Hong Kong: A Parallel Realm

A Rich and Modern Present Sprinkled With a Rugged Past

Travel. Experience. Eat, Eat, Eat!

Imagine a full two-and-a-half-day trip just sprouted from my desire to eat good food in Hong Kong. In all honesty, this wasn’t a trip meant to be. Hong Kong was just a transit on our way back home from Kolkata. It began with my husband being unable to find less than 12 hours of transit time. Then it was a bargain with me to stop there for a day. Gluttonous me made it into a 30 hours stop over. :D What began in Egypt, carried on in Bangalore and Kolkata was finally going to call it a day a in Hong Kong – 2 crazy months!

PS - jump to the bottom of this page for some FAQs.

Day 1: Noogles

We reached Hong Kong in the wee hours, I think it was about 6 am-ish. We had a heavy breakfast at this joint called, Crystal Jade. Families with without kids, I would highly recommend this place. We tried their noodle soup, dumplings, bao and soy milk – each more better than the other. And the moment you tell them the noodles are for kids, they cut noodles into smaller pieces making it easier for the kids to eat – thoughtful!

Abesh enjoying 'Noogles' soup at Crystal Jade

I don’t remember looking for an Uber there, instead they have a very well organized taxi system. We took a taxi to our hostel at the heart of the downtown.

We stayed at the Apple hostel. Now, this one is tricky one. It was a clean and well equipped room but, it was like living inside a match box – it was tiny. The lady at the hostel was very sweet and she handed us our room keys even though we were 6 hours before check in time.

Warning: if you are travelling to Hong Kong and don’t have all the money in the world be prepared for tight squeeze of a room. But, they are very clean and the room (or the lobby) will have all amenities. Carry some toys like coloring books, re-usable sticker books, magnetic blocks that kids can sit on the bed and play with and be kept busy with.

We all slept till about 3 pm. Somewhere in my slumber I heard Abesh going ‘noogles, noogles’. He was hungry and wanted noodles. :D So, we set out to meet his demands. Checked into a random joint where the kids had some noodles and I of course tucked in on dumplings.

Then, we walked to the Tsim Shah Tsui, the Promenade and walked along Avenue of Stars. The location of our hostel was amazing, we were just 5 minutes’ walk away from the harbor and the star ferry dock.

The wheel goes round and round into the starry skies 

If my aging memory is working fine, then we took a star ferry (probably the only and most commonly used way to cross the harbor) and went on to the other side, Victoria Harbor.

Here we popped in at the AIA Vitality Park, where we took a ride on the Hong Kong Observation Wheel (or Hong Kong Eye as I call it :D). In all honesty, I am scared of heights and doing such rides, and so is Abesh. But, we both were fine on this one. It’s a very slow and steady ride. I enjoyed it.

Recommendation: I would recommend the AIA Vitality park. It has lots of fun stuff for the children. There are little light shows going on.

Tip: Carry some snacks with you for the kids. However, there are ample such bakeries where you can grab some quick bites for your kids – slightly expensive though.

I absolutely have to mention the Kee Wah Bakery at the Central Ferry Pier Building (basically, the star ferry station building). I remember picking up an assortment of matcha flavored cakes and buns and croissants. They were all a delight to the palette. We even packed some for breakfast the next day.

On our way back home, right before we got into the lines to board the ferry, we picked up some Bao and soy soaked boiled eggs to make the next day’s breakfast more scrumptious.

Notice all the food I am bantering about? What did I tell you, I literally stopped in Hong Kong to just add inches to the already big belly of mine.

Day 2 Topsy Turvy World

This was the day when the world went all topsy turvy for us! We planned to ride the Victoria Peak Tram. Now, you can either wait in those really long lines and pay the official price or there are some ‘agents’ who for a few dollars would get you tickets and also you can skip all lines. (I don’t remember the exact amount they charged, but, I do remember that the delta was not too much).

Soon we were at the train station waiting for the wagons that have been chugging up and down since 1888. Re-living history! If you’re in Hong Kong, this is a must do. The train goes up the hill at a 45° angle. Everything around you slants at a dangerous angle. In many ways, this little train is like warm hole which takes you to a parallel universe where the laws of gravity act all wonky! Finally, you get to the top, the Vitoria Peak and the massive shopping mall, The Peak Shopping Center sits atop the hill.

We went to the upper deck to get a bird’s eye view of the entire city! Cold as it was; it was worth every shiver that ran down our spines. Giant buildings, the gurgling bay and barren distant hills bespeak of nature and mankind living under the same grey skies.

Nature Made and Man Made Grandeur Altogether  

If you’re looking for known food places, there’s Bubba Gump. Of course, we didn’t lunch there. We lunched at the Lu Feng Restaurant. We ordered some beef noodled for the kids, which was delicious and the kids loved it. All kinds of dumplings decorated our table soon, from mushroom to shrimp, from pork to red bean. I personally am not very fond of red bean as a flavor, but, when it comes to trying I would say don’t hold back.

The Peak Shopping Center is spilling with souvenir stores. I did a quick stop at one and filled my bags with magnets and key rings. J

Warning: this is Hong Kong, don’t expect dirt cheap souvenirs. But, it was certainly budget prices at the mall in almost all the stores I saw.

We have a saying in Hindi: “God asks man that you’ve climbed this hill, now how’re you going to climb down?”. “Well, purple double decker buses”, answered man! J You can also take the taxi. But, just walk like 10 mins and you’ll be at the bus station where buses depart to different parts of the city. The kids were super pumped to ride on the second floor of the bus.

My husband and I decided to walk around the city for a while. The kids gladly took a nap in the prams while we strolled around. We stopped to pick up some bao, breads and buns. Back in the Star Ferry we came back to our side of the harbor. I don’t know if they have this all year around, but, during the Christmas/New Year time of the year, they have this amazing light and sound show at the harbor. So if you are there at this time, don’t miss this one. Light, sound, fireworks – it is splendid.

Dazzling Night!

Before long, we were standing in queue to get into the elevator that would take us to our hostel on the 8^th floor.

Day 3 Curtain Fall

Wake up, nibble breakfast, finish packing, get ready and hit the streets for riding a double decker bus to the airport. We again grabbed brunch at the Crystal Jade and soon were seated in our AirBus for a long journey home.

FAQs

Topic	Info	Additional Notes
Places visited	Hong Kong
Weather		Very cold in December end
Currency	Hong Kong Dollar
Language	Mandarin
Visa Requirement	Yes
Safety	5
Cash in Hand Requirement
Water	Need to buy drinking water
Uber available		Frequent bus & train service Taxis available
Suggested Reads
Flight Cost (from PDX)
Must Try Foods	Bao (rice buns with BBQ pork) Dumplings Noodle Soup Street food (spicy crab, soy boiled eggs)	Green Tea Freshly Squeezed Soy Milk Restaurants: Crystal Jade at the Airport Victoria Peak: Lu Feng Restaurant
Child Friendly Bites	Bao Noodles Bread/Pastries	Freshly Squeezed Soy Milk
Tipping Culture