Travel Day

Dinner last night was early and easy at  Crystal Jade where we enjoyed chicken with chili peppers and Dan Dan noodles.

We were packed and ready to leave at six this morning.

As we got off the elevator we were informed that our car to the airport was waiting at the front door. The ride only took 30 minutes on this early Saturday morning.

There were no lines at check in and we went through immigration, customs and security in record time. We waited in the Cathay Pacific Lounge until our 9:15 AM flight was called.

 Fifteen hours later and an hour early, we arrived to JFK airport.
We had a 4 hour wait for our connecting flight to Miami. Needless to say we were exhausted when we reached home.

We had a wonderful trip full of new experiences that we will be able to revisit through this blog. Hong Kong is such an exciting city, it keeps calling us back......stay tuned for next year.

Our Last Day in Hong Kong

After spending an hour or so packing we decided it was time to go out and enjoy our last day here.
We started out by walking to the Star Ferry pier, and took a ferry to TST (Tsim Sha Tsui), Kowloon.

Once there we walked and enjoyed the morning, it was cloudy but no rain.

After our ferry ride back to Central in Hong Kong we took a taxi to the Man Mo Temple. The inside of the Man Mo was very smoky as the incense was burning and filling the air with a very pungent odor, so I didn’t stay too long. The temple was under repair, there was no roof and there was bamboo scaffolding on the front.

These large spirals are incense that worshippers light and they burn for about a month. The entire ceiling is covered with them.
We then took a taxi back to the hotel.

We enjoyed lunch at Joel Robuchon Salon De The, a beautiful cafe in the IFC mall.








We are finishing up our packing and getting ready for our long journey home. Stay tuned for some final thoughts of our last evening in Hong Kong.

Rain and More Rain

We have had two more rainy days, which has kept us inside a lot. Yesterday we took a walk in the IFC mall attached to our hotel, and then took a taxi to Pacific Place (another mall), revisiting one of our favorite restaurants for lunch Ye Shanghai. We returned just in time as it started to pour again.

Today my cousin Fran flew home,
and, we waited out the rain and took a cab to Mott 32 for lunch (our second visit of one of the newly discovered restaurants on this trip).

We were able to walk back to the hotel by way of the interconnecting covered walkways that connect the central district to the hotels and ferry pier.

As I sit here writing this blog I can see across the harbour for the first time in a few days. I’m hoping for sunshine tomorrow, our last day.

Rain Rain Go Away….

Weatherwise luck has been on our side as in previous days we enjoyed great weather and were able to visit the Buddha and go on our Won-Ton-A-Thon, however today is filled with mist from the rain, the harbour has a beautiful mystical look for us to see from our 42nd floor suite. Although still overcast, the rain stopped and we were able to go out for lunch. Lunch was a memorable experience in one of the more beautifully decorated restaurants in Hong Kong, Mott 32. 

After a maize entrance to the restaurant, we were taken to a room where there were only 4 booths and was architecturally designed with an unusual parquet barrel ceiling. The walls were lined with hundreds of Chinese paint brushes, the effect was stunning.. Mirrors on the back wall gave the illusion of a much larger room.

Parquet Barrel Ceiling Mott 32

The food, from the Chashu to the soup dumplings, the fried rice and flat noodles with beef was delicious. Mott 32 will surely be one of our future repeat restaurants. 

Won-ton-a-thon

Today we did a walking tour led by Janice Leung Hayes of Little Adventures of Hong Kong, a company we had hired on our past trip to Hong Kong. 
We walked to local restaurants featuring a large variety of Dim Sum and other Cantonese delights. The tour included tasting stops at various  restaurants known for their specialties such as Chashu (sliced simmered/braised pork), egg tart, pineapple buns, rice paper rolls, (Yuenyeung (a blend of tea, coffee and unsweetened condensed milk) 

The afternoon was spent resting in preparation of our dinner at one of our favorite restaurants Man Wah, located in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.