一月在香港 ... One month in Hong Kong

Wan Chai & Central

Hong Kong is without doubt my favourite city on the planet. One of the things that i love the most about the place is how the buildings seem to twinkle at night, almost as if they are suggesting that they know something that you don't.

Something i had overlooked in my reading about the city was the cities architectural past. The Skyscraper laden strip of land that makes up the northern shore of Hong Kong island, used to be full of old Victorian buildings at the turn of the century. If you have an interest in colonial architecture, i highly recommend checking it out.

Three of Hong Kong's prominent buildings, (from left to Right) Bank Of China Tower, IFC 2, and the center.

I've always said i would love to live here, how realistic a possibility that is, i have no clue. But i'll certainly try to make it happen.

Tiger Leaping Gorge (虎跳峡)

One of the last big things i did before i left china was to visit Tiger Leaping Gorge (虎跳峡). This had slipped off my agenda when i heard about the fantastic trekking opportunities that were to be had around the town Deqin (德钦), however i cannot explain in words ho cold it is 3600m up near the Tibetan border. So needless to say my time in Deqin was extremely brief.

The lack of a proper excursion in the foothills of Tibet meant that Tiger Leaping Gorge was back on the agenda. One of the reasons that this wasn't especially high on my agenda, is having trekked around Hawaii, and Australia by myself, i've found it really is more fun with company. Especially when you get into that classic "Do i go this way, or that way" situations.

My company came in the form of Peruvian woman that i met in Shangri-la (香格里拉) called Alessandra.  Together we walked the 18km from the upper gorge to the middle gorge. The whole trip took about 7-8 hours including a stop at one of the guesthouses half way to eat and pick Snickers bars (巧克力) for the trip.

The trail's configuration is a mixture of public roads, dirt trails, and steps hewed out solid rock. One of my favourite bits, and one of the most interesting is this waterfall (Image left). The gorge sits between two Gigantic mountains, both reaching well over 5000m at there respective peaks. As result melting snow running down the mountain(s) provides these amazing features. There is essentially no path at the waterfall, the water from the waterfall runs over the "designated" path and off the edge of the cliff.

While the water isn't a deep, it's not particularly dangerous (well as long as you don't lose your balance while taking HDR photos), it is an awesome experience to be perched between this falling fresh water and a 1000m drop down into the gorge.

So i have a disease, i'm an addict, a Computer addict. As a result of my disease i see it necessary to carry my Macbook everywhere me. Well in this case, i didn't feel comfortable leaving it at the starting Guest house, so i thought i really ought to bring it with me. The fact that i had a new episode of Family Guy, and had been doing quite well in my FM12 game did not influence my decision in any way shape or form.

Needless to say after a few kilometers it began to dawn on that i really needed to somehow make the fact that i was carrying a 3kg laptop with me 18km, worthwhile, The below was the result.

In many ways it actually sums up my trip quite well, travelling the world, glued to my laptop. Sometimes a consumer, others a contributor, but most importantly a creator.

But i digress, after the trek i was well and truely shattered. My legs hurt and while the pain did subside over the next few days it was still fairly taxing. Nothing that would have me advise people not to do the trek, but make sure you don't plan on doing much afterwards.

Anyways if your interested in seeing my route in additional detail, i've used my billion dollar GPXShare app to upload my GPS trace, which you can enjoy here.

To close, Tiger Leaping Gorge was impressive, the views amazing, however from the short amount of time i spent in Tibetan hinterland that was Deqin, and the feilai temple (飞来) i'm confident that even better trekking is to be had there.

Dinner Diary - 馅饼（xian bing)

Sadly my second trip to China hasn't been filled with anywhere near the same amount of street food as i had hoped. Maybe 云南人 just don't like eating on the street, who knows. Having said that i found 馅饼, without much searching. It's very similar to the Baba that is found in northern Yunnan, however this is filled with pork mince and cooked in large amount of oil, so much that it's almost dangerous for health and clothing to eat it with your hands.

一个馅饼是6元
One xianbing is 6 yuan (£0.60)

Dinner Diary - Naxi Sandwich

This one isn't a traditional recipe as far as i know but instead a western take on a authentic Chinese food. "Baba" is a traditional flat bread from Naxi people in Yunnan province. This sandwich is essentially two pieces of Baba with a fried egg, tomato, red onion & cucumber. It's fairly awesome, and has a really fresh taste. Another "fusion" dish was "Chocolate Baba", sadly this was only chocolate sauce on a Baba, not chocolate inside a baba (huge difference).

