Saturday morning: My roomie and I drag ourselves out of bed at 11am... eat the leftover cake from the fridge and try to figure out what to do for the rest of the day. Groggy as we were, we knew we wanted European food so we headed to the only European cafe we knew of in the area. It's called Euro gogo and the interior design and music did have an Italian cafe kind of feel. But it was definitely Chinese with all the people rushing around and talking. Even the food seemed to have a bit of a Chinese touch. So we ordered the Spaghetti with pesto, hawaiian pizza, and mushrooms stuffed with cheese and bacon. The mushroom was hands down the best. They were so juicy and the cheese was so good..... The pesto was interesting... lololz... It's definitely very different from the pesto I've had before, like very different. The only thing similar was that it was green. The taste didn't even taste like basil but nonetheless it was good in its own way. The pizza was pretty bland. The ham was very chinese and the cheese didn't have much flavor to it. I love mozarella but that was the most fail pizza I've eaten in my life. I think that will be the last time we'll be attempting anything European for a while.
After the interesting Italian food, we had the weirdest craving for gong cha. Gong Cha is this really famous taiwanese bubble tea chain that sells the best bubble tea in HK. So as spontaneous as we are, we hopped on a train all the way to MongKok specially for bubble tea. Then we got lost. Google maps told us to walk in circles and the store wasn't even there. I was clearly pronouncing the name of the place wrong because I just got blank stares from the locals when I asked for directions. Finally we found the place but not after we'd walked circles in MongKok, passing by the ladies' market twice. It was worth it though. Best bubble tea in the world. There are so many flavors to choose from and you can even pick your own amounts of sugar and ice. What's better was that right next door was a street food store. We ended up getting fishballs and hot cakes. Then we just stood on the sidewalk and ate our food like locals. We were sweating like crazy but it was worth it. It is so true when people say that getting lost is the best way to get to know your way around.
After the interesting Italian food, we had the weirdest craving for gong cha. Gong Cha is this really famous taiwanese bubble tea chain that sells the best bubble tea in HK. So as spontaneous as we are, we hopped on a train all the way to MongKok specially for bubble tea. Then we got lost. Google maps told us to walk in circles and the store wasn't even there. I was clearly pronouncing the name of the place wrong because I just got blank stares from the locals when I asked for directions. Finally we found the place but not after we'd walked circles in MongKok, passing by the ladies' market twice. It was worth it though. Best bubble tea in the world. There are so many flavors to choose from and you can even pick your own amounts of sugar and ice. What's better was that right next door was a street food store. We ended up getting fishballs and hot cakes. Then we just stood on the sidewalk and ate our food like locals. We were sweating like crazy but it was worth it. It is so true when people say that getting lost is the best way to get to know your way around.
At night, I met up with a friend at TST which is right opposite Central, the financial district of Hong Kong. Every night at 8pm on the piers, you can look across the harbor and see a light show called Symphony of Lights. It's one of those must see tourist locations. The buildings light up along with the sound of music and there are like lasers and stuff. It was pretty cool except it was starting to get a bit cloudy and when it gets cloudy in HK, you cannot see anything at all. Honestly it wasn't that amazing. Considering Central is already quite bright, the extra lights didn't stand out that much. It's one of those experiences, you have to see once but going a second time really isn't worth it.
Since it was pretty late at night, we decided to just eat at TST. TST is the HK equivalent of 5th avenue in New York City. All the high end brands have a store there and the place is ironically filled with a lot of mainland tourists out shopping. Mainland tourists are actually a problem for the HK people because they drive up real estate prices, and costs of living (similar problem in NYC). There was actually a protest to mainlanders recently at TST where locals threw food at mainlanders coming out of brand name shops. Even though I don't agree with such actions, I do believe something should be done about the situation because it is getting harder for the average locals to get by on their lower salaries. I remember hearing that the average HK person can't really save up money because most of their money goes into paying rent. It's quite sad actually...
Since it was pretty late at night, we decided to just eat at TST. TST is the HK equivalent of 5th avenue in New York City. All the high end brands have a store there and the place is ironically filled with a lot of mainland tourists out shopping. Mainland tourists are actually a problem for the HK people because they drive up real estate prices, and costs of living (similar problem in NYC). There was actually a protest to mainlanders recently at TST where locals threw food at mainlanders coming out of brand name shops. Even though I don't agree with such actions, I do believe something should be done about the situation because it is getting harder for the average locals to get by on their lower salaries. I remember hearing that the average HK person can't really save up money because most of their money goes into paying rent. It's quite sad actually...
Okay, tangent over. So we went to TST for food. The great thing about HK is that under every mall is a food court with every type of cuisine you can possibly imagine. We had taiwanese food for a change and also fried dumplings (which reminded me of Tina haha). There was sooo much meat but then again, Chinese cuisine in general tends to have a lot of meat. That or it's fried in a lot of oil. I could feel my cholesterol going up but the food was pretty good for fast food. There was even soup to finish the meal. This actually made me miss home food quite a bit because my mom makes the best soups.
At TST there is an old European plaza called 1881 Heritage. The architecture is traditional European and the place is so romantic at night. It's designed to take the shape of a boat and there was a huge mast going up next to the tree tower in the middle. The whole place kinda looks like a fairy tale castle. I guess I wasn't the only one who thought that way because as we were walking around, we got to witness a Model photo shoot and a Wedding photo shoot all within an hour. I definitely want to come here again <3
At TST there is an old European plaza called 1881 Heritage. The architecture is traditional European and the place is so romantic at night. It's designed to take the shape of a boat and there was a huge mast going up next to the tree tower in the middle. The whole place kinda looks like a fairy tale castle. I guess I wasn't the only one who thought that way because as we were walking around, we got to witness a Model photo shoot and a Wedding photo shoot all within an hour. I definitely want to come here again <3