More good eats around town

Now that we've booked our flight back to Toronto, CharK and I have been spending these past couple of weeks in tourist mode. For starters, we've been trying foods and restaurants that were always on our "list" but that we never got around to.

HK cafes has always been a favourite of ours, with the variety of snacks milk tea and coffees. But somehow I've always left out ordering the iconic pineapple bun with butter. I've heard the allure of the combination is the hot bread wrapped around the ice cold hunk of butter. But my favourite is the peanut butter french toast that we also ordered along with a club sandwich. The crunchy bread and creamy peanut butter makes for a great (greasy) snack!

A greasy but yummy meal (Photo: CharK)

Another classic dish is wonton and soup noodles While I've had a lot bowls from university cafeteria, the noodles and wonton taste is much better at another iconic HK restaurant--Wong Chi Kei. I'm no food critic, but I like the noodle texture and shrimp that is served.

Weekday tea time at Wong Chi Kei (Photo: CathC)

One major benefit of being a tourist is going out to eat during the weekend tea time, when most people are still at work. There are no lines and the menus offer snack size portions. Aside from being less expensive than the lunch menu, the smaller portions means I can try a couple more things! A couple of "new" dishes to me were the truffle egg sandwhich, I'm not sure what makes this a "Portuguese dish" but it tasted great! The osmanthus and coconut gelatin was delicious, there was a lot of osmanthus leaves that the taste really comes through.

In most restaurants, vegetarian dishes are often a few items on the menu. But not so for Gaia Vegetarian Restaurant. Although the menu contains chicken and pork items, they are actually various vegetable, tofu, and mushroom ingredients in disguise. Some people think that vegetarian dishes should stand alone, rather than imitate meat dishes, but I think they can be playful and fun to eat. Like this orange peel pork ribs, the texture of the mushroom did give the dish a slightly meaty, stringy texture. But other dishes like the deep fried durian, are just fun to eat anyway. Surprisingly, the typical durian odour gets masks pretty well once it's deep fried.

A vegetarian take on "clay pot chicken and date rice" and dried orange peel ribs, as well as fried durian and kimpora salad, (Photo: CathC)

Resolving my pension fund

HK's pension fund is known as the mandatory pension fund (MPF) which both employers and employees are required to contribute at least a fixed amount every one you're employed. Normally you're not allowed to withdraw the funds until you're 65, but there are excepts in certain cases. Like permanently leaving Hong Kong...

Photo: http://www.mpfa.org.hk/

Aside from submitting forms to get my MPF back, I had to first get a statutory declaration. Basically this is a form stating my departure date and is officially notarized by a government representative. HK offers a free notary service at the Home Affairs Department. The location at Wan Chai completes the "swearing in" process every hour and is very quick to be completed. Once the form is completed, you read a passage in front of the staff  member to declare the statements/information are true.

With the declaration and letter of release from the Inland revenue department in hand, I booked an appointment with the university's MPF investment company. The officer reviewed the forms and double checked all the relevant details were correct and said everything should be processed and deposited within a month. So wrapping up my financials only took about 2 days...

Taxes...taxes...

Now that I've finished my last day at the university it's time to wind things down and begin planning for the move back to Toronto. I know everyone says this but I really feel these last 3.5 years in HK have flew by. Despite the structure that comes with an academic setting, one event and course just blends into the next. So the year just rolls by really quickly.

Here in HK, it's required that employers withhold your last month's salary until you receive tax clearance from the revenue agency. So the first place that CharK and I went after last day was the Revenue Tower out in Wan Chai. I was quite impressed by the speed at which paper work could be completed, I was able to pick up the letter of release within the day. The process of clearing our taxes still took us about half a day and started by going to the general counter to get a referral to the right floor for processing our claim.

The line just speeds through since most people just need referrals or simple explanations of how to complete the tax form. (Photo: wikimedia)

Then the wait really begins...

