Hong Kong Dragon Candy

Jacob Redding — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 08:42:29 +0000

This is the infamous Dragon Beard Candy that is made throughout Hong Kong, although its not as prolific as some blogs make it out to be. Its made, its just not made everywhere.

yes.. its good.

Hong Kong Bun Festival

Jacob Redding — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 08:42:29 +0000

A few weeks ago Diana and I headed down to Hong Kong to check out the sites, again, as well as to visit with relatives. While in Hong Kong we headed over to the Island of Cheung Chau to check out the Bun festival . You should read up on the bun festival or watch the video ;)

Hong Kong quick checkin

Jacob Redding — Tue, 20 May 2008 17:15:47 +0000

This is one of the many reasons why I love Hong Kong. I just wish they spoke Mandarin. :(

Monkies in Hong Kong

Jacob Redding — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 02:38:10 +0000

Monkeys in Hong Kong, Monkeys in Hong Kong! (Do I need to say more?)

Hong Kong surfing

Jacob Redding — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 20:31:01 +0000

On our last trip to Hong Kong I went out to Big Wave bay hoping to catch any wave that I could possibly catch. Surfing season in Hong Kong is about 2 months long (late Jan - Early Mar ish) and exists in about 2, sometimes 3, locations in Hong Kong. I caught all the right buses and made my way out there but sadly there were no waves to be had. :(

From Pancakes to Intestines

Jacob Redding — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 15:03:35 +0000

Oh how days can be interesting. On Wednesday morning Diana and I woke up around 9am in Los Angeles, California. Our flight to Hong Kong wasn't scheduled for departure until 1pm and our rental car wasn't due back until noon-ish, leaving us with plenty of time to have one last American meal.

Diana Chowhounded (yes that is now a verb) a local American diner; Panns. Panns is a true 50s style American diner. Everything from the building's architecture to the waitress' uniform was straight from the era. Actually, and probably more accurately stated, the Diner was built in the 50s and hasn't changed since. When it works, it works.

We sat down at an outside table and perused the available menu. The standard Diner choices were there without much variation. Eggs/Ham/Toast, Eggs/Toast/Bacon, Pancakes/Eggs/Bacon, Pancakes/Eggs/Sausage, French Toast/Eg.... Well you get the idea. It was exactly what Diana and I wanted before we left for our extended stay overseas. She ordered a plate of french toast with a side of fresh fruit and I went full on A-MER-I-CAN, pancakes coupled with two eggs over-medium flanked by bacon AND sausage and a tall cool glass of milk to wash it all down.

Hey if you're gonna go out, go out with a bang!

The breakfast was standard Diner fare, nothing spectacular but good and fattening. We both left with our stomach full about to burst with a nice "heavy" feeling to them. That was just fine with us though as it was only 10:30am and we still had to return the car, check-in, get on the flight and then wait. Our next meal most likely wasn't for a good six hours or more.

Return the car was easy and taking the shuttle to the airport was remarkably uneventful. There was no line when we checked in with Cathay Pacific and everyone at the ticket counter was extremely, extremely polite, courteous and helpful. The gentleman at the counter was so helpful that he spotted an empty row on the plane and moved us to that row so that we could have a row to ourselves. That's service! (Cathay Pacific gets my recommendation for that one!)

TSA security was the disorderly, confusing, frustrating and non-comforting mess it always is. The wait for the plane was boring, as it always is. And we boarded the plane late as, yup, it always is. Even though our plane was delayed we landed in Hong Kong early; go figure.

The plane ride itself wasn't anything to write home about although it was an international flight on a non-American airline company. If you haven't traveled overseas on a non-American run airline company you need to. This is not to say that American-run companies are horrible on overseas flights (or domestic ones) but.. umm they are. Shortly after the flight took off the extremely friendly flight attendants gave us towelettes to wash our faces with and a small pouch containing socks (to wear during the flight so that you don't have to wear your shoes), a toothbrush w/ paste, and breath mints. Eyeshades were also freely available upon request.

Lunch was served a short time later and, although good for airline food, was nothing spectacular. Almost immediately after lunch it was time for the plane to go to sleep. Companies that have been doing this for a while know what's best for their passengers. We took off at 2pm PST but in Hong Kong it was 5am. After lunch was served it was approximately 8am. People in Hong Kong were just waking up whereas we, the passengers, had already been awake for 7 or 8 hours. With a 14 hour flight you have to squeeze in some sleep. The flight attendants request everyone to close their shades, the cabin lights were dimmed and, after a while, turned off. Best of all though is just before the lights were dimmed a final serving of beer and wine went around. Diana and I opted for the beer/wine/Tylenol PM combo! Oh ya... it puts you right to sleep.

We arrived in Hong Kong somewhat refreshed, at least not-groggy, cleared the temperature screening areas, grabbed our luggage and swiftly made it through customs. Diana's Uncle, whom had also picked us up on our first visit to Hong Kong, met us in the main lobby of the airport escorted us to the correct bus route that took us to our hotel in Kowloon. We checked in, dropped our luggage off and then, as it was only 8pm in Hong Kong went out for dinner. Charles, Diana's uncle, had "Hot Pot" on the mind!

Hot Pot!!! Oh, hot pot how do I love thee? Let me count the boiling bubbles that create juicy tenderness. mmmm... hot pot.

For those of you who don't know what hot pot is try to imagine this with me. A round table that seats roughly six to eight people with a hole in the middle of it the size of a large stew/soup pot. In that hole is a round metal bowl with sectioning plate down the middle. In one section is broth similar to American chicken broth. In the other section is a red spicy broth. As the bowl is sitting atop a flame or electric stovetop the water is boiling rapidly.

This picture is from a meal we had last year.

Around the table are various raw vegetables and meats. This is, of course, where China becomes interesting. Charles had ordered the standard fare sliced beef, chicken, shrimp, scallops, fish balls, etc. I think he forgot that I had been to China before and he also ordered pig intestine, fluffed pig skin, and some kidney shaped "things" that he couldn't remember the English word for. I'm not exactly sure if he truly likes pig intestine and skin or if he was just trying to show me "Hong Kong".

I've had all of these things before except the kidney shaped items and although they sound bad in reality they don't taste horrible. Pig intestine, yes it is thoroughly cleaned, doesn't taste like anything at all. It is just a glutinous mass. Fluffed pig skin quite honestly tastes like pork rinds if pork rinds were soft and boiled versus deep fried. One could probably make an interesting Mexican/Chinese fusion dish by combining the two.

The kidney shaped items, however, were the interesting choices. Charles chose them because they are believed to give men, and men specifically, strength and sexual vigor. OK, let's stop for a second. Whenever a Chinese person hands you something that supposedly gives you "sexual vigor" or "strength" but only for a man you know that it is an animal's testicle or an animal's penis or animal bile or... well you get the idea, its genitalia or related to.

Oh well, I want to be a strong sexually invigorated male don't I? Still not knowing exactly what it was I cooked it in the hot pot for five minutes and chewed it up. It tasted a bit like liver and wasn't necessarily horrible.

I wasn't able to leap over any buildings after eating it but Diana's pregnant! With twins!
(I am kidding of course. Jet lag negated any effects of the "thing" I ate).

hong kong

Hong Kong Dragon Candy

Hong Kong Bun Festival

Hong Kong quick checkin

Monkies in Hong Kong

Hong Kong surfing

From Pancakes to Intestines