After a late evening out watching the new year’s eve festivities we slept in a little on new years day. We didn’t get back to the Cosmopolitan Hotel until about 1.30 am and we weren’t ready for bed and sleep until about 2 am. Of course I was awake at 6 am because I don’t really sleep in but the girls were out until about 8 am.
We took our time about getting breakfast. When I got there I was hungry so I went with the abominable breakfast, i.e., scrambled eggs and baked beans on toast covered in condensed milk and served with a croissant, jam and butter along with dim sum. Have you ever had such a combination? I say fusion cuisine and my daughters said, “That’s disgusting Dad!”
This is my new years day breakfast
The abominable breakfast with scrambled eggs and baked beans on toast covered in condensed milk and served with a croissant, jam and butter along with dim sum
After breakfast we went on a bus to a local temple to take a look. The Man Ho Temple is an historic building and monument in Hong Kong.
Man Mo TempleMan Mo TempleMan Mo TempleMan Mo TempleMan Mo TempleMan Mo TempleMan Mo Temple
Unfortunately the museum was closed on New Year’s Day.
We discussed our options and the girls want to travel to Lantau Island to visit the Citygate Outlets shops. These are discount outlet shops near the airport and apparently travellers will check in to the flight and then catch a bus there for last minute bargains.
The girls found this place to be ideal for their needs.
I found the black sesame and vanilla soft serve ice cream at the local McDonalds to be delicious. A lovely new years day treat.
Black sesame and vanilla soft serve from McDonalds
After phase one of shopping we went to Food Republic for lunch and had yum cha.
Roast pork and riceFried wontonSteamed pork bunMixed dim sumMixed dim sum
After lunch we found a grocery store called Taste. This place was awesome.
Almond RocaYummy Piggy
After an afternoon of shopping we went to Causeway Bay MTR and walked to Time Square and found a place for dinner, viz., Chungs Kitchen.
Apparently when it was Chungs Cuisine it was a pretty good place. We had mixed feelings. The food was good but the service was not so good. The food was served one dish at a time rather than all together and it took nearly 45 minutes from the first to the last dish. That said, this was my first goose and the beans were the best I’ve ever eaten. I also love wood fungus. This wasn’t as good as Mum’s but it took me back.
Half a gooseScallops and riceGoose head and riceMixed vegetables with beans and wood fungus. These beans were so crispy.Pan fried rice vermicelli noodles with scallops. I love wood fungus.Taiyaki with brown sugar and green tea custard. A great new years day dessert.Yep we visited Victoria’s Secret so many times I became mayorMiss14 with her Victoria’s Secret bags in Victoria’s Secret bags
When we got back to the hotel the girls put all the purchases to date on a bed. It was a huge haul. I remain surprised they fit everything in their bags to bring back to Brisbane.
It’s new year’s eve 2015 and what better way to start the day than visit a wet market. I had explained to Miss14, Ms18 and Ms20 before we embarked on this holiday that while I was happy to spend hours in shopping centres, there would be times when I would need to indulge my own interests.
After a breakfast of toast with scrambled eggs and baked beans combined with dim sum and pickles we were off.
Scrambled eggs and baked beans combined with dim sum and pickles
We caught the Number 10 bus from outside the Cosmopolitan Hotel and went to Chun Yeung Street where there is a wet market.
Wet markets are my idea of the best part of an overseas holiday. I was very conscious I was with my daughters who do not necessarily share my interest in seeing raw flesh, raw vegetables and live animals being dispatched and butchered fresh for the consumer. One of the things I think we really miss out on with our ‘modern’ approach to food technology and processing is freshness. Sure our modern approach is safe and I’m the first to stand up for food safety and food security, however, there is something to be said for watching a fish monger pull a live fish out of a tank, club it on the head and immediately remove it’s head, bleed it and then fillet it. If I was alone I would have tried to video record the process. I was conscious my daughters wanted to keep on the move.
I’m also fascinated by seeing how produce is presented. I love seeing a pig’s chest pluck hanging up as well as a whole pluck in some cases. Being able to identify organs and see how clean and smell how fresh they are is amazing.
When it comes to vegetables, being able to see how fresh the vegetables are is really good. That’s not to say there wasn’t a good supply of preserved and dried foods. My father would have loved some dried sea scallops. I didn’t want to appear on an episode of Border Security so I refrained, after all I’m also a human quarantine officer.