The office on the 26/f deals with a number of tax application changes like name changes and departures from HK. The staff at the counters will explain how to complete any outstanding tax forms and then you wait... First the officer needs to talk to you and review your tax form entries. Then you submit the form to him/her for a calculation of taxes. That calculation takes about 1 hour and you can come back to get your assessment. The tricking thing with timing is that the post office closes at 5pm while the revenue agency closes at 5:30pm. Normally, taxes more than 5000HKD are paid through the post office and then you'd take the receipt back to the revenue agency. They will exchange the receipt for a letter of release regarding your taxes. So this means if you owe more than 5000HKD on taxes you cannot pay it until the next day...

Depending on the time of year you leave, it's very possible that you'll actually get a refund. Like us, since we had paid our provisional taxes from the previous year. So the process was actually pretty straight forward.

So that was step one in wrapping things up. Next step--MPF claims...

*update* As was promised by office, I received my tax refund in mail within a week. Nice to have a little extra cash to spend before we leave...

In pork we trust

It was a day of eating for my bday this year. For lunch, CharK and I went to a Columbian restaurant in Causeway Bay called 33 cafe y mucho mas. The restaurant was kind of small so the kitchen got backed up with orders even though there were only 3-4 tables. But the waitress was nice, and gave us flan on the house. I loved the caramel sauce on the flan, super smoky. 

We ordered the Arepas Rellenas, grilled corn bread, which was delicious. I loved the creamy avocado salsa and chicken filling. We also ordered a spinach empaneda, which came with a creamy yoghurt sauce. For drinks we got a glass of kumbouche, which was a bit more sour as a juice than I expected. But the apple cider vinegar with organic honey was good.

Later for dinner, CharK and I tried a new "nose-to-tail" restaurant. It's an interesting themed restaurant, overseen by British chef Tom Aikens, which tries to use all parts of the pig in his menu. The deep fried pig ears had an interesting texture, but not a particular taste to it aside from the green caper sauce. The pig trotter on soughdough was good, and the cartilage gave the crunch bread an good contrast. My favourite dish was the ham hock mac and cheese. It was super creamy and tasty.

The menu also had a couple of pig themed drinks too. I got the Pig's Bath which is a cocktail containing: vanilla, aylesbury duck vodka, choya umeshu plum wine, poire liquer, lemon juice. Surprisingly I could taste all the different components and was pretty refreshing in the hot weather. CharK got  the fat pig bacon red ale. This tasted a bit like Guinness with caramelized bacon. Mmmm...what a great day!

Hiking to Hawaii

I feel really like that there are so many hiking trails in Hong Kong.  One any given hiking trail there's so much to see in terms of scenery or animals (butterflies and birds).The weather this weekend was perfect for hiking, it was sunny and around 16°C. So CharK and I decided to try one of the trails that is close to home--the Little Hawaii Trail which goes from Lam Tin to Po Lam.

Jackfruit trees grown in the wild--I wonder if our wetmarkt sells these? (Photo: CharK)

I was really surprised to see bananas grown in the backyard (Photo: CharK).

On this hike, we started using the mapmyhike app and it's fun to see the statistics of our exercise. Between our photo taking and wandering around Lam Tin Park, it took about 2.5hours to cover 8.11km. The best part of the App is the there's a voice notification whenever we veered off the path that we had originally inputted.

The reason why the trail is called Little Hawaii is because of this beautiful waterfall that use to be the central feature of this former "resort". Surprisingly there's quite a bit of water that flows down and the drop starts off from quite high up.

One of the coolest waterfalls I've seen on a hike here (Photo: CharK)

A broken dam at the top of the waterfall (Photo: CharK)

The hike itself wasn't too difficult but the pathway is more rocky than I had imagined. But along the way the path goes through this village area where there are lots of 3-storey homes. It seems like kind of a pain to live up here because the roads are quite narrow and difficult to park cars even on the side of the road. And most people called taxis to dropped them off at the entrance of the village.

