The Outlaying Islands

Lamma Island

Last Saturday was Brian’s birthday. To celebrate, we went to Lamma Island in the evening for a seafood dinner because “nothing makes [him] happier than some good seafood.”

And good seafood it was.

We took a small (and very unpleasantly rocky) ferry to Lamma Island, and Brian found a restaurant that he liked. (He was probably drawn in by the offering of free Tsing Tao beer.)

We ordered lots of food. The most stand-out dish had to be the prawns, which were drenched in this oily, buttery sauce and topped with breaded, fried garlic. The calamari, the fried tofu (salty and slightly spicy from chilis with a bunch of crunchy fried garlic), the pan-fried seasonal vegetables (choi sum), and the fried rice with diced chicken and salted fish were quite delicious as well.

Unfortunately, we left Lamma Island immediately after dinner and didn’t get any time to explore. Though, most of the sightseeing on Lamma Island is a very long walk from where the restaurants are (Sok Kwu Wan).

I plan to take a sightseeing trip there another day.

Cheung Chau

Today I went on a field trip planned by the IASP office to Cheung Chau. There were only seven students (partly because the last organized trip to Lamma Island was a dud, but mostly because all the other exchange students are off traveling in other countries because of the Chung Yeung Festival holiday). However, to our surprise, we were joined by about 50 Cheung Chau primary students (mostly 9 and 10 years old).

Our first stop was a sports association where we watched a few kids practicing lion dance. There was a little 5-year-old boy who had started lion dancing at the age of 3. Then there were some older kids who did some very impressive, advanced moves, including dancing on a very high, wooden pole.

On our way to our next destination, a few girls suddenly took a liking to me and started speaking to me in English (I had attempted speaking to a few kids earlier, but they just smiled). They referred to me as “leng neui” to their British English teacher, Daniel.

We arrived at Pak Tai Temple, where the famous Cheung Chau Bun Festival occurs. It was a very short visit, but at least I got to see coiled incense for my very first time! It probably would have helped me appreciate the place more if I had been told the significance of the Pak Tai Temple and the Bun Festival.

Then we had dim sum for lunch. The food wasn’t all that great, but the kids were pretty entertaining (especially one boy who kept serenading his friend). The girls that had spoken to me earlier insisted on me sitting next to them, so I did. By the end of the lunch, one of the girls had given me a peach candy, I had left a drawing and signature (in English and Chinese) in her notebook, and three of the girls had done the same in my planner.

Afterward, we headed to Cheung Po Tsai Cave, where the famous pirate, Cheung Po Tsai, is said to have hidden his treasure. All we did was look down at the narrow entrance and listen to the voices of women who had crawled inside the dark cave (lanterns must be used to navigate inside).

We took a small boat to get to where the ferry had dropped us off at the beginning of the trip so we could have some dessert. There were so many choices on the menu! I love Chinese desserts with all the fresh fruit, mango pudding, mango ice cream, tofu and jellies!

Wai Man, the organizer of the trip, said there are dessert places like the one we went to on Hong Kong Island, but she couldn’t tell me how to get to one. I hope I can find one with as much selection as where we had gone because I don’t want to have to take the ferry to Cheung Chau just to get my dessert fix!

I probably will go back to Cheung Chau again because I didn’t have enough time to look at all the little shops with sea-themed souvenirs and cheap clothing stores! I really like the environment of the Cheung Chau people’s traditional fishing lifestyle. Plus there are zero automobile emissions (bikes and boats are the only modes of transportation) and there aren’t many people smoking.

I should check if any of the other outlaying islands are worth a visit.

Oh, the Pollution!

I hadn't really taken much notice of the pollution here in Hong Kong because there isn't much at CUHK, and pollution isn't nonexistent in malls. But today I spent about nine hours out in Causeway Bay, and now my throat is very agitated and I'm coughing a lot more than before.

I started my day off being seated in a smoking section of Cafe EOS where I had brunch. Then I wandered the area looking for Paterson Street where shopping is supposed to be good. Well, I found "Fashion Walk" and realized all the stores were out of my price range. The "consummate shopper" friend of The New York Times' "Frugal Traveler" lied. Or maybe the way it was written misled me to believe that the places he mentioned would be relatively inexpensive.

