The Journey to Fuk Man Road

     So Blogger is being ultra lame right now, making this post difficult to edit, so my appologies for exceptionally poor English...

     We have learned a few things since our arrival. First, R, our host here is amazing. Although he's an expat (from Amerrrrica) he's been here for two years and has lots of insight into the goings on in HK. He also knows all the great places to eat and we have been eating well!

More after the break




     The building we stayed in on the first night is quite a...well...colorful place.  The building is called the Chung King Mansion and it is in fact, not, a mansion. It is pretty much impossible to describe the place. Physically, it is a small high rise. The bottom floor is filled with stalls of people selling all kins of counterfeit goods. There are several elevator alcoves that go to various places on various floors (the elevators usually only go on either even or odd floors to different parts of the floor, making no one floor completely accessible by any one elevator). According to legend, and physical observations, the floors mostly consist of hostels, guesthouses, and maybe a 'club' here or there. Although one doesn't necessarily feel threatened, it is obvious that shady things are going down in these places. People from various African countries come and stay here to try to get business with the Chinese. We had a few spottings of ladies of the night, although they don't come and harass you, this is a classier establishment, where the ladies' guesthouses is accessible by appointment only. No Mom, not where we stayed, ours was a legitimate place for normal budget travelers to gather. The whole thing is quite funny because any black market, money laundering, red light dealings go on behind closed doors, with no tolerance for violence. In essence, it's quite hush hush, but at the same time completely obvious to the casual observer. In hindsight, we should have opted to stay elsewhere, but the place was rated highly for cleanliness and safety, so there really wasn't a problem. Not to mention we were too out of it from the time change to see the place in full swing during the wee hours of the  morning. 

     Another quick tid-bit: R says the day we arrived was the worst pollution he had ever seen since he moved here. Apparently a typhoon up north pushed all of the pollution from China down to Hong Kong. This would explain the burning eyes and dense haze that enveloped the city on our first day.

    The morning of our second day we slept in, did some wandering around and then packed up to head to the island to meet up with R, our CS host. A few sweaty hours later we arrived in Central completely drenched and smelling unpleasant. R has an awesome place (and a palace by HK standards, where the night prior was literally a glorified closet) right off of the world's longest escalator in the SoHo district. The island has a different feel than that of Kowloon (which is actually attached to the mainland). More expat oriented and the buildings gave that concrete jungle feel. This area is more what I had expected when thinking about Hong Kong. 

     Hong Kong is like an onion, there are a seemingly endless amounts of layers to peel back and explore. It's much more interesting that I had originally anticipated. We spent the rest of the day and yesterday morning doing the tourist path. We visited a temple (the name escapes me right now) that has three distinct sects of Chinese-based religions within it. Although it was a bit touristy (like the Batu Caves of KL) people still go here to worship on a daily basis. Once you bypassed the enormous crowd of tour buses, it really didn't feel touristy at all. We spent time watching the people come home from their daily commute in a park nearby and then headed back to the island. 

     Yesterday, we headed up the Peak Tram early in the morning before the crowds arrived. Read: people use this as a stopping place for a morning run and a dog park when the tourists aren't there, literally nothing was open and we had the place to ourselves. It was amazing. Honestly, I think if the mall (remember this is Asia, malls are everywhere) was open and the place was crawling with gawking tourists it would have ruined it. Plus, we arrived right after it rained, making the view bright, clear, and dramatic. If you ever do this (which if you visit HK it's pretty much given you will) I highly recommend showing up before 8:30. The main observation deck isn't open, but you don't need it (plus you have to pay...again). Just head to the pagoda. The view is fabulous and you can take all the pictures you want without fighting for space.                   

     After we got down from the peak we washed up and headed out for a completely different part of the Hong Kong region. HK isn't just a city, there are villages and towns around the area as well. My doctor, of all people, insisted that we went to the town of Sai Kung. It's a remote (by HK standards) fishing village (aka town) on the other side of the territory. It takes about an hour from the city center via subway and a bus, but anyone can do it. You take the bus to the end of the line and you arrive right in the middle of the place. Honestly, it was beautiful and worlds away from the city. We took a slow boat ride around the islands in the bay and then went to a seafood place where you pick the food out from tanks (the lobsters are UNREAL in size) and they cook it up for you. It's a bit pricey, especially given our budget at about $25 per person US, but damn it was worth it. In terms of the food, it is top five best meals I've eaten. Words don't do it justice and neither do photographs, just make it a point to see for yourself.

