Starry dimsum

There's no doubt in my mind that Hong Kong is a foodie heaven. You can have whatever food in whichever style but still the most authentic is DimSum in Hong Kong since that is a Canton style dining.

It is tradition in my family to go for dim sum when my dad has an longer lunch hour, which is usually once or twice a week. This visit to HK brought me to 3 different dim sum places, the first one is not that impressionable apart from the fact that it is owned by a celebrity chef. The food is only so-so, hence not worth blogging.

The next two is definitely worth a mention. The first one is Celestial Court Chinese Restaurant in Sheraton Hotel, Kowloon. Their food was fresh and well made, the setting itself is really nice and quiet, service is great and the price after the HSBC credit card discount is reasonable. However as a comparison to the next restaurant, I have to mention that a typical dim sum dish here is around HK$42, which is slightly pricey than normal price for HK.

BBQ pork bun done the traditional way

Shrimp Dumplings

Pumpkin and seafood dumpling (slightly different and innovative way of creating dim sum)

shredded daikon carrot cake and smoked salmon and scallops fried rice

My aunt and uncle took my mom and I to the cheapest Michelin one-star restaurant in the world. This is truly a treat as no one in the family has eaten at this restaurant yet, since it is notorious for a MASSIVE lineup. However, my aunt and uncle lined up early before the restaurant opened and we were provided with a table at the first sitting. Otherwise it could easily have been a 3 hour wait! (please refer to the following telegraph article
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/foodandwineholidays/7145607/Tim-Ho-Wan-restaurant-Hong-Kong-the-hottest-meal-ticket-in-town.html)
The cheapest Michelin 1-star restaurant.. with a standardized form to fill in BEFORE you head into the restaurant to be efficient with time spent in the restaurant. The chef used to work for Four Seasons Hotel and now has started his own restaurant. (FYI Four Seasons Hotel has one of the 2 HK's 3 star restaurants) The restaurant itself seats 36 people total, it is truly no-frills in the best sense, no fuss about tablecloths/ different teas, a fast-paced down-to-earth restaurant with good food. The dimsum is simple but very tasty. Some of the dishes are different compared to regular dimsum, such as the BBQ pork bun is not with the traditional white dough but it is made like a chinese pineapple bun, but better. Apart from great food, the price is also right. The priciest dish on the menu is HK$20 for a large rice steamed in lotus leaf. On average, the dishes are HK$12-18 which is superbly cheap if compared to regular HK dim sum prices

BBQ pork buns with a crispy sweet top

shrimp dumplings

Steamed shrimp and BBQ pork rolls and steamed yellow cake

salty fried dumplings and spring rolls (mom really liked the spring rolls!)

fried carrot cake (chinese style)

Beef balls

shrimp and pork dumplings

mango pudding

So is it worth the hype?? Yes for the fact that I like my dimsum fresh, tasty and cheap. Would I wait three hours of it?? probably not, but I don't wait 3 hours for most things, especially if it involves waiting on the street in 35oC humid HK with no air conditioning. Would I come back? Yes but only in the winter!

Bungy!

The pictures describes it all. My brother and I went bungy jumping at the original AJ Hackett bungy jumping site, the Kawarau Bridge. It's only 43m high and it's over a river that you can choose to dip into the water. Enjoy the pics!

NZ: North Island

I spent 3 days total with my folks exploring North Island of New Zealand. My brother and I went to check out the Auckland Fish Market, which is a smaller version of the Sydney Fish Market. We had some great mussels there
Next stop Rotorua and the thermal spas. We went to Te Puia which is a Maori Cultural center. We had a chance to see the shy kiwi birds and also see the boiling mudpools. The air had a heavy sulfur smell because of the volanic activities. We had a chance to enjoy the thermal spas overnight, making it a nice relaxing experience.

boiling mudpools

Te Puia

Agrodome Sheep show

After we got back from the South Island, my brother and I went to Tiritiri Matangi Island which is a bird sanctuary. We had a fabulous tour guide who helped us spot the various different bird types on the island, some of which has been brought back from brink of extinction. We also went to Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World, spotting some king penguins.

hiking through the beaches of Tiritiri Matangi Island

Stitchbird

Skyline of Auckland

King penguins in Kelly Tarlton's

Mission bay

Lastly I spent a delightful couple of days with Scott, Meg, baby Georgia and Meg's parents. We got a chance to go to the Auckland museum to see the Maori presentation. What was the most amazing was that Baby G was not scared by the Haka presentation but instead was really memorized by the presentation! We also went to the Waitomo Caves where I explored the Ruakuri caves with them. These are one of the most beautiful limestone caves I have seen.

