A lot of people have a misconception of Hong Kong, that it’s a vertical city of concrete and lights. Well - it is, but it’s also so much more.
Hong Kong as a city is only about 25% that of the total of Hong Kong, 75% is made up of national parks and rural areas. There’s wild monkeys, cows that roam the streets and massive amounts of coastline dotted with rural fishing villages.
I’ve visited Hong Kong many times before, but each visit is something new, exciting and adventurous.
Hong Kong holds a special place for me. It’s one of my favourite places to visit. I love the city, I first visited in 2010 on a layover, hopping out to New Zealand. It was the furthest I’d ever travelled East, the first time in Asia, and the first time outside of Europe or the United States. It was a culture shock, and a wonderful 18-hour taster, and at the time I knew nothing beyond The Peak, Nathan Road, and Star Ferry.
Eating my way through the world
This trip, though, was about the thing I love most about Hong Kong; the food. Not only the Hong Kong specialities but the Shanghainese soup bao, Korean barbeque, Japanese sushi, Indian jelebi, and even Melbournian Long Blacks and Smashed Avo.
More than anything though, the Yum Cha is where my heart goes, all those little dim sums filling your stomach like a gastronomical game of Tetris.
點心 (dim sum) means picking your heart’s desires.
It’s become a recent trend to show off the dim sums in wonderful presentations: soup dumplings that look like goldfish; bao that look like piggies; and contemporary beef-filled pastries shaped into swans.
On the other end of the spectrum you’ll find a hearty meal at any 7/11 or partake in the ritual pilgrimage to any of Hong Kong’s famous street food vendors where you’ll find curry fish balls, shumai, egg waffles, or "three fried stuffed treasures"; a mixture of fish and vegetables on a skewer.
Seeing the sights
This trip was the first time I’d really visited Lantao island. Lantao island is home to the Airport, the giant buddha, and Tai O fishing village.
We’d booked a BnB with my parents, my fiance, and my soon-to-be mother-in-law.
From our guest house we ventured out to Tai O, a fishing village nestled amongst mountains and filled with markets and restaurants. We came here for a day trip and to show my parents a part of Hong Kong they’d never seen or imagined.
Tai O is famous for it’s dried fish which you can see and smell everywhere and locals from all over Hong Kong come to buy it from here for use in; congee, savoury rice porridge; 咸鱼蒸肉饼 (Hom Yee Jeng Yook Baeng), a steamed meatloaf kind of thing with salted egg yolk; or as a seasoning, mostly on rice.
Look at me, back to talking about food.
Next time I visit Hong Kong I’d love to visit the New Territories in the north. It’s something I’ve yet to see much of and I hear there’s a lot of differences up there where you can visit villages of indigenous Hong Kongers.
I write this, a reflection of a trip over a year ago, stuck in isolation, in Melbourne and longing to stretch my legs and spread my metaphorical wings again.
Hong Kong, I miss you.
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