ASIANish

On Friday, I met up with Eleanor, one of her co-workers Paula, and an expat friend Sandy in Sheung Wan, where they work. Paula wanted to take us to Kowloon City for some Chinese Islamic food; so we took a brisk 20 minute walk to a "red" mini-bus stop to catch a bus that would drop us off right in the heart of Kowloon City (九龍城). Normally we would have taken the MTR (subway), but Kowloon City doesn't have an MTR stop, and the normal large buses take a different route that would have taken twice as long.

Since I've been in Hong Kong, I haven't really sampled too much of the local cuisine. So this time we set out into Hung Hom to try a typical Hong Kong cafe for lunch.

Cheung Wing Restaurant

Although we walked by a Cafe De Coral, a chain of Hong Kong cafes, I wanted something a bit more "local". Cheung Wing cafe is situated in a pretty popular alley in Hung Hom, and they have a large selection of food for High Tea. Basically after 2:00 PM, most cafes will serve a variety of menu items at a discount.

Since the High Tea menu was completely in Chinese, it made ordering a bit more difficult. I ended up with the stir fried beef ramen, and El had preserved vegetables over rice noodle soup. Both meals came with a drink. Although the meal wasn't the greatest, it was very inexpensive: total = HK $24/person ($3.05 USD/person). I don't think there's any place in the States that you can get a decent sized meal with drink + tax and tip for $3.05.

Hung Hom is a smaller town within Kowloon, Hong Kong, just east of Tsim Sha Tsui; and it's where Eleanor and I live. That night, I met El at the Hung Hom pier. Like many other commuters, El took the 15 minute ride back on the Star Ferry from Central, the financial district.

Last night Eleanor and I decide to explore the city a little. What better way to enjoy the city than partake in the Happy Hour scene. Now, normally if you're from out of town, you'd go to Lan Kwai Fong (蘭桂坊), but since we wanted to explore the area we live in, we ventured out to East Tsim Sha Tsui. Although we weren't going to HH in the tourist spots, we had high expectations, reminiscing about the Happy Hours we enjoyed in the US: good atmosphere, decently priced libations, and most importantly, good cheap food. Not to mention, most of the magazines we saw advertised Happy Hour from 5:30 PM - 9:00 PM ... awesome!

Over the weekend, El and I went shopping at the Festival Walk mall in a neighboring city, Kowloon Tong (九龍塘). Festival Walk is one of the few places in Hong Kong where you can go ice skating. It was a short hop from Tsim Sha Tsui, so it only cost $3 HKD ($0.38 USD) on the MTR to get there.

The mall was packed with people, but where in Hong Kong is it not packed? I've been looking for a suit for the past couple of days and haven't had much luck. All the local brands are a really tight fit, and every time I ask for the largest size (jacket 42), it never seems to fit. I know I'm a big guy for an asian, but seriously. Not only was the largest size a 42 slim, they only had it in that size for the most plain style suit you can find. All the other styles had a max size of 40 or some -ish.

We ended up heading over to Mark & Spencer which is a British brand. The store was reminiscent of a very nice Mervyns or Kohl's; very different from the Banana Republic / Gap feel of the local Hong Kong stores like G2000. Needless to say, I found a suit that was comfortable and fit perfectly (I am a size 42 afterall!).

Tonight we met up with El's cousin Alan and his wife Cindy at Causeway Bay (銅鑼灣). Since Cindy's a vegetarian and Alan's pretty much a vegetarian now, we went to Gaia Veggie Shop on the 3rd floor across from SoGo department store.

July '08 dawns a new adventure in my life. I've since resigned from my position as Sr. Product Manager of Search from EarthLink, moved all my stuff from Pasadena, CA to my parents home in the South Bay, and packed up 3 large suitcases of my small world to take to Hong Kong, China.