A visit from Mary and Larry!

Mary (a colleague of mine at Michigan) passed through Hong Kong this weekend with her husband Larry, so I spent the whole of Sunday whisking them around town...


We started at their hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui and...

1. strolled down the Victoria harbor front
2. crossed the harbor on Star Ferry
3. passed through the weekly farmer's market in Star Ferry pier
   
4. canvased Central, witnessing the amazing congregation of Filipinos in one of Hong Kong's great Sunday traditions
5. explored SoHo, making sure to take a turn around Lan Kwai Fong
6. rode up the mid-levels escalators, taking a break for a light snack at the Hang Fa Lau dessert shop branch found Wellington Street
   
7. hopped on a minibus, which took us close to the University of Hong Kong
8. carefully walked a ways down steep Centre Street and then hung a left onto High Street to see where Katherine and I lived when we first arrived
9. snuck up Hing Hong Street, leading us to the University of Hong Kong main entrance
10. meandered around the campus, seeing "Happy Square", the library, the lotus pond, Chong Yuet Ming complex, the (closed) bookstore, Main Building, and Katherine's office
11. hopped on a bus which took us directly to where Katherine and I live
12. gave the apartment tour, relaxed and chatted for awhile
13. set off for Causeway Bay, passing through Admiralty and Wan Chai on the way
14. crisscrossed through the shopper-packed streets, sighting Sogo and Times Square before having both hot and cold turtle pudding
15. hopped aboard the MTR and zipped back to Tsim Sha Tsui for a delicious hot pot dinner at Yau Gwat Hei
16. saddled up again on the MTR bound for Mong Kok, where we ducked down Tung Choi Street (for the Ladies' Market) and had some mango desserts
17. used the MTR to get us to Jordan so we could run the length of Temple Street (to see the Night Market)
    
18. rode the MTR once more back to Tsim Sha Tsui and their hotel

In all, we covered right around 20 miles of territory in about 11 hours. I've concocted this little map (thanks to Google) so you can better orient our journey...


Quite a full and fun day!

University of Hong Kong Open Day....

Hong Kong U held it's "Open Day" this Saturday, inviting the public to come on by and meet students/faculty/staff, learn about student life and academic programs, etc. Our residence hall, among others, also participated by setting up an information booth, giving hall tours, and performing in the day's opening ceremonies...


Katherine and I went over to spend some time with folks from the hall, as well as the School of English, spreading cheer (and carbs) with a few snacks and drinks. It was a great time.

An night on the town...

The past few weeks have been so busy for us that we really haven't been able to venture beyond our little corner of Hong Kong Island. On Friday, though, we decided to put everything on hold, take a breather, and spend some time in Causeway Bay. Inevitably, that means food!

We decided to head to a place, just behind the SOGO department store, famous for its buffalo milk desserts. We'd been there once before, and quite enjoyed it, but neglected to photograph the event. We wouldn't make the same mistake twice. :>


Katherine dives in to her bowl of soup noodles, which look like...


On the left you see tender beef brisket, in the center you see a few tiny abalone, and on the right you can see the ho fun noodles peeking out from the broth.


My bowl consisted of goose liver dumplings (right) and balls made from beef tendon (left). Both were delicious, despite what you might be thinking. ;>

After dinner, we did a bit of shopping in Times Square and then visited a dessert shop we'd been eying (but had never set foot in before)...


Sometimes I get so excited that I skip the spoon and just plant my face right in the food. I'm sure you understand, especially since we shared...

Durian-stuffed sticky rice rolls, sprinkled with coconut.

A special variation of yeung zi gum lo, my favorite Hong Kong dessert, which contained iced mango pulp in addition to the standard chunks of mango, pomelo, and sago in a coconut milk + mango juice soup.

Bananas rolled in pastry shells and baked, then sprinkled with powdered sugar.

After dessert, we went to IKEA and picked up a coconut tree (yes, IKEA sells plants too :>) for our living room. As soon as we got it in the door, Fui Fui became very excited, lunging at the broad leaves...

Through the eyes of Fui Fui, all things are toys. :>

The Hong Kong lobby...

My Michigan absentee ballot just arrived in the mail so I ripped that baby open and started to fill in the little ovals...

...but it would be unlawful for me to show you my ovals, so you just get a "before" picture. :> Once all the ovals I liked were filled, I stuffed the ballot in its security envelop, signed it, and sealed it...


Now I just have to hop down to the post office, stick some stamps on it, and slip it into the collection bin. Democracy at work!

A beautiful wedding banquet!

A good friend of ours, Janice, got a good dose of Holy Matrimony this weekend and she, along with her new husband Thomas, very kindly invited us to join them for their wedding banquet celebration.

When we arrived, we met with some mutual friends and then hopped in line for a group photo with the happy couple. Here's what we could see from the line...

After posing, we found our table (#21) in the back corner of the room. Seeing how we're pretty serious troublemakers, I wasn't surprised. ;> Our table, though, gave a very good of the whole setting...
Lots of people, as you can see, and there were even more tables-ful just around the corner to the left.

Later in the evening, after changing her attire a few times, the bride brought her husband over to visit us...
They are in the center back row, just to my left. (In the front left, you may recognize Ronald, a good friend of ours who has appeared a few times in the blog. :>)

Note that wedding banquets are full of great food, and this one was no exception, but I'm sparing you most of it. One thing, however, I just couldn't resist taking a picture of...

Homemade marshmallow peeps (except, instead of being coated with colored sugar, they used grated coconut)! These were delicious!

It was a great time, full of great eats and great people. And it was timed just right - we finished up just before midnight, which meant that I could get home just in time to watch VT beat Western Kentucky. ;> Quite a nice Saturday.