Restaurant Review: Shung Hing Chiu Chow Restaurant 尚興潮州飯店

I met up with a few ex-coworkers from STAR to try a Chiu Chow restaurant in Sheung Wang. It's right on 29 Queen's Road West, one of the main streets running along Hong Kong island so it's hard to miss.

The food there was excellent and very reasonably priced (came out to be about HK$200 per person).

The meal started with tea poured into small teacups, peanuts and pickled vegetables. Once we ordered, the dishes came pouring out swiftly. Here's some of the stuff we ordered:

• 潮州鹵水鵝 Duck meat with duck liver and intestines (鵝珍肝+ 鵝腸), tofu, and squid 墨魚 - Meat was juicy and flavorful.

• 凍蟹 - Cold crab - the crab was fresh and its meat was nice and sweet
  

• Winter melon soup

• 糖醋麵 - Sugar Vinegar Noodles

• 芋蓉鴨 - Taro with duck - my favorite dish! Taro was made crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

• 蠔餅 - oyster and seafood pancake

• A couple of vegetable dishes

• Sugar-coated Taro dessert

• 清心綠豆爽 - Heart of Green Bean dessert soup so it's actually yellow colored. This was compliments of the house.

Everything was delicious and must-haves in my book.

The atmosphere here is boisterous so don't expect to be able to have intimate conversations. But it's part of the fun in eating at a local Hong Kong restaurant.

Hong Kong Travels: Sham Shui Po Market

We learned about Sham Shui Po from my old boss, Edward, who is into electronics and gadgets.
Though Sham Shui Po (深水埗) is best known for its street market of electronic stuff, it's so much more than that! I can't believe we've only just know found this gem! It's very easy to get to by MTR. As soon as you exit the Sham Shui Po MTR station, you'll find yourself in one of many street markets in the neighborhood.


We started with the Apliu Street where the electronic stuff street market is. You'll find yourself looking at zip ties, AV cables, mobile phone accessories, camera accessories, and much much more. The variety of items you'll find here is surprising. There are several booths that have nothing but second-hand products which will include old MD players, walkman, dial phones, LPs and many other items that'll take you back a couple of decades. The prices here are also cheaper than at the Wanchai computer center (where we've been doing most of our shopping). You can bargain a little here but the starting prices are already reasonable.

One street over on Yu Chau Street, there are several stores selling beads and other jewelry making accessories.

Another street over on Ki Lung Street and the perpendicular street, Nam Cheong Street, you'll supposed to be able to find a lot of fabric stores. We didn't get a chance to see these this time but will look for them next time.

On the other side, also another street over, on Cheung Sha Wan Road, there is a row of clothing stores. Most of the clothes here being promoted were around 3 for HK$100 ( around US$13). It was too hot for me to try on any clothes at the time so I've left that for another time.

Another street over on the other side of Cheung Sha Wan Rd, you'll find another row of street markets similar to what you would find at the Ladies Market in Mong Kok. Except once again, this one is less crowded with tourists and the prices are more reasonable.

We also found some very delicious boba milk tea here and picked up some workout tops at 3 for HK$100.

This is a great place to shop around for all kinds of things and definitely seemed less crowded and more reasonable in prices from Mong Kok. You'll definitely find me coming here again.

Hong Kong Travels: Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple and Pai Tau Village

We made a trip to see the 10,000 Buddhas temple today, and took the opportunity to also meet up with Lina, a friend and an ex-Star colleague.

I was hoping to have enough time to visit the close by walled homes but ran out of time and will have to make that another trip.

Sha Tin is in the New Territories in Hong Kong so out about 20 minutes ride from TST towards China. Once we got off the MTR stop at Sha Tin, the temple entrance is only 10 minute walk away. You will have to work your way up to the temple as you ascent 400+ steps.

Right outside Sha Tin MTR stop, you'll head out and down the pedestrian walkway to find Pai Tau Village (排頭村). From what I have read, these villages are small homes that have been reserved for male descendants of residents in 1898. To read a little more info, you can check out this website. The village is nested by the hillside next to mega malls and buildings. A lot of these homes are now used as small eateries or to sell potteries, etc.

Once you keep walking down the road by the side of the villages, we followed the signs to the temple.

You'll come across what looks like an entrance to a temple with a set of lifts to a hilltop pagoda. That would be the Po Fook Ancestral Workshop Hall. Pass by the side of this to get you to the Ten Thousand Buddhas.

