Thursday, January 6, 2011

Happy belated New Year!

I got back from Hong Kong late evening on Tuesday. I felt as if I had only gotten over my jet lag for a few days and then it was time to head back. I had a wonderful time. Yes, I had a lot of fun at the Andy Lau concerts, no question, but it was also fun during the day.

The concert was different than I expected, no mini-dramas this time which at first threw me but then I realized it was meant to be a journey through Andy's life in song. Having tickets to quite a few shows, one of the highlights for me were the guests. I am not just an Andy Lau fan, I am a fan of Hong Kong entertainment so I knew almost all of the guests. In 2007 when I came for those concerts, Andy had almost no guests so this made it an altogether different experience for me. My favorite guests were Anthony Wong, Sandra Ng, Sammi Cheng and George Lam. Oh, oh, yes, let's not forget the Wynners! I thought the Twins sang terribly and Leon Lai looked downright scared.

Most of the guests sang "Ming Sing" which was a great way to compare singing styles, the only ones that didn't were the Twins. Leon Lai sang it as a duet with Andy then sang one of Andy's songs as a solo. And Deannie Yip was a regular guest, I was a fan of hers before I even discovered Andy and their "mother-son" relationship. She also came out one night to sing "Ming Sing."

By day I was out and about. I didn't adhere to my plan of wandering around because I was with more people this trip. My one friend, who is a former Hong Konger who now lives in NYC, asked me before my trip where I wanted to go, that she would take me there. Not my first trip, I thought, I don't need a tour guide. But I told her a few places I wanted to go and she got the picture, I had done the tourist sites. We went to 2 of the 3 places I requested together. She was also with her father and two aunts and they are in great shape, we did a lot of walking and standing, no complaints at all and sometimes they'd go off on their own to do more things.

I was with this friend and her family most of my days and it was great for me. I certainly got a better idea of how locals get around, eat and shop in Hong Kong. I ate dim sum regularly as well as congee but I also had a variety of meals such as hotpot (pix coming soon), rice in the clay pot (which I have had in NYC but never got around to in HK) and bird's nest for dessert. I even tasted pig's blood. With other friends I went to Sai Kung for a seafood dinner, al fresco. One friend had brought her dog so we had to eat outside, which was too cold for me and a couple of others but we managed. There I finally got to try abalone.

As for shopping, we did a ton of it. Children's clothing, books, jeans, underwear ginger and all sorts of fish in Cheung Chau. We shopped at Ladies Market but also Bowring Street and Sham Shui Po.

I haven't offloaded my pix from my netbook yet. Mostly they are of the concerts but I have plenty others that folks here would be more interested in. I don't have a USB with enough space on it here at home, the ones with the most capacity are at work.

13 comments:

  1. Happy New Year to you as well! Glad you had a good time =)

    We want pix!!!! =P

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy New Year and glad you had a good trip. Of course we want to see pictures and more pictures!

    ReplyDelete
  3. LOL okay, will do, I will start sometime this weekend. Today is my first day back at work and I am seriously dragging. Luckily it is a quiet day so far.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Welcome back & happy new year! Any suggestions on good Hot Pot,congee, & clay pot rice restos in HK? I'll be visiting HK next month!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I got back from HK on Tuesday too. Glad you enjoyed the Andy Lau concert. It seemed like every morning for a week, I was somewhere seeing a clip of the previous night's Andy concert on the TV.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Diana --

    Sounds like you had a great time in Hong Kong this December/January! Am glad you got a more local taste of Hong Kong this time around too -- sounds like you ate plenty of good Chinese food as well. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Pat, I am not much of a foodie and I really just followed my friends around for food, sometimes they had a particular place in mind sometimes they just went by the look of the storefront. One resource for good places to eat is Daisann McLane's Little Adventures in Hong Kong facebook page, you can find the link via her website. I have never partaken of her services myself but I am an avid reader. http://www.realtravelhongkong.com/

    Glenn, we are ships passing in the night! You saw clips on TV every morning? I missed that.

    YTSL--I had hardly any western food, and no sushi this time, which was my staple over the summer. Although I did make it to one of my favorite places, "The Flying Pan." You can get eggs in so many forms in Cantonese cuisine so I was surprised that I had a craving for an omelet, but I did and that was the first place I thought of. Love the comfy blue couches too. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Welcome back, Diana! Glad to hear you had a great time in HK. Looking forward to your pics. :)

    Thanks for the link Daisann McLane's site. I wasn't familiar with her.

    And regarding The Flying Pan, I still haven't gone there, but it's been on my list of places to try for several years now. Next time for sure!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks Dave. I hope you like The Flying Pan as much as I do. Pix are coming.

    Pat, Dave: Another online resource for Hong Kong that you may or may not know about, they too are on facebook but here is the website: http://forum.allabouthongkong.com/

    My jetlag and my cold have me sleeping quite a bit right now. But at least now my afternoon naps are becoming evening naps so I am going in the right direction ...

    ReplyDelete
  10. I went to the Flying Pan a few times this trip. It's a great location because if you go early enough in the morning you can watch -- out of those big windows -- the people still partying, or wandering home, in Wan Chai, as well as people going to work for actual jobs. There's a pic of French Toast on my blog from that place.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks Diana for the links! I might be the only person that is not on facebook! Been watching a few vids on youtube on the Andy Lau concert in HK. Looked like a nice production with the lights & all. Looking forward to your review & pics & setlist?!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Diana

    ...the abalone...fresh ones or the dried preserved ones? The latter can be addictive. Glad to know you had a good trip. I went to HK last year sadly its losing its mystique....

    ReplyDelete
  13. Pat, no review or set list for the concerts. I might post a few photos here and there. It is really hard to capture Andy in concert, because he is in motion 99% of the time with a camera like mine, although I shamelessly continue to try.

    Gnat, the abalone was on the half shell, we had that in Sai Kung. Sorry you didn't enjoy your trip to HK last year.

    ReplyDelete