Talimena Scenic Drive

Darryl frequently teases me for not knowing "the states in the middle", as I like to call them. But I was the one who suggested we spend our Sunday on a 12 hour drive through 3 states to see the beauty of the Talimena Scene Drive. The byway itself is approximately 50 miles between the Oklahoma and Arkansas borders. The drive boasts beautiful fall foliage, reminscent of my New England childhood.

We started out heading north for about 3.5 hours to Oklahoma. Most of the area reminded me of driving up 101 North once it becomes a two-lane freeway. At some point we stopped at a Walmart for a potty break. Sighting: An entire family dressed in hunting gear (camo and orange). Coincidentally, Walmart is known to be a huge gun retailer.

The scenic drive was amazing and we stopped for many photo ops. Towards the end of the Talimena trail we hit some pretty dense fog, worse than the likes of San Francisco fog. Visibility got to be less than 25 feet, which made for a very slow drive.

Arkansas was my first time seeing real rural America. There were lots of chicken farms (Tyson's) and now I know where most chickens come from. We started to spy some pretty amazing lightening storms to the East.

Texas welcomed us back with an impressive and incredibly scary hail storm. Visibility turned to zero and we had to pull to the side of the freeway until it passed. The hail was huge, but our car thankfully survived without any dents.

Ouachita Mountains and valley below

Change of leaves light up the hill

Neon-like bursts of color along the drive

My favorite was the fiery red leaves

Another favorite were the limbs turning green to orange and yellow

Dallas food finds

"There’s a scene in “The Hurt Locker,” right after Staff Sgt. William James (played by Jeremy Renner) returns from Iraq, when he goes to the grocery store with his wife. She asks him to pick out a box of cereal, and in the absurd contrast of a combat zone and a cereal aisle, he becomes paralyzed by the choice." by Josie Cellone  Watch the scene here.


While there are many grocery stores in Hong Kong, nothing compares to the abundance in a US grocery store or warehouse store. Darryl and I were simply in awe during our first few grocery store visits. We spent an hour inside Whole Foods just walking the aisles, looking and appreciating every item. After the initial shock, we became giddy with joy over the things we'd cook and eat.


And of course we wouldn't be us if we didn't photograph some silly food finds...

What the what?... Found at Ranch 99

Longhorn Vanilla... Found at Sprinkles (Hook 'em horns)

Fried butter... Found at the State Fair

BBQ Baked Potato... Found at Whole Foods

Ono grinds... Found at Ranch 99

For more, check out Things I did not eat at the Texas State Fair.

Our "miss" list

We eagerly reentered the US excited to see our friends, eat our favorite foods at our favorite restaurants, breathe clean air and never ever enter another grocery store permeated with the smell of durian. Yes, we like the fruit in all its forms (e.g. soup and ice cream) but do not heart the smell.

Our friends and colleagues in San Francisco and Dallas always ask what we thought of Hong Kong. It’s easy to list all the things that we disliked or that were different – I mean really, who loves endless days of pollution? But we’ve been back long enough to also miss a great deal from Hong Kong. Here’s our “miss” list:

Darryl misses delicious curry noodles from this tiny but famous shop Kau Kee in Sheung Wan. This place was an instant favorite since he last lived in Hong Kong in 2003. Kau Kee was on our list of “one last time” places to eat before leaving, so my colleagues, Darryl and I went there for my last lunch in Hong Kong.

In general, Darryl misses how cheap the food can be in Hong Kong. He ate like a king for US$1.00 a day. Breakfasts consisted of bolo bao (and other tasty bao) and noodles with choy sum (or other veggies) and pork, fish, squid or octopus balls for lunch. At least once a week, there was a huge fresh jin doy for my breakfast.

Darryl’s kryptonite is chips or “crisps” as they are called in the grocery store, a term adopted from the English. Last year Darryl brought back bags of tasty chips from London, only to eat them all on the plane. Fortunately Hong Kong offered a never ending supply of delicious chip flavors we have yet to find upon return: seaweed (nori), Thai basil, and curry flavor.

