Mystery unraveled

We’ve spent the last couple of days in our mystery location and that is…. Hong Kong.

As you can see, it is a unique and complex city, just from the pics I’ve gotten walking around our little corner of it.  

It is, however, a love/hate relationship with the city.

The food has been outstanding.  Some of the best food we’ve eaten; in terms of variety, complexity, flavor, uniqueness, and just the blending of cultures, flavors, and history.  We had dumplings and wontons for our first meal and they were (in my opinion) the best we’ve had so far in Asia.  The flavors were just beyond.  The textures were on point.  The fillings were a combo of Chinese, Taiwanese, with a strong mix of SEA and India as well, but when you stop and think that HK was a British colony for hundred of years, it makes sense that India and SEA would have some influence in spice and flavor.  

We landed at 2pm, local time, so we flew and missed our normal lunch period.  That meal of dumplings was early, but that was ok, we ate enough to fill us.  Downstairs from us, just up the street, was a little sandwich shop.  We popped in around 18:30 (6:30pm) for a sandwich and wrap thing, but we also got an order of fries.  The sandwich we got was Korean BBQ beef with egg and it was good (no pics, too busy eating).  J liked it more than I did.  Kiddo got a bacon and egg wrap, but the wrap was a scallion pancake of sorts.  I liked that more than the BBQ Beef, but not by a lot.  Both were good.  Not great.  Better, by far, than a McDs would have been.  

Yesterday, we went to a museum (that’ll be its own thing in a post to come) and it was lovely and very fun.  A well done museum.  After that, we found a ramen shop and ate.  Again, good.  Rich.  Full.  Delicious.  Last night, though, we found a place that did roast goose.  We got the goose leg and thigh with rice and a pork belly with rice.  Kiddo preferred the pork, but she did, to her credit, try the goose.  She didn’t like the meat.  The crispy and spiced skin though, she thought was very good.  She went HARD on the pork and rice, as did J.  J also helped me with the goose, although I did get about 70% of it, not that I’m complaining.  I loved it.

The Ramen

After that, we found a froyo shop and THAT was a highlight!  The yogurt tasted like yogurt…. It had some tang to it.  It was creamy.  It was rich and rounded.  Add on toppings and it was special.  The girls got honey drizzle, but I went with a salted caramel.  I also got crunchy cake bits and coffee meringue.  Kiddo went with blueberry and freeze dried strawberry.  J went with oatmeal and bananas.  We’re going back tonight for round two.  Yeah, it was that good.

So far, so good…. Right?!?!  We love the food.  We love the weather.  We love the views.  The museum was amazing.  What’s not to like????

It’s a coffee hating town.  I tried 6 places today before I finally found a starbuxs that was open.  It’s 09:30 for god’s sake.  Some of the cafes don’t open until NOON!  NOON!!!!!! Who TF waits until noon for coffee??????????  The local spots are all tea places, but it’s just not the same.  I found one place, a tea shop, that had coffee.  When I asked, it was an instant coffee.  I passed.  So, there’s that.  J and I have been struggling mornings to get going with no coffee.  We went from Vietnam, a place where we could find coffee on every corner to HK, where we can’t find coffee to save our souls.  

The other part of it is that nothing here is simple.  Google Maps is mostly useless, because of a few factors.  One is that the city is SO OLD.  It is layered.  It is winding and switches back on itself time and again.  We’ve seen eateries on second or third floors with no clue how to get to them, no stairs of ways up evident, and no clear markings on how to get there.  So, you need to live and be local to know and understand all of that.  It makes a lot of the city unapproachable and unattainable.  Like, we’d like to eat there and give you money, but we just don’t have the time, patience, or Cantonese to get to you.

The other part is that it’s a city of rules… until it’s not.  You cross at crosswalks and only when they are green, regardless of traffic.  Plenty of no smoking areas and benches, a perk, until it’s not.  That’s the thing, crosswalks back up and clog, at some points getting 1/3rd of a block deep and then everyone pushing full speed ahead to try to make the light.  Control becomes chaos.  Rules become a free for all.  Like the no smoking.  Parks are smoke free, as is the waterfront area.  Super cool.  Then you go to leave and wade through about 50 workers and smokers all huddled together in the smoking area, which happens to be 10m up the road from the crosswalks, which are backed up, so now I’m living, with Kiddo and J, in the smokers lounge for 1-2 minutes until the light changes and we can move… unless we can’t.  

Also, with space at a premium, everything is small.  It’s cool on an efficiency mindset, but it can get to be much.  I’ve had to get up twice in the starbux I’m at, so a worker could get cups and more beans…. As the seating NEEDS to be right next to the cabinets or right in front of the doors.  So, it’s next to the cabinets and workers in and out, or next to the door, where muggy air and the flow of traffic come by with an abundant frequency.  

There is a lot to like here, but I couldn’t live here.  I don’t know if I’d visit again.  It’s controlled chaos, but not my flavor of it.  I can do Saigon, with it’s scooters, cars, beeping, constant flow, noise, and traffic that doesn’t stop, even for crosswalks… You just need to go and trust that the bikes and scooters will flow around you.  That chaos I get.  The chaos here is… just not for me.  I think it’s the duality of it.  Control and then chaos, instead of just chaos that you can lean into, own, and see at all times; instead of trying to anticipate the chaos so you can flow with it.  The constant over the anticipation of it.  That seems like the right way to put it.

It’s beautiful.  Unique.  Fun.  Great food.  Not, however, for us.  We all are looking forward to getting back to Shanghai.  Not because we love Shanghai that much or are burnt on traveling, just the last 65ish hours have burnt us out on HK.  We’d take Saigon again, over this.  So, back to the comforts of Shanghai (never thought I’d say that) and the chaos we know.  Also, I’ll admit, I miss cooking.  And coffee before 9am.

Let’s go, Kiddo…. In 24 hours we leave for the airport and tomorrow we return to our beds.  It’ll be nice to return to what we know, but also sad to miss out on the adventures of travel.  Hong Kong was an experience.  Saigon was a feeling of home.  Da Nang was the beach and sand and fun.  In about 4 months, we head out for our summer trip to Thailand and another year from now, we are looking into Vietnam again.  Plus, Mumma will start looking for a job there.  For now, we continue our China adventures and soon it’ll be Dada cooking again.  We, like you, will miss pho.  And froyo.  Before you know it, we will be eating market food in Thailand again.  Until then, we have each other and the last 30% of the school year.