I also could not find a restaurant that I had found on the very outdated Hong Kong District Food Guide (mentioned in a previous post). I decided to call the restaurant, and, as every other restaurant number I've tried to call from that website, the phone number did not work. It seems like all the restaurants listed on that stupid site are out of business. It's too bad, too, because I (along with my friend, Brian) was really looking forward to eating peking duck.

I headed to Victoria Park hoping to find a spot where I could read, but I soon found out there was a rock concert going on. Though it was blocked off and cost $500 to get in, I could still hear it. I walked around the park and spotted many Filipino "domestic helpers," Westerners, and locals.

There were other festivities going on that were free to the public. There were two inflatable playgrounds for kids, some booths set up, and a stage set up where I watched a Chinese (sort of) acrobat who balanced a bunch of cups on plates on a very long stick on a short stick in his mouth (sorry, that's the quickest way to describe it). He did a few other tricks showing off his flexibility, then these kids came out and did some yo-yo tricks, but they looked very unhappy/bored, so I left.

The park was pretty big. There were football (soccer) courts, tennis courts, basketball courts, a court where kids were rollerblading, a swimming pool, and a shallow pool where people were racing their miniature motorized boats. I couldn't find the HK Central Library, and I didn't see the statue of Queen Victoria either. A huge area of the park was blocked off for the very expensive "Rockit" concert, so I don't know what's normally there.

Most of the benches were already taken, and I probably wouldn't have been able to read in peace, so I decided to continue wandering the streets of Causeway Bay. I suppose I spent most of my time getting lost and looking at menus of possible restaurants to go to with Brian before he called and said he was on his way. I continued wandering the streets/shopping and wandered into the Causeway Bay Plaza. I got suckered in for a makeover by a very nice Smashbox employee and ended up buying the most expensive makeup I've ever bought (but also the best quality makeup and application tools I've ever had.) Sorry Mom. At least I get a free eyebrow shaping!

I met up with Brian and we checked out the menus of countless restaurants and finally went into a Malaysian restaurant on Jaffe Road. I tried a traditional Malaysian noodle dish called Prawn Mee. I also tried a piece of this toast Brian ordered which had some sort of savory-sweet paste in the middle. Malaysian spices are all new to me, so I couldn't put a name to any of the flavors in the dishes.

After dinner, we still had room for dessert, so we went to get some frozen yogurt in Island Beverly. Many frozen yogurt places here let you choose what fruit you want, then they put it in a machine and it mashes it together with frozen yogurt and it comes out flavored! I chose mango and peach. It was yummy, though probably not as good as Hui Lau Shan's desserts.

On our way from the MTR station to the KCR station at Tsim Sha Tsui, we spotted a group of male CUHK exchange students most likely on their way to Lan Kwai Fong. It's amazing how often exchange students go clubbing at Lan Kwai Fong. I haven't even been there! However, I realize secondhand smoking really bothers me, so I probably won't be going to any clubs or bars any time soon.

I should probably sleep now. I hope the effects of the pollution and secondhand smoking on my throat will disappear by tomorrow morning. Ugh.

A Mid-Autumn Update

Last Friday (Oct. 6) was the Mid-Autumn Festival. During the daytime I went to apm (a huge mall at the Kwun Tong MTR station) to do some shopping. The mall is called "apm" because the stores are open until midnight, the restaurants are open til 2 am, and some shops are open 24 hours. I suppose it's "apm" because "ampm" is already taken.

I must say apm is one of my favorite malls here. It has a good variety of stores, and many stores had very good sale prices that day. There are also a lot of gift stores. I ended up buying gifts for several people.

I was supposed to meet my friends at the Shatin mall to have dinner and buy mooncake, but I realized I should drop off my bags at my hostel (my hands were so full with bags that I got many looks, and one woman on the crowded MTR even made a comment to her kids). I was able to drop off my things and head back to the University Station and meet up with my friends at Shatin on time.

We ate at an Indonesian restaurant for dinner. By the time we got out, the mooncake stand was closed. Maxim's Bakery was still open, so we bought a mooncake that the salesperson described as tiramisu. (We all weren't sure whether it was really tiramisu or if that's just what the girl said.) We found another bakery (Wing Wah) with traditional mooncakes, but one mooncake was very expensive, so we decided not to buy any.

