hong kong part 1: the dumpling diet
heyyyy, everyone! hope your weekend was stellar and you're ready for thanksgiving. can you believe how quickly the holidays are coming? somehow, i already feel behind. i blame the stores who have had their christmas decor out for MONTHS. but, i guess if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right?
we got back a few weeks ago from our trip to southeast asia where we hit up hong kong, thailand and singapore. it was such an eye-opening trip and one we won't soon forget. but i'm getting ahead of myself. how about we start with hong kong? or rather, chicago.
of all the trips near and far we've taken over the years, we've been pretty lucky to rarely run into flight delays, lost luggage, etc. (thank the lord!). so to have our first flight to hong kong get cancelled out of chicago due to a typhoon, we kind of just threw our hands in the air and decided to make a quick 24 hour mini trip out of it! when life hands you lemons, drink beer, right?
we got to spend some time at goose island and stayed with some good friends so it was definitely a win-win! we finally did end up leaving the US and landed in hong kong saturday night (vs. friday night as planned). a quick glance at our loose itinerary helped us decide what to around, what to skip, etc. and we hit the ground running.
this was the view from our bed. normally not a photo i would care about, but hi. what!
one of the first things we noticed about hong kong was the ridiculous humidity. it puts the midwest in july to shame and it's hard to explain except to say it's nearly stifling and don't wear any clothes that you don't want to absolutely sweat right through. oye!
that being said though, you can't let the weather get in the way of your plans - like taking the tram up to victoria peak (one of the coolest things we did in HK). the tram almost feels like you're riding a wooden roller coaster, goes backwards on the way down and offers *insane* views the entire time.
view from the top! doesn't it look like sim city?
while milling around hong kong after the tram ride, we stumbled across hong kong park, this gorgeous oasis in the middle of the city. this place had walking trails, fountains, this amazing waterfall and a free aviary you could walk through. this place would be awesome for letting kids run around - like we basically did :)
moment of 'future shots for instagram!!~!~!~!~!~' in hong kong park. don't mind me.
arguably one of the most recognizable things in hong kong (as with any big city) is the sheer amount of restaurants/shops/etc. (as evidenced in the plethora of signs on any given street) and APARTMENT COMPLEXES! these absolutely blew my mind. you'll see why in future posts, but wow.
as most of our posts tend to go, this is the part of the program where we talk about some of the things we ate and drank. because homegirl/boy gotta eat! a ton of people have asked us how the food is in asia, the weirdest thing we ate and so on and we absolutely loved it all. honestly, if you like noodles, rice, meat and veggies, you will be just fine. there are literally options galore!
imma talk about this meal really quick because it's one of those that makes your mouth water when you look back on pictures and one you don't talk about when you come back because you're so upset you can't eat it right this minute. above we had xiao long bao, aka steamed dumplings with ground pork and warm broth all wrapped up in chewy goodness. i can't talk these puppies up enough. the photo below is one of my favorite things in the WORLD, hot & sour soup, but with noodles in it. this. meal. you. guys. still dreaming about it.
this gem of a place, tim ho wan, was another favorite of ours and while i didn't catch photos of the food itself (byeeee too busy scarfing our faces), the menu is a huge indicator of the goodness that was delivered. fun fact: the original location is the world's cheapest michelin starred restaurant. i can't speak for others with this high honor, but holy moly this wins every award in my book! and in doing some reading, i found that they were supposed to open one in NYC in october. *immediately books flight*
as for dessert, it's not the most common thing in the city, but quick shoutout to the hus for having this delicousness delivered to our room the night before my birthday. let's just say it didn't last long. he's a keeper for real.
an area of the city we didn't spend a ton of time in, but is on our future to do list is lan kwai fong - or, as it was described to us, where the 'hipster/young people' hang out. we did walk around a little on our last day and passed countless bars, restaurants and 7-11 stores (which are EVERYWHERE, by the way) and loved checking it out. plan a trip to this neighborhood if you go!
a beer for the birthday girl and her bearded mountain man!
on our last night in town, we took the train over to kowloon (the northern part of the city across the victoria harbour) to watch the nightly 'light show' the city does where they play music over the loud speaker and shine different strobes and lasers from kowloon to the other side. while the show itself wasn't overtly special, it was an amazing and virtually unobstructed view from the avenue of the stars. worth the trip for views of these mesmerizing city lights.
coming next on MOTM is hong kong part 2, but in the meantime have a great week, a wonderful thanksgiving and only the best sales this black friday. see you soon!