On the climb up you'll be accompanied by hundreds of Buddhas, all different and covered in gold. The climb itself is a little bit of an exercise so take this time and enjoy your spiritual journey to the temple. Each of the Buddhas are unique with very interesting, poses, looks and expressions.







Once at the top, you'll be greeted by the big Amitabba Buddha on the temple wall. The temple itself was not very busy on a Tuesday afternoon. It gave Lina and I time to pray to the Buddhas and as Lina said, they probably also had more time to listen and answer our prayers.



The inside of the temple is lined with Buddhas all alongside the walls.



The temple sides are decorated with the twelve animals from the Chinese horoscope. In front of the temple, you'll find extra large statues of the Buddha of Battle and the Quan Yin Buddha.

You can go up a few steps further to find yourself surrounded by different Quan Yin Buddhas each looking to protect and grant different wishes. The view up there was beautiful, the air was clean, and it was amazing to enjoy all of this with the backdrop of the Hong Kong high rise landscape.

Hong Kong Travels: Shopping at Jade Market

On this third visit to the Jade Market, we all became a little bit more of an expert. Laureen, Richard and I had shopped there previously with Teresa who was an expert of jade and the place. This time Ben, David and Mandy joined us.

The Jade Market is an easy place to get overwhelmed. There are lots of things to look at and, like most places in Hong Kong, there are lots of people vying for your attention. It's best to start by taking a look around the place and see if there is a certain style that catches your eye, and then hone in on those vendors that have what you're looking for. You'll be able to find jades of all sizes, pearl necklaces, copper statuettes, and various other trinkets. Most people come here for jade and pearls.

Pearls are a little bit easier to shop for since you just need to decide on the quality of the pearl you are looking for. You'll be able to find the gammet of qualities here from HK$100 (US$12.8) to HK$2000 (US$256) for a pearl necklace. Once you've looked at a few, you'll know the difference. First, to identify the real ones, you can rub them against each other and feel that there's some friction. Then, you take note of how round and flawless they are in terms of marks. Lastly, you can then look at shine and color.

Jade is a bit harder. There are lots of variations and you can find really cheap ones for HK$5-10, or around US$1.00 and got up to really expensive pieces for HK$30,000 (US$ 3846) or more for a small piece. For jade, you'll have to see what you like and look for translucency in the stone when put up against light. You will be able to see the natural veins of the stone in the light. After that, I'm still not expert enough to figure out why some are far more expensive than others. The most important part is to find a piece that you like for what you are looking for.

Also note that there are two sections, the larger one has better quality items. The picture to the left shows the entrance to the smaller of the two sections. There are a few booths I would recommend and those include #342 and #341 for jade.

Last but not least, do not forget to bargain. The key to bargaining is to have a number in mind and be prepared to walk away. Even if you don't manage to buy the piece you want, you'll at least know what their bottom price is and come back later to get it. My secret is always to be stern, firm but still be nice.

Good luck shopping for all those who gets a chance!

Hong Kong Travels: Phone shopping at Mong Kok's Sin Tat Plaza

We set out to the mecca of mobile phones to pick out a phone. Similar to the computer centers here in Hong Kong, this was another building with booths and booths of vendors pining for the attention of every passerby.

Shopping in Hong Kong is not for the weak-hearted, weak-willed or the ill-prepared. The place has 4 stories filled with booths no bigger than 50 sq ft. The booths are all filled with similar model cell phones and don't expect for the vendors to provide you with detailed or knowledgeable recommendations. Most of them are just trying to make a quick buck and watch for the bottom line.

We took a short break in between to eat at a nearby restaurant while clearing our heads. After a delicious chicken over rice and mongolian beef in a clay pot (not quite what they call it through), we set up our tackle plan.

We decided we'll go for a simple phone that 1) allows me to receive/send messages and take photos, 2) is not a China-made brand, and 3) does not cost more than US$100. Even with all this planning, things still took another 2 hours as some stores had cheaper "water products" that were not guaranteed but I'd get more for my money. I ended up picking a Samsung new (but old style) phone. I was exhausted by the end and could barely bargain...

It was a draining experience. Also note that lots of people were smoking in there and there wasn't good ventilation so by the end of the trip, our eyes were hurting. As I mentioned, it's not for the weak-willed or ill-prepared.

Note to self: I'll definitely be better prepared next time.

One door closes...

Thanks for everyone's good wishes and concerns.

There was a big announcement at STAR yesterday about the restructuring and reorganization of the business. You can read a couple of the articles here:

News Corp announces Star TV shake-up

News Corp to split Star TV into two Asian operations

The changes started yesterday and has affected my team greatly along with several other people across the organization.