We decided we would eat the mooncake at my hall. When we entered the building, the woman at the front desk offered us pieces of mooncake! I ran upstairs quickly to grab a knife to cut the tiramisu mooncake. When I got to my room, my roommate was there and she gave me a mooncake, as well as pieces of mooncake from the Xuesi Hall staff.

My friends and I went to the back of the hall where there were tables. Though we couldn't see the moon, we decided to eat the mooncake there. I cut my mooncake first, then my friend, Kim, cut the tiramisu mooncake. We ate my mooncake first (and I remembered why I didn't like mooncake as a kid). Then we tried the tiramisu mooncake, which turned out to be really good!

I've never seen so many types of mooncake in my life! There's the traditional mooncake made out of lotus seed paste and egg yolk, and then there's tiramisu mooncake, snowy mooncake with redbean, passion fruit mooncake, chocolate mooncake (Mrs. Fields), and even gelato mooncake (Pappagallo) and ice cream mooncake (Haagen-Dazs).

After we finished the mooncake, we walked outside and saw a family playing with a ball made out of glow-in-the-dark sticks. We spotted other families lighting lanterns and decided to walk to the Reflection Pool. There were several people chatting near the pool, and one family was lighting up a very cute lantern in the shape of a lamb.

I found out later from my local neighbor across the hall that the park at Shatin always has lanterns hung up for the Mid-Autumn Festival. It's too bad we missed it!

It's funny how back at home we didn't really celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. Now that I'm in Hong Kong away from family, I'm celebrating a holiday that's traditionally spent with family.

National Day

Today, October 1, is National Day of the People's Republic of China. My friend, Aaron, and I decided to go to Tsim Sha Tsui to catch the fireworks off Victoria Harbour. But first, we went in search of a restaurant called Hong Kong Puzzle that I found on Hong Kong Disctrict Food Guide.

We ended up doing a little shopping in the street stores on the way. I found a decent pair of black flats for HK$100.

We got to Granville Plaza and took some pictures of a pretty fountain. We found some people in uniform (who turned out to be enforcing the non-hawking rule) and asked them for directions. One of the ladies ended up calling the phone number I had written down and found out the restaurant was now defunct.

So we went in search for a restaurant and ended up at an Outback Steakhouse (there are actually a couple all over HK). I had my first big meal here in HK, and I actually took more than half of my burger home. Though I must admit this was also the most expensive meal I've had here.

We got out of the restaurant just as the fireworks had started (9:15 pm). We ran to the nearest street where we had seen tons of people gathering, but we couldn't see anything at all. So we ran around the building to another area and found a spot with a few trees in the way, but it was probably the best view we would get.

At first I wasn't really amazed, but it got a lot better toward the end. The finale was phenomenal. I had never seen or heard so many fireworks going off one after another and lighting up the whole sky. The sky kept changing colors from red to green to yellow. It reminded me of that last scene in Sleeping Beauty where the fairy godmothers keep changing the color of Aurora's dress.

Aaron pointed out how everybody says "waaah" instead of "wow" or "ooo." There was this little girl behind us that kept exclaiming "waaaah" every time new fireworks would go off. It was so cute!

After the fireworks ended, we tried to go to Avenue of Stars to see the lanterns that were supposed to be hung along the walkway. However, a few officers stopped everyone from walking in that direction and told us to walk the other way. So we made our way back toward the Nathan Road and Granville Road area to get on the KCR.

On our way, Aaron saw a perfume store and wanted to step in. He didn't find anything, but I decided to check out some fragrances because there was such a huge selection and a lot were 50% off. I ended up liking Anna Sui's "Secret Wish" and bought it for HK$165. I have no idea how they can sell their fragrances so cheap. I don't think fragrances even go on sale in America.

I've decided I like Tsim Sha Tsui a lot. There are a lot of street shops that sell decent items for a lot less than the shopping malls. Plus there are so many small salons that are so much cheaper than Salon Esprit. I'll probably head over to that area if I decide to color my hair or when I need to get a trim again.

Anyway, today was a very nice day. It was also the last day of taking antibiotics for my chest/lung infection. Tomorrow will have to be spent finishing Cantonese homework and doing some reading for class.