Tripping Thru Hong Kong, part 2

Read part 1 before this for continuity, or not. Eheh. The rest of the photos are in the gallery, the album is ‘HK / Shenzhen December 2005′. Comments welcome unless you want to tell me my photography sucks then don’t bother, I already know.

Day Four
We started out early to catch the first ferry at Star Ferry Pier to Cheung Chau Island. At 8.50am we arrived to find the first shuttle leaves at 10.40am. HongKis, surprisingly, start their day late. The ferry service, btw, is available on weekends and public holidays only. However, over on HK Island there is round-the-clock service to Cheung Chau.
So we schlepped over to another familiar spot, the Sweet Dynasty restaurant (糖朝, cute huh?) for some dim sum. This place, aside from it’s good tong sui (not served in the mornings) has fresh dim sum and their char siew pau is mmm-mmmm good. Sorry no photos. Too busy eating.
We dashed back to the pier to catch the ferry and settled in for an hour of praying the captain of the boat successfully manouvers his way out of the busy waterways of Hong Kong.
Now, I’ve always wanted to go to Cheung Chau and after 15 years I’m finally there. Look at how thrilled I am:

This island is rumored to be once the hiding spot for a famous 19th century pirate called Cheung Po Tsai, 張保仔. On the guide map you can walk to the cave where he stashed his booty but we didn’t make it that far up. We trekked eastwards instead, towards Tung Wan beach. There were wind surfers doing their thing there. After all, this was(is?) the training ground and birthplace of Hong Kong’s windsurfing Olympic gold medallist Lee Lai Shan. Pride of the nation, she is. The surfers had the beach and water to themselves since it was close to winter and there aren’t any silly tourists wanting to sun bathe.

Southwards along the beach you get to come across a historical rock carving. I found it so hugely dissappointing that I didn’t even snap a picture of it. The wikipedia entry of Hong Kong has a photo, if you’re curious.
We meandered back to the center of the islang, going through alleyways and checking out the local offerings. The aroma wafting from the bakeries just about killed me. When we decided it was time for a break, we sat down so mom could have her Tau Foo Far. The other two of us was just going to chill.

As you can see, the Tau Foo Far was so good, so soft, we ended up getting another…. and another. Terrible, hor? Anyway, we spent the day meandering some more, stopping to sample whatever food we fancy but didn’t find the restaurants very appealing. Cheung Chau is a big tourist attraction in the weekends and the place was packed with them by midday. The food places mostly served bland looking dishes that cater to foreign taste. With that we decided to head back to Kowloon for dinner, after a nap to recharge the batteries, and left Cheung Chau at 3pm.
I would love to return to Cheung Chau when the Bun Festival is happening… you’ve probably seen in on Discovery Channel. This festival held in mid spring attracts tens of thousands of curious tourists over a span of a week.
That night we were knackered but decided to have one more go at the wanton place we went to on Saturday night for ‘supper’.

This place, on Parkes Rd and Jordan Rd is another Hong Kong institution. They serve nothing but wan ton and wan ton noodles in its varied forms. The name of the stall escapes me for the moment but I’ll get back to you on that soon. The wan ton noodles was so fresh, you could taste the ingredients that went into making it. Dee-licious.

Day Five
Today, the temperature finally dropped low enough to break out the jackets. I gleefully put on my new jacket purchased from U2. You can’t get stuff like that from KL’s U2 outlets, I tell you. The Christmas atmosphere definitely felt more real with the chill. Teehee.
After the exhaustive trip yesterday, we set out for more of the same. This time to yet another place I haven’t been to – Shenzhen, China. The train ride was an hour long and was fairly uneventful and I spent it people watching.
Shenzhen, like other thriving cities in China is huge. Everything is just big and wide. I failed to convey that through my photos, must bring a wide angle lens next time. This was a shopping trip which means I basically trailed along and observed the surroundings while the parentals perused the goods. Shenzhen, although very close to Hong Kong, has an uminstakeable China feel to it. The city is tripping over themselves in the race towards modernity; it is teeming with construction, traffic, people, and pollution… as you can see from my mom’s reaction to having to walk the streets of Shenzhen. This place, like Beijing, has its share of beggars lining their roads. I hate that. Don’t misunderstand, it isn’t the people who beg but the confluence of events which led them to such fates that bugs me. China is one of the fastest growing economy and will soon overtake many first world countries after it was revealed that their GDP was undervalued by at least 20 percent. I’m no economist, and I understand a healthy economy doesn’t mean riches for all but it *SHOULD*. OK, maybe a diatribe for another day, eh?
Anywho. we travelled to several places in the city via the underground transit. I asked dad why an underground system when they’ve got so much land above to build a cheaper system on. He thinks it’s because there’s a prestige factor in having the underground. I, personally, think it’s so much cooler to have an elevated system, like say a monorail lining the city.

locals dining at Dong Men

The last stop of the trip was to an outdoor mall of sorts called Dong Men. More shopping and nibbling on local food. We found this bread cooked with herbs and some kind of meat, it looked like naan and tasted fantastic. Mom bought three pairs of shoes here at Dong Men and Dad came away with two pairs. I found a pair of boots to go with my kebaya so it was a good day. Six pairs of shoes for RMB610, can you believe it?!
We caught the 7.36pm train back to Kowloon and I stayed at the hotel while the other two decided to do a little bit more walking and to return to that wanton noodle place. My feet was hurting like hell by then and I just couldn’t do it. Good freaking night.

Day Six
After breakfast, which included my last iced lemon tea we returned to pack and check out from the hotel. Our flight back was once again on-time and ahead of schedule.

If you were looking for sight-seeing tips in this travelogue, I’m sure it was a letdown. We went to eat and did exactly that. I’m stuffed to the gills with cheung fun, noodles of all kinds, and duck. Duck in HK is just heavenly. Can’t wait to go back the next time. And next time, I’ll see about going to Macau, another place I have yet to explore.

It’s good to be back home. It feels good to walk among the tudung-clad girls, the sari-wearing women and all those other wonderful reason why Malaysia is go great — including having the best teh tarik in the entire damn world.