Had a half day in Hong Kong visiting some old haunts before heading back to the ship for some additional immigration. Really fun time in the Hong Kong with family.
- Sham Shui Po
- Tofu. ALL the Tofu.
- Shops and Walking Around
- Dim Sum
- More Snacks
- Specialty Shopping
- Last Minute Snack
- Resting Before Dinner
- Dinner
- Vibe Check
- Feedback
Photo Gallery: https://pics.mattichan.com/-uwc109
Sham Shui Po
Started by heading over to Sham Shui Po to meet up with our Uncle and Aunt (different ones from the last couple days too, so we’ve seen both sides of the family now). Walked around a bit with the unopened stores / abandoned streets in the morning which was quite a scene since I’ve only ever been in the afternoon and late night when there’s like a million people around. Very interesting to see what it looks like without all the pop up shops and people around.
Tofu. ALL the Tofu.
My favorite place when we were growing up and would visit Hong Kong was this tofu shop called Kung Wo Beancurd Factory around my mom’s childhood neighborhood. We would sit there and get bowls and bowls of tofu fa (tofu pudding), with the only question being whether you would get it hot or cold (I generally alternate but hot is sooo good). Probably also for the sugar / ginger water concoction that they pour on top.
We made it to the shop, and to my surprise, found that they’ve been so successful that they expanded across the side street and have two seating areas now, the old traditional one and a more modern one with different signage and decorations. We sat at the more modern one solely cause we had a decently large group (of 5).
Got not only the tofu fa, but some tofu ice cream and some hot food too, the wings weren’t bad either. Sooo delicious. Could’ve sat there eating all day if it was up to me.
Shops and Walking Around
Afterward, we had a little time to kill before dim sum, so we wandered some shops. Lots of knick knacks and tiny things which is what I remember walking around as a kid. All fairly cheap, somewhat misprinted or just completely fake.
Nate got some fun “Pokémon” cards that aren’t actually Pokémon, and even saw a cat having a perch on some of the merch. Also saw some stuffies that were dressed in graduation gowns for each of the local schools and universities around which is kinda cool as well.
We eventually found my mom’s childhood residence and got to see it as adults. Kinda fun to see, and also puts our own childhood and growing up in the states into some perspective as well. I always say I hate cities and love my space and parking lots as a suburban kid, but that’s mostly from my own privileged perspective.
Walked by one of many bakeries and got all the smells.
Dim Sum
We made it to dim sum and sat down for a bit. Forgot that the tradition is to use the hot water to wash all the plates and utensils (I just start eating and live by a “what doesn’t kill you…” life motto).
Dim sum was delicious and we had all the food. The yellowish orange cake was my grandma’s favorite, so we ordered one in her memory as well (and ate it…it was delicious).
More Snacks
Amela Tomatoes
Uncle brought us some amela tomatoes from Japan and we had some after dim sum, they were so sweet and delicious.
Egg Tart
Grabbed an egg tart from one of he bakeries. It was OK, but not the best I’ve ever had.
Specialty Shopping
Golden Computer Arcade
After eating, we headed out to wander a bit and my uncle took us to the Golden Computer Arcade, which is this whole section of electronics vendors, we wandered up and down many aisles of vendors selling conputer parts, accessories and even some old school game boys (was very tempted). Really interesting collection of brand new stuff kinda like a microcenter blended with a used electronics alley.
Was fairly amused to see a bunch of phones on display to be sold all playing Pokémon Go.
Apliu Street – Secondhand Goods
We continued wandering and made it to Apliu Street which our Uncle told us was known for secondhand merch.
Wandered and was fascinated by the collection of items, it was such a wide eclectic mix of items. TV and electronics remotes, bikes, cameras, batteries, string, magnets and more. Found a camera store on the side too that sold PeakDesign stuff so I was able to replace my bag clip that fell off in Australia in transit.
Secondhand Cameras
Secondhand…Batteries?
Secondhand Magnets
Camera Store!
Last Minute Snack
As we said our goodbyes to family and were getting a taxi, we noticed a hong kong style barbecue and just had to grad some meat. We sat in the cruise terminal after getting back and had some delicious BBQ.
Some great views by the terminal too before going back through immigration and on the ship. When I got back on had some nice convos catching up with some crew before heading outside to see what was around. Was slightly amused to see another pirate ship around our ship. Was less amused to find that we were flying the China flag as well on the ship (along with the Hong Kong flag). When we were in Hawaii, we flew just the Hawaii flag and not the US flag, and other places we’ve gone, we fly the special territory flags as well. Just slightly annoying.
Resting Before Dinner
Apparently we were staying later so we could see the lights in the Harbour as we sailed away, but I neither cared nor had enough energy to move. So while mom went up to try to take photos, I was resting in my room after a nice long shower and then edited some photos.
Dinner
Finally back on ship and reunited with our crew and waitstaff, got to go see Shangam and get some food for some great times. In the middle of dinner I felt the engine kickstart right under us and immediately was like, oh I bet someone did something stupid and cut in front of us (we hadn’t really set sail that long ago), almost immediately we started to do a sharp turn and we could see out the window as we were pointed on the starboard side almost directly at the water. Heard all sorts of plates and glasses crashing in the back in the kitchen…the poor crew. Captain came on later and confirmed that someone had not been following rules and we had to make an emergency maneuver to avoid crushing them. All safe and sound (except the kitchenware).
Vibe Check
5 parts joy
Feedback
Leave a comment or question if you have any thoughts! Anything you want to know about as we go around the world? Any things you want to share as feedback, or any images that particularly spoke to you. I’ll try to read all of them as time permits!
Matti 
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