some words about Chinese food

Ahoy,

I feel like I've never coveted Chinese food like most others around me often do. Most of this is due to the fact that I've grown up around Chinese foods. I grew up with restaurant parents and still have restaurant parents. My friends would ask me about Chinese food, and I would posit that it was not Chinese to me, it was just food. Chinese home cooking is all I've known for most of my life, despite mine and my brother's most aggressive attempts to cajole our parents into getting us McDonald's.

Chinese food is something I will never tire of. I don't think I was in Hong Kong long enough to eat enough food. Isn't that always the problem? Our daily routine consisted of stopping off at a bakery in the mornings for bao, don tat, and soymilk. This didn't happen just in the morning, it happened whenever we were hungry. I try my best to uphold the rituals of the snacklife.

Our first meal was spotted walking past the clay pot rice cooking outside. We went upstairs and an old lady spoke Cantonese to me as I nodded yes, not always knowing what I had nodded yes to. It was a great meal and we discovered the reasonable cost of beer. Most dinners were eaten at HK cafes, we spent our meals tasting the roast pork and cha shu of all the cafes of HK. They were all delicious.

A really wanted to go to high tea because of the strong British roots in HK he figured traditional British afternoon tea would be phenomenal. He spent quite a deal of time and effort researching this. It's always a surprise when he isn't reading up on cars or watches on the internet. We went to wait at the Peninsula where we were greeted by a firm 3+ hours wait for tea, emphasis on the "+." Not feeling like we wanted to be suckers today, we walked over to the InterContinental. There was no wait + we got a spectacular view because it was right on the water.

My favorite was the soymilk, fresh made daily. I could drink that stuff all day if you let me. There were many things we didn't eat and I wish we had had the time for. Next time, we'll go with my family so we can order more things to eat.

scrumptiously abroad,
jt

some words about Japanese food

Ahoy,

I'll never tire of Japanese food. This trip was an excellent excuse to gorge on one of my favorite foods, which happens to be prominent in Japanese culture: rice. Daily, I would get 1 or 2 omusubis/onigiris. They were the best part of my day. I would get one for morning snack, afternoon snack, midnight snack. I would not have minded all my meals of convenience store rice balls. But, alas, the boys wanted other foods.

We got ramen at some chain shop that I'm told is considered "alright," to which the RRS stated is better than anything in the States. Ramen is considered the fast food of Japan. And H says his cholesterol has definitely suffered for it. We spent close to an hour or more looking for a specific udon place he found online reviews for. My heart dropped when he actually selected a specific place. I knew that addresses didn't mean anything nor street signs. Everywhere else we had been was chosen on the fly in front of the shop. It was so nondescript, I was so shocked we actually got there. It probably tasted better for it.

We had conveyer belt sushi which was amazing. That's probably the one meal I would want to repeat. I'm not the biggest fan of noodles (I'm sure you all just stopped being my friend right there), but I love rice and fish. Which happened to be our next meal - sashimi atop a bowl of rice (READ: heaven in a bowl). At the izakayas we went to, we'd order tapas style little plates to share of so many delicious foods. A loved the yakitoris. He was always craving red meat.

I'm sure the RRS loved all the noodles. But I would guess his favorite was mochi, which was everywhere. And he ate all of it. We both died over the matcha soft serve, also everywhere. H convinced me to purchase it and then commanded us to run to the train station, ice cream in hand. Here I was expecting a leisurely stroll to enjoy my cone. I was on a mission to drink as much bottled milk tea from as many brands as possible. At bakeries, we'd snag stuff that had just come out of the oven. Everything was so light and airy and delicious.

All the food in Japan is delicious. The kind of craftsmanship, attention-to-detail, specialist type of culture you often hear about is definitely pervasive throughout their dining.

mouthwateringly chewy,
jt

the last day

Ahoy,

Our final day on this trip came at once all too soon and yet it would never arrive. The giant buddha is near the airport and would take over an hour to get to. Though I'm sure there would be plenty of things to do on Lantau, I knew going there would be a whole day trip. Upon A's request for more shopping time (not mine), I decided it would be a better idea to go see the 10,000 buddhas because it is on Kowloon island thus allowing us time to do more things. We made the trip up and down the buddhas without needing to rush. There weren't signs, just vague instructions I had come across on the web, but it was fairly easy to find.

We headed back into the city because the RRS wanted to have a traditional British afternoon tea. At the Peninsula, we found a line with a wait of 3 hours or more, emphasis on the 'or more.' Skipping out on this wait, we found ourselves seated at the waterfront in the InterContinental. The view was extraordinary and wait was even better. Anybody who schleps across the Pacific Ocean to spend 3+ hours waiting in line is a sucker. Nothing that would go in my belly could possibly be worth waiting that long.

