Hello! I’ve been super behind with blogging but who can blame me when it was my final week in this city. With more family visiting, I spent a lot of time taking my cousin around shopping malls, where I attempted to convince him to buy brightly coloured dickie bows (he wasn’t having any of it) and also eyeing up oversized men’s clutch bags (aka fancy iPad/Tablet cases) and generally intrigued at all the preppy ‘Korean style’ clothing that is just as popular with guys as well as girls fashion. K-Pop culture has a firm hold on Asia and popularity has shifted from Japan to Korea which is interesting. This also translates outside of fashion too, for example even Japanese supermarkets now stock a vast range of Korean imports which to a large extent is in response to worries about Japan and it’s radiation problems. I guess being back in the UK, we don’t really hear too much about the problems in Japan but living in Asia for the past 3 months, it’s hard not to notice all the updates and TV shows that are trying to encourage more tourism back to the country after the disasters.
Anyway, so apart from being a shopping guide to my cousin, let’s return to where my last post left off. Following my day of Afternoon tea and Taiwanese shaved ice with Sam, we returned the next day to Dessert Kitchen to try out the Japanese Brownie (crunchy brownie wrapped in a layer of Mochi) and some Uji Green tea ice cream!
I totally wish that the soft ice cream had been Green tea flavoured, instead it was vanilla with green tea powder sprinkled on top and a layer of red bean which was still good. After walking off the desserts we made our way over to Central. It was a super super hot day, blue skies and scorching sunshine but despite the heat, it was fun walking around and taking photos of the awesome architecture of Hong Kong. Seriously, there is no place like this city.
The twin office buildings of the Lippo centre are easily recognisable with the interlocking design which looks like it’s about to untwist itself and become something else entirely – there is definitely something very robotic about it’s design.
The Government headquarters building is made up of two massive towers with a linking section which makes it a crazy structure to stand underneath. All this architecture makes me feel very very small!
Our walk around in the hot sunshine lead us to Vero Chocolate Lounge, a place where you can sit and eat lots of chocolate based goodies from cake to iced chocolate drinks. Lots of calorific goodness.
It seemed it was just about to relocate and according to Sam, it’s had a bit of a menu revamp and not quite as good as she remembered. Despite this the dark chocolate iced chocolate was delicious and as you can see by Sam’s pic, I found them very instagrammable!
In contrast to the shiny commercial buildings, here is one last shot taken from my grandparent’s bedroom, the contrast between the high rises and the lush green mountains is one of my favourite things. I have always said this about Hong Kong but it is such a city of contrasts on many, many levels. From the thriving supermarkets to the old market sellers that sell random veggies at the side of the road. Even more obvious are the Ferrari’s and Porsche’s that roar past the old ladies that collect old cardboard boxes just to earn a bit more of a living and a harsh reminder of the divide between rich and poor in Hong Kong.
*Thank you to Sam for pics 2, 7 and 8 and also for being the most
awesome guide to HK desserts (haha) and of course being all round excellent company. See you
soon!!
I can’t believe I am flying home tomorrow night! I had a busy day running around Hong Kong earlier today, buying last minute goodies for my parents/sisters which involved battling through Sogo department store which is currently holding a big sale and means that it is like boxing day back home, everyone pushing and shoving and lots of one way systems, nightmare! The Supermarket downstairs was chaotic with people frantically buying pumpkins which by the looks of things must have been quite the bargain, literally everyone was holding one. This all culminated with a meal with my family and then back home where I have packed all my things and I am now all ready to check in tomorrow.
I’ve had the best 3 months here and I can’t believe that it’s time to go home already. One thing that I’ve learned is that no amount of time with family and friends is ever enough, especially when they live on the other side of the world! Of course I’ll be back soon as HK has always been a home away from home but until then, I am looking forward to reuniting with my friends and family back in the UK. Blighty, you better warm up for my arrival, I hear it is about 9 degrees!