I love seeing bamboo scaffoldingIntestines, livers and hearts under a sinkFresh fishFried seafood my Dad would love
I should also mention I had ample opportunity on this holiday to eat shark fin soup. I refrained. My grandmother used to cook me shark fin soup when I was a little boy. I loved it. I will no longer eat it because of the cruelty to sharks being finned alive and then dumped to die in the ocean depths.
Fresh vegetablesMore fishMore meat and offal for grindingSweet cornShrimp and pork filling for wonton soupSquidMore fishMiss14 and Ms18 outside a fresh meat jointChest pluck from a pigThis guy was very funnyMore sweet cornTrotters and intestinesHave a heart
I’m so proud that none of my daughters gagged or objected to what they saw, smelt or heard. The wet market is really a place a food lover should visit. I would have loved to have visited more wet markets but time wasn’t available. Have you ever visited a wet market?
After the wet market we caught a bus back to Causeway Bay MTR station and looked to have lunch at Times Square in Causeway Bay.
Millenium Falcon at Times Square. I still think the NX-01 is a better looking ship but then Star Trek is better than Star Wars.
We ended up in Cooked Deli and I went for a laksa.
Indonesian prawn and chicken laksa
It was a nice laksa but the prawn was well and truly over cooked. The egg wasn’t too bad and the chicken was tender. The soup was delicious.
After lunch we made our way back to Mong Kok to check out Ladies Market and Langham Place again. Miss14 and Ms18 were keen on some bargains there.
Ladies Market
Miss20 bought us some egg custard tarts.
Miss20 with egg custard tartsEgg custard tarts
These tarts were pretty nice. Not too eggy and they were still warm.
During the afternoon the girls spotted a Sasa. I had no interested and waited outside. I spied these men in comfortable “Dad seats”.
Men in “Dad seats” outside Sasa in Mong Kok
After shopping we had dinner at Chee Kei in Mong Kok. We were keen on something light so I had some deep fried wonton, a crumbed pork chop and some rice.
Deep fried wontonCrumbed pork chopCrumbed pork chop and rice
After dinner we made our way to the Star Ferry Pier to prepare for the NYE festivities. We got there at about 7 pm and staked out an area.
A big wheelNew year’s eve Hong KongRed sailed boat in the harbour on new year’s eve Hong Kong
As we’ve experienced the people have no sense of personal space nor spatial or situational awareness. People crowded in on us and really had no idea how offensive it was to have such close contact and to ‘trespass’ onto staked out territory. When I say ‘staked out territory’ I mean about 30 cm around each of us. It got to the point closer to the countdown to midnight and I had almost full body contact with strangers.
Close to midnight I started experiencing colicky abdominal pain. As someone with irritable bowel syndrome a sense of urgency developed and I started to look for a rest room. The closest one was quite a walk away. When I got there the only toilet was a squat. My last bowel motion for 2015 will long be remembered for the duration of the event, the discomfort and the quadriceps burn I felt. I’m just grateful the flushing mechanism worked and that I had brought ample hand sanitiser.
Squat toiletThis is where we celebrated New Year’s Eve in Hong Kong
Here is a gallery of the fireworks. These photographs are not processed. I’ve run out of time.
The number of people watching the fireworks was huge. I have no idea how many of thousands of people who were there. It was amazing to see so many thousands of people move to trains and then disperse so quickly at the end.
The best thing was there were very few drunk revellers. The most drunk were English and very few Australians. The local Hong Kong people and other Asians were all sober. As far as I know there were no coward punches and no one punch deaths unlike the situation in Australia and other non-Asian centres.
How did you celebrate new year’s eve? Have you ever been to a wet market? What did you think?
One of the reasons for holidaying in Hong Kong was because of Hong Kong Disneyland. I explained in the first holiday post that our planned holiday in Florida fell through and because that included a Disney World visit, considered other Disney options.
To start the day I went with plain congee and dim sum. Not quite a breakfast of champions.
We elected to purchase in advance two-day tickets. We’d heard that Disneyland is bigger than places like Dreamworld and Movieworld on the Gold Coast so we figured a two-day pass would help us see everything we wanted to see and not be disappointed.. We caught a series of trains from Hong Kong Island to Disneyland.
