hong kong

Hong Kong weekend didn't quite go according to plan. The goal was to eat my way across town. Unfortunately alcohol and rain got in the way of that plan. I flew into Hong Kong on Friday evening after class along with Kimberly, Neha and John and we made our way to Darren's place in Causeway Bay - right in the middle of all the action on Hong Kong Island. It was late, but we didn't waste any time getting our first meal. We went just around the corner to a local beef noodle soup place. Not entirely sure what was in the soup though I think mine was filled with tendon, which I quite enjoy (the texture and flavor is somewhere between meat and fat... delicious!). Afterward we went up to LKF which is full of expat bars, clubs, pubs, etc. I wasn't quite feeling the banker crowd so much that night and neither was John. After a couple beers we called it a night and retreated back to Darren's, though not before stopping at a Chinese diner of sorts and getting noodles, Chinese french toast and various other bizarre concoctions at 3am (still early by HK standards).

Day two started with a stop at a soup dumpling and yellow-noodle soup place that Darren knew of in Kowloon. The soup dumplings were quite delicious as was everything else. The meal was surprisingly filling considering we mostly just had dumplings, potstickers and noodles, and so we went for a walk along Kowloon pier to check out the skyline on the other side of the bay. Unfortunately, it was rainy/foggy/cold (compared to Bangkok) all weekend and so the view left something to be desired, and the wind kept us from hanging around too long. We snapped some pictures and then made our way back into Kowloon so I could go buy a netbook - which I did. $380 for 14hours of battery life - not a bad deal!

After my purchase we made our way back to Darren's to prepare for what would turn out to be a very long night. We had dinner at a BBQ place where Darren decided to order roughly 15 dishes for 8 or so people. You can see everything we ate in the Chow section to the right - but it was a rather impressive spread of food. Duck, pork, chicken, beef, shrimp, and plenty of other animals were consumed. YUMMM! We returned back home for a little beer before attacking LKF street once again. The details after this become a little blurry despite our best attempts to piece them back together the next morning. Let's just say everyone made it home safely at some point between 4AM and 7AM. I did find a receipt for $85 for 12 Miller Lite's at 3AM though. Ooops.

And so that's about where the weekend ends. Sunday and Monday were spent recovering and watching the incessant rain fall over Hong Kong. No more big meals or crazy nights out. In fact we mostly stayed inside and watched movies. I would still chalk this up to a successful weekend - but certainly not how I saw it unfolding when I bought my flight 2 months ago.