Speaking on the subject of food, it wouldn't be a post without noting all the things that we've tried. The food here is amazing and R took us to all the good spots. It's actually pretty affordable as well, cheaper then what I remember from Singapore. We've only eaten Chinese and we covered most of the basics (wontons, noodles, dumplings, fried rice, etc). Today we had dim sum in a very local place. It was a great experience. Going and pushing through the crowd of a fresh cart of dishes to fight for what you want is something of an aquired talent, but we made out pretty well for ourselves. I tried fish stomach, some crazy looking mushroom, and fried duck feet. All of which were extremely tasty and well worth the fight to get them. For all of you turning up your face, don't knock it until you try it. 

I would love to continue, but the blogger webpage is currently glitching out on me and jumping all around every time I type a letter, and I might have a seizure if I continue writing. In a few hours we are headed to the airport to catch a flight to Singapore!

I'm excited to see some old friends!!

-M and M

     So Blogger is being ultra lame right now, making this post difficult to edit, so my appologies for exceptionally poor English...

     We have learned a few things since our arrival. First, R, our host here is amazing. Although he's an expat (from Amerrrrica) he's been here for two years and has lots of insight into the goings on in HK. He also knows all the great places to eat and we have been eating well!

More after the break




     The building we stayed in on the first night is quite a...well...colorful place.  The building is called the Chung King Mansion and it is in fact, not, a mansion. It is pretty much impossible to describe the place. Physically, it is a small high rise. The bottom floor is filled with stalls of people selling all kins of counterfeit goods. There are several elevator alcoves that go to various places on various floors (the elevators usually only go on either even or odd floors to different parts of the floor, making no one floor completely accessible by any one elevator). According to legend, and physical observations, the floors mostly consist of hostels, guesthouses, and maybe a 'club' here or there. Although one doesn't necessarily feel threatened, it is obvious that shady things are going down in these places. People from various African countries come and stay here to try to get business with the Chinese. We had a few spottings of ladies of the night, although they don't come and harass you, this is a classier establishment, where the ladies' guesthouses is accessible by appointment only. No Mom, not where we stayed, ours was a legitimate place for normal budget travelers to gather. The whole thing is quite funny because any black market, money laundering, red light dealings go on behind closed doors, with no tolerance for violence. In essence, it's quite hush hush, but at the same time completely obvious to the casual observer. In hindsight, we should have opted to stay elsewhere, but the place was rated highly for cleanliness and safety, so there really wasn't a problem. Not to mention we were too out of it from the time change to see the place in full swing during the wee hours of the  morning. 

     Another quick tid-bit: R says the day we arrived was the worst pollution he had ever seen since he moved here. Apparently a typhoon up north pushed all of the pollution from China down to Hong Kong. This would explain the burning eyes and dense haze that enveloped the city on our first day.

    The morning of our second day we slept in, did some wandering around and then packed up to head to the island to meet up with R, our CS host. A few sweaty hours later we arrived in Central completely drenched and smelling unpleasant. R has an awesome place (and a palace by HK standards, where the night prior was literally a glorified closet) right off of the world's longest escalator in the SoHo district. The island has a different feel than that of Kowloon (which is actually attached to the mainland). More expat oriented and the buildings gave that concrete jungle feel. This area is more what I had expected when thinking about Hong Kong. 

     Hong Kong is like an onion, there are a seemingly endless amounts of layers to peel back and explore. It's much more interesting that I had originally anticipated. We spent the rest of the day and yesterday morning doing the tourist path. We visited a temple (the name escapes me right now) that has three distinct sects of Chinese-based religions within it. Although it was a bit touristy (like the Batu Caves of KL) people still go here to worship on a daily basis. Once you bypassed the enormous crowd of tour buses, it really didn't feel touristy at all. We spent time watching the people come home from their daily commute in a park nearby and then headed back to the island. 