The final train is a special Disneyland train fitted out with Mickey Mouse shaped windows and hand holds. I have no idea who the bloke in this photograph is.
The Disneyland TrainWelcome to Hong Kong Disneyland (We didn’t stay in the resort)
At the entrance before the ticketing area is a big whale fountain. Atop the fountain is a surfing Mickey. The column of water moves up and down.
Surfing Mickey on a whaleWe have ticketsFantasyland CastleWe went into AdventurelandThe Adventureland treehouse was exploredMiss14 and Ms18 in AdventurelandGrizzly Gulch Jail
The second best ride is the Grizzly Gulch Mine Car Ride. I found a YouTube point of view video which is better than any photograph I could have shot.
Ms20 really likes Toy Story and so does her BF apparently.
Toy Story Land
We went on the parachute ride.
Toy Story Parachute Ride
It was okay. Nothing like the Big Drop at Dreamworld or Batman at Movieworld.
We also rode Slinky Dog.
Slinky Dog
We walked back to Adventureland and got on the Safari Jungle River Cruise.
Daniel from the Safari Jungle River Cruise
Daniel was pretty funny in his own way.
Safari Jungle River Cruise
Safari Jungle River Cruise
Safari Jungle River Cruise
Safari Jungle River Cruise
Safari Jungle River Cruise
Safari Jungle River Cruise
Safari Jungle River Cruise
Safari Jungle River Cruise
Okay, Yummy Lummy is a food blog so I need to add a little more about food. The most appalling and disappointing thing about Hong Kong Disneyland is the quality of the food. I expected the prices to be high. That’s the norm for theme parks unfortunately. But in most places I’ve accepted the meal as at least mediocre.
I should have gone with my gut and stuck with Asian food. After all we were in Hong Kong and there were Asian options. Even Chinese options. I was hungry and we were in Fantasyland and Ms18 was keen on a Mickey Mouse shaped pizza. Rather than waste time looking for another outlet I asked for what I thought might be reasonable. I knew the Chinese should never have shared any food with Marco Polo. The European versions of Chinese food don’t rate. I went with what was described as a creamy mushroom pasta.
The photographs tell the story. The pasta was stuck together. It was tepid. It was too salty. The mushrooms were chewy. It was disgusting. My advice is do not ask for this from Fantasyland’s Royal Banquet Room.
Royal Banquet Hall FantasylandCreamy mushroom pasta served by the Royal Banquet Hall Fantasyland
Okay, rant over until next time
So here is a gallery of some random photographs from the afternoon.
Here comes another food rant.
For afternoon tea. Yes, on holidays we enjoy afternoon tea. I ignored tried to forget my body mass and my expanding waistline.
We went to Main Street and noticed a cafe selling High Tea. Now I’ve had high tea at Raffles in Singapore, the Hyatt in Canberra and a few other places. That said, my expectations were suitably set for Disneyland.
It all looked nice and there was appropriate Mickey Mouse branding on some of the products. The chocolate drink which I had assumed to be cold was hot and limp is how I would describe it. The plates had mixes of sweet and savoury on a plate which got a little confusing. I don’t mind a sweet and savoury high tea, but keep them separated on different plates. There was a scone which was just awful. It was tough and chewy. There was also a layered pastry which looked like it should be sweet but it was salty. The mouthfeel from the macaron suggested it was a few days old.
Here’s a gallery of high tea photographs.
High Tea from Main Street
High Tea from Main Street
High Tea from Main Street
High Tea from Main Street
High Tea from Main Street
High Tea from Main Street
High Tea from Main Street
High Tea from Main Street
High Tea from Main Street
High Tea from Main Street
High Tea from Main Street
After high tea we settled into a spot for the parade and fireworks. It was during this five hour period that my patience was sorely tested. I’ve already mentioned in a previous post about our encounters with people who do not have a similar understanding of personal space and both situational and spatial awareness. The girls were really keen to get a good view for the evening parade so we staked out a place on a street curb which impeded no one else and we sat/stood there waiting. From time to time one of us would break off to visit the rest rooms or go looking at something. As night fell the crowd grew. Officials roped off an area near us so the frail and infirm could get a good view. Behind me I felt people poking and prodding. People were coming off the street in front of us and just pushing Miss14 aside to get through. I man spread to protect her and stood my ground buffeting shoulders of passers by. One bloke behind me then started poking me in the shoulder and told me he expected me to sit on the ground when the parade started. I’d already planned to do that but being told by someone just annoyed me. Then he started pulling at my camera bag. I nearly took a swing.