Even though we've all known about the changes and have been waiting for the formal announcements, it was nonetheless, a very difficult day to go through. I have enjoyed my time at STAR tremendously and had a great team of people to work with and to work for. All of whom I'm proud to call friends going forward.

When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.

-Alexander Graham Bell

I spent the majority of today dwelling on the loss. Starting now, I will focus more on what I'll do next.

I haven't quite decided on what I want to do yet. I would like to stay in Asia for a little while longer since 8 months just seems too short. For now, we'll travel around Hong Kong. We'll then plan other travels around Asia as I see how things unfold. I'll now also have more time for volunteer work and exercise!

Stay Tuned!

Beijing Trip Recap

What an amazing trip! We just returned from a full 3-day trip to Beijing. I am totally exhausted but my head is filled with all the amazing experiences. Here are some key highlights:

• Strolled down Tiananmen Square and through the Forbidden City (Palace Museum)
• Took a pedicab ride around the hutongs
• Enjoyed a great Peking duck dinner at Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant by Houhai and ended the evening with a pedal boat ride around the Houhai lake.
• Hiked the Great Wall at Mutianyu and brought home some souvenirs
• Bought some peaches on the side of the road off some farmers
• Enjoyed a stroll, beautiful water lilies and ice cream popsicles at the Summer Palace
• Watched a great soccer match at the Bird's Nest
• Visited the Lama Temple
• Swam in the Water Cube

Day 0

We were greeted by two of these beautiful murals at the Beijing International Airport
We arrived Thursday night at 9:30pm to Beijing and picked up a cab to our hotel at the Crowne Plaza Sun Palace. As noted in all the reviews, the cab driver had no idea where it was so we had to explain to him. Luckily, I had written down the directions but nonetheless, we still ended up calling the hotel so that he would know the way.

The hotel was beautiful with a great entrance and the service was great. Extra koodos for the staff in attending immediately to changing our room to one with a king bed and then to having the concierge meet us to help us plan our next few days at 11pm. Winnie Su, the concierge manager, was amazing and attended to all of our questions and needs for the trip.

Day 1

We decided to make the tour of the city by ourselves on our first day by taking the subway. We picked up our tickets at the piao.com.cn for our the soccer match at the Bird's Next and headed to Tiananmen Square. We tried to find the underground tunnel tour but most people had no idea what we were asking so we decided to just move on.


We passed by Chairman Mao's Memorial Hall which had a huge line of people outside waiting to go in. We also experienced our first show of how Chinese people love to cut lines. There were specific security guards trying to prevent people from cutting lines with a few still sneaking by.

We then strolled down to Tian An Men passing by the Great Hall of the People and the Monument to the People's Heroes. Everything here seemed to be of a gigantic scale and proportions. Despite the rainy day on a Friday, the plaza was filled with people and tour groups.


The Forbidden City was amazing. Having heard imperial stories of the lives of those who have lived there in the past, it was amazing to be in those same grounds. Part of my mind wondered off into what it would have been like to live back in those days...


After the Forbidden City, we were hit up by quite a few rickshaw drivers looking to pick up people to tour the Hutongs. We picked up one who seemed nice (although a little scrawny...) He was great and drove us all around the Hutongs introducing us to the different building and who had lived there in the past.

On the rickshaw with Mr. Tsi
We paid another extra 30RMB each to visit one of the Siheyuan (courtyard houses). The hostess there took good care that we took pictures at all the best corners of the house. We ended the tour at the Qianhai area where we had dinner at the most famous Peking Duck place - Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant (全聚德烤鴨店).



The Peking duck experience was amazing. This branch of Quanjude had performances throughout the evening. Despite waiting 1.5 hrs for our table, it was all worthwhile. Ben and I ordered, a cold dish, a duck liver dish, a veggie dish and the whole duck! Not to mention I had to wrap up the evening with something sweet so we finished it off with a giant green bean shaved ice dessert.


After dinner, we went on a pedal boat ride around the Qianhai and Houhai area to exercise some of the duck off. And then strolled around the lake passing by restaurants/bars playing some of the cheesiest (but fun) music ever.


Day 2


We started the morning with the trip to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. It started pouring in the morning so traffic was especially congested with several road closures due to floods. So we made a pee stop at the Jingtai Lan Cloisonne factory where we also picked up a beautiful cloisonne vase.


By the time we reached the Great Wall, the rain had stopped and we ended with a beautiful hike up on the Wall. We took the covered cable car to the Wall and hiked from there. On the way up, we were in the same cable car that the Seventh Living Buddha rode on and on the way down it was the same cable car the Bill Clinton was in so we felt quite lucky!