     Yesterday, we headed up the Peak Tram early in the morning before the crowds arrived. Read: people use this as a stopping place for a morning run and a dog park when the tourists aren't there, literally nothing was open and we had the place to ourselves. It was amazing. Honestly, I think if the mall (remember this is Asia, malls are everywhere) was open and the place was crawling with gawking tourists it would have ruined it. Plus, we arrived right after it rained, making the view bright, clear, and dramatic. If you ever do this (which if you visit HK it's pretty much given you will) I highly recommend showing up before 8:30. The main observation deck isn't open, but you don't need it (plus you have to pay...again). Just head to the pagoda. The view is fabulous and you can take all the pictures you want without fighting for space.                   

     After we got down from the peak we washed up and headed out for a completely different part of the Hong Kong region. HK isn't just a city, there are villages and towns around the area as well. My doctor, of all people, insisted that we went to the town of Sai Kung. It's a remote (by HK standards) fishing village (aka town) on the other side of the territory. It takes about an hour from the city center via subway and a bus, but anyone can do it. You take the bus to the end of the line and you arrive right in the middle of the place. Honestly, it was beautiful and worlds away from the city. We took a slow boat ride around the islands in the bay and then went to a seafood place where you pick the food out from tanks (the lobsters are UNREAL in size) and they cook it up for you. It's a bit pricey, especially given our budget at about $25 per person US, but damn it was worth it. In terms of the food, it is top five best meals I've eaten. Words don't do it justice and neither do photographs, just make it a point to see for yourself.

Speaking on the subject of food, it wouldn't be a post without noting all the things that we've tried. The food here is amazing and R took us to all the good spots. It's actually pretty affordable as well, cheaper then what I remember from Singapore. We've only eaten Chinese and we covered most of the basics (wontons, noodles, dumplings, fried rice, etc). Today we had dim sum in a very local place. It was a great experience. Going and pushing through the crowd of a fresh cart of dishes to fight for what you want is something of an aquired talent, but we made out pretty well for ourselves. I tried fish stomach, some crazy looking mushroom, and fried duck feet. All of which were extremely tasty and well worth the fight to get them. For all of you turning up your face, don't knock it until you try it. 

I would love to continue, but the blogger webpage is currently glitching out on me and jumping all around every time I type a letter, and I might have a seizure if I continue writing. In a few hours we are headed to the airport to catch a flight to Singapore!

I'm excited to see some old friends!!

-M and M

     So Blogger is being ultra lame right now, making this post difficult to edit, so my appologies for exceptionally poor English...

     We have learned a few things since our arrival. First, R, our host here is amazing. Although he's an expat (from Amerrrrica) he's been here for two years and has lots of insight into the goings on in HK. He also knows all the great places to eat and we have been eating well!

More after the break




     The building we stayed in on the first night is quite a...well...colorful place.  The building is called the Chung King Mansion and it is in fact, not, a mansion. It is pretty much impossible to describe the place. Physically, it is a small high rise. The bottom floor is filled with stalls of people selling all kins of counterfeit goods. There are several elevator alcoves that go to various places on various floors (the elevators usually only go on either even or odd floors to different parts of the floor, making no one floor completely accessible by any one elevator). According to legend, and physical observations, the floors mostly consist of hostels, guesthouses, and maybe a 'club' here or there. Although one doesn't necessarily feel threatened, it is obvious that shady things are going down in these places. People from various African countries come and stay here to try to get business with the Chinese. We had a few spottings of ladies of the night, although they don't come and harass you, this is a classier establishment, where the ladies' guesthouses is accessible by appointment only. No Mom, not where we stayed, ours was a legitimate place for normal budget travelers to gather. The whole thing is quite funny because any black market, money laundering, red light dealings go on behind closed doors, with no tolerance for violence. In essence, it's quite hush hush, but at the same time completely obvious to the casual observer. In hindsight, we should have opted to stay elsewhere, but the place was rated highly for cleanliness and safety, so there really wasn't a problem. Not to mention we were too out of it from the time change to see the place in full swing during the wee hours of the  morning. 

     Another quick tid-bit: R says the day we arrived was the worst pollution he had ever seen since he moved here. Apparently a typhoon up north pushed all of the pollution from China down to Hong Kong. This would explain the burning eyes and dense haze that enveloped the city on our first day.

