Although my yearly trips to Hong Kong are usually about a week, I feel like I always get the bang for my buck since it's such a drastic change from what I'm use to. Last week's trip proved the same since I went for a family reunion and to celebrate my grandma's 81st birthday (huge in Chinese culture).
I couldn't stop thinking about the food, family interactions/challenges, the unbearable heat/humidity and the freezing - icicle-esque air conditioning units, not to mention the 7 million people littering the streets (FYI San Francisco has about 1 million peeps). Of course a metropolitan area couldn't be complete without tons of taxis, shopping, more shopping, street markets open at the crack of dawn...and did I mention more shopping?
The first day was about being up early and hanging out late. I was at HK around 6am and my parents came to get me at the airport which was cool. We spent most of the day checking out the territory including the morning markets with fresh fruits, veggies, and tofu in the outside market. Then had some of my favorite HK style milk tea (yum and RICH tasting...). Then we got ready to visit my dad's cousin in Hong Kong which turned out to be a huge fiesta in itself with hot pot galore and karaoke till 1am. zzzz. Dinner was not only fully equipped with hot pot, but also delicious sashimi..which of course including a semi twitching fish on a bed of ice...(I call that fresh and border line disturbing).
I stayed with my parents at a friend's apartment in Kowloon off Waterloo Road which was a nice change from your typical hotel. It was at a great location since it was close to the Kerrigans (Aunt/Uncle/cousins from Wisconsin) and even better since it was close to Grandma's place.
The second day was full of lounging around on a yacht at the Aberdeen Marina Club with my aunts and uncles for a few hours to see the sunset and eat dim sum. It was a cool time of watching my 6'2 uncle jump off a two story boat about 10 times and my little cousins swimming a good leg of a triathlon to the shores of the beaches to bring back shells and ocean glass.
My cousin Evan organized this entire Grandma birthday/Family reunion shindig which included 6 families and a handful of 'must-have' guests. Trust me, not an easy feat. We ended up having a Chinese banquet at the http://www.countryclub.hk/ which was amazing full of your family portraits, performances, food-food-and more food. Grandma even snuck in her bday wishes early by blowing out all the candles in a quickness before anyone even knew :). The best parts were the kids, the longetivity buns, but of course, grandma's bright smile since her family and friends (best friend of 40 years!) were all in attendance.
One of the best parts was taking a day trip to Macau and seeing the hotel where my grandpa raised my uncles. The Portuguese settled in Macau in the 16th Century and much of that influence is still seen in the region today.
Overall, it was a packed trip with tons of fun and great catching up with family.
Not to mention I stumbled upon a limited edition pack of coconut M&Ms :)
