Hong Kong Wrap Up

There is lots more we could tell you about what we got up to in Hong Kong.  There was the awesome Taste supermarket which had the huge variety of produce you would expect from an Asian store but taken to a gourmet level and mixed in with all sorts of imported goods from the UK (I was delighted to find Hula Hoops , Apple Tango & Scottish Highland Spring Water!), the US and Australia- all at super cheap prices.  There are all the descriptions of more meals we could give you, such as the beef brisket noodles or the hairy crab or the conch.  There are also a ton more pictures of the city itself.

However, in the interests of avoiding over-saturation let us say just this: we had a truly wonderful time and found Hong Kong to be a delightful place. It is definitely on our list of places to visit again!

The HK Beer Post

You didn’t think we’d go all the way to Hong Kong without sampling a local beer did you?  Of course you didn’t.  And so I present one of the most common tipples to be found at the eateries of Temple Street – Yanjing Beer.

Yanjing is a very basic beer, with no distinguishing features.  However, it is definitely not a bad beer, so it’s pretty easy to drink.  Also, for something so basic it is priced as you would expect – a 600ml bottle will set you back $5.50 … in Hong Kong dollars!  That equates to just 60 cents, or 33 pence per pint. I’m fairly certain the people who saw me buying it in the store saw the equivalent of Tesco Value Lager, but what the heck – it certainly hit a post conference spot.

A Beautiful Day

Today’s activities were some of the first we planned when we knew we’d be coming to Hong Kong.  We wanted to visit the Tian Tan Buddha and eat food in the vegetarian restaurant run by the monks of the Po Lin Monastery.  We were already looking forward to this immensely, but even more so when we discovered the best way to get to Ngong Ping village was by cable car.  Honestly, I don’t know why anyone would go any other way.

Having passed up and over mountains and valleys, 25 stunning minutes later we arrived. Since we arrived before the crowds that came later we had Ngong Ping practically to ourselves, so it was a pleasant walk to the Buddha.

At 35 feet tall, he’s apparently the largest outdoor sitting bronze Buddha in the world.  And the 268 steps you climb with his peaceful gaze upon you are totally worth it.

It really is a very peaceful and beautiful place to be.  The museum underneath the statue had many ancient Buddhist texts, along with a revered bone relic.  It left us feeling particularly tranquil, so it was the perfect time to head to the nearby Po Lin Monastery.

We headed to the restaurant for our vegetarian feast.  And what a feast it was: mixed mushroom soup, deep fried spring roll (some of the best I’ve ever had), black mushrooms with vegetables, fresh bean curd sheet with lemon sauce (oh so good), and fresh lily bulbs with vegetables (seriously fresh and crisp), all served with steamed rice and Jasmine tea.

The food was really good, and we satisfied our tummies along with our souls.  It’s been an absolutely wonderful day so far.  As we head off to the Temple Street Night Market, we’ll leave you with just one more photo.  Rar. 

Inner Peace And Happy Tummy

Today we headed into the New Territories to explore a Hong Kong outside of the city centre.  We caught a double decker bus (the first we’ve seen for three years) and got some great views as we headed to Sha Tin. We knew that just a five minute walk from the station would be the start of the walk up to the 10000 Buddhas Monastery.  However, in the recent words of a fellow traveller inadequate signage left us exploring the Po Fook Memorial Hall instead.

This was the entrance to the hall, and it had a lovely koi pond and more turtles than I have ever seen in one place.

The memorial halls are mausoleums, and they seem much more spiritual and revered than ours in the west.  We didn’t take any photos inside the halls because it just seemed disrespectful.

After exploring the halls, we did find the Buddhas we’d been looking for as well.  Sha Tin really is quite a serene place.

It’s a steep 500 step climb to the monastery at the top, but it’s very much worth it.

After finding peace, we found ourselves hungry, so we headed a few train stops further north to Tai Po.

We started at the Tai Po Market with all manner of fresh goodness.  Imagine 20 fishmongers all in one place, right next to 40 butchers.  There were all manner of things hanging on hooks- from steaks and chops, to kidneys and hearts … and even a skinned pig’s face.  We headed up to the Cooked Food Centre on the second floor, but as it was the lunch rush we don’t have any pictures.  A word of advice for travellers – if you want to eat here, either take a local with you or find somewhere with pictures so that you can point because there is no English.

