Things I love about Hong Kong

So I was considering doing a post about things I missed from the states, but I figured that would too boring. Plus, I need to focus on the things I love here! Some things are simple and some people may not agree with others, but so far this is the list of things in Hong Kong that have made me smile and helped me to love this city.

1) The shopping- Now, I can't go into the majority of stores here as they would max out every credit card (my rule is, if it has a security guard or line of people at the front door, I don't go in) but what girl doesn't love some window shopping here and there. Plus, Hong Kong has an amazing amount of markets all over that specialize in certain products. We have been to the electronic market, pet market, flower market, knock-offs market and we live in the dried seafood market (more on that in another blog). You literally go to an area of the city and they have streets filled with shops that specialize in what you want. It's amazing to see all of the stores lined up, selling the same thing for blocks on end. 

Store in the pet market

2) The landscape- I have been to some of the beaches nearby, as well as to the top of the highest peak on the island, Victoria's Peak. It amazes me that in this small of an area, you can go from lying on a beach to hiking up a mountain within an hour. 

View on a hike overlooking the harbor and where our apartment is

3) The taxis- There are so many of them, making it very convenient whenever you are in a pinch to get somewhere fast and they are very reasonably priced. Did I also mention that the driver can open the back passenger door for you when your hands are full?! I fell in love while standing out in the rain, arms full of bags from Ikea. Like I said, it's the little things! 

4) The octupus card- Think of it as your all access card for Hong Kong. You can pay for the majority of transportation (MTR subway, trolleys, buses), purchase items at all convenience stores, pharmacies and grocery stores, it opens the main doors to our apartment building, opens our mailbox and tells the elevator which floor we live on. This card makes life so simple! 

5) The weather- Who wouldn't love mid-70's? I know I've adjusted to the temperature as I have been bundling up for a cold front of mid-60's over the weekend. I am enjoying the weather now, because as I've been warned, the summers can be quite brutal with humidity and heat. 

That's a short list so far! I will keep you updated as we continue to find new things each week. For now, I will leave you with a little look of our Christmas decorations. Ryan is sad it's not a real tree, however, all the Christmas trees are imported from the USA an cost a pretty penny. 

Also, we will be in the states for Christmas from December 16th-29th, spending the 16th-21st in Milwaukee and the 22nd-28th in Iowa. We would love to see family and friends during our time home so hit us up! 

Happy Holidays from Hong Kong

Hot Pot at Home

Many people have been asking me what I am eating and cooking over here. Honestly, I am eating a lot of the same types of foods I ate at home, just different brands. I have been trying to cook some food I find in the local grocery stores though. 

One of my first types of meals when we came to visit here in May was hot pot. Hot pot, or 'Chinese fondue', is cooking of food in a simmering pot of water that is typically seasoned. The pot is placed in the middle of the table and everybody cooks their own food within the same pot. 

Ryan and I at a hot pot restaurant in May

Typically food made in a hot pot includes green vegetables, mushrooms, balls of various meats, dumplings, thinly sliced meat and fish and noodles. 

Ryan and I usually get what is known as a 'ying yang pot' which means half of the pot is flavored mild and the other is flavored spicy. 

Ying Yang Hot Pot 

When I went grocery shopping for the first time, I found flavor packets for hot pots and picked up several to try. I then ventured into my first home made hot pot this past week when I had several things around that would be good to throw in. 

I started with a pot of boiling water and dissolved the base for a hot and spicy hot pot. 

 

I then prepared my ingredients to boil. I had bok choi, fish balls (fish meat formed into balls similar to meatballs, a common street food in Hong Kong), beef and chive dumplings and noodles. 

Ingredients ready to be cooked up

Hot pot all ready to go

Ingredients getting dumped in

It's a very simple thing to make at home and an easy way to use several ingredients in one meal. I hope to keep trying more dishes and local ingredients as I become braver in the grocery store. Until then, I will survive on instant noodles and spaghetti! 

We can't wait to have people visit to take them out and enjoy some hot pot with us!

Lan Kwai Fong

This weekend we went out to check out a festival that was going on. Known as 'Hong Kong's biggest outdoor party', the Lan Kwai Fong Carnival was a very entertaining night. 

Lan Kwai Fong is an area known in Hong Kong as 'party central' for many expats, visitors and locals. Pretty much any weekend you go there, you will be met by people and music pouring into the streets from all the bars and clubs. Since public drinking is allowed in Hong Kong, many people just stop by the nearby 7-11 and grab a few beers before heading up the hill to Lan Kwai Fong. 

Halloween night at Lan Kwai Fong

This particular weekend was Lan Kwai Fong Carnival. We went and enjoyed some drinks, random shows and a lot of people watching! It didn't remind Ryan too much of the actual Mardi Gras in New Orleans. There weren't any beads being thrown, no huge parades with floats, but there were yard long glasses hanging around everyone's necks full of beer! I thought this area was packed on the weekends normally, but it was beyond packed this weekend.

Entrance to the main area

People packed into the streets

It was a great night out on the town, enjoying what Hong Kong has to offer!

Our Apartment!

I know a few of you have been asking for photos of our new place, and I finally feel it is ready to be viewed! 

Warning: There is a lot of red in these photos. We felt it only appropriate to pay tribute to the company that brought us over here by splashing the apartment floor to ceiling with a little bit of red.

