light salt and pepper seasoning that was just right.
Cheese baked shrimp: the name in Chinese was very cute but I am unable to translate it properly into English.

The experience was just amazing and I will go there again anytime I visit Macau.

The next day, I went to more tourist-y attractions, stopping by this famous landmark.

The story of this church goes like this. There was a fire in the back of the church, where supposedly a candle had lit a curtain. The fire spread throughout the building and as people were rushing out of the building, parts of the church started to collapse. Eventually, the whole building collapsed...except for this. The whole front of the church stayed up, including the five statues of the five saints that the church was built for, and the cross that did not burn and stood erect on the roof. This was seen to be a miracle and tourists come here often hoping to have "miracles answered".

My last stop in Macau was to buy souviniers to bring back home, and what could possibly be better than...

Sweets! Almond cookies, sesame candy, "grandma" cakes, and so many more things to choose from. We ended up buying almsot twenty boxes of goods to bring back to Hong Kong and some back to San Francisco.

So the Macau trip was a total success (besides the fact that I lost money gambling, but it happens to the best of us =P ). I wouldn't mind visiting again but for now, I ahave a lot more exploring to do in Hong Kong. Until next episode =)

Macau: The Vegas of Asia (Part 1)

     Macau is a fascinating place. On the ride to the airport, the taxi driver explained to us that Macau was the last stop for most people vacationing in Asia. Why? Because people who go to Macau leave for home with ridiculously bulging pockets, or leave with absolutely nothing.
 
     A short history of Macau. It was taken from China by the Portuguese and only just recently was it given back to China in 1999. It has a unique population mix of Portuguese, Cantonese and Mandarin speaking, as well as some Spanish influences.

    The ferry ride to Macau was smooth and quick. Supposedly it was a 75 minute ride but between doing magic tricks for everyone and talking about good eats, the time flew by. Our first stop: the Kitchen.

   My mom's friend owns the place so we decided to stop by. The food was pretty darn good but it wasn't really the type to fill you up. I would compare it to appetizers or sample sized plates, especially for the eleven people that we brought into the restaurant! But most everything that we ordered was very good, with a strong fusion of Chinese and Portuguese cuisine.

                                  Salmon Skin Salad w/ Garlic Bread and "Homemade" Thousand Island

This was one of my favorite dishes and one of the best pictures that turned out!

Other notable dishes:
Portuguese bun --> light and crisp bread, baked only six at a time to ensure all the bread is cooked properly.
Salt and Pepper fish skin --> fried just the right amount with just enough kick
Parmesean Eggplant --> the light tomato sauce gave the juicy eggplant a great amount of flavor.

                                  Lychee "Wonderland" (Fresh Lychee, milk, Sprite and Lemon juice)

     It sounded too interesting to pass up and I'm glad I ordered it! The bill came out to over $1000 HKD (divide by 8 to convert to USD) but the kind sir gave us free drinks and dessert!

So I am out of time at the hotel wi-fi so I will make part 2 tomorrow!