Hong Kong

The bus into town gave us a sneak preview on how things work. There's a nod to Hong Kongs history of being a British colony, a stand out feature is the red route master buses. Totally out of context to the obviously Chinese surroundings! Another oddity is the love for the red Toyota taxis, which have been here since the 90's. They're literally everywhere and seems to jar against the aspects of modern china. You have the extensive love for technology contrasting against baffling traditional approaches such as the frankly terrifying use of bamboo scaffolding!

To be fair and to avoid being ignorant, the use of bamboo makes sense. It's fast growing, sustainable and strong especially when geometry is utilised to make the most of its strength. It just looks odd by comparison to what you're used to.

After some sightseeing and failing to purchase new shoes it was time to hit the metro and head under the harbour for our next stop. The shoe failure came as a result of sizing issues, it turns out the US 13 isn't heavily stocked in Hong Kong, I guess I shouldn't be that surprised given the average size of the locals.

Our next stop was meeting our local tour guide, Ice, who was due to host us for a three hour street food tour and wow, did Ice and Hong Kong deliver!!

After a brief introduction, we headed on foot into the streets to sample what Hong Kongs culinary outlets had to offer. First up was Dim Sum, I literally couldn't be have been happier.

An amazing selection of savoury dumplings, mostly pork or shrimp with soy or hot sauce, straight out of the bamboo steamer 

Then there was the sweet option. I'm not a lover of sweet things generally so at this point my interest faded briefly so I can't recall what these were exactly 

Some form of gelatinous radish and sugar affair. Exactly as delicious as it sounds.... Challenging. But, glad to have tried it as I'd have never picked it out myself for obvious reasons.

Next stop, a walk through the dried fish quarter. Dozens and dozens of the same shops selling birds nest and shark fin. It seems the shop owners aren't big fans of us loitering so this was a bit a a walk by visit. The whole shark fin issue is a controversial one and the locals know it.

With a belly quickly filling up, it was onwards to try some more local grub. This time one of the many shops selling duck, goose and pork (and quite possibly pigeon). The pork was something else! Hand down the favourite amongst the group.

At this point I casually observed that barely an hour had passed. The tour was booked for three hours. What on earth were we going to do for the other two? I've already eaten twice!

The answer came in the form of eatery number three!!

This was a visit to a local cafe, one that as a tourist you wouldn't look twice at and this visit was designed to show off traditional food thats history is in poverty. Using cheap ingredients for maximum value. Macaroni, in chicken broth with a slice of ham. Surpringly delicious despite how basic it was. Accompanied with a peanut butter toasted sandwich covered in butter and syrup, yep, exactly as rich and stodgy as you may imagine. Just what you need for courses three and four!!

Toilet stop next, where even the pooches get their own patch.

After losing some liquid, it was time to add some, which came as herbal tea accompanied with a suggestion that this tea may outstrip western medicine.

With an unknown combination of twenty different herbs, my only concern is if I'll pass any upcoming drugs test!!

At this juncture I should add I've missed a course. We also dropped into a bakery, I forgot to take a photo. In the bakery we enjoyed an egg tart, similar to a a custard tart. Straight out of the oven. It was very nice, again a bit too gelatinous for my liking but was ok. At this point I'm getting giddy from the sheer volume of food. So after our herbal tea, it was probably time to go and eat again, we're barely approaching hour two!

Off we went, down some stairs into a basement restaurant for wontons and wonton soup. Thank the lord for liquid!! All joking aside, this was delicious. Wontons are right up my street, the broth was lovely, the chilli sauce RED HOT, and the dumplings were stunning. I couldn't get enough. My stomach didn't feel the same way but I duly ignored its cries for help and cracked on. Absolutely lovely!! A quick lesson in chopsticks for those who haven't used them before, a lot of slurping using the lovely ceramic spoons and I was very happy. And very full!!

We spent a nice amount of time here and it was nice to have a seat for a bit. But this didn't last too long before we headed off again, thankfully for our final stop.

Mr So and his tea shop

Here we enjoyed some Woolong tea and were given a history in all things tea. This is China after all.

It was here that our three hour tour finished. It was fair to say that no one left this tour hungry! It was an amazing insight into the local food, we absolutely visited areas we wouldn't have otherwise and ate some wonderful traditional Chinese cuisine.

For anyone wondering.... This tour was three hours, everything was included in the price, which was an absolute bargain at £38 per person! Incredible value!!

And so, it was time to head back to the ship where in our wisdom we had booked ourselves into one of the restaurants on board and proceeded to eat, freshly carved Spanish jamon, goat Ragu and a melt in your mouth lamb dish. All of which were delicious but we really should have thought that plan through. A weekly calorie intake in one day is possibly not recommended!!!

Day 2

My second day in Hong Kong was spent on board working but was to be capped off with a memory that'll last.

Every evening at 8pm, the skyline of Hong Kong lights up. Each skyscraper puts on its own show and together this provides the city with a light show. We sailed just after 7:30 and proceeded into the harbour providing guests and crew with a unique view of the spectacle. It was now that I took a moment to remember just how fortunate we are to experience this in the name of work.

Hong Kong was a real treat, somewhere I never expected to come and somewhere I never expected to deliver in the way it did! A stunning place indeed.

And so we leave this wonderful place behind and sail on to our next port of call, Chan May, Vietnam.