We both miss the efficiency of the MTR (subway). San Francisco has so much to learn from Hong Kong. Trains are spotless, frequent, and easy to navigate. Everyone uses an Octopus card (think Oyster card in London) which makes embarking/disembarking not only speedy, but ensures everyone pays the fare. The MTR also seemed to be the one place where good manners were in abundance. Hong Kongers are quiet, cover the phone conversations with their hands and keep their hands to them selves. This is the complete opposite of the 45 Stockton.

Darryl also misses crazy, inventive gadgets like our chip clips, his personal hand-held fan, and our creative iPod cord holders.

I miss the Hong Kong skyline. The evening lightshow is a popular tourist attraction. I miss leaving the office and seeing ocean-colored blue lights fall like raindrops in a waterfall, followed by riding in a taxi home seeing the Bank of China all lit up.

I also miss tea time. Ever the Anglophiles, Hong Kongers celebrate tea time with the pomp and circumstance of the English. The Hong Kong version involves bubble tea or bao. I never practiced this tradition while at Oxford, but found it to be a great excuse to spend time with friends. And we miss our friends.

Thanks Hong Kong for an amazing 6 months.

Destination Singapore

We were so excited to learn our good friends had relocated to Singapore, a short flight away from Hong Kong. Gina had fond memories of Singapore from 2004, where she spent a 9 hour layover trying an airport shower, walking along Orchard Road and having a Singapore Sling at the Raffles Hotel.

We had three days to explore a very walkable city, eat delicious Malay food al fresco (think curry crab and sweet coconut juice) and trying Sindi (Indian) cuisine, and doting on their beautiful daughter. We also explored the Arab and Indian neighborhoods and purchased a few Bollywood remixes. While Darryl took a few meetings, Gina went to her favorite Takashimaya, sadly the New York retail location closed earlier this year. Singapore did not disappoint us with its clean air, open green spaces, diversity (both people and food) and lovely warm weather, compared to Hong Kong. And we can never turn down the opportunity to fly Singapore Airlines.

Ever the modern city, Singapore has impressive new architechture, as seen in the recent erection of The Marina Bay Sands Resort and Casino. But I enjoyed the variety of architecture from art deco buildings to the vividly colorful windows and buildings on Haji Lane and beyond.

Art Deco building

Vividly painted homes

Battered tiles and building facades

View from our hotel room
Chijmes (center bottom)

View from our hotel room

Return to Sanya

I felt incredibly lucky to return to my Tropical China, Hainan Island. Enjoying the company of my colleagues, the beauty of the island, the warm weather and swimming pools bordered with fragrant plumeria flowers were a perfect way to celebrate the end of my time in Hong Kong, and a wonderful reward for all the hard work and preparation for this meeting.

Not to mention the Ritz Carlton makes one amazing salad. Check out the property photos below:

Courtesy of Michelle Tsang

Beautifying the trash can with a shell
Courtesy of Michelle Tsang

Fragrant Plumeria flowers
Courtsey of Michelle Tsang

Nature Adventures

Our last weekends in Hong Kong were spent in nature. Despite being a concrete jungle Hong Kong is well known for beautiful green parks and hiking trails. Post hike, we visited Kadoorie Farm and Botanical Garden, a center for conservation and education.

Staircase carved into rock

Darryl and Gina

Still lake created perfect reflective pools

View of the valley and village below

Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden, Hong Kong

Terraces

Flamingoes donated from The Commonweath of the Bahamas

This one is for Shazzers

Mmm pork belly

Modern Toilet

In Fifth Grade, my teacher wouldn't let me use the bathroom until I came up with the "right" word. I asked permission to use the bathroom, ladies room and so on. Finally someone whispered "lavatory", I repeated, and was free. Lavatory. Seriously. And for some reason I still associate the word with laboratory.

