The resort in Phuket, I'm in the living room of our villa... sweet pad
Our private pool on the top floor... complete with lagoon view and little waterfall
Evening turn-down service, the maid leaves a nice note
Buddhist Temple complex
The elephants! Their squishy trunks with black spots remind me of overripe bananas
Wonder what he's thinking in that huge head of his... Hey bud, just be thankful we aren't a typical pair of obese Americans as big as you are
In Hannibal's army on the march on Rome...
Baby elephants
The mighty water buffalo
The monkey that I wanted to steal to fetch me coconuts for as long as it lives... muhaha
It personally had no taste for coconut, but rather just plain cow's milk...
The fish farm / floating restaurant that we ate at, everything fresh!
Snorkeling
It's like swimming in your food
Very beautiful beach
Ok that's enough of Thailand. Here's a round of HK:
First things first, went to the huge cemetary in Chai Wan to see Dad's grandparents... I like this picture of the cemetary on the hill overlooking the skyscrapers since it shows the intensity of Hong Kong's urban development, both for the living and the dead
R.I.P. great-grandfather Bei (or "Bui" in Cantonese), with his grandson and great-grandson
We tried to look for great grandmother Lee, too, but were unfortunately unsuccessful... there were so many cremation boxes, stories upon stories of them in multiple buildings.
My favorite on this trip to HK, the seaside fish-market/restaurant row in Sai Kung. Never been here before myself, but it was a good thing we checked it out. They had pretty much any kind of seafood you could possibly want, and more... heaven on earth
Feeding time for the big catches... these here are mostly groupers
Moray eels
Stonefish! They are the ones that look like rocks sitting on the bottom there. These are very poisonous if you touch their spines, but I guess they're still edible?? Those things in the bags are mantis shrimp.
Really cool photo that Nat took, with the restaurant's neon sign reflected perfectly in the mouth of this giant parrotfish.
Ours! A smaller parrotfish that was steamed for us... ohhhh so good, its flesh was probably the most tender fish I have ever eaten
NOM NOM NOM! "Ho m'ho sik?... Ho sik ah!!"
The guy to my right is my Dad's childhood friend from back when he was in primary school in HK. He and his wife have a really nice apartment on the Island, overlooking the horse racecourse. They're both dentists... by day... you won't believe what they do at night...
...That evening, we find them on an abondoned floor of some printing supplies warehouse where they've set up a whole studio of instruments and amplifiers, etc. Apparently they get together with other amateur musicians every Saturday and just sing and play all night long... awesome
My Dad's friend is really into drums
Of course, the HK light show. And there's one of our own family jewels there in the center stage...
Just so I don't forget my favorite spots to eat in HK for the next time I visit, I'm making a list now of my own most memorable "Kowloon" ("9 dragons"). Trust me, I will come again and again just to eat my way through town.
1) Roast goose/duck: probably Yung Kee, Wellington St., HK Island, but it's good almost anywhere that has the real plum sauce, not that cheap paste stuff
2) Fresh seafood: Sai Kung, you rarely find fresh parrotfish these days in markets anywhere in the world, and everything else we tried, like cuttlefish, tiger prawns, eel, razor clams, were all also good
3) Afternoon tea: Peninsula Hotel, Kowloon, for a real taste of British-era HK, if not also in London's characteristically high price-range... bloody expensive
4) Congee, pork knuckle, wanton noodles, and other "comfort" foods: I forget the name, but it's a busy little restaurant on the 3rd floor of IFC... delicious pork, beef, and congee
5) Dumplings: Dynasty, 4th floor of Renaissance Hotel, Kowloon, very good dimsum place with all handmade dumplings
6) Vietnamese pho: hawker stall in Ocean City mall, nearish to the Marco Polo hotel. had really good meat-combo pho.
7) Spanish tapas: Yes, HK can even serve great tapas... this one was on the top floor of Kowloon MTR station, open-air, especially good were the ham-wrapped dates with cheese stuffing... reawakened my fetish for dates that Shamoor and his MSA crew introduced to me
8) Mango desserts: Forget the name again, something with "shan" in it; there's a shop on the row facing the Kowloon Star Ferry pier, and they serve mango-everything... if I go again I'll have the fresh mango with coconut "noodle" dessert
9) Cafe with a view: the old-fashioned cafe on the Peak that has apparently been around since when my Dad lived in HK, it's outside the big malls and gallerias now at the Peak and has excellent apple tart
When I'm finished with Singapore I'll have a similar list. So far there is no Cantonese food here though that even comes close to comparing with HK's, but then again I tend to eat cheaper on my own than with Dad, so I have yet to try the nicer establishments.
Well that's about all for my spring recess. I flew out of HK back to SIN, and Dad and Nat left directly for SFO. Now it's the week of midterms, but I've already started myself off on a good note with the first midterm today for Power Electronics... by not taking it. Apparently the professor announced in the last class, which I skipped the week before recess to go traveling :), that the midterm that was supposed to be given today was moved to the following week. So I lucked out, because I really was not prepared at all for this test.
And in celebration of the postponed test, I spent today napping... because procrastination is my middle name as it is for everyone. And then after studying for just a little while I got on here and blogged, because blogging is always fun for one's own reflection.
Later I want to say a few more things about what I've observed about work-ethic and social life in Singapore and Southeast Asia in general (it's not all about the food and adventure). But I think it's time to study some more... so cheers for now, and goodnight!
3 comments:
Looked like helluva trip! Nice photos... :)
Makes me so jealous every time the exchange students fly here and there during midterm break while the rest of us continue to slog in school! And to add salt to the wounds, there's reading week!
"helluva", "salt to the wounds"? are these singaporean terms, too? especially the first one, that's considered really californian in the US... but i guess you're the star linguist, as well as the iron chef
I watch too much OC! Nah. I never watch OC. I just know the song for the opening credits scream "CALIFORNIA~~~!!!"
Alright. That was hell-of-a trip *queen's english, stiff upperlip*
I take that you are coming tomorrow? We start prep at 4pm plus, at the same place where we had steamboat so you are most welcome to drop by to be ordered around by the iron chef aka kitchen nazi. :P
Post a Comment