Hong Kong: Friday

The day started off a bit slow. I'm still pretty wiped from all the walking that we've done. So this morning, my brother and Mom went out for a walk. Bro brought back some oranges, one of which I had. Later on, we decided to take the commuter train to the area of Hung Hom. From what I quickly read in Wikipedia, it's originally designated as a residential area. There is some shopping. There's plenty of restaurants. I think the main draw would the the department store built in the shape of a cruise ship.



We found the Whampoa Gourmet Place. There were a number of establishments there but not all of them were open just yet (it's not quite 11:30AM when we got there). There was one place that was open and that's where we went for some food. The restaurant we ended up at seemed to specialize in some Sichuan dishes. We settled on a sampling of noodles in 4 different broths, a dish of greens and mushrooms, a beef dish, and some more of those Shanghai dumplings. It was quite a bit of food for less than $300HK.

After we ate we walked around a bit. My Mom wanted to find some shopping mall that was supposed to be pretty big. After we quickly strolled around the Metropolis mall next to the train station we grabbed a taxi to head over to Tsim Sha Tsui East. There were some shopping arcades and whatnot, but nothing close to what my Mom recalled. Since there were a number of office towers there, there were plenty of restaurants and many types of eateries in the area. I think by this point it was nearing 2PM. We decided to catch the subway back to the hotel and chill.

Tsim Sha Tsui East

When we got back we stopped by the optician to pick up some glasses we ordered 2 days ago. I got 2 new pairs of glasses for a total of $900HK. Compare that to over $500 a PAIR back home! They're not bad. They look kinda trendy.

Anyway, after chilling for a little while (Mom and bro went to walk around the area again), we went out for some dinner. Dad yammered with the doorman downstairs who recommended a place on Nathan Road in Yau Ma Tei. So we walked. We managed to find the place. It was on the 3rd floor. (Something to make note of. In places like HK and Japan where space is at a premium, it's not unusual to find restaurants on upper floors.) This place seems rather nice. Mom ordered some dishes: a clay pot dish with taro and chicken, another clay pot dish with dumplings, an appetizer dish with various meats, a dish with these ribs and some sort of sweet, fried round thing, and half a crispy chicken. Individual cups of green tea was served after dinner. All of this for about $420HK.

After that relatively big dinner, we went out walking around the Ladies' Market looking at some knock-offs and stuff. My brother found a couple of silk blouses to give as gifts. My mom found little slippers for my sister's kids. Me, I found some tempura nori snacks at a Japanese snack shop along the way. :D

Tomorrow will be interesting. We'll be meeting with the family we know here for some dim sum. Mom will be heading off to do some shopping with the mom of that family. My brother and I will go along with the older daughter to check out what is considered the Rodeo Drive of Honk Kong. Uh oh! ;-)