Meg and I with the Maori dancer

Ruakuri Caves.

NZ: Dunedin, Moeraki Boulders

After the train arrived at Dunedin, we spent a pleasant day checking out the world's steepest street, Baldwin Street, University of Otago and the Cadbury chocolate factory. No matter what age, I am sure that everyone would enjoy a tour of the factory and also sampling the Cadbury chocolate. The chocolate seems to be a bit more creamy and a bit too sweet for my taste. However it is still a worthwhile stop.

Dunedin Train station

Cadbury World

A mountain full of Crunchies!

We went up the East coast to the Moeraki Boulders. These are huge spherical rocks along Koekohe Beach. We also stopped by the fairy penguin colonies at Oamaru. There are not as many penguins there as compared to Australia, however we can still see a few of them around. These penguins have elaborate huts compared to the rocks for the Australian ones :p

Moeraki Boulders

Oamaru Penguins

NZ: Lord of the Rings and tranzAlpine train

My brother and I spent a bit of time traveling by ourselves. We went on Hassle Free tours to go to Edoras, the capital city of Rohan, which translates to Mt Sunday in Mt Potts high station area. It is a great tour, my brother's favourite part of New Zealand. Both of us are not Lord of the Rings fanatics, but this tour took us to the middle of nowhere in South Island and the weather was cooperating, so the scenery was gorgeous.

So for those who are not LOTR fans either, this is part of the second movie, the Two Towers, where Aragon, Legolas, Gandolf and Gimli went to Edoras to warn King Theoden. They have the Golden Hall constructed on that hill in the middle of the picture which is on private land. They had to construct a road up to the hill, and also a nursery for the vegetation on the top of the hill to be transferred to the bottom. It is easy to see why the film costs so much to make!

Edoras

Sword of Aragon

Flag of Rohan

We went on the TranzAlpine train from Christchurch to Greymouth. It was one of the world's best train ride and it was definitely popular as all the seats were filled. For NZ$138 you can stay on board for 4 hours and travel through the Southern Alps to the West coast. There were two stops, one at Springbrook and one at Arthurs Pass. We took the train over and the bus back to Christchurch, as it was a cheaper option. It also went through areas that were not covered by the train. While we were at Greymouth, we took a tour up to Punakaiki to see the Pancake Rocks and the Blowholes. However the tide was out so there weren't any blowholes to see but we could walk far out on the coast. The Pancake Rocks were neat but overall there really isn't much over at Greymouth.

Arthurs Pass

One of the lakes passed enroute to Greymouth

Pancake Rocks

Back to Christchurch with the bus

NZ: Queenstown and Milford Sound

In the second half of the New Zealand travels, we went down from Christchurch to Queenstown. We missed some of the scenery the day before of Mount Cook and Lake Tekapo, thanks to Pacific Blue and their flight delay. However getting down to Queenstown, we have the fantastic view of the town from the Skyline gondola. We were definitely blessed with great weather during this time.
Day 2 was Milford Sound cruise. We took off bright and early from Queenstown and the trip took 4 hours by bus to get to the cruise ship. Then we had a one hour boat ride and piled back into the bus to head back into town. The scenery was beautiful and I would definitely consider coming back to do the Milford Track during the summer months

Mirror Lake

pair of Kea parrots

Cruising along Milford Sound

Dolphins frolicking around the boat

We then went from Queenstown to Dunedin and we took the Taieri Gorge railway from Pukerangi to Dunedin. It was a good point to take the train ride as it started raining and throughout the trip, we saw many beautiful rainbows. We also saw tons of sheep around the fields as well

scenery on the railway

Baaaaaaaahhh