Countries I've been to

Got this cool link off INK's page, who apparently got it from another friend. The site can be accessed at create your own visited country map. The red sections are basically the countries I have been to before.




I'm shocked to see that the map is not awash in red. The European section is glaring back at me, begging me to fill it with red. Oh well, at least it is considerably redder than INK's map, for the moment. Hur hur hur!

Lonely Planet - I trust thee no more

Ok, ok, I will still trust the Lonely Planet on nice tourist sites. However, I'm going to ignore the Lonely Planet when it comes to food and restaurants.

I went to several "top five" restaurants (e.g top five in Tsim Sha Tsui, top five in Central, top five in Wan Chai etc) recommended by the Lonely Planet. With the exception of the Peak Lookout, I cannot rate any of the restaurants I've been to so far any better than mediocre. Sure, the food didn't taste horrible, but the best I can say about them is that they are edible.

Just last Sunday (20 Mar 2005), Johnny and I went to yet another restaurant called Spring Deer, a Peking restaurant, somewhere in Tsim Sha Tsui. Being a Peking restaurant, we naturally ordered Peking Duck, the specialty dish (which the waitress assured us was very good). Later the duck came. It was the fattest duck I've ever seen. I don't mean the size of the duck, but the thick layers of fat that lay beneath the skin of the duck. If I were to measure the thickness of the fat, I'd have to reckon it'd be about 1cm thick. The chef who cut the skin off the duck somehow managed to include every inch of fat the duck had. It's certainly not like any Peking Duck I've ever seen.

I only managed about half of my share before I gave up. It could be a psychological effect, but I was quite certain that my heart was beating much faster after eating those thick slabs of fat.

There! I shall stop trusting the Lonely Planet again, at least when it comes to restaurants. Instead, I am going to listen to my friend, a local who obviously knows more about Hong Kong restaurants than the Lonely Planet.

Blogging With a Fury

Everytime I travel, I seem to rediscover my passion for blogging. Maybe it is because I am always occupied by something when I am in Singapore, and I have a lot more time when I am travelling. Nevertheless, in the coming weeks, I shall be blogging with a fury. Stay tuned.

Anyway, I have changed the appearance of my website for two reasons:
1. The white background is aesthetically pleasing and soothing for the eyes;
2. I realize that too many of my friends (like Mervyn and Junming) share the same template;

I hope you like it. Let me know if you don't.

The Lonely Planet

Brrrrr .... the weather in Hong Kong was sooooo cold today. Temperatures fell below 10 degrees in the evening. Walking along the streets of Kowloon, my hands turned white and began to hurt from the chill. Still, it is fun to be in cold weather.

Anyway, speaking of the Lonely Planet, it is truly a gem of a book for the road warrior. It is filled with interesting nuggets of information such as things to do, places to eat, places to drink and pub. Generally, you cannot go wrong when you refer to the Lonely Planet. I have used it effectively in places such as India and Australia, and it has been helpful.

So when I came to Hong Kong, naturally I referred to the Lonely Planet once again for guidance on good places to eat. Johnny and I were at Tsim Sha Tsui today, and with the help of the Lonely Planet, we decided to go to a restaurant called Fook Lau Moon, apparently famous for its Cantonese cuisine. After we seated ourselves, the waitress presented us with the menu. Our eyes popped when we saw the price on the menu - Shark fin's soup for HKD 2000. The rest of the dishes such as chicken, beef etc were cheaper, but were no less than HKD 200 per dish.

In the end, we ordered, chicken, broccoli, soup and e-fu noodles. With the exception of the herbal soup, there was nothing remarkable about the food. It certainly was not what I had expected from what was supposed to be a famous restaurant. Anyway, the total bill came up to HKD 800, which I must say is quite pricey for food which tastes .... ordinary. Or perhaps there it is just me? I wonder if my taste buds have already been spoilt by all the good food I have eaten, because I seem to find most Hong Kong food ordinary.

