Hong Kong 2006: Sightseeing

Art installation at the Star Ferry Pier - Hundreds of photo-copied images of the pier were hung and displayed with the image of the clock tower cut out of them.

Star Ferry has been providing ferry service since the 1880s across Victoria Harbor, between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. Even though there are other ways to get across the harbour (i.e. the MTR), Star Ferry still remains to be the fastest, most efficient, and cheapest way too get across. The boat is small so it's fairly rocky. If you are prone to sea-sickness, I would not recommend that you take the ferry across. The ride is about ten minutes. I started to snap photos and before I knew it, we were already on he other side. The Star Ferry has become one of the icons of Hong Kong heritage in the eyes of tourists, much like the Staten Island Ferry is to NYC.

On November 11, 2006, the Edinburgh Place Ferry Pier in Central ended its mission, along with the big clock tower. The pier will be demolished to make way for reclamation but the ferries will continue to run from other locations. Luckily for us, we got to ride the ferry from the pier just in time before it closed down.


1. Star Ferry boat.
2. Seats inside the ferry have swinging backs so that you can sit facing forward or backwards. Ingenious!
3. A happy sailor in his very cute Star Ferry uniform.

Once across the harbour, we headed over to Can.teen for brunch, located in the IFC building. It was recommended by our guide book, Lonely Planet Hong Kong & Macau by Steve Fallon. Every tourist we saw had a copy of this guide book. We highly recommend it!


1. Can.teen inside the IFC mall.
2. BBQ chefs.
3. Can.teen interiors - This place is actually a lot bigger than what is pictured here. Try four times as big.

Can.teen is an upscale fast-food, cafeteria-style joint. They specialize in Chinese BBQ such as Roast Pork, Duck, and Goose. Everything else on the menu is kind of mediocre and not recommended. Stick with the BBQ and you'll get more bang for your buck.


1. I ordered Two BBQ meats (Pork and Duck) over Rice with Vegetables - Awesome and cheap!
2. Rona ordered Noodles with Shrimp in Cream Sauce - The title on the menu was very misleading. The "noodles" are actually fettucini noodles. It was a straight-up Italian dish. Kinda bland tasting.

After filling up our bellies, we exited the building and saw some amazing views of the city along these covered walkways that interconnect between major buildings in Hong Kong.



Here are some city landscapes captured from these walkways:



Afterwards, we headed to see the Central-Mid-Levels escalator system, the longest covered elevator system in the world.



The escalators were built in 1993 to ease congestion of the zigzagging roads going up and down the steep slope by car. Apart from serving as a method of transport, it is also a tourist attraction and has many trendy restaurants, bars, and shops lining its route.



Midway through our ride up the escalators, we stopped by the cutest and tiniest of restaurants, Lan Fong Yuen.


Check out the seating arrangements!

We wanted to sit up in front but the seats were obviously occupied at the time, so we headed through this tiny entranceway on the side that lead us into this tiny hobbit-hole of a restaurant filled with locals. The place is known for its BBQ pork burger and strong tea and that was exactly what we ordered.


So delicious!

Now, time for some sweets! We decided to walk all the way from Mid-Levels to Sheung Wan for a tasty treat inside Western Market, the oldest surviving market in the city.



Since the moment I arrived in Hong Kong, Rona could not stop talking about these magical desserts. The shop is called Honeymoon Dessert and they specialize in these crepe-covered, custard and fruit-type of cake. It's nothing like I have ever seen or tasted before. It sounds like it should be a heavy dessert but it's quite the opposite. These cakes are light as a floating cloud puff.


1. Crepe Cake with Mango Filling - SO AWESOME! The mango was perfectly ripe and sweet. The cream/custard filling is air-whipped and light.
2. Crepe Cake with Durian Filling - I've never tasted durian before. Durian is a very popular rancid smelling fruit in Southeast Asia. If you can get past the smell of dead rotting flesh, you can easily get addicted to it pretty fast. Unfortunately, our durian filling was not ripe. It tasted exactly like pureed raw garlic. We were burping up durian rot throughout the rest of the night. It was so foul. Next time, I will try durian when it's ripe.

At this point, we decided to head back to the Kowloon side of town to catch the daily Hong Kong building light show, A Symphony of Lights. The show showcases 33 key buildings on both sides of Victoria Harbour. The lights dance between buildings and is synchronized to wonderfully cheesy synth music. Now I understand why the Asians love Vegas so much.



We were exhausted from the day's events and headed back to our hostel but before we could say goodnight, we went around the street for a quick late night snack, fishball street vendor food.



I was disappointed to see the lack of street vendors in Hong Kong. My best friend's mom (a Hong Kong native) suggested that I should try all of the street vendor foods because they were the best. Then again, she hasn't been back in Hong Kong in 30 years! This corner stand was the only one that we found near us. The fishballs were good but everything else was mediocre.


1. Fishballs, shrimpballs, bacon-wrapped hot dogs... Oh, my!
2. Curried fishballs, crabballs, crab roe dumplings, etc.
3. Our balls were fried before our eyes and presented to us in a paper bag.
4. They also sold Takoyaki, Japanese style octopus balls which I was very excited about since it is one of my all-time favorite foods. Unfortunately, these SUCKED!!!! Note to self: only buy Takoyaki made by the Japanese.

Next up: A visit to one of the best restaurants in Hong Kong.