Hong Kong

[Mondo]

Originally Posted by Blackstar

That looks utterly amazing Raymond! I'd love to go there one day, although i get very confused in crowds

LOL, i had the same thought, if i had lost my cousin i wouldn't know where to go as everyone has black hair so its hard to spot people in the crowd. Where here it's easier as everyone's hair is slightly different.

Will, I speak Cantonese so I can act like a local should i wanted to but my reading and writing has gone to pap so when reading the menu I read the English part But talking is fine, I sound like one of them anyway.

[BBx]

I wanna speak cantonese my mother was supposed to teach us when we were little'uns but didn't

Everyone speaks English which is fine, but I like making the effort too.... maybe I should look for a beginners course

My cousins - some of them speak Mandarin, one particular family - the four boys speak mandarin to each other because their mother and father don't understand it - naughty!!!

BB x

[Muban]

oh my how it has changed! well some of it at least. I used to live there, more years ago than I care to mention Would love to go back one day, looks fab

[Pheebs]

Your post and pictures just made me realise why I decided to learn me some mandarin again

I _WILL_ get out there... it just looks superb and I really want to experience it all! SO badly!

*must figure out how I'm going to do it all*

Great stuff there though mondo!

[Grandad]

Great pics, the big food one looks great

I know many people love it but TBH Hong Kong did nothing for me, eating out and drinking in nice places ( shows my priorities ) were obscenely expensive, the island lacked any sort of vibrancy to it, Kowloon was a bit better, I find Bangkok loads more fun but as long as you had a great time ( which it looks like you did ) then great

[Mondo]

My mother speak mandarin too but I don't. I also speak Hakka, it's like another dialect of Chinese, and some people speak it, mostly the older generations.

More pics.

Our lovely Boeing 747 that took us there and airplane food - breakfast wasn't bad actually, quite enjoyed that. Fresh fruit with yogurt, bacon and scrambled eggs (probably powdered).





Approaching the landing, you can see some of the buildings below.



My old Catholic Primary school where I spent 5 years.



Where I lived for from up to the age about 7/8 is in this rural village, came a long way since.



We had breakfast with these old ladies 4 mornings while I was there, they are my nan's friends/breakfast buddies, they go there 7 days a week and to the same table every morning.



An old lady buying some steamed buns on her way home.



One of the check points to cross over the China, you can see the Blue Uniform Hong Kong police and the other side is the Chinese Guards. (shouldn't really take a picture of that....bit naughty )



Some cuddly toys in a shop the blue character at the top if famous, as famous as Mickey mouse in the east. He's basically an alien character that has lots of secret and cool gadgets technology in his belly pocket who lives in his best friend's closet.

[Mondo]

The restaurants keeps the Lobsters and Fish fresh in the best possible way - Alive in a tank.




The market, these fish are sliced in half, head off but the heart is still beating.......for real, i dunno how but it was.



The meat stall, fresh port and beef are just hanged there, and the veg and fruit stalls below.








More of those lovely cakes, I think those are mangoes slices, the chinese loves their mangoes.



They build their sky scrapers there using Bamboos as scaffoldings.



A photo looking down the train, they are all interconnected without doors and it's kinda fun to see it "snake" and then lines up when moving as you can see all the way down it, there's also a LCD on them now (wasn't there when i left) where they show ads and the news and broadcast it over the in train speakers, mute when doing announcements.



This is a photo of the meal for £2 from that fast food place, real pork too, and not processed stuff, with veg as well.

[Mondo]

Some Harbor City mall pics.










One of those bridges that connects the malls over the streets, completely sealed.



A shop call "K", a chained convenient store like 7-eleven.



The harbor walk at night



We also went to the supermarket, like we have the cheese counter, they have counters for everything. I found the sushi counter where you can get each one on its own, the salmon ones there on the left is 20p each !!!

[Mondo]

Tropicana white cap ?



A trendy jeans shop with the best floor i've ever seen !



Roast Pigeons - a local delicacy.



A entire pack of fried eggs lol



We went to have sushi too, better than the ones here in my experience and a lot cheaper, all this came to about £14. The service is impeccable too, they constantly check on you and top up your green tea mug with more tea all the time. Just amazing.



These are those spicy fish meat balls you can get on street stands, very popular there.



Thought this shop has a funny name lol



This was the final supper, Tofu on the left, deep fried soft shell crabs on the bottom, the fluffy thing is scallops deep fried in something crunchy, some reason the dinner service they serve tea in wine glasses.

[Tak]

god I'm hungry now