After the parade we turned around getting ready for a wait for the fireworks. Again, people just streamed in front of us. Two women came and stood right in front of Ms20 while she was photographing the fireworks. No consideration whatsoever. It was just unbelievable how rude people could be.
Here is a gallery of some images from the parade and fireworks. I haven’t processed any of these images. I was too annoyed to focus on the photography at the time.
The fireworks finish at 9 pm and then there is the crush to the exit, boarding the Disneyland train and the making connections with two more trains before the 10 minute work from the Causeway Bay MTR station to the Cosmopolitan Hotel.
It’s true what they say, Hong Kong is for people who like to wake up late and stay awake late.
We came back the next morning after breakfast.
Toast with scrambled eggs and baked beans with a hamburger rissole and deep fried potato
I’d say our favourite rides were Space Mountain and Grizzly Gulch Mine Carts. Both were reasonably fast with good twists and turns. The Grizzly Gulch has a long backward stretch making it exciting. The Space Mountain ride is mainly in the dark with projections on the ceilings and walls. It made me wish we had a Star Trek theme park with rides on the NX-01, NCC 1701 A, B, C, D and E, as well as shuttle craft and the Defiant. Most of all it would be great to have battles with Klingon and Romulan Birds of Prey.
Anyway back to Disneyland. One ride we waited over 60 minutes to do was the Autopia car ride. Miss14 was my driver and I took a time-lapse video of the track work.
The girls at Welcome to DisneylandMs18 jumping for joy
Opening ceremony
The teacup ride was fun and had its momentsThe mad hatter tea cups
The next ride was “It’s a small world” which was very colourful.
Ms20 with a paratrooper from Toy StorySpace Mountain. No turning back after this point.No selfie sticks
For lunch I couldn’t go past the Star Wars Darth Vader cheeseburger. As much as I prefer Star Trek, my favourite character is Darth Vader. I love the dark side of the force.
Me eating my Darth Vader cheeseburgerMiss14 and Ms20 with Toy Story’s Woody and JesseFantasylandFantasyland castle
We wended the second day with an egg custard tart
Farewell Hong Kong Disneyland
For dinner we agreed we’d stop at the Kowloon MTR station and look around. We came up the Tasty Congee and Noodle Wantun Shop where we stopped and enjoyed a nice meal. We craved vegetables so we asked for some Chinese vegetables along with our noodles.
So ended another day. We were pretty tired and happy for a relatively early evening.
Day two of our holiday adventure started with a big surprise. Ms20 had called me a few weeks ago and mentioned she had found a great place to visit but I needed to purchase the tickets in advance. When I took a look at the website for the Hong Kong 3D Museum I found is confusing and didn’t quite understand why Ms20 thought this place would be cool to visit. Most Hong Kong websites are very good with Chinese and English. I found this one very confusing. Thankfully Google translate works well.
Anyway after a breakfast of soggy waffle with watermelon and lychee covered in condensed milk we were off.
Danish with watermelon and lychee on a waffle and condensed milk
Our short walk to Causeway Bay MTR Station takes us to Times Square. With the current release of the new Star Wars movie there is all this giant lego around the place.
X wing fighter Times Square Hong Kong
I really like the funny billboard advertising in Hong Kong
Funny Hong Kong Advertising bill boards in the MTR
The HK3DMUSEUM is a series of diorama type rooms filled with painted mural type art. Various parts have painted structures that come out from the background surface and blend in with the rest of the painting. The purpose is to have your friends and family stand in the art so you can shoot photographs. The floors have spots that recommend the best shooting position. It is way cool. I shot about a hundred photographs of my daughters in the largely anime scenes. We are a fantastic time and didn’t expect this to be so good. I don’t normally share photographs of my daughters on-line so I shot a few photographs with just the scenes. That said, I spoke with all three of my daughters and in a non-leading way asked how they would feel if their faces appeared in my blog and each one said they didn’t mind. So you will see some images here of Miss14, Ms18 and Ms20.
