Birthday at HK

Because my birthday falls during the June holidays, I usually get to celebrate my birthdays abroad as I either go on a holiday or to church camp. This year, couldn't make it to church camp as it started on Thurs which I still had to go to school.

Anyway, in the morning, we took a train to Central station to find my Dim Sum place at Wellington Street.

As we were walking, there were interesting sights like this old flight of stairs.



And a marketplace in an alley..



Finally we found my dim sum place- Lin Heung Tea House. I found out about this place through recommendations from blogs. And when I found the place, I was relieved...However, when we went up the flight of stairs to the authentic old style tea house dining place, I was disappointed.

It was jam packed with people! I felt as if someone could easily just pour tea over me because we were really squeezing through waiting for seats. There was no system of queuing and everyone was just waiting around for seats. The waiters do not even bother about you. You just have to fend for yourself. In a usual table, I think there are like 2-3 different families all sitting together. It was crowded and noisy and even getting dim sum could be a problem as no one could hear you. So, you must actually go up to the waiter who is carrying dim sum around to see if you would like to eat or not.

So though I really wanted to stay and wait for a seat, we couldnt for safety reasons. It was really unsafe and chaotic.

From the picture, it doesnt look crowded because this is the first floor which they only sold pastries. But anyway, since it was so crowded..it had to be good and cheap. (Oh, just managed to read a blog on this tea house. Even when you over-order, it's only US$6 per person)So, do go there early if you can! (Address: 160-164 Wellington Street, Central)

Anyway, I had a backup plan. I had another tea house in mind which was near by. Its called Luk Yu Tea House (Address: 24-26, Stanley Street)

Luk Yu is one of the most famous traditional teahouse remaining in the city. Operating since 1933, the "eating house & restaurant" captures the elegance of the period with black ceiling fans, quaint wooden booths though it is newly renovated.

Through some research, I found out that Luk Yu is not only famous, but infamous: On November 30, 2002, a wealthy businessman was murdered execution-style by a mainland Chinese hit man. Witnesses said the assassin was calm and cold: he ate breakfast, paid the bill, walked behind his target, shot him in the head, and strolled out of the teahouse.



There are altogether 3 storeys, so I was definitely guaranteed a space.

I would recommend this place if you think teahouse tradition is about companionship and drinking tea rather than eating. You should visit this place when you're not too hungry and sample a few dishes instead of filling up on everything that looks good because it is quite pricey. It was about S$25-35 per person. Guess you really pay for its ambience.

I was quite disappointed because they didnt have some of my favourites- feng jian (chicken feet), carrot cake, and porridge.

We started off our breakfast with bo lei (a fermented black tea) which I regretted because I know CT doesnt really like black looking and bitter drinks.



But anyway,I must say that the food was very good. I tasted the best char siew bao in my life here. There was overflowing gravy which seems to have a tinge of alcohol in it which made it so tasty and delicious.



The egg tarts was also out of this world- the crust was flaky and the egg was so soft and warm. It's also good because its mini in size. So, you can really savour it without eating too much.



Then my favourite dim sum dish- pork ribs. Also very tasty (again, the alcohol) and tender!



We also had har gao (shrimp dumpling) and siew mai.



As well as duck and dried shrimp glutinuous rice.


The bill came close to HK$300 which I found was a bit on a expensive side but then again, through this visit, I got to taste the best char siew bao in my life...so no regrets!

After breakfast, we walked to pier area for sightseeing.





Again, we spotted the whole place filled with filipinas...even the whole road was closed for them to hang out. They would spread their mats, eat, lie down, sleep, talk, read etc etc.



We walked the linkway bridge to IFC mall and then to Four Seasons hotel to rest our legs.



After that, we walked to Wing Lok Street which was near Sheung Wan MTR station to buy dong cong cao (Chinese caterpillar fungus, also known as Cordyceps sinesis, is a unique creature indigenous to the grassy marshland in China's Qinghai-Tibet Plateau)for my mum, who specially requested for me to buy.

It is regarded as one of the 3 top tonics in traditional natural medicine, along with ginseng and pilose deer-horn. In summer, it resembles a worm and in winter a grass. Hence the name in Chinese pinyin "Dongcong Xiacao", which means literally "Winter-worm & Summer-grass". Since it is rare in the wild and very difficult to collect, it is a valuable medicinal herb - as precious as "gold" in Chinese natural medicine.

I bought only like 50g (my own rough estimate) and it costs me HK$1000!(equiv to S$200) My mum says she would like to cook it for me. So, I am really deeply honoured and humbled.

Anyway, for herbs like these or ginseng, bird nest, shark fins, this is the place to go. Yep, I asked my trusty hotel staff for recommendations.





After that, we took the Central-Mid-Levels escalator, which is the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world. We took from Bonham Strand East.



It was fun taking it because of the feeling that I am saving energy from walking up and down the steep slopes on the roads.



Look at this stairs which we climbed to get to the HK Zoological and Botanical Gardens. They have even chairs built at the sides to take a rest!



The admission to HK Zoological and Botanical Gardens is free of charge!



So of course, we went to take a look! It was nice as we saw many different kinds of monkeys..and birds.





Spotted this little one here as well in the pond


And different kinds of flowers..







It's quite a nice place but both CT and I were so tired from all the walking.





After that tiring walk, we walked further to the peak tram station to go to Victoria Peak.



The queue was so so so long! It didnt help especially my legs were already jelly-like.



After probably waiting for an hour plus, we finally got up the tram, sitted right in front!





From the last time I came to the Peak, I hardly remember the place now. It has changed so much!

There are so many shops now and more buildings.







The view is nice and the weather though cloudy, but it was breezy and cooling.



After a while of walking and sightseeing, we found a really good place to not only rest our tired feets but to also entertain us! There is an EA Games huge 2-storey shop that allowed us to play all sorts of games (PC games, PSP, Wii, Nintendo, XBox 360, Playstation)



We stayed in the Peak for about 4 hours till night fell to catch the view at the Sky Terrace (which we had to pay extra to get to the top). We also stayed for dinner there.





It was a wonderful day spent at the peak with a nice cool breeze. One regret is that we should not have both 2 way return tickets by tram as the tram queue back down was outrageously long! Should have taken the bus instead!