Village farm area off in the top right (Photo: CharK)

This hike goes through a variety of neighborhoods and we even pass by this open area that's been sectioned off in to a 10+ plots to grow vegetables. So even in the hills we can see many signs of modern life including the electrical towers and people living.

Overlooking the beautiful Lohas Park

We walked "backwards", ending our trip in Lam Tin Park, from most people. This worked out because the park is actually built on the mountain side and has a tons of stairs to walk down before making to the actual Lam Tin area. So going this way actually seemed less tiring at the end.

Getting creative at PMQ

It's become somewhat of a tradition for CharK and I to spend Valentine's Day at PMQ. Last year I wrote about enjoying both the combination of Chinese New Year festivities and Valentine's Day workshops. This year, there were many free activities like rose sculpting and mural painting to celebrate the day. I don't really enjoy doing crafts myself, but I do appreciate seeing art installations.

Among them was the "Hong Kong on Steps", an art project by artists from Hong Kong Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and France where they paint various scenes on the steps of PMQ. I was really impressed by the visualization ability of these artists. My favourite ones were the scene of HK's iconic Victoria Harbour and the Coy fish.

Makes walking up all those flights of stairs worth the effort (Photo: Chark)

Love how this captures the motion of the fish (Photo: CharK)

But my favourite display was the "Play Me I'm yours" which consist of 16 pianos designed by local artists featuring distinctive elements of Hong Kong. The piano that stood out to me most was the "Design Hawker Stall" which features a piano painted in green on one side, and a replica of a food stall on the other side. I can't say that I have fond memories of road side stalls since we really didn't have these in Toronto. But I can see they are still an important part of HK's culture even today.

Love the attention to details on this one (Photo: CharK)

I was really impressed by the collaborative nature of the art mural that was part of the Valentine's Day activities. Artists initially outlined the overall images, then people could take their turn at using these large acrylic pushes to colour in the drawing. Each person would paint with a single colour brush and the staff overseeing the activity would clean up and fill in the other spots.  

This kind of reminds of me the scene from lady and the tramp where they share a strand of spaghetti (Photo: Chark)

 Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

Happy Lunar New Year

The fresh flower market at Victoria Park in Hong Kong Island is one of the most famous events held during the Lunar New Year celebrations. There are over 400 stalls in this one park, selling fresh flowers, toys, paper windmills, and traditional Chinese food and treats.

I haven't been there since my parents took me as a kid. So I was excited to relive the experience again this year. But I don't think I was quite ready for the crowds. There were moments when I felt I was literally being swept away by the crowds down an aisle even though I was just trying to get over to a stall. Many brave parents even brought babies in carriers on their backs.

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I loved see the variety of flowers, so many beautiful colors and even scents. My favourite to look at were the funny shaped New Year Fruits and also surprisingly fragrant were the peach blossoms. The almost neon colors of some Chrysanthemum and pussy willows. By walking around a bit, you could find some good deals on flowers. A single potted orchid ranged from 50-100 HKD. While a small bundle of peach blooms were about 80 HKD.

Aside from the beautiful flowers, many local high schools and colleges sold their own DIY creations like these "煎釀三寶" (aka HK street foods)

To me, the only downside of the event was the politicizing of this cultural celebration. It felt really out of place that political parties had booths at the Lunar New Year Fair. While families were wandering around pick up fresh flowers and enjoying the holiday, there were politicians shouting their slogans and messages.

Regardless of the crowds and chaos, it was still nice to experience the traditional festivities in Hong Kong. While there's still a celebratory mood in Toronto, the overall excitement and the number of things to see just isn't the same.

Happy Lunar New Year Everyone!