Anyways this Naxi sandwich came in at 16 Yuan (£1.60)

Dinner Diary - Hanoi Mystery sweet

 

Vietnam is a good place to be if you like sweet things. Kem Flan, Ca phe sua de, and the is mystery food. It was possibly the cheapest thing i got in Vietnam, costing around 5000 Dong in back alley of Hanoi.

It was essentially like cornmeal porridge on a rice cracker with sugar sprinkled on top. Sounds basic but it was awesome, and extremely sweet.

Dinner Diary - 粑粑 (Baba)

Yum, bread. It's like it's been the theme of my time in South East Asia. the place i had always sworn that you could not get decent bread.

Baba apparently comes comes from the Naxi minority people in Yunnan province, China. Sometimes it's filled, sometimes it's just plain. The joy is in the discovery. I've had at least 4 different types of Baba in the same town. One with Red bean filling, one with a sweet jam like filling, a plain one, and a baked (rather than fried) version.

Baba on the streets on 大理 ranges from 2 yuan all the way to a mind shattering 5 yuan (daylight robbery if you ask me).

Dinner Diary - Dali Noodle Surprise

 

It seems to be almost customary now that i try random things in random countries. The above dish is one such example. It consisted of Rice noodles (米线), strips of pork, and the shop had a series of veggies and spices that you could add to it. I just threw in handful  of spring onions.

This dishy dish came in at 6 yuan (£0.60p).

I Took a Picture [Tibetan Edition]

Meli Snow Mountain, Tibet. Taken From Feilai Temple, Deqin, Yunnan

Dinner Dairy - Bo Bit Tet

Since i've been in Vietnam, i've eaten a lot of food. But i think with Bo Bit Tet, i've found one of my favourites. This is especially unusual as there is very little Vietnamese about it. The dish is made of a salad, chips/ french fries, a bread roll and "steak". Beef in South East Asia is a far cry from the meat in Europe & the americas.

What makes this dish so good is the gravy/ sauce. Oh the sauce! It was so good i had to purchase another Banh mi (bread roll) to sop up all the sauce.

The Bo Bit Tet cost 60 000 Dong (US$3/£2) on the rainy, cold streets of Hanoi. Incase your interested the additional bread roll cost 3000 Dong (£0.10p).

Dinner Diary - Bun Cha

Today's dish was Bun Cha. Unlike a couple of the recent postings i actually knew what i was getting into with this one. Having seen the signs up on the streets of Hanoi, i had done a small amount of research and knew what to expect. The soup is slightly sweet, and together with the noodles and veggies makes a great combination. Floating around in the soup are bits of BBQ pork wrapped in various leafs of one form or another. It's usually eaten by popping some noodles and veggies into your soup, and letting them soak up a little of the flavour, before popping the whole deal in your "pie hole". On the streets of Hanoi's Old Quarter, it cost 30000 Dong (US$1.50/£1)

Dinner Diary - Vietnamese Train Surprise

So i'm sitting on a train somewhere between Hanoi and Da Nang when a train company employee passes by my hard sleeper hawking some stuff. Having seen a couple of other vietnamese people go for it, i thought why not. Inside the white casing which was nicely wrapped in a leaf, was a mince pork filling with a quails egg, Quite tasty. The unfortunate thing, is i have no clue what it is, but it was "cheap-ish" for train food coming in at 30000 Dong.

I Took a Picture [Central Vietnam Edition]

Hoi An, Vietnam, 3 Exposure HDR

Dinner Diary - Coconut Cake

SUGAR!!!!

Who loves Sugar ... i love sugar. As a result i was over the moon when i discovered this one. It's essentially sweetened grated coconut inside a bread like bun, deep-fried. Totally awesome, however a tad expensive, weighing in 10000 Dong (US$0.50) each.

Dinner Diary - Banh Xeo

Today's dish was Banh Xeo. This dish consists of three parts, a deep fried Pancake/omelette with bean sprouts, pork, and spring onions, a salad of lettece and mint and some other mysterious vegetable, and Rice paper. The sauce in the bottom right of the image above is fish sauce is a couple stray mint leafs. The glass used to contain Ca phe sua da (lit. coffee milk cold)

The lady at the restaurant (yeah, i didn't eat on the street, i was surprised too), informed me that the proper way to eat the dish was to tear off a piece of the pancake, add some salad, and roll it in the rice paper, and then dip it in the fish sauce (see below).

"They see me rolling"

Ready to go, not before dipping in fish sauce of course

 Once we've rolled up, we dip it in the fish sauce and enjoy. The portion size is surprising big, and the end result is a filling meal. In many ways it reminded me of my favourite dish so far in Asia, Roti Canai. The price however is astronomical in comparison, with Bahn Xeo costing 25000 Dong (US$1.25/£0.75), while the infamous Roti Canai could be had for as little as £0.20. However either way you cut it, it's good.