After dinner, we went to Ladies Street to check out the night market, stopping only at Hui Lau Shan, the dessert chain, when the weather became too cold. I needed a new travelling bag, as the one I had was mangled by a careless cab driver at the Gold Coast. At Ladies Street, I spotted a bag I liked, and was somehow able to bargain it down to half the original price. Even when I gave her a ridiculously low figure when compared to her original quote, she came down to my asking price with little resistance. I would have felt better if she had put up a fight. Damn. I suppose I should be happy with my acquisition for the price I'm paying.

Lousy Weather Ahead

Why is it that we get sunny weather on weekdays, and rainy weather on weekends? The weather has not been too friendly to the road warrior, who can only enjoy the wonders of Hong Kong during the weekends. Looks like I will be spending most of my time in the hotel today. If it is any comfort, temperatures have fallen to about 13-14 degrees, which certainly has a nice cooling effect.

Tung Chee Hwa's resignation

The biggest news around town appears to be Tung Chee Hwa's resignation. Although I do not really know him, from all accounts he appears to be a decent and honest guy. Alas, good character and good governance are two very different things, I must suppose. The prevailing mood in Hong Kong appears to be that he is not competent enough to handle the job.

Let's not be too harsh on him. It is a difficult task to be the first chief executive, because there are no predecessors from whom you can emulate. At least his successor will be able to leverage upon Tung's experiences, and hopefully run the city smoothly.

Thick clothing?

On the streets, many Hong Kongers wear extremely thick clothing, so thick that you would be forgiven for thinking they were living in sub-zero weather conditions. As a matter of fact, it proved to be a warm night, with temperatures hitting 23 degrees Celcius. Methinks the Hong Kongers are using the "cold" weather as an excuse to dress up in winter clothing. Don't they feel warm in there? It's time for them to stop being so vain!

The smog in Hong Kong today is especially bad. The sky was a perpetually grayish brown and I was barely able to see Kowloon across the sea. I wonder how Hong Kongers can live with this quality of air almost everyday. Surely the hospitals would be filled with lung cancer patients?

Went to Lan Kwai Fong with Johnny just now, and we wanted to check out a restaurant (that supposedly won many awards) called "M at the Fringe". The food seemed reasonably priced at about HKD 200 per head. After getting into the restaurant, we realized that we were the only Chinese people there. A man of Caucasian descent greeted us and told us we had to wait for about an hour before we could get seats. Do I detect a hint of you-know-what?

Did I mention that Dim Sum (??) in Hong Kong is very cheap? We had Dim Sum for lunch today, and the three of us (Johnny, the sales lady and myself) ate until we could eat no more. All this for just HKD 135! That works out to only SGD 9 per person.

Temperatures on Saturday night will fall below 10 degrees. I look forward to the cool weather.

Wherefore this turmoil within me? I cannot help but get down on my knees and pray:

O God, you are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you,
my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land
where there is no water

I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.

I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches of the night.
Because you are my help,
I sing in the shadow of your wings.

My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.

Back in Hong Kong

Of all the places I have been to so far, Hong Kong is still my favourite. Calcutta was an "interesting" experience, but it is the kind of place that you will want to visit once in your life, but not any more than that.

Brisbane was modern and clean, but unfortunately, there is really nothing much to do down there. Downtown Brisbane is dead on weekends. You can walk along the streets in downtown Brisbane and count the number of people you see with your fingers. After a while, Brisbane can get quite boring.

Hopefully Sydney or Melbourne will be more interesting.

The only other interesting place tht I haven't gotten enough of yet is the Gold Coast. Surfer's Paradise has nice long beaches where you can just walk and walk and yet not see the end of it. Surfing looks like a lot of fun, but I never stayed in Surfer's Paradise long enough to get down to learning it.

Let's get back to Hong Kong - I can't exactly put a finger to what I like about Hong Kong. Perhaps it's the people, the cosmopolitan city, the sea, or the 15-degree weather. Or perhaps it's one of the few places where I get to climb tall mountains and feel like I am on top of the world? I really like the mountains ... it's a good way to relax and also get some exercise. The views on top of the mountains makes you feel that the six hour climb up is worth the effort. What is more, I like the fact that the mountains are within the limits of the city ... it takes you no more than an hour or two to get to the foothills.

Now that I'm in Hong Kong, I shall take the opportunity to try out all the nice restaurants in Hong Kong. Stay tuned!