Hong Kong and Singapore 2016

Much better sleep - slept til nearly 6am!

Another rainy morning, another morning lacking motivation. But at least we had a plan.

We did start with watching the finish of the Hong Kong marathon, which we could see from our hotel room. So that delayed us a little.

Hong Kong Marathon in Causeway Bay

Hong Kong Marathon finish line in Causeway Bay

Runner 20947 finishing the marathon

Bag collection point for the marathon

By the time we'd had breakfast we didn't get out the door until 11am :(

We took a train (well actually four trains - and we went east from Tin Hau to avoid the worst of the post-race crowds) up to Sha Tin, and had a bit of a wander through the New Town Plaza. Well actually it was a long walk around trying to find the Starbucks there. Hrmm.

Then a wander down to the river and along to the Hong Kong Heritage museum. Had a little bit of a wander around there.

Lek Yuen Bridge

Lek Yuen Bridge

Lek Yuen Bridge

Hong Kong Heritage Museum

Opera replica stage

Opera costumes

Opera costumes

Opera costumes

Colony Armorial Bearings

Sha Tin in the 1930s

Sha Tin in the 1970s

Sha Tin in the 2000s

Cloisonne vase, reunification gift from Beijing

Sha Tin Park

Sha Tin Park

Tortoise in Sha Tin Park

Waterfall in Sha Tin Park

Sha Tin Park

Then back to the plaza to find some lunch (it was about 3pm at this point). Ended up at a Japanese place which was quite nice.

Ballet performance in the open air auditorium

Nice Japanese lunch we had

I wanted to get more $2 lightning cables, and Stu needed a new luggage tag (his previous one had gotten ripped off on the way over), so we stopped in Sham Shui Po on the way back. I found what I was looking for straight away in the Golden Computer Arcade (which was super crowded), and even found a USB light that does very nicely as a keyboard light for when I'm doing stuff in the dark (my $300 lappy doesn't have keyboard lighting). Got two cables and the light for $8AUD. Then went to Apliu Street to find luggage tags, although I think we would have had better luck at the ladies' market or the Temple Street market. We did find something in the end though for about $3.

The sun came out!

Then headed back to the hotel. We picked up some beer on the way back and I did go out for some more snacks and we just had a quiet night in. Saw the Symphony of Lights, although from here you don't really see much. But there was nothing on tv worth watching so we ended up going to bed really early.

View from our hotel room

View from our hotel room

USB light for my laptop

Symphony of Lights from our hotel room

Symphony of Lights from our hotel room

Symphony of Lights from our hotel room

So woke up yesterday morning at 4am and couldn't get back to sleep. Stoopid body wanting to wake up at normal time :/ Also had a bit of trouble with the bed and pillows. The bed is very hard - probably the hardest bed we've had since Hiroshima in 2009. And three of the pillows are quite thick - only had one that was thin.

Got up at around 6am to blog and download photos and gps. That was mostly all done by about 7am. Then had to get the sweetie to wake up.

Murky view from our room at the hotel in the morning

Eventually went down for breakfast which was pretty good.

Breakfast bar at the hotel

Came back up to finish getting ready and got in contact with @Chrispycon. Finally got out the door at 10am - six hours after I woke up. Yeup.

So met up with Chris and we went for a wander down to Causeway Bay so the boys could get some coffee at a funky little cafe (I had hot chocolate). Chatted for a while and caught up which was nice.

Chris at Café Corridor

Signs in Café Corridor
Photo by Stu

Then headed out into the rain again (it rained. All. Day.) and wandered around Causeway Bay looking at stuff and going into a shopping centre and more wandering.

Tang Lung St looking east

Pinwheels at Hysan Place

Stu with a bear at Line Friends in Hysan Place

Atrium at Hysan Place

Pool in an atrium at Hysan Place

Hennessy Road intersection

Umbrellas in a queue on Hennessy Road

Ladies bathroom in Hysan Place

Lego Woody and Minifig at Lego store

Innis Free store

Yee Wo Street

Causeway Bay Tram Terminus

Came back to the hotel around midday to get organised and have a snack for lunch.

Metropark Hotel, Causeway Bay

Murky view from our room at the hotel

Snacks to keep us going before the Foodie Tour

Then headed out again to go up to Tai Po Market (it took four trains to get there) for our third Foodie Tour in Hong Kong. Not just food, but a bit of history about the place.

Our first stop was Chan Hon Kee for some rice rolls - we tried some filled with pork liver and also some with dried scallops. I think I preferred the scallops.

Making the rice paper

Rice paper rolls - with pork liver

Rice paper rolls - with scallops

Our second stop was a bbq meat shop. It would have been Yat Lok, but they were closed for a few weeks, so we went to one a few doors down. There we had roast goose with rice spaghetti noodles. I think the goose was probably my favourite dish of the day (altho having to pull out all the bones was a bit painful).

Roasted goose with rice noodles

In between we went up to the railway museum and also Man Mo Temple.

Narrow guage steam locomotive

Inside a carriage at the railway museum

Super skinny highrise building in Tai Po

Markets in Tai Po

Man Mo Temple
Photo by Stu

Man Mo Temple
Photo by Stu

Man Mo Temple

Our third stop was Macau Phoenix City Souvenirs which is a nut/sweet shop where they make their own nut confectionary. We got some sample bags of candied pumpkin seeds, candied peanuts, and a sweet chewy ginger thing. I was holding cameras and umbrellas so it was all a bit complicated, so just tried a bit then put the rest in my bag to have later.

Sample of nuts we got

Nuts and candies at the candy store

Nuts and candies at the candy store

Also walked down to the river to have a look at the "peaceful" side of Tai Po and across into the newer government developments on the other side.

View east from Kwong Fuk Bridge

View west from Kwong Fuk Bridge

Our fourth stop was Snake King Hoi for snake soup. I've never had snake before. And you know how people say about things "it tastes like chicken" - will this time it was actually true. It was surprisingly like chicken in both texture and flavour.

Our guides - Elise and Silvana

Snake soup

Our fifth stop was Miss 3, which was housed in a big building that has both wet markets as well as stores that sell cooked food. There we had deep fried squid balls which were pretty good, some steamed mullet with black beans which was very tasty - maybe my second favourite dish of the day, and some steamed glutinous rice with crab - crab is always super fiddly but this dish was more about the rice.

Tai Po Hui Market and Cooked Food Centre

Steamed glutinous rice with fresh crab from Miss 3

Steamed mullet with black bean sauce from Miss 3

Deep fried squid balls from Miss 3

Our final stop was sweet beans for dessert soup. They gave us three to try - almond, walnut and black sesame. The almond I probably liked best, but I struggled to get through it.

Almond Soup and Black Bean Soups

For some reason this tour felt really *long*. It was the same time as the other tours (four hours), but maybe because of my lack of sleep, maybe because of the rain (it rained. all. day.), maybe because it was dark for the last half of the tour, I just felt super tired by the end of it. Too tired to feel up to meeting up with Chris for drinks - we'll have to try for another night.

Made the long trek back to the hotel and collapsed in a heap.

View from our room at the hotel by night

View from our room at the hotel by night