Tasty Treats

Compared to San Francisco, eating gluten free is a major challenge. However, I've been pleasantly surprised with the food discoveries I've made over the past 6 weeks.

Hong Kong grocery chains carry limited snack options, and stocking is not scheduled. That said, I these following options consistently available.

New to me, Innocent Smoothies for Kids happen to be a great option for gluten free adults. The little cartons have a full serving of fruit!

Don't underestimate the power of a rice cake covered in dark chocolate. These rice thins from Kallo are a nice treat, and pretty much the only gluten free item in the "biscuits" aisle.

My two other staples include Sakata crackers (try: Italian tomato basalmic) and Eat Natural bars (try: Dates, Walnuts and Pumpkin Seeds).



Before moving here, I did not find much information on living gluten free in Hong Kong. I hope these posts help others living here or passing through.

Bustling Bangkok

A last minute trip to Bangkok was planned when Gina learned she had a 5 day weekend over Easter. Here are the highlights.

The Grand Palace and Wat Pho

Highly recommended by friends, our visit to The Grand Palace was very eye-opening. Considered the premier attraction in Bangkok, we fully intended to take in the royal history and beauty of the Palace. We opted for a tour guide after Jackie (the tour guide) convinced us the tour wouldn’t mean anything without her narrative. She was right! Not only did she provide the historical, cultural and religious detail, she also was an excellent photographer and jokester.

High tensions were in the air as anti-government demonstrators took to the streets.

(In Thailand it is illegal to criticize the monarchy. In general, Thai people prefer to be agreeable to a fault.)

As counterpoint to confrontational protesting, Jackie was more typical in patriotism and love of country. She also was quick to remind other vistors to be respectful with their actions (e.g. no shoes in certain areas and no yelling or calling to others in loud voices.) If you’re in the neighbourhood, we recommend you contact Jackie for a sightseeing tour.

Nearby, Wat Pho has the famous reclining Buddha. With Lindsay Small’s wisdom echoing in our ears, we hesitantly put our shoes in cubby holes and walked the interior of the temple. The reclining Buddha is splendid, but difficult to enjoy its grandeur when surrounded by so many people. (What’s up with all the Spaniards taking a Thai holiday over Easter? What about the processions at home?)

Find!: Thai pineapple (and other tropical fruit) with Li Hing Mui salt and chilli flakes sold outside the Wat. A cool, sweet, refreshing and rehydrating treat on a very hot day!


Wat Arun
Wat Arun is a must-see attraction in Bangkok, conveniently located across the river from The Grand Place. As we learned from our tour guide at The Grand Palace, the King was innovative to reuse the broken porcelain from China as decoration. Wat Arun colourfully embraced porcelain in the decorative design. Gina’s highlight was ascending (and descending, yikes!) the steep stair cases. Her mantra: No one has died falling down this stair case – don’t be first!

Ruen Urai
We’d be remiss if all we mentioned was the Thai pineapple, and not the most fragrant meal of our life. Or, according to Darryl, “herbalicious”. Ruen Urai came recommended to us by Time Out Bangkok, ideally located next to our hotel. This unique, hidden gem known for its wine list is an herb outpost cum restaurant serving traditional Thai dishes infused, dressed, seared, sautéed, etc. with a varity of fresh fragrant herbs.

Highlight: Seared tuna salad topped with mounds of delicately shaved lemongrass, green onion, and cilantro tossed in a fish sauce, syrup, and citrus dressing. Beyond. Darryl was ready to order one more – so he wouldn’t have to share.

More beauty from Bangkok or visit our Flickr photostream...

A stunning Lotus flower...

and fragrant pikake...

and the United Overseas Bank, more commonly known as The Robot Building...

Flower Power

Rooted in history, flower arranging is an important part of Asian decorating. The Hong Kong Flower Show had many beautiful displays from Japanese-style Ikebana to gourds that reminded me of ipu heke. The photos speak for themselves...

Hong Kong 7's

The Hong Kong 7's Rugby tournament is an annual 3-day event which features all of the top international teams from the rugby union playing nations. The format of the rugby 7's event goes like this:
- 7 players a side (as opposed to the traditional 15 players a side)
- there are two halves each 7 min. and there is a 1 minute intermission
- games are played on a traditional sized rugby field
- scrums are 3 players each (as opposed to I think 8)
- extra points are drop kicked instead of a place kick
- and probably some more rule differences than the traditional game

We went to Hong Kong Stadium on the last day of the tournament to catch some of the action. Tickets are sold out well in advance, but luckily we found a beer garden, public viewing area just outside the stadium where we sat and watched the matches. The viewing area was next to the practice/warm up field, so we were luckily enough to see teams on the way to warming up and leaving to play in the stadium.

Teams left the warm-up area in their warm-up gear, so we couldn't always tell which team we were looking at, though we could guess the geographic region: The Asia teams (Japanese, Hong Kong), the South Pacific teams (Fiji, Tonga, Samoa), the UK (England, Wales, Scotland), Africa (Kenya, and South Africa because of their jerseys), the Latins (Italy, Portugal). Ironically, there was one team we couldn't place. The players were all of different ethic backgrounds and a few guys with a hockey mullet. When the team got onto the playing field we realized it was the American team, The Eagles!

At the HK 7's people get dressed up in costume to go. And when I say this, some of the outfits we saw belonged in the Castro during Halloween. Although I have no data to support this, I felt that the attendance heavily favored teens and families with children. As you can see from the pictures, we got as dressed up as best possible (matching blue and black) to go to the event.

In the tournament there are four different awards going from least prestigious to most prestigious or a division 1-4, a shield, a bowl, a plate, and a bowl. I know this isn't the case, but it felt like everyone was in at least the quarter finals for the respective trophy and like in little league, everyone walks away with something.

To sum it all up, the traditional rugby powerhouses still performed, NZ, Aus, SA, Eng. The South Pacific Teams are unbelievably athletic and good at the 7's format. The USA performed admirably. It was a fun event and if you are ever in Hong Kong for the Rugby 7's it is an event not to be missed.