Dinner Diary - Vietnamese Market surprise

Yet another trip to a market, and yet more food that i have no clue about. This dish was contained  rice, tofu, shrimp, chicken, beansprouts, green beans, loads of fish sauce and other assorted veggies.

I think this was a slightly more "natural" dish, where it has no real name, but is just an assortment of good food thrown together on a plate.

Total cost 30 000 Dong (US$1.50/GB£1.00) including some vietnamese tea.

Dinner Diary - Pho Thịt lợn

Pho is possibly the most popular vietnamese dish abroad. Strangely the first time i had Pho was in Honolulu, Hawaii. I had this particular dish in Da Lat, it features some pork sausage and perhaps the lightest beef i've ever seen, however there is an extremely large possibility that this is pork.

This lovely dish set me back around 40000 Dong (US$2/ £1.20), along with the ever present ca pha sua da, which is Vietnamese ice coffee with milk. 

I Took a Picture, Angkor Edition

Angkor Wat, Cambodia at sunrise. 3 Exposure HDR

Dinner Diary - Meat Ball soup

One of the things i never appreciated about Vietnam is that it's really big. It also has a big population (over 90 Million). Because of the country's size there is a fairly big variation in the climate of certain regions. 

This was especially true in the town of Da Lat, located 2000m above sea level. As a result of the attitude the town is much cooler than most of Southern Vietnam, with temperatures hovering around the mid to low 20's in the shade.

In my experience, cooler climates usually equal awesome stews and soups, and Da Lat didn't disappoint. This lovely dish consisted of Noodles in a tomato-ish both, with a giant (bigger than my fist) meatball, as instructed by my vietnamese speaking travellers i threw in some cabbage and soy sauce to make the dish a little more interesting. Chilli's/ chilli sauce is also advised, however it was cold and i wanted to wolf it down.

If memory serves it set me back 20 000 Dong, which at time of writing was just under single US dollar.

Good Soup

Dinner Diary - Banh Mi

One of the fascinating things about travel for me is learning about how history has influenced the food of a particular county. The french colonisation of "Indo-China" has resulted in Cambodia and Vietnam being quite good at making bread. Something that is extremely unique in south-east asia. Generally the bread is awful, 5 months in i think i get to say that.

As i highlighted in a previous post, Cambodia has it's "Cambodian sandwich", Well not to be out done, Vietnam has it's own, the Banh Mi. From my limited understanding of Vietnamese, Bahn mi translates directly to "bread".  If you approach one of the vendors and just ask for a "Banh Mi" you'll be given a baguette. However if you ask for Banh Mi Ga, that is "Bread with chicken" then the fun starts. Ideally you should ask for everything ... i don't know how you say that in Vietnamese, however a circular motion near the various meats usually does the trick.

Banh Mi 'Everything'

Inside the everything option is usually beef, chicken, sweet chilli sauce, soy sauce, carrots, cabbage and more. They are quite easy to find in the south of Vietnam, (Ho Chi Min, Da Lat, Nha Trang etc), and can cost anywhere from 10 000(US$0.50c) to 25000(US$1.25) Dong.

Banh Mi Op La

But wait, there's more. Banh Mi Op la is another variation. What's the difference, simple it's egg inside the Banh mi. Usually these are fried "Sunny side up", and with the yoke still fluid so that you can enjoy some yellow goodness.

Acquiring a Chinese visa in Cambodia

In recent times the Chinese Immigration services have become more and more particular about the procedure required to get a chinese visa. My application was denied twice in Bangkok, Thailand for not having proper proof of my entry and exit into China. This was an issue as i want to travel into Southern China via Vietnam overland on a Train. And my Vietnamese isn't exactly conversational (read non-existent), so buying train tickets over the phone from bangkok isn't really an option.

However there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Turns out that the Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia is a little bit of a rebel and doesn't ask for any of the aforementioned details. You turn up, fill out your form, and 3 days later you get the best sticker in the world. The other plus is that a single entry, 30 day Chinese visa in Bangkok costs around 1650 Baht for the regular service, that's about US$55 or £33 (Jan 2011), while in the "Kingdom of Wonder" (Cambodia's tourism tag line) it will cost US$30/£20.

On a side note, i highly recommend going to the Chinese Ambassador's residence in Phnom Penh, it's on street #380 at the bottom of street #51, like most things that involve the Chinese government its massive!