hong kong is incredibly varied – it can be expensive and excessively luxurious, or fiercely local and hometownish. it wears both personas just as easily, and you pick what suits your mood (or more likely, your budget).
just a few photos from the trip – from the mandarin oriental, which is the epitome of elegant chichi;
at the ferry terminal for the tourist experience;
and amidst the colorful bustle of the streets.
can’t wait to be there over christmas!
almost very definitely the best meal I’ve had this year.
food delicious, service fantastic, ambiance terrific. top stars and major ticks in every box.
even with the great non-chinese options in hong kong, it’s impossible to ignore the sheer supply of great local food. cantonese people know food (I should know) – and it shows in the eating, and in the quality of that eating.
it’s far too easy to outgrow your trousers in an embarrassingly short amount of time (and I’m going again in about a week!)
the holidays are coming (!!), and I bet quite a few of you will be making your way over to hong kong, an asian first world mecca. I was there in april with a girlfriend, and we had resolved to eat too much, spend too much and buy too much – and also, we had resolved to spend the time like expats.
it’s not really the usual mode to enjoy hong kong – travellers usually go all berserk on dimsum and roast meats and wanton noodles (coming up in the next post!) – but hong kong has a plethora of amazing dining options that extend past that.
let’s go!
posts are going to be rather slow these two weeks – I am away on work without a laptop, and there’s only so much phone-squinting I can abide.
perhaps you’d like a look at some gorgeous (if I do say so myself) photos from my trip to yunnan in July?
xx
keep cool!
is that a little macabre? last post from the trip!
and to finish with possibly the best duck I’ve had in a while – and almost definitely the best thing I’ve eaten in yunnan – then well, it’s a good wrap-up.
today’s photos will probably explain why shangri-la is so called. taken during our days out at the pudacuo/ potatso national park, as well as at the ganden sumtseling/ songzanlin monastery, the view makes for fantastic snapping.
I’ll leave you to it.
we traipse outward from lijiang towards shangri-la: and by which I don’t mean the hotel chain (if only), nor paradise.
but then again, this leg of the journey was perhaps the most difficult gastronomically – which made it the most difficult overall in the trip for me (food is a big deal, okay). so one man’s paradise – isn’t quite mine.
but beautiful, beautiful sights – mostly untouched (indigenous locals don’t count) – just bad food (and more biscuits than I ever wanted to eat).
lijiang had the best eating we did in this yunnanese trip – we arrived armed with low-to-no expectations and were met not only with interesting options, but good ones as well. there was a good mix of restaurants and small-store options that helped bridge the gap between meals, and that helped engender this town even more to our affections.
sometimes, it’s good to be a tourist in a touristy town.
lijiang is a picturesque, touristy town – but the best of its class. it is a well-preserved, historical town full of traditional chinese grandeur – but with all the modern amenities you could wish for, and the best food I had in the yunnan region.
we loved this town, and it’s probably the only best one worth returning to in the region (in my opinion of course, but whose else would it be?).
andmorefood 