Hana's Adventures in Hong Kong: October 2009

Monday, October 26, 2009

Oktoberfest In Hong Kong + Random Electric Car

Oktoberfest happens every year in HK. It's in a tent in the car park of the Marco Polo hotel on Kowloon side, and it's absolutely amazing. As for the attendance, 30% were expats and 70% were Hong Kongers, according to my estimate. Beer, sausage, strudel -- and, for the entertainment, a band FLOWN in from Munich who run games and contests, encourage call-and-response chains and dancing on long wooden benches....it's phenomenal.

It sure is a great "tradition."

A decidedly non-German chef tending to the bratwurst.

Me, Joe and Bobby with the steins we got to KEEP.

This was the view from the car park. Off to the left there's a cruise ship docked. I definitely saw some passengers dancing on the deck.

This is the first electric car "home-grown" in HK. It costs 97,000 HKD and I attended its launch on Friday. Story forthcoming.

Oh, and for those of you who want to read my stories, check out my Twitter feed, where I have posted them all (except most of the market wraps, since they are pretty standard): www.twitter.com/hanaralberts.

More soon!

Love,
Hana

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Chiu Chow + Junk Trip #2

On Janet and Justin's roofdeck after eating some chiu chow food. (Janet is, sadly, absent because she had to work.)

One dish from our char chiu meal -- there was a lot of meat. :-)

Scenes from junk trip #2. Kudos to Jessica for these, as I was too absorbed in my trashy book to act as the photographer.

It was really a stunning day.

Me and Jessica.

The Amazing Day Continues...

The trip up to the peak was the night before, and then Adam and I had hit up Shek O that morning. Still soaking because neither of us had a towel to spare to dry off, we arrive at Taikoo Cityplaza for brunch at Cheung's with Angela and Clayton. Now it is time for some food shots. Above, some spicy rice cake with egg and spring onion (maybe?).

I believe this was either pork or shrimp or some mixture wrapped in fried bean curd.

Simple and delicious steamed shrimp dumplings.

The char siu bao (barbecued pork buns -- but they are sweet on the inside) that Hong Kong is famous for.

Rock Band! We played for hours... Thanks for hosting, Angela and Clayton. :-)

The Peak And Shek O

Adam and I had a hardcore adventure last Sunday. We met up at the ungodly hour of 7:30 a.m. and took the MTR out about half an hour to Shai Kei Wan, then hopped onto bus #9 to Shek O. When we emerged from the bus, stepping into this sleepy, kinda beach town, it was definitely worth it. We made a beeline for the beach and immediately took to the water. It was warm! Even in October. Then, after a time, we realized that Robyn and her son were at a different beach, so we took a cab from the main Shek O beach to the so-called Big Wave Bay. A storm was coming, so the surfers were out.

This is Big Wave Bay. It's hard to tell from this distance but the waves were pretty large! Adam and I got schooled a few times, that's for sure. Robyn surfed and we had fun jumping in the waves with Chris.

This is the main Shek O beach, where we frolicked before realizing we had gone to the wrong one.

This is the view from the top of the peak. Jason drove us up after dinner last Saturday night, and we had drinks and dessert at the Peak Cafe. The molten chocolate cake was completely delicious.