Years ago, before we moved to China, my husband’s office was in Hong Kong, on the Island. We’ve just been on a nostalgia holiday, visiting places we knew so well. Our son traveled with us, too. When we moved to Guangzhou, in 1997, we still had to go to HK for business, visiting friends, some shopping and to fly anywhere. Returning from trips also meant a stay in HK as then the border with China closed at 7pm and so we’d have to stay the night and catch the train the next morning.
Those were exciting days, not only living in a very different culture but meeting new people, learning ( not very well) another language, understanding different business, employment and school systems but also being able to travel as we were much closer to everywhere than when we were in Perth, Western Australia.
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ll know our family celebrate birthdays, Lunar New Year, holidays and anything else with morning yum cha. So each morning we enjoyed breakfast at local dim sum restaurants.
We were the only Europeans in this place. The food was great. Lots of miming, guessing and laughing and we mostly worked out what we were eating. Enjoyed it so much.
Beautifully presented, elegant dim sum at M Restaurant, in the Mandarin Oriental. We knew this hotel well. It is in Central, the buzzy business area with lots of designer shops and beautifully dressed women.
Although we arrived 30 minutes before opening time, we had to queue on a week day to get a table at Tim Ho Wan’s dim sum restaurant in Sham Shui Po, considered the worlds cheapest Michelin starred restaurant. The menu changes regularly and there’s one written in English, if you ask. Enjoyed everything we ate. This is not a glamorous restaurant but the staff were great and the food worth the MTR ride.
Restaurant temple and delivery bay.
The food at Tim Ho Wan often has an interesting twist.
Celebrated the Year of the Pig with chocolate.
I’d never seen a unicorn playing a keyboard before, I’ve never actually seen a unicorn.
My favourite way to cross from Central on the Island to Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon side, is by Star Ferry. The fleet of 12 ferries carries more than 26 million passengers a year.
Cool, relaxing, scenic and very cheap, the staff still wear traditional sailor suits. Begun in 1888 all the ferries have “star” names, such as Morning Star ( built 1871), Evening Star ( built 1888), Rising Star (1890), Guiding Star (1896) plus Northern Star, Southern Star, Polar Star and several others.
The bell tower behind the ferry pier is all that remains of the original railway station.
Reflexology, some mediocre, some fabulous, all relaxing. The three of us visited several different spas both in Kowloon and on the Island.
Views from the Peak Tram, a very different experience from 20 years ago. So many more steel and glass skyscrapers. Now a popular tourist destination, we lined for ages for tickets, then shuffled forward slowly in a mass of people to get on the tram.
The Peak Tram is a funicular railway which carries tourists and residents between Garden Road and Victoria Peak.
The views across the harbour were fabulous. The railway began in 1888 and carries two million passengers a year. Try and get there early or late to avoid massive queues.
The end of the Lunar New Year celebrations is marked by the Spring Lantern Festival, informally known as Chinese Valentines Day, with hundreds of lanterns in parks, restaurants, shops, markets and hotels.
Visiting Hong Kong as a family was nostalgic with many happy memories and it was interesting to see the changes in this vibrant city. We really enjoyed visiting our old haunts and finding some new places, too.
The 5th of March was Shrove Tuesday, the last day before Lent, usually celebrated by eating pancakes.
Today is International Womens’ Day, intended to promote the rights of women. Adopted by the United Nations in 1975, it celebrates the social, economic, culural and political achievements of women.