We skipped back across the bay to the Hong Kong side to go shopping, one of the RRS's favorite recreational activities. We even had time to catch the post before closing hour to mail some postcards home. After spending money, we returned to our neck of the woods for dinner and one final walk through the night markets. How fitting that our first activity in HK would also be our last activity. I fell asleep happy and content with all we had accomplished, and wistful of the tasty morsels I would be leaving behind. Though there were plenty of things we did not get to do, I was already planning our itenerary for our next trip to Hong Kong. And also, we had picked a flight home that would depart at a reasonable hour - so that was a load off. Life is so much easier when you are not trying to catch transportation at ungodly hours.

flightfully adrift,
jt

city escapes

Ahoy,

After a somewhat late start, we hopped aboard a train to hit up the Nan Lian Garden and Chi Lin Nunnery because they are across the street from each other and I love gardens. The RRS was reluctant because of all the things we saw in Japan already, but I dragged him along anyway. This is not a democracy after all. I loved it, he didn't have a lot of objections.

Though Japanese gardens were influenced by Chinese gardens in the beginning of their development, there are differences that evolved. Chinese gardens have more ornate architecture on the buildings and the buildings are usually placed over water. Japanese gardens have much simpler looking buildings that are placed apart from water. Chinese gardens are meant to be viewed from within, as if to look closer at details, but Japanese gardens are meant to be viewed from an exterior point of view as a bigger picture. I took a class about gardens in my youth, only fueling my delight for them.

We hopped aboard one of those minibuses to Stanley, a resort-type of area on the southern side of Hong Kong island. It reminded me a lot of Venice, Italy because of all the restaurants and shops along the waterfront. We sat down for a giant beer amongst all the activity. There was some or 10 different kinds of festivals happening there. The RRS loved the beaches we found here. The water was so clear and calm, white sand. It was really warm so we could have gone into the water had we been dressed. Right on the waterfront were barbeque pits and the RRS was salivating over other peoples' food grilling.

We spent most of the day in places that really didn't feel like we were in a big city. There is such a great diversity of things to do. It's amazing to me how close and far Hong Kong can feel like. We got off the ferry just in time to catch the light show on the HK side. My theory about the light shows is that they are the modern day fireworks. Visibility is too poor to add to it with smoke from fireworks. Light shows can be done without significant detriment to air quality and have better visibility.

beachy keen,
jt

4 mile visibility

Ahoy,

We hopped aboard the ferry today to go to Hong Kong Island. The Botanic Garden was first on our destinations because we heard about this trail up to Victoria Peak that starts form there. Wandering around, we stumbled upon the garden and entered through a nondescript gate. We figured the lush green part beyond this fence must be it. It's a pretty massive garden in the middle of the city. This was just the first of many natural encounters in an urban jungle. Despite the size, density, and sheer urbanity of Hong Kong, it's always amazing to me how you don't have to go very far to feel like you're not in it.

There was also a zoo. Most of the animals were awake and playing, which we felt were in large contrast to American zoos when they're usually asleep during the day. The most fascinating animal on display was the American raccoon. So exotic.

We followed some folks dressed like much more serious hikers than us up Old Peak Road. It was quite steep at the bottom and I was pretty displeased with that. Eventually we started passing people, which gave me the motivation to smoke more people up the road. The road was wide, paved, and tree lined. Oh, the modern conveniences of urban hiking. At the top, I was glad to have walked up because it looked like there was a major wait for the tram. Food was the next item so we stopped at a bakery and McDonald's. We ate American fast food over the most stellar view of Hong Kong. The RRS had been wanting processed American meat for a while so this was a long time coming. I'm always happy to get a toy.

We walked back down the road and eventually stumbled upon what we later determined to be Hong Kong park. It seemed there was another zoo in here, but it was dark now and the RRS didn't have his big boy pants on. At Causeway Bay, we both immediately remarked it looked the same as Mong Kok, where we were staying on Kowloon. After wandering and looking at shops, we selected a Chinese style barbeque house to have dinner. It was delicious.