    The morning of our second day we slept in, did some wandering around and then packed up to head to the island to meet up with R, our CS host. A few sweaty hours later we arrived in Central completely drenched and smelling unpleasant. R has an awesome place (and a palace by HK standards, where the night prior was literally a glorified closet) right off of the world's longest escalator in the SoHo district. The island has a different feel than that of Kowloon (which is actually attached to the mainland). More expat oriented and the buildings gave that concrete jungle feel. This area is more what I had expected when thinking about Hong Kong. 

     Hong Kong is like an onion, there are a seemingly endless amounts of layers to peel back and explore. It's much more interesting that I had originally anticipated. We spent the rest of the day and yesterday morning doing the tourist path. We visited a temple (the name escapes me right now) that has three distinct sects of Chinese-based religions within it. Although it was a bit touristy (like the Batu Caves of KL) people still go here to worship on a daily basis. Once you bypassed the enormous crowd of tour buses, it really didn't feel touristy at all. We spent time watching the people come home from their daily commute in a park nearby and then headed back to the island. 

     Yesterday, we headed up the Peak Tram early in the morning before the crowds arrived. Read: people use this as a stopping place for a morning run and a dog park when the tourists aren't there, literally nothing was open and we had the place to ourselves. It was amazing. Honestly, I think if the mall (remember this is Asia, malls are everywhere) was open and the place was crawling with gawking tourists it would have ruined it. Plus, we arrived right after it rained, making the view bright, clear, and dramatic. If you ever do this (which if you visit HK it's pretty much given you will) I highly recommend showing up before 8:30. The main observation deck isn't open, but you don't need it (plus you have to pay...again). Just head to the pagoda. The view is fabulous and you can take all the pictures you want without fighting for space.                   

     After we got down from the peak we washed up and headed out for a completely different part of the Hong Kong region. HK isn't just a city, there are villages and towns around the area as well. My doctor, of all people, insisted that we went to the town of Sai Kung. It's a remote (by HK standards) fishing village (aka town) on the other side of the territory. It takes about an hour from the city center via subway and a bus, but anyone can do it. You take the bus to the end of the line and you arrive right in the middle of the place. Honestly, it was beautiful and worlds away from the city. We took a slow boat ride around the islands in the bay and then went to a seafood place where you pick the food out from tanks (the lobsters are UNREAL in size) and they cook it up for you. It's a bit pricey, especially given our budget at about $25 per person US, but damn it was worth it. In terms of the food, it is top five best meals I've eaten. Words don't do it justice and neither do photographs, just make it a point to see for yourself.

Speaking on the subject of food, it wouldn't be a post without noting all the things that we've tried. The food here is amazing and R took us to all the good spots. It's actually pretty affordable as well, cheaper then what I remember from Singapore. We've only eaten Chinese and we covered most of the basics (wontons, noodles, dumplings, fried rice, etc). Today we had dim sum in a very local place. It was a great experience. Going and pushing through the crowd of a fresh cart of dishes to fight for what you want is something of an aquired talent, but we made out pretty well for ourselves. I tried fish stomach, some crazy looking mushroom, and fried duck feet. All of which were extremely tasty and well worth the fight to get them. For all of you turning up your face, don't knock it until you try it. 

I would love to continue, but the blogger webpage is currently glitching out on me and jumping all around every time I type a letter, and I might have a seizure if I continue writing. In a few hours we are headed to the airport to catch a flight to Singapore!

I'm excited to see some old friends!!

-M and M

     So Blogger is being ultra lame right now, making this post difficult to edit, so my appologies for exceptionally poor English...

     We have learned a few things since our arrival. First, R, our host here is amazing. Although he's an expat (from Amerrrrica) he's been here for two years and has lots of insight into the goings on in HK. He also knows all the great places to eat and we have been eating well!

More after the break




     The building we stayed in on the first night is quite a...well...colorful place.  The building is called the Chung King Mansion and it is in fact, not, a mansion. It is pretty much impossible to describe the place. Physically, it is a small high rise. The bottom floor is filled with stalls of people selling all kins of counterfeit goods. There are several elevator alcoves that go to various places on various floors (the elevators usually only go on either even or odd floors to different parts of the floor, making no one floor completely accessible by any one elevator). According to legend, and physical observations, the floors mostly consist of hostels, guesthouses, and maybe a 'club' here or there. Although one doesn't necessarily feel threatened, it is obvious that shady things are going down in these places. People from various African countries come and stay here to try to get business with the Chinese. We had a few spottings of ladies of the night, although they don't come and harass you, this is a classier establishment, where the ladies' guesthouses is accessible by appointment only. No Mom, not where we stayed, ours was a legitimate place for normal budget travelers to gather. The whole thing is quite funny because any black market, money laundering, red light dealings go on behind closed doors, with no tolerance for violence. In essence, it's quite hush hush, but at the same time completely obvious to the casual observer. In hindsight, we should have opted to stay elsewhere, but the place was rated highly for cleanliness and safety, so there really wasn't a problem. Not to mention we were too out of it from the time change to see the place in full swing during the wee hours of the  morning. 