We were after a particular Hong Kong treat: roast goose, so we headed a couple of blocks over to the recommended Yat Lok.  They don’t have an English menu, but they do have a man that speaks English and is happy to help out.

We had a nommy lunch of Roast Goose, Suckling Pig, Gai Lan with garlic, rice and assorted sauces.

It was a very fulfilling and tiring day, so we’re having an early night, which I will use to prepare for my talk tomorrow.

Looking forward to the rest of the trip!

 

Preparation And Planning

It isn’t long now until we fly out to Hong Kong, and we’re really looking forward to it.  We’ve been doing plenty of planning, figuring out where to go, how to get there, what to eat, and importantly what NOT to eat.  You can be sure we’ll fill you in on all the hopefully not too gory details (we’ll have WiFi).

I’m also fully prepared for my talk at the conference.  Having ironed out a lot of kinks with a very patient audience of one at the weekend, I was ready to give the talk at work.  There were two reasons for this: the first was as a practice for me; while the second was to introduce others in the company to what we’re doing in R&D.  All told it was a great success, and I’m prepped for the real thing, so I’ll let you know how it goes.

Oh and the temperature just hit 38 C/100 F,  so we’re ready for a break in more moderate climbs!

A Note On Cantonese

In preparation for our trip to Hong Kong next week, though many of the people we encounter will speak English, we thought it would be nice to attempt to learn a bit of basic Cantonese.  So far we’ve encountered some features that make it quite a nice language.

• Cantonse is gender neutral.  There is a word for “I”, one for “you” and one that covers “he/she/it”.  That’s a big plus over the gendered-ness of French for example, where everything seems to have a gender.
• There is no tense in Cantonese verbs.  There is just the one word for “be” for example, much simpler than the irregular chaos that is the English “be” (I am, you are, she is, etc).
• There are a regular marker words.  There is a single possessive marker, a plural marker and a question marker, much like Japanese.

However – and this is a biggie – Cantonese is a tonal language. This means that you can have one single word said in multiple ways, each with a different meaning.  I can just about get my head around the idea of high, medium and low pitch.  Where it gets complicated is the rising and falling tones.  Thai has one of each, making a balanced set of five tones.  Cantonese has a second rising tone, bringing it to six!

This means that for each syllable you can keep your pitch steady at one of three different levels; you can drop your pitch; you can raise it, or you can raise it more.  This site explains it well and has a nice English example: try saying “international”.  Sound it out .. “in-ter-na-tion-al” … lots of intonation.  Course, the difference is that if you say it a different way, you aren’t suddenly saying “parrot” or “yes, please I would like some boiled intestines.”

Hong Kong Here We Nom

It goes without saying that we’re really looking forward to getting our hands (and taste buds) on lots of authentic Hong Kong street food in a little over a week (wow – it’s close, I’d better get moving on my talk!).

But you can’t survive on street food alone, so we’ve decided to partake in one of HK’s most popular weekend activities: Sunday Brunch.  All of the big hotels do a large brunch buffet, and after careful research and consideration, we’ve booked a spot at Tiffin Lounge in the Grand Hyatt.  We’re really looking forward to the roasted foie gras, lobster, charcuterie, delicious desserts and unlimited Moët & Chandon Rosé Champagne.

Nowson Sundays are all about luxury. 

When The News Makes The News

There’s nothing more juicy to a network news producer than something funny happening on a rival network.  And it turns out the recent occurrence on Channel 9 News in Melbourne was not only reported on other networks, but even their sister station in Perth got in on the action:

Birds are just awesome!

Beer For The Season

We were out and about yesterday when, stopping in a local hostelry to slake our thirst, we discovered they had begun to stock Monteith’s, a nice range of beers out of New Zealand.

Upon a recommendation from bar staff, I selected their seasonal Summer Ale.  Amazingly, while it’s not an alcoholic ginger beer, that is a flavour which comes through strongly, and though I don’t normally like ginger beer, with a slice of orange this is quite drinkable and refreshing: a light Summer session beer.

Speaking Of Crazy …

Due to the nature of vaguely connected air vents in our building we occasionally hear our neighbours – particularly if they are doing something that requires/generates *ahem* a lot of noise (such as, but not limited to, singing both the male & female parts in Grease, while showering).

Well, we’ve suspected it for a while now, but after this morning’s guttural yelps, we can confirm that we definitely live next door to a wookie!