We ferried it back to Kowloon and saw the skyline by night. Even more spectacular than during the day. And the ferry is so cheap.

fragrantly ported,
jt

upon arrival

Ahoy,

We made it to Hong Kong! Our final destination! At this point, I felt it safe to stuff our bags full of stuff because we only needed to haul it all to the airport one more time. Our flight landed around 5:30 in the evening and we boarded the local trains to get to our hotel in Mong Kok on the Kowloon side. To say there are a lot of people is somewhat of an understatement. But there were so many people! To find our hotel was somewhat of a treasure hunt. The building it was located in has a multitude of other components that take up the entire city block. After wandering around the vicinity, in and out of an electronics arcade, I zipped back out to find another entrance. We rode the elevator up to the 9th floor. The attendant kept speaking to me in Mandarin, and immediately switching to Cantonese with her husband, even though I responded to her in Cantonese. We dropped our stuff in our shoebox of a room on the 13th floor and left to explore.

open air atrium for hotels/residents

It really was a shoebox of a room. We had enough floor space to open the door and our bags only fit if we piled everything on top of each other. The bed was wall to wall to wall, and your knees hit the wall if you sat on the toilet. It was as cozy as cozy can get.

We wandered up and down the shopping streets near our hotel and decided to eat at a clay pot rice place. There are a ton of lights and banners and people everywhere. It was so busy. Also, it was very warm. The RRS even took out his middle layer of down.

toastily cozy,
jt

homesick

Ahoy,

To say Shanghai was the lowlight of this trip is probably not giving the city enough credit. To be fair, we were just stopping through on an overnight layover and getting to see anything beyond the airport customs/immigration check was really a bonus. A visa for China costs upwards of $100 and we were not about to spring on that for such a short trip. We were able to enter through some 72 hour rule. If you are only coming in for less than 72 hours and you show proof of your flight out, you are permitted to enter the country. I think this is only for certain cities in which there are a lot of overnight layovers, and only for flights.

Having just come from the impeccable service of Japan, we knew we had to get used to lesser accommodations again. What a drag. The pollution in Shanghai that day/time was probably at its worse. It smelled like fireworks and visibility was poor. We made the choice to hop in a taxi to get to our hotel near the Bund because we figured it'd be quicker. Turns out, it was no quicker than what GoogleMaps estimated had we taken public transit. There was a ton of traffic for more than half the way there. But it was incredibly cheap, and we taxied back to the airport the following day.

Our hotel was down probably the sketchiest alley. I'm not sure I could have convinced the RRS to walk down it had it not been about 10 steps to the door of the hotel. We scurried in and ran up the stairs. I noticed a toy machine gun on the counter whether it belonged to the child at the desk or for security I'm not sure. We made note of the holes in the flooring no doubt due to the pinpoint precision of Chinese construction and left for the waterfront.

I wanted to see the Bund because that was one of the things that stuck in my mind from one of my planning classes as an undergraduate. As one of many rapidly developing cities in Asia, Shanghai competes on a global market and its development reflects as such. The past, present, and future of Shanghai can be read along the waterfront that guided the growth of this worldly city. The grandeur and scale of the skyline was spectacular despite the haze and wind chill. To see something that I had so long ago heard of and studied is also somewhat of a full circle in my mind, and yet leaves me wanting more.

From here, we walked inland on a pedestrian pass lined by giant malls. I think we walked up to the bottom of People's Square and turned around. The food we ate was not remarkable because we got caught in a tourist trap. There was something about this city that felt so foreign, perhaps a little unwelcoming, a little dirty that made the first twinges of uneasiness, not quite homesickness, rise up in my throat. I was glad to be leaving, but I still wanted to see more.

delectably chilled,
jt

Tokyo rapid fire

Ahoy,

Our final day we spent with H & C. H took us of his rapid fire tour of Tokyo in a day. We started out walking to Akihabara, a BIG electronics district. There are $1,000+ rice cookers. It was amazing. We got a fast lunch at this hole in the wall I never would have noticed. We skipped over to Shinjuku to check out the metro government building for the stellar view at the top.

From here we retraced our steps from our first day here - walking through the Meiji Shrine, Taketshiki shopping street, Shibuya and ending up at the Tsukiji fish market featured in Jiro Dreams of Sushi. It was pretty late in the day so there wasn't much happening. We decided to forego sushi for the night and opted for ramen at Ippudo, our host's favorite.

Our last stop of the night was over to the man-made island of Odaiba, just beyond the Rainbow Bridge. There was a giant gundam on display at the mall there. The boys were enamored like schoolchildren, standing there watching with their mouths hanging open. Fanboys. If I ever saw it. After we wandered around the mall a good amount of time, we felt we had worked up enough of an appetite for dinner #2 back near H's house. Our bellies are nothing if not ambitious. Hungry friends are really the best kind.

scarfily stuck,
jt