Welcome to HK3D MUSEUM from Ms18Welcome to HK3D MUSEUM from Ms20Welcome to HK3D MUSEUM from Miss14Miss14 and Ms20 on a boatHK3DMUSEUM with Miss14 and Ms20HK3DMUSEUM with Miss14, Ms18 and Ms20 and some busty anime charactersHK3DMUSEUM and Miss14HK3DMUSEUM with Miss14, Ms18 and Ms20 in a mirror roomHK3DMUSEUM with Miss14, Ms18 and me
You get the idea. I shot quite a few photographs there.
Along the way we got a good view of Hong Kong Island across the water.
Hong Kong Island waterfront from Tsim Sha Tsui.Hong Kong Island waterfront from Tsim Sha Tsui.Hong Kong Island waterfront from Tsim Sha Tsui.
The worlds of Whampoa consist of different shopping centres. As you may imagine we went to Fashion World!
There’s also a boat in Whampoa but not in the water.
Wonderful Worlds of Whampoa
One criticism of Hong Kong shopping is there are not enough Dad seats so I can sit outside a store while the girls are inside. Don’t get me wrong I usually walk in to start with and then once I know they’re going to spend more than 10 minutes (sometimes up to 30 minutes) in a shop I will stand outside and stare at my iPhone!
When I posted this image on Facebook a friend commented on my excellent man spreading
After looking around Fashion World we walked over to Whampoa garden and found a place to eat, viz., Chào Chào restaurant.
I saw pickled pig trotter and thought of gee gyok. A favourite dish Mum used to make. It uses vinegar and lots of sugar and involves slowly cooking a pigs trotter to extract the calcium. It’s a dish traditionally served to postpartum women 40 days after confinement. I love it. This version wasn’t very good. The meat was tender and had some taste but not as I remember it.
Pickled pork trotter in vinegar and sugar
Yum Cha Whampoa Gardens
Yum Cha Whampoa Gardens
Yum Cha Whampoa Gardens
Yum Cha Whampoa Gardens
Yum Cha Whampoa Gardens
After lunch we went and visited the goldfish market, a flea market, the flower market and the bird market.
After an afternoon looking at all sorts of odds and ends, we went back to Central Station and looked around for a place to eat. We walked around a few back streets and found the Honolulu Coffee Shop. This was an odd looking place but the waiter we had was very funny. I had roast pork with noodles.
Honolulu Coffee Shop Roast pork and noodles
After dinner we walked to the lower terminus for the Victoria Peak Tram. Victoria Peak is one of those must do tourist attractions. It’s great at night especially f the air is clear. The haze and smog in Hong Kong is pretty bad at the moment so when we went up it was hard to see everything clearly. Getting up and down is a nightmare in terms of human crowding and the crushed feeling you have being sandwiched between hundreds of people. Most people in Hong Kong seem to have no situation nor spatial awareness and do not respect personal space as we might in Australia. I found it very confronting to come across such rude behaviour (well rude in my opinion but normal for most people in Hong Kong).
It took a couple of hours of waiting to get to the Peak and then another couple of hours to descend by tram. If you visit Hong Kong, it’s a must do but be prepared for queueing and for contact with other humans, occasionally intimate. Some woman fondled my backside.
Hong Kong from Victoria PeakHugging on Victoria Peak
It was a really long day. It was close to midnight when we got back to the hotel.
Have you visited Victoria Peak? What was your experience?
My daughters and I have been planning an overseas holiday for about a year. Originally we were going to Florida in the middle of December as part of a gymnastics event. Unfortunately that fell through. As an alternative we agreed on Hong Kong. There are a lot of good reasons for Hong Kong. Food. Hong Kong Disney. Food. Ocean Park. Food. No jet lag because it’s in AWST. Food. It’s only an eight hour flight from Brisbane as opposed to more than double that to Florida. Food. Shopping at markets. Food. Photography. Food. Mostly importantly, I’d have much more time with my daughters than if we all went as part of a large gymnastic team event. Did I mention food?