     Another quick tid-bit: R says the day we arrived was the worst pollution he had ever seen since he moved here. Apparently a typhoon up north pushed all of the pollution from China down to Hong Kong. This would explain the burning eyes and dense haze that enveloped the city on our first day.

    The morning of our second day we slept in, did some wandering around and then packed up to head to the island to meet up with R, our CS host. A few sweaty hours later we arrived in Central completely drenched and smelling unpleasant. R has an awesome place (and a palace by HK standards, where the night prior was literally a glorified closet) right off of the world's longest escalator in the SoHo district. The island has a different feel than that of Kowloon (which is actually attached to the mainland). More expat oriented and the buildings gave that concrete jungle feel. This area is more what I had expected when thinking about Hong Kong. 

     Hong Kong is like an onion, there are a seemingly endless amounts of layers to peel back and explore. It's much more interesting that I had originally anticipated. We spent the rest of the day and yesterday morning doing the tourist path. We visited a temple (the name escapes me right now) that has three distinct sects of Chinese-based religions within it. Although it was a bit touristy (like the Batu Caves of KL) people still go here to worship on a daily basis. Once you bypassed the enormous crowd of tour buses, it really didn't feel touristy at all. We spent time watching the people come home from their daily commute in a park nearby and then headed back to the island. 

     Yesterday, we headed up the Peak Tram early in the morning before the crowds arrived. Read: people use this as a stopping place for a morning run and a dog park when the tourists aren't there, literally nothing was open and we had the place to ourselves. It was amazing. Honestly, I think if the mall (remember this is Asia, malls are everywhere) was open and the place was crawling with gawking tourists it would have ruined it. Plus, we arrived right after it rained, making the view bright, clear, and dramatic. If you ever do this (which if you visit HK it's pretty much given you will) I highly recommend showing up before 8:30. The main observation deck isn't open, but you don't need it (plus you have to pay...again). Just head to the pagoda. The view is fabulous and you can take all the pictures you want without fighting for space.                   

     After we got down from the peak we washed up and headed out for a completely different part of the Hong Kong region. HK isn't just a city, there are villages and towns around the area as well. My doctor, of all people, insisted that we went to the town of Sai Kung. It's a remote (by HK standards) fishing village (aka town) on the other side of the territory. It takes about an hour from the city center via subway and a bus, but anyone can do it. You take the bus to the end of the line and you arrive right in the middle of the place. Honestly, it was beautiful and worlds away from the city. We took a slow boat ride around the islands in the bay and then went to a seafood place where you pick the food out from tanks (the lobsters are UNREAL in size) and they cook it up for you. It's a bit pricey, especially given our budget at about $25 per person US, but damn it was worth it. In terms of the food, it is top five best meals I've eaten. Words don't do it justice and neither do photographs, just make it a point to see for yourself.

Speaking on the subject of food, it wouldn't be a post without noting all the things that we've tried. The food here is amazing and R took us to all the good spots. It's actually pretty affordable as well, cheaper then what I remember from Singapore. We've only eaten Chinese and we covered most of the basics (wontons, noodles, dumplings, fried rice, etc). Today we had dim sum in a very local place. It was a great experience. Going and pushing through the crowd of a fresh cart of dishes to fight for what you want is something of an aquired talent, but we made out pretty well for ourselves. I tried fish stomach, some crazy looking mushroom, and fried duck feet. All of which were extremely tasty and well worth the fight to get them. For all of you turning up your face, don't knock it until you try it. 

I would love to continue, but the blogger webpage is currently glitching out on me and jumping all around every time I type a letter, and I might have a seizure if I continue writing. In a few hours we are headed to the airport to catch a flight to Singapore!

I'm excited to see some old friends!!

-M and M