At the Great Wall

The view on the Great Wall is simply magnificent. The grandness and stretch of the construction with the backdrop of the mountains is simply jaw-dropping. I could hike and walk on this wall all day. We took the path further up the mountain and went all the way till we hit the end of the 'safe' section up some really steep steps and some great windy sections.


On the way down, you were forced to walk through vendor stands and are harassed a little. We did walk away with a few bargains and definitely also got ripped off a little. ^_^ All part of the experience. Since we didn't have much time, we decided to skip lunch again and opted to pick up some peaches from the side of the road.


Our driver drove us through some beautiful sections of the countryside where fruit, corn and tree fields surrounded us most of the way. It was a beautiful scenery.


We then headed to the Summer Palace. Since we had the soccer game later in the evening, we only had 1.5 hrs for the Summer Palace which was quite a pity. The Palace grounds is essentially an enormous park with a beautiful huge lake and several more ancient Chinese architectures and pagodas. One can easily spend an entire day here riding boats, picnicking, and strolling through these grounds. We made most of our time and enjoyed a little of the hike and stroll by the lake to some beautiful giant water lilies in the water.


Mr Li, our driver, then drove us back to the hotel for a quick change of clothes and then off to dinner at the King of Duck Roast Duck Restaurant (鴨王烤鴨店) by the Olympic center. Our driver went through the trouble of calling and talking the restaurant into giving us a reservation so we only needed to wait 10 minutes for our table. This place was certainly less of a showy place. The duck came out plain and simple with lots of trimming (cucumber, sauce, salt and onion). Given the lesson from the previous night, we opted for half a duck and a veggie dish this time. It was delicious and a great way to wrap up the day.



We then walked to the Olympic park towards the Bird's Nest for the game. Both architectures, the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube, are magnificent in the evening with their beautiful lighting.


The game was quite fun as well. Neither Ben nor I are huge soccer (oops... football) fans but we enjoyed the game and enjoyed the crowd. The stadium was almost at full capacity and there really was not a single bad seat in the entire stadium. Our seats were on the lower level but we walked around the stadium to check out the upper levels and the views were amazing. It was just beautiful!



Day 3

On the last day, we decided to take it easy and slept in. The only things we wanted to get done before our 7:30pm flight was to visit the Lama Temple and swim at the Water Cube.

In order to swim at the Water Cube, we had read that we'd need a 1-inch photo for the deep water certification ID (unless you already had one from China), and then we'd need get the health check, swim 200 meters non-stop, and hold our breath underwater for 30 seconds. So we stopped at a Kodak Express to get our pictures done. It wasn't really Express. They took digital photos and then proceeded to meticulously polish our faces through Photoshop and put in the white background through CorelDraw. The polishing of our faces included removing the shiny areas and evening out our complexion. All of this would normally take 30 minutes; however, due to printer issues, we ended up being there for nearly an hour.

We then headed to Lama temple where I was able to pay my respect to all the Buddhas. The temple used to be a palace for the emperor and it was converted into a nunnery in the 1700's. It is now home to several Buddhas and is known to be good at answering people's prayers.

We arrived at the Water Cube and got in line for the 2pm opening of the swimming pool. The actual Olympic pool is only used for performances so they've opened the warm-up pool for people to swim. We paid 50 RMB each and an additional 20 RMB for the deep water certification, and our 2.5-hour timer started. You usually only get 2 hours but we got an extra 30 minutes to take our deep water certification.

It was my first time in an Olympic size swimming pool so it was quite exciting! Not to mention to swim in the same pool that Michael Phelps swam at! :-) I managed to get in 900 meters and Ben got in 1000 meters. As a side note, our deep water certification only required us to swim 25 meters before they realized that we knew how to swim and pulled us off to the side. We did see one guy who got into the water and immediately freaked out when he couldn't touch the bottom. The deep water test was good for something.

We snuck in some pictures of the pool at the end and wrapped up our trip.

Just after swimming and sneaking a picture in by the practice pool
We headed to the airport to find our flight was delayed from 7:30pm to 8:40pm. In actuality, we didn't board till 8:45 and the plane did not take off till 10pm. Because of the delay, we got a free meal at the airport which almost made up for the fact that we did not get home till 2am. At least the airline provided a shuttle service since the airport express had stopped running.

Despite all the craziness on the trip home, this was a great memorable experience and I definitely can't wait to go back to Beijing again and visit some of the other sites.