So my part of this adventure started when I flew to Brisbane (BNE) from Canberra (CBR) on Christmas day to enjoy a day with my parents and brothers. I didn’t eat dinner! When I woke up on Boxing day (Saturday 26 December) I still felt full.
QF950 CBR to BNE flight snacks
I greeted my daughters at my parents’ place early in the morning and we all hugged in a huge amount of excitement. I may have squealed.
The flight from Brisbane (BNE) to Hong Kong (HKG) was pretty uneventful. We flew Qantas (QF97). We managed to get the A and B seats in rows 23 and 24. Sweet! Unfortunately my entertainment console didn’t work but I wasn’t upset. I had lots of books and podcasts on my iPad to keep me going as well as yam biscuits and Mum’s almond shortbread biscuits.
Yam biscuits and almond shortbread for QF97 BNE to HKGSoon after takeoff from BNEBeef cheeks on QF97Chocolate mousse on QF97Chocolate mousse on QF97Weis’ ice creamSlider and hot dog on QF97Slider and hot dog on QF97Slider on QF97Cloud porn over the South China Sea
On arriving our passage through the border agencies was trouble-free. The only hitch was the ground transport to the Cosmopolitan Hotel. We had booked a shuttle bus with Buffalo Tours and our arrival gate wasn’t where the tour operator was. There was a moment of “what do we do?” but then I just called the operator and sorted it out. I’m grateful for my Vodafone international roaming feature. An extra $5 a day and I keep all the features I use back home.
We got to our hotel feeling quite tired. Miss14, Ms18 and Ms20 all collapsed into bed after they showered and were down and out for the count.
On Sunday morning we woke up refreshed and ready to go. We had planned to visit Stanley Market and Ladies Markets.
As part of our accommodation package, we had breakfast included. The hotel dining room was utilitarian.
I went for deep fried potato (not quite a potato gem [tater tot] but it was deep fried so it was good anyway), scrambled eggs, a variety of dim sum, waffles and condensed milk. There was also plain congee, cereal, pastries and fruit.
Breakfast deep fried potatoes, scrambled eggs, dim sum and waffles with condensed milkBreakfast deep fried potatoes, bao and dim sum
After breakfast, we walked to Causeway Station and had a few goes at finding it. From there we caught the MTR (mass transit railway) to Central Station. We found the Hong Kong Station and caught the number 6 bus to Stanley Market. The double decker bus was fun. The twists and turns created a little nausea but it was pretty much a roller coaster ride. Watching how close we got to walls and other vehicles was hair raising.
Stanley Markets was fun. We bought little handbags. I bought a black one for a lens. Ms20 and Ms18 bought robes. Ms18 laughed at me but the little zip up bag at only AUD5 was perfect.
BB Gun. If I was a kid I’d beg for this.
We went for a walk to Blake Pier and shot some photographs.
Stanley Market ocean viewStanley Market boats in the bayBlake Pier new Stanley Market
We had lunch at Toby Inn. It was a local cheap and cheerful Chinese restaurant. Everything was sticky and nothing looked clean. One of the staff tossed crockery onto the table with a deft hand. All the plates and bowls seemed to magically find its spot without anything breaking.
Miss14 chose deep fried crispy skin chicken, Ms18 chose salty chilli squid, Ms20 chose beef with rice noodles and I chose deep fried pork with sweet and sour sauce. It was a pretty good meal with generous serving sizes. We shared everything and enjoyed the meal.
Miss14 chose deep fried crispy skin chicken, Ms18 chose salty chilli squid, Ms20 chose beef with rice noodles and I chose deep fried pork with sweet and sour sauce.
After lunch we caught the number 6 bus back to Central Station and caught a train to Mong Kok station and walked to Ladies Market. These markets were really busy. We bought T-shirts, USB sticks and earphones plus a tooth brush cap.
We made our way to Langham Place to rest our feet after about three rounds of the Ladies Market. We then had an early dinner at The Dining Room. I think it’s a chain. Miss14, Ms18 and Ms20 all had the noodles with prawn and pork wonton soup. I had the chilli noodles with chicken fillet. We were all pretty satisfied with our dinner, especially after we received spoons to load up with our chopsticks. After dinner we had ice cream for dessert. We walked to Mong Kok station and when to Admiralty Station to catch another train to Causeway Bay station. From there we walked back to the hotel.
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