The coldest weekend ever

This has been the coldest weekend that I can remember since being in HK these past 3 years. Being Canadian the cold really shouldn't bother me so much, but I just can't get over how cold it is even indoors. Unlike having the luxury of central heating systems, I just need to wear more layers. Right now, I'm wearing a thermal shirt underneath a t-shirt,a fleece jacket, and socks! But it's so cold indoors that my clothes feel super cold before I put them on. This ice cold feeling of fabric is something I really dread!

It's only 13 degrees inside! (Photo: CathC)

One thing I have to say is that our apartment would be significantly warmer if our windows were better sealed and insulated. Since I'm in a rental, I don't have plans to change the windows. But that would definitely an improvement on making it through the winter more comfortably.

A definite sign of leakage, it's actually a few degrees colder next to the window--only 7 degrees (Photo: CathC)

Rather than stay home in the cold, CharK and I decided to head to the mall. We took the bus over to The One in Tsim Sha Tsui, and it turned out to be pretty good choice. Being one of the tallest malls in the city, there were quite a few shops to explore. Plus it was actually pretty warm indoors, aside from the floors closer to the ground level. As a bonus, we tried a new Vietnamese restaurant. I liked the fun seafood baked rice, which was served inside a young coconut. Unlike the more popular pineapple fried rice, the coconut meat actually adds a very prominent taste to the whole dish. Yummy!

The skewers were actually like a deconstructed vermicelli noodle dish. The lettuce wraps up the pork and noodle inside. (Photo: CathC)

By night fall, the HK Observatory reported that Sunday was the coldest day in the last 59 years. Apparently it dropped down to below freezing on Tai Mo Shan. News reports also showed many people driving and hiking up HK's high peak to see the icicles and frost that had accumulated. As a result of the slippery roads, frigid conditions, a number of people had to be rescued by emergency crews after being stranded on the peak.

Drinking hot tea and snacking on chocolate is my favourite way to stay warm at night. (Photo: CathC)

This cold weather is suppose to last until at least Wednesday, so at least there's warmer weather in sight. This has definitely been a memorable winter, experiencing the cold weather in HK!

A model of my favourite street food

I love egg puffs. You can always smell these delicious, crunchy snacks way before you can actually see the stall or shop selling them. These are also one of HK's most iconic street foods, so not surprisingly a local model shop Tiny has turned this famous snack into a die-cast model.

Happy to get my hands on one of the first editions of the model (Photo: CathC)

Like the description says, coal fired egg puffs are pretty rare. Think I've only had ones made on an electric stove (Photo: CathC)

Today's egg puffs are usually sold in stores or more permanent stalls instead of carts (Photo: CathC)

I love all the details that went into this cart--from the batter to the cast iron waffle press (Photo: CathC)

I've collected quite a few toys and models in the relatively short amount of time I've been in HK. From HK vehicles to Peanuts characters. For me, these having toys are more fun and interactive than just having photos of the memories of my time here. But it won't be long before I'll need some kind of display case to store everything!

Seeing Macau in a Day

Being just an hour ferry ride away, Macau is a nice day trip destination. Last year, I went with a bunch of friends and made an "eating tour" of the city. My post here details all the foods I tried. Today, CharK and I took the day off to went on a self-guided tour around Macau. Normally you can catch the casino buses from the Macau Ferry Terminal to one of the many casinos around the city. But we thought taking a walking tour would let us really see what the neighbourhoods are like. Plus, we ended up getting lots of exercise during our 12 km journey around the Macau Penninsula

I found that even taking the economy class on the Turbojet can be enjoyable. The key is to arrive early for boarding/seats assignments. One the way back to Hong Kong, we ended up being the first in-line for the seat assignments (which starts 15 minutes before the ferry leaves). I asked the agent for a window seat and he kindly agree. So CharK and I ended up with upper deck seats in one of the two-person rows. These seats were much more comfortable then our trip over to Macau, where we werein the slightly more crowded three-person rows on the lower deck.

