HK Day 5

Like every other morning, Ryan and I were up a lot earlier than everyone else...so we headed to Starbucks.   It was nice to be able to enjoy a cup of coffee and get wireless access for a little while.  Even though almost everything was the same as we get in the States, there were a couple of different offerings.  For example, I got an English Toffee Latte and I've not seen those here and it also seemed like they had more food offerings (and tastier looking too).  I think the picture below is actually from Day 6 but I'll put it here anyway.

We had breakfast with my Mom (I bet you can't guess what we got) and later my cousin Lok Yan and aunt Siel Ye met us for lunch at a sushi joint because Lok Yan thought maybe we were getting tired of Chinese food.  I don't think I could ever get sick of authentic Chinese food but the sushi was really good.  And honestly, it was different experience than getting sushi in America as there were different offerings, such as custards with seafood baked in. 

Then we were on a mission to find Chinese dishes because I had mentioned earlier in the week how pretty I thought they were so my family wanted me to be able to buy some.  We searched what seemed like everywhere and there really wasn't a lot to choose from and I decided it might be difficult to ship stuff back anyway so we called off the search.  I found out later that Chinese dishes are hard to find now because most people don't use them because they aren't microwavable and everyone is into either eating very quickly at home or eating out these days.  It kind of made me realize how everything does (and should) change but I also thought that sometimes it's still a little sad to see some traditions go. 

Me and Lok Yan

I did become obsessed with Lok Yan's shoes and asked her where I could find them as I have never seen anything like them before.  They were SO cute! They're little platform type high tops with cool designs and studs on them and I just had to have some.  So Lok Yan and Miu Ye (aunt) took us to the department store, SoGo (pronounced shogo), to look for a pair.  Apparently it was "Thankful Week" (I still haven't quite figured that out...Thankful Week that's not the same as American Thankgiving but during the same week in Hong Kong?) so the store was SO busy.  Lots of elbowing and squeezing and basically pain and suffering.  We didn't stay too long and we didn't find the shoes.  The store isn't set up like department stores in America.  Basically each brand has it's own area of the store instead of having all shoes in one department and all jeans in another, etc.

We decided to go to the bar district and have some drinks.  :)  There are rows and rows of hip bars and restaurants in this particular area but I can't remember the name of it.  We went to a brewery and had Hong Kong beer (literally, that was what it was called...I think it was that bar's own brew). 

Ryan, Lok Yan (cousin), Miu Ye (aunt), me

This is a picture of the area right outside the bar as we were leaving.  But no, the bar district was not called Italy Station.  And no, I don't really know what I'm doing.   Actually I think I photo bombed Ryan's picture.

Lok Yan and Miu Ye took us to a restaurant that is very well known in Hong Kong for it's chili garlic crab.  We got there pretty early (in Hong Kong time) so we didn't have a wait but by the time we were done there was a wait out the door (so you know the place was good).  Anyway, the server actually brings the live crabs to your table for you to pick out which one you want.  Talk about fresh seafood.  The crab was AMAZING!  Look how beautiful it was!

We also had conch, congee, Chinese vegetables, and something else I can't recall right now.  And again, I could not believe I'd been missing this kind of food all my life. 

It was so much fun to spend time with my cousin who I remember very well from childhood and I'm so glad Ryan got to meet her.  I was blown away by her, and the entire family's, generous and welcoming nature.  I could only hope to be half as good of a host as my entire family was to me.