Before I get started today, I have to show you what was on our TV in our room. Pretty classy, eh?
And how about our slippers?
Now for the real stuff.
Today we had on our agenda to do a foodie tour of Hong Kong. We met up with a group of 3 others + the tour guide in an area of Kowloon (part of Hong Kong) called Sham Shui Po (means Deep Water Port). By the way, we are also staying in Kowloon - it's across the harbour from Hong Kong Island where the main part of Hong Kong is located.
It was a 3-4 hour walking tour of the district and included stops at 6 places for food, as well as several other stops at various shops where food items that are sold to restaurants, as well as privately, are made by hand in the old Chinese traditional way. Things like rice noodles, tofu and soy milk, etc. This is one photo of the district, but every street was like this, and often with even more crammed into it.
The art of preparing these certain foods is dying out. Most of the places we visited have been owned by a family for 3-5 generations, and many came from mainland China. Unfortunately in some cases, the place we visited is the ONLY place left where the food is prepared this way. Most of it is prepared in bulk in larger plants.
We started out great at the Kowloon Restaurant. We had a pineapple bun and Hong Kong styled milk tea. Not so bad. I didn't care for the milk tea, but that was because it was evaporated milk...not my "cup of tea". The pineapple bun didn't have any pineapple in it, but hey...what's in a name? It was still good.
And how about our slippers?
Now for the real stuff.
Today we had on our agenda to do a foodie tour of Hong Kong. We met up with a group of 3 others + the tour guide in an area of Kowloon (part of Hong Kong) called Sham Shui Po (means Deep Water Port). By the way, we are also staying in Kowloon - it's across the harbour from Hong Kong Island where the main part of Hong Kong is located.
It was a 3-4 hour walking tour of the district and included stops at 6 places for food, as well as several other stops at various shops where food items that are sold to restaurants, as well as privately, are made by hand in the old Chinese traditional way. Things like rice noodles, tofu and soy milk, etc. This is one photo of the district, but every street was like this, and often with even more crammed into it.
The art of preparing these certain foods is dying out. Most of the places we visited have been owned by a family for 3-5 generations, and many came from mainland China. Unfortunately in some cases, the place we visited is the ONLY place left where the food is prepared this way. Most of it is prepared in bulk in larger plants.
We started out great at the Kowloon Restaurant. We had a pineapple bun and Hong Kong styled milk tea. Not so bad. I didn't care for the milk tea, but that was because it was evaporated milk...not my "cup of tea". The pineapple bun didn't have any pineapple in it, but hey...what's in a name? It was still good.
Next we went to Hung Fat for Put Chai Pudding (light-coloured) and Sesame Pudding (black). It was like a tougher jello with no fun taste to it. Meh - I think I'll pass.
Then we were at the A1 Tofu Company. The soybean milk and tofu were made from pure 100% Canadian soy beans. They process the beans right there in the back of the shop to make the milk and the tofu. The milk was actually not bad - served cold. The tofu - well, here are Gerard and Joanne trying to add some flavour to it.
The next stop was the Lu Goose Restaurant. Here they braise everything. We had braised goose and pork knuckle. They were OK. A photo of the braised geese hanging around - and down below some braised other things. Those items in the front were not sausage. Nope - intestines. Yep, I actually saw my appetite running down the street.
Fortunately, our next stop at the Eight Angels Cake Shop was for walnut and almond cookies. They were good. But I saved mine until the end because we had one more place to go. It was to Lau Sum Kee Noodle. There, we had egg noodles with shrimp roe. Yes, shrimp eggs on top of the noodles.
It doesn't look bad, but the noodles were chewy and the taste of shrimp roe repeated on me for the next 2 hours. The side soup helped wash it down, even though it had a mild fish base. I'm glad I had my cookies with me - pun intended.
This is our group, except for Dan, who took the photo, and our tour guide, who was paying.
We saw all kinds of things along the way. The streets were full of things to eat and buy. Like these yummy-looking octopus fingers, chicken feet, and intestines. They're coloured the way they are to make them more appealing to buy!!!!
All in all, and in spite of foods I will not go out of my way to buy, it was a wonderful excursion. Our tour guide - Silvana - was terrific. Very knowledgeable, and we learned a lot about the area of Sham Shui Po and Hong Kong in general. This is her in the middle.
We must be suffering from jet lag because by the time we got back to our rooms after the tour, we all conked out. We had grandiose plans like heading up to the rooftop to catch a few rays. Didn't happen.
By 7 pm we were at Pier 1 (not the store) to catch the Aqua Luna boat for a short harbour tour. It was quite breezy and the waves were bouncing the boat, so difficult to get some good shots.
Here we are enjoying a quaff on the very comfy seats on the boat.
The "Symphony of Lights" was on in the harbour - in fact every night at 8 pm. We have to say though that Disney could give them some tips on how to improve the show. It was just nice being out in the harbour.
After a couple of failed attempts at dinner, we ended up back at our hotel and ate there in one of the restaurants. More coming tomorrow.
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