Hello Hong Kong, Part 2 (+haul)

Compared to my previous times to HK, I had a super duper time on this trip b/c I got to meet up with Miss Friendz! Ooh, she is so nice, funny, nice, stylish, nice, lovely, nice. I heart her. *whispers* She doesn't know it yet but she's my new Hong Kong bestie. (Oh umm, stalk much?)

First up, a yummy lunch at Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao restaurant at the Times Square shopping mall in Causeway Bay. (I forget the names of some dishes so I will try to improvise here. C, please correct me if I'm wrong :)

Xiao long bao (steamed pork dumplings)


Spicy beef tendon noodle soup

Crispy baked shredded daikon

Dried onion/shallots with noodles and an flavored oil based sauce

Funny bit: So after we're done eating, we engaged in what I call the Chinese tug of war ("Let me pay!", "No, I'll pay!" back and forth) only without the customary flinging of arms (b/c we are cool like that) to grab the check. Only I didn't know that the piece of paper we had on the table wasn't the check so I'm holding my credit card and the waiter comes over with the actual check and she hands her card over. *chuckles* Ok, you had to be there. Thank you love for lunch!!! *^_^*

Then off we went to Sasa, Bonjour, Watson's, and SOGO! It was sheer shopping bliss. Gosh, I think I lost count after about the fifth store...lol. :D (Haul posted below)

Oh, but the fun wasn't over yet b/c then it was DESSERT TIME! *happy dance* She is a girl after my own heart.

Milk flavored Taiwanese shaved snow with condensed milk, mango, and strawberries

Mango soup with mango and I think there was sago

Mango (can u tell we love this? :) mochi with shredded coconut

Miss Friendz was a doll and also gave me all these goodies (Q10 masks...woot!:)

C, thank you soooooooooooo much for an amazing time! I miss you and HK loads! *hugs*

Hee hee...wow, I was kinda surprised when I heard from so many of you to see my haul. Here it is: (Hope I don't disappoint..lol)

Cosmetics

Korean earrings seem to be quite popular in HK. These are good quality, inexpensive, and did not give me the itchies. Yay!

Place mats :o)

Little Twin Stars pj's

Rilakkuma planner

SPCA calendar

Did you know Minnie has a friend named Cuddly Bear?

I purchased powder foundations from the Ettusais and Jill Stuart stores. Since there are so many JS fans, I took 2 pics of the store one morning. Hope you like :)

Keychains from the Hong Kong Disneyland store at the airport. Loves...

Minna No Tabo luggage tag (also from the airport) and SK-II essence from the plane (why must they make it soo easy?)

*whew* And this ladies is why I did not partake in the Sephora F&F.

TGIF!

Hello Hong Kong, Part 1

Food pics:

Pastries made with Hokkaido milk.....YUM.....

Rice dish (this one is with Chinese sausage) cooked in a traditional clay pot

Wonton noodle soup (you can never have enough)

Mango drinks at Hui Lau Shan (everyone comes here...hahaha)

The best jerky can be found at Bee Cheng Hiang. I highly recommend their pork medallions.

Roast pork belly on edible "spoons"

Sushi here is inexpensive and delicious. What I'd normally pay $50 for in L.A, cost only about $20 here.

McD's here in the U.S used to serve their apple pies fried. That is until some genius thought it would be better baked. (Wrong, buddy) Our love for it never died so we get it every time we're in Asia. XD

P.S If you guessed "gway ling go" (turtle jelly) in my last post, you're right! :D If you don't know what this is, it may gross you out but I'll tell you anways...hehe. It's a rather bitter gelatin made with turtle shell extract that is supposed to be good for your skin/body. To offset the bitterness, you add honey.

Shopping In The Subway

I'm back in L.A but continuing to blog about my trip. Hope you enjoy the posts! :)

As if the 8 story shopping malls weren't enough (not an exaggeration btw), inside the subways of Guangzhou you will find 3 floors of shops and cheap eats for your wallets to have a field day with. If you like all things kawaii, this place is for you (click on pics for larger view):

(Remind you of a certain childhood toy? :)

(Brownie points if you know what this is)

The popular thing now are these little cubicle shops. You rent a box to sell whatever you want and the store owner gets a small cut. Hong Kong also has these. They are a fun way for teens to make some money.

*grumbles* Why can't our arcade prizes look this cute?

My GZ haul:

Short review on the sheet masks above:
Besilke White Shining: sucks
DNA Japan Sousinon: sucks
Doctor Li Whitening and Smoothing mask with Ginseng: shrunk a zit I had in 15 minutes (highly recommend).

These were purchased at Mannings drugstore.

Cute Korean pouch, DiorSnow SPF50 in "Pearly White" (have yet to see this shade in the States), hand cream, rose whitening facial spray (awesome for long flights) and Disney Cuties cup with lid. (LOVE Disney Cuties! :)

I have been on the hunt for a red coat and found this cute toggle hoodie at a store called "Amon Avis". The inside is lined with black and white polka dots. Too adorable. This is my fave store in GZ. It sells good quality Asian fashion. I also purchased a light gray and pink polka dot scarf with little pom-pom fringes as well as a sweatshirt from Uniqlo.

Oh and I'm including a swatch of the Beaute de Kose lipgloss I purchased in Vietnam here for those of you who inquired about it. This is shade PK 882 (Celebrity Pink):


Happy Monday!

Back In La La Land

Happy Halloween!

