Days 17-19: Hong Kong with Synni and Dan

By this point we were pretty excited to move on to Hong Kong to visit some good friends.  We last saw them 4 and a half years ago in HK when we were leaving Australia to move back to the US, and so we had much catching up to do! 

Layover in Singapore airport, ranked the best airport in the world (there is a free movie theater, a rooftop water park, gardens of all types, recliners to sleep in, free tours into the city, etc).  I must say that this is one airport I was sad to have to leave.

We made it to HK in the evening, took the familiar A11 bus into the city, checked into our hostel in Causeway Bay, then went around the corner to grab a late night dinner of hot (and spicy!) noodle and dumpling soups.  A great way to start off our stay in this very, very cool city :o) 

Most mornings we went running around Happy Valley Racecourse (for horses, haha!).  The weather was AWESOME: a refreshing 15 degrees Celsius and dry.  The smog and pollution, however, was a different story.

We met Synni and Dan after Synni's doctors appointment (this let her call in for a sick day!)

We ate at a popular dim sum place.  I couldn't think of a better place to go!

We were so happy to be back in HK with our friends!

Dan had to go back to work but we spent the rest of the day with Synni.  We went into this funny craft shop.  Only in Hong Kong...

I believe Synni's goal during our stay was to make us regain the weight we probably lost in Bali.   After brunch she took us to an old shop that specializes in tofu soup and pork dumplings.

I had a tasty pork dumpling while Seth grabbed some organ meat (topped with mustard) from the a local favorite called 31 Cow Stomach (I think).

Massive public housing complexes.  These are necessary because housing is EXPENSIVE, even by Boston standards.

The three of us took a bus to Stanley, in the southern part of Hong Kong island.

Stanley, Hong Kong

We arrived in time for afternoon tea.  Synni took us to another hole-in-the-wall shop famous for milk tea and toast (our toast was filled with butter and sweetened condensed milk--a great combination!).  As popular as this place was, it was lacking one thing: customer service.

Making the Hong Kong version of French Toast, which requires battering and buttering the bread before deep frying.

Ladies playing mahjong. We could hear the tiles being shuffled from all the way down the block.

Stanley, Hong Kong

A stroll through the Veterans Cemetary

We took the rocky double decker bus back to Tai Koo to meet Dan for a Japanese dinner. 

We made the 2 minute hike from the shopping mall where we had dinner all the way to Synni and Dan's new condo.  We quickly came to realize that pretty much everything is connected via shopping mall.

The forest of high-rise apartments where Synni and Dan live.

The next day was a Saturday so Dan could join us (Hong Kong folks work really hard!).  We decided to go someplace none of us had been to before, the old fishing village of Tai O, on Lantau Island.  Since I get seasick, we took the subway and a bus instead of the ferry.  Thanks, guys!

Tai O, Lantau Island

The village was full of strange dried sea creatures for sale

Pretty much the only thing I could identify was oysters drying on these trays

These hard, yellow things were common.  I have no idea what they were, and I don't think Synni and Dan knew, either.

As this lady was hacking away with the ax, the fish was squirting and splattering... a lot...

Sitting under some fish

Why was this shark here?  Synni said it was smelly.

A semi-seafood feast!

For dessert we had tea biscuits (glutenous rice with sesame and peanuts) followed by these green herbal things.  Their name translated roughly to 'chicken shit'.

We took a 20min boat excursion with the hopes of spotting the famed (and very endangered) white dolphin.  These guys are actually bubble gum pink!

Tai O is known as the "Eastern Venice".  Can you see the resemblance?

General Rock.  Can you see him leaning against the cliff?

After our island experience we took the bus and MTR (subway) back to Kowloon.  This bustling area is part of the mainland, just across from Hong Kong Island.

Roasting chestnuts, quail eggs, and sweet potatoes!

We stopped for a pre-dinner snack of liver soup (I abstained).  This shop, which specialized in liver soup, was so popular that it opened a second location right next door.  In fact, that shop was also so popular that they opened yet a third location next door to it!

The big dinner destination was hot pot rice on Temple Street.  This street has several super popular hot pot rice restaurants, and the line for each shop literally wrapped around the block!

One hot pot rice we ordered was minced beef with egg.  They gave us the hot pot with a whole, raw egg on the side.  Apparently it was either a DIY sort of establishment, or they were really just too busy to crack the egg for us. So Synni did the honors of cracking the egg.

We had a post-dinner stroll through the Temple Street night market. 

Day 16: Kecak in Kuta

As nice and cool as it was, I was a bit relieved to finally leave Bedugul, land of weirdos and rain.  We grabbed our $5 refund for having a crappy room and had a driver take us back down south to Kuta.  It was a 3 hour drive, though surely it would have only taken an hour if there was no traffic (the island really isn't all that big) and several roads weren't blocked for local ceremonies.  At least we got to see a bit of countryside.  

A view of the mountains (Mount Agung on the right)

The driver pointed out a cremation ceremony in a small village.  We heard mention of several other funerals going on that day--I wonder if it was an auspicious date? 

Tilling the paddies

Typical traffic

Originally we had wanted to avoid the city of Kuta at all costs.  We can handle sprawling, busy cities, but this one is the most popular destination for surfers and other tourists, particularly Aussies.  However, we checked into a hotel there for two very good reasons: 1) Its close proximity to the airport (we had an early flight the next morning), and 2) It was a good launch point to see the Kecak dance in Uluwatu, a temple in the southernly Bukit Peninsula.   

Who would have guessed that Kuta actually had lots of great local foods?  It was far better than in Ubud.

I really loved the tempeh (and Seth ate my cow scalp!)

We didn't spend much time exploring Kuta because in the afternoon we booked a private tour to see the Kecak.  The driver first took us down to see the temple perched neatly on the cliff side (Uluwatu).  Of course there were a bunch of cheeky monkeys just waiting for a chance to grab my camera. 

This stage down below is where the Kecak was performed

Preparing for the Kecak

It was so interesting!  These guys (a male chorus) would sit in a tight circle and 'cak' as a story would unfold.

 

 

 

 

We were SO lucky it didn't rain on us!  I couldn't believe how lucky we were; the wind was incredibly strong and we could see rain clouds blowing up above us, but they held off!  A typical heavy rain would have ended the dance, which was the only reason why we came out.

 

Our tour included a set seafood dinner complete with a couple of dancers.  There were only two other couples in the restaurant so it was a bit awkward...  it would have been fun to have some nice street food with the locals, so this was a strange way to spend our last night in Bali.