To begin the tour, our living room/dining room:

Next is our kitchen. In Hong Kong, it is a rule that you must have a door to close off your kitchen if you have a gas stove top. This runs into a problem when opening the door cuts off half of your kitchen, most importantly, the fridge! For us to get to the fridge, we have to close the door, which makes things interesting. Also, the majority of kitchens in Hong Kong do not have an oven. It is not a common method of cooking here so we had to pick up a toaster oven, which then takes up half the counter space.

Behind our kitchen door.

 Another interesting addition to our kitchen is our washer/dryer combo. It takes up a lot of potential storage, but we are just happy to have that amenity in our apartment.

Next is our spare bedroom/office. Right now it houses our office desk and clothes drying rack. Our plan is to get a blow up mattress for when needed for any visitors. 

 

 We were lucky enough to also get a small storage room in our apartment. Since closets are not built into apartments here, we used this to build some storage units for clothes and our stock pile of toiletries we brought with. 

 Bathroom, pretty self explanatory:

And bedroom:

 We are very happy with the apartment and can't wait to start having people come visit!

Ryan's First Weekend Home

Ryan was finally given permission to come back to Hong Kong! After weeks of visas, passports and medical checks, Ryan is an official resident of China. 

Ryan's passports, health certificate and chest x-ray...all you need to be a China resident

We spent the weekend running errands, trying out new restaurants and a little site seeing. First off, visiting a Belgium beer bar Ryan has gone to before for drinks. 

Ryan's 'this is a big burger' face.

My fish and chips

Trip to Ikea to get some toys for Ryan

We love living in a harbor with fresh seafood available

Sunday we traveled to Park Island. Our initial plan was to check out the beaches and hang out, but with the weather being a chill 75 degrees and mostly cloudy (I know, how terrible!) we decided to check out some of the sites instead. We were told about a Noah's Ark attraction through Ryan's mom and wanted to check it out. They have made a true-to-size recreation of Noah's Ark on this tiny island, which houses exhibits and a hotel. We wandered through the gardens and museums before taking a hike up the hill to a solar tower. 

Lunch before catching the ferry, a tiny burger joint right off the sidewalk

Noah's Ark

Me and the giraffe hanging with our tongues out

Great to have Ryan back in Hong Kong!

Ryan actually got an extended weekend so he could apply for his Hong Kong ID on Monday. He is officially a resident of 3 countries and I will follow soon becoming a Hong Kong resident! He took off this morning early for some traveling around China to visit suppliers and will be back for another fun weekend on Friday!

Trip to Shenzhen

Ryan was stuck in China for 2 weeks waiting for his new work visa and was unable to come home last weekend as he had no passport. We decided to meet in the middle and spend a day in Shenzhen, a city in China right across the border from Hong Kong. Located here is our favorite mall to get knock-off purses, shoes and our beloved Ray-Bans, but this trip we decided to not visit there. 

We started off by touring an amusement park called Window of the World. Here, the most famed tourist attractions throughout the world have been replicated into miniature recreations. You can go from all the monuments in Washington D.C. to temples in India within a 5 minute walk. Ryan had visited a few years ago, but many of the attractions had changed since then. We spent a few hours touring around and enjoying the sites. There were many school age children pointing at us and yelling 'Hello'. One boy even ran up and took a photo of us with his phone as we exited the park. Once again, this is something I am becoming oddly used to.

Outside of Window to the World

Enjoying the sculpture garden

The older version of New York City, with big Jesus from Brazil in the background

Me with Mt. Rushmore (I have the same photo at the real one)

Ferocious koi being fed

1/3 the size of the real Eiffel Tower

We then traveled over to an oil painting village I had read about online to look for some paintings for our apartment. We weren't sure at first if we were going to find it, but luckily a food delivery boy driving by us wanted to practice some English and started a conversation (of course!) His English was actually very good and he said he learns it mostly from watching movies. He directed us to the village and I'm so happy we found it! There were streets upon streets of small shops filled with beautiful paintings at affordable prices. Many of the shop owners had done the paintings themselves and some were even painting while we shopped. We found 3 paintings for our apartment and I just got them back from being mounted and they finish off our apartment very well. 

Painting of downtown Hong Kong

Cherry blossoms

Now that the paintings are up our apartment is pretty much finished, pictures to come soon!

Ryan's Welcome Dinner

Last week I traveled to Houjie in mainland China for a work dinner that was being thrown to celebrate Ryan officially starting his position as the manager of the motors team. It was quite the journey, which gave me an appreciation for Ryan's weekly commute he makes. For those who don't know, Ryan lives in a manager dorm on the company's factory compound during the week and then comes here to Hong Kong on the weekends as the commute is around 3 hours. It consists of trains, buses, cars and trolleys all to get from point A to point B.

A= Hong Kong, B= Houjie

Once I arrived, I was able to tour the factory and see the production of Milwaukee tools by all of the employees. It was amazing to see so many people working so fast to make all of the tools. Many of the employees seemed shocked to see me there, some even taking out their phones and snapping pictures. This is something I've oddly become used to while being in China. 

Outside of the TTI compound

The dinner was a traditional 'family style' Chinese dinner. We had a private room with around 30 of Ryan's co-workers. Once dinner began, Ryan wanted to introduce me to everyone and do a traditional 'toast' with each person. In China, a common toast to have with a person is to say 'Ganbei', which translates to 'dry cup'. This means 'bottoms up' and finish your drink. For one person, that may not be bad, but for Ryan and I, we were pretty full after doing it wish several people. We finally modified to doing only partial glasses, but it still was a lot. It was great to see where Ryan is during the week and meet the people he is working with.

Beginning of the dinner

Each with our bottles for our toasts

Cheers...

And more cheers...

and more..

...

...and the end, finally.