Big Trouble in Little China

Ever see that cheesy 80's movie starring Kurt Russell? You know, the one jam packed with horrible Asian stereotypes like that evil Fu Man Chu looking dude. This post isn't about the movie but I was offline the entire time I was in China. *cringes*

So we ended up in the coastal city of Guangzhou with no Internet access b/c 1) the only "web" Grandma concerns herself with are those spun by spiders and 2) we did not see any Internet cafes. Weird right? (Although after reading K's comment, Blogger would've been a no-no anyways. Thx for the heads up, babe! :) As a result, I suffered from withdrawal symptoms and am making up for lost time now.

Brief lesson (*adjusts imaginary glasses*): GZ is a 2 hour train ride from Hong Kong and is what I call the original gangsta. Why? B/c this is where the Cantonese peeps you know and love (like me :) trace their roots. (GZ used to be called "Canton") I don't know how they do it (less red tape, more money is my guess) but every time I go back it looks different. We're talking buildings and roads that did not exist barely a year ago.

I took way too many pics to post but here are snapshots of the fun we had starting with food porn...

Wonton noodle soup

Beef brisket


Boiled Coke with Ginger (surprisingly delish)

Desserts: Black sesame, milk with ginger, milk with red bean, milk

Rice-free congee (mo mai jook) with chicken

Chicken liver gelatin (thumbs up from the hubs, thumbs down from me)

They have a fast food chain called "Real Kung Fu" (zan kung fu in Cantonese, zhen gong fu in Mandarin) with some Bruce Lee looking dude as their mascot. The hubs is a huge Bruce Lee fan so we had to eat there...hee hee. Food was okay.

And speaking of the hubs, he wanted me to post his best impression of X-Men's Cyclops here.

That is my neck pillow he has on. (File this under "shit you do when you're bored".)

Hong Kong Phooey

Hello from Hong Kong!

I am back online and damn it feels GOOD. (More on that later) Anyways, I am well and ready to tackle HK as well as share my China adventure with you! TTYL...

--Shop n' Chomp

So Long, Saigon

On our last day, we shared a banh mi sandwich made by a sweet old lady operating from a street cart. It was stuffed with pickled veggies, siu mai pork, cha shu pork, fish cake, and fresh cilantro. Very tasty. The bread here tastes a bit denser. As you can see, she wrapped it in a computer print out/TPS report...hee hee. :)

It started raining buckets again when we decided to hop a cab back to Ben Thanh market for lunch. The workers at the food stalls here are just as aggressive and eager for your business as those selling clothes. They will put a menu into your hands, tell you what they have, and insist you sit down at their stall. My advice would be to decide what you want beforehand so you can scan menus and politely hand them back if they do not have the food you want. We chose a particular stall b/c I was in the mood for some steamed vermicelli with meat. This is what we ordered:

Mine was a steamed vermicelli with beef, bean sprouts, peanuts, and veggies. The pic shows the lady about to spoon the chili fish sauce over it. While I loved the different textures in this dish, I felt the beef should have been barbecued instead of stir-fried. (Actually, I thought I was getting charbroiled pork. Note to self: Always double-check)

The hubs ordered this seafood pancake fried up in a crispy egg batter. It's not in the pic but it comes with fresh lettuce to wrap in and the same chili fish sauce. YUM, this one was a winner.

Accessing the Internet while on vacation can be a pricey affair. Our hotel for example charges $18USD/day. My blog posts have been primarily done from a little Internet cafe a few blocks away that charges $0.55 per hour. We also found a coffeehouse/restaurant named Givral nearby that offers free WI-FI. I recommend seeking either option when faced with high hotel rates especially since you won't be online for the full 24 hours.

Givral is a restaurant that serves up fresh coffee, baked goods, Western fare, and Vietnamese dishes. We did not try any of their Western dishes but would not recommend eating Vietnamese food there when there are so many cheaper options nearby. We had a small snack of a trio chocolate dessert, pineapple/apple/banana smoothie, and hot cafe sua dua (gawd, I love this stuff).

We returned to the hotel to relax for a bit and then ventured next door to a department store named Parkson. I can't say it is much different than Diamond Plaza. That is, name brands on each floor and a food court. Our main objective? Dinner at Pho 24. This is another local pho chain serving noodle soup. We wanted to compare it to Pho 2000...hee hee. The hubs ordered a combo of beef pho, fried spring rolls, and a Pepsi. The broth was light, but not as "beefy" tasting as that of Pho 2000.

I ordered the chicken pho with their signature sugarcane juice. YUM, this broth was excellent. Light but extremely full of chicken taste. Kinda like Souplantation's chicken soup (which I lurve btw) with a good dose of chicken oil/essence. Reminded me of my mom's kickass chicken soup. The chicken was very tender and tasty as some pieces had the skin on. Who knew a chain could serve up such high quality fare? Highly recommend getting this.

We felt the spring rolls were a bit overdone and not as good as those at Pho 2000. These also did not have any shrimp in it.

My small haul of the day:

Beaute de Kose Rouge Fantasist Aqua Vinyl lipgloss and Eye Fantasist cream eye shadow. In case you didn't already know, I heart pink.

To end our day, I had a basic mani done for $3USD! (Thank you Sylvia for the suggestion! :) My nails are prone to chipping so when I travel, I like having them trimmed and unpolished. (I had my fake nails taken off) Definitely try to get your nails done if you're ever here! :)

So long, Saigon. Hello, China!