There is a lot to be said about Hong Kong bathrooms. I'm self-censoring the disgusting bits. I can safely say you don't really have to know Canto to find the bathrooms here. Signs display "WC" and people most commonly say "wash room" which I've quickly adopted, though I still defer to my native "bath room".

Like everything else in Hong Kong, there are layers of exclusivity that are beyond me (both figuratively and literally.) I don't yet have the key to the executive wash room yet, and I'm OK with that.

But there's one "wash room" I can share with you, Modern Toilet. Anthony Bourdain would frown upon this kitschy cafe, but I enjoyed what is frankly the cleanest bathroom in Hong Kong.

Right this way...

Sign upon entering

Table and seats

Faux sinks under glass plate

Clever dishes

Wall of lids

Warning: Do not tinkle here

Mmm delicious

Fast Food in HK

Street food is the traditional "fast food" in HK and so last weekend Darryl and I walked around Mong Kok and sampled a few items. Darryl tried the bacon wrapped mushrooms, and I had the less daring rice pancake.

But I am obsessed with the American style fast food here. I think its because they are obsessed with promotions here. (Currently there's a Hello Kitty promotion at McDonald's that's out of control. Photos coming soon.) So there's also a few photos here of the gimicks that are supposed to attract you and pull you into the restaurant.

And lastly, it wouldn't be summer without the ice cream truck...

Inoki mushrooms wrapped with bacon

Mochi type pancakes stuffed with red bean or peanut

Octopus

Pigs intestine

Reminds me of the jelly Starbucks I had in Singapore

McDonald's promotion: Shake Shake Fries...

basically fries with furukake

HK ice cream truck

July Photo Mash Up

Our new rule in Hong Kong is A.B.C. = Always Bring your Camera. Each day presents another fabulous photo op. Here are some favorites from the past few weeks.

Darryl repping the WC

Mint-Chip and Tamarind-Lime gelato at The Peak

A friendly reminder before getting on the 360 Sky Tram

We don't read that many characters, so here's how we think this went down...

We're best friends...

Cannibal

Hello Kitty has... Nah its just too easy

Hong Kong, Amazing Race Style

I recently worked with a team to organize a team-building activity. We called it a scavenger hunt, but it was really more like The Amazing Race, one of my favorite shows. The planning took a lot of effort, but introduced me to some amazing sites around Hong Kong. (I was later able to play tour guide to Darryl and Sharon to these places.) Below are some highlights.

My first trip to The Peak consisted of a scounting exercise which left little time for panoramic photos. I did squeeze in one fun photo (below) and went a second time with Sharon.

Gina in front of old Hong Kong facade at The Peak

Hong Kong is known for its redevelopment and not a day goes by without hearing its symphony of jackhammering and jarring bangs. One difficult-to-find street is exempt from the blustering noise, Wing Lee Street. Buildings from the 1960s era stand as relics and memories of old Hong Kong. This street was slated for redevelopment until the film "Echoes of the Rainbow" launched in 2010. The film popularized the street, redevelopment plans were stopped and now there is discussions for preserving the street.

Courtesy of Margaret Tam

Wing Lee Street balcony

Old style Hong Kong mailboxes

Old style shop gate

Avenue of the Stars is Hong Kong's tribute to Cantonese and Mandarin film stars and industry professionals. The famous walk not only hosts 100+ stars and hand prints, but is one of the most famous destinations to watch the evening light show.

Kung fu actor Bruce Lee

Cross over actor, Jackie Chan

1881 Heritage was the Headquarters of the Hong Kong Marine Police. It was later redeveloped into a high end shopping and restaurant area, but kept some of the historical elements including the time ball, mast and noon day cannons.

Darryl and the Noon Day Cannon

One historic location didn't make the cut. Lee Tung Street is located in Wan Chai (a block away from us) and known as wedding card street by locals. Note: The street sign pictured below was gone 2 days later. Love redevelopment.

Famous for wedding invitation shops