The roomy upper deck of the Turbojet (Photo: CathC)

One part of our sightseeing that stood out for me, the view of Macau from the top of Mount Fortress. Not only could I see all across Macau, I also had a view of China's Zhuhai. I can see mountains of the Zhuxian Park and all of the new condominiums under construction.

A spectacular view from Mount Fortress (Photo: CharK)

Although the view is beautiful, I couldn't help but notice the contrast between the two cities and even within Macau itself. Most of the housing in Macau looks pretty run down and dilapidated amongst the glitzy casinos. Similarly most of the new construction projects seemed to be going on in Zhuhai instead. Just next to Mount Fortress is the Macau Museum. We were in luck today, because admissions is free on Fridays. I love seeing installations and replica pieces. My favourite exhibit was the living quarters of Chinese and Portuguese.

The colourful houses typical of Portuguese style. (Photo: CharK)

I love the details they put into recreating the traditional Chinese wedding night room (Photo: CharK)

The museum has had these fun installations of street hawkers. The audio track plays and you can hear what each person is selling, like traditional Chinese medicine from a food stall. We got really lucky that it only rained a few hours during hte early afternoon. So we didn't have to worry about bumping umbrellas in the crowds. This made it easier to see the popular tourist sites like the Ruins of St. Paul's.

We didn't even need to make the trip over to Cotai for the Macau's famous pork chop buns. The most famous shop, Tai Lei Loi Kei, opened a chain last year at Largo do Senado. The staff are surprisingly friendly and there are lots of yummy foods to snack on. I really enjoyed the twist on the classic pork chop in a pinapple bun. The pork chop is pan fried not deep frieds, so it's very juicy. The sweet pineapple bun also gives it great flavour. The spicy homemade dipping sauce for the fish balls and squid is amazingly spicy! Just a dab was enough to make me cough.

A good snack after our walk (Photo: CharK)

 I also tried some cute Hello Kitty Portuguese Tarts from another local shop. The tarts were good, very creamy.

The original flavour tastes a lot better than the green tea one (Photo: CharK)

So between the food and sightseeing, it was a fun day in Macau.

A holiday roundup

Lucky for me, I got early days on Christmas and New Year's Eve. So spent part of it wandering around the malls, which were still pretty busy (guess lots of people also had the afternoon off!) But it was easier to take photos than normally on weekends. Snoopy is very popular this year, especially with all the hype from the movie, so not surprising the display was a bit hit with all the mall visitors.

My favourite Snoopy displays of 2015 (Photo: CharK)

After spending dinner with family, CharK and I took a stroll along the Shatin river. The bridge looked so beautiful all lit up at night. It wasn't until around midnight that we were walking around, and to my surprise there were quite a few people on the streets, maybe just finishing up a late dinner like us!

Christmas time in Shatin (Photo: CharK)

A replica of the light display along the Shatin River (Photo: CharK)

Shatin Park is another place to go to see Christmas decorations. Seeing the cheerful display really makes me get into the Christmas spirit. And this display is pretty efficient, the monkeys are probably a tribute to the upcoming hinese New Year Celebrations. 2016 will be a year of the monkey.

Shatin Park (Photo: CharK)

This year we spent New Year's Eve at home for the most part, but went to the mall downstairs to see the celebrations. Some of the kids were already waiting for the start of the show since the around noon.

Setting up for the big New Year's Eve bash (Photo: CathC)

Mostly the neighborhood families and couples were in the audience for TVB New Year's Eve bash at East Point City. Since there are quite a few apartment complexes around here, there was a sizeable crowd. It was interesting to show but the overall atmosphere wasn't that festival compared to the feeling you get being outside waiting for fireworks and a countdown. So after watching the show for a bit, we headed back upstairs to ring in 2016 watching HK's firework's display over Victoria Harbour on tv.

Cast of the last TVB nursing drama celebrating the New Year's Eve show (Photo: CharK)

Happy New Year everyone--hope you had a wonderful holiday season!