AK/MN Friends Contingent Asia Tour

I'm getting behind here, time to catch up!  Back in time to December...  This year we didn't go back to the US for the holidays in order to maximize our last months here in HK, but instead great friends came to spend the holidays with us!  Tanya, Alana and Tony (and their two kids girlchild "G" and boychild "K") spent over a week with us (after an actual first stop in Japan for a week).  We became friends in college in Alaska, and years later ended up living within a one mile radius of each other in South Minneapolis, and now have great memories to share from Asia adventures. 

By now we are experienced tour guides and lined up all of Hong Kong's greatest hits, but before the tour starts, you have to start the day with a cup of coffee.  Esme wastes no time settling into laps of people she's just met (since she doesn't remember them two years ago in MN) and stealing glasses.

The first stop of the touring was the Jade Market.  The funny part is that when polled prior to the trip, no one selected the Jade Market to be on the itinerary, yet somehow in a matter of days we ended up here two times!  (maybe it was three?) Pretty things!  Bargains to bargain for!  What's not to like? 

One cool, rainy day we fit in a trip to the Wong Tai Sin Sik Sik Yuen Temple before dim sum lunch, and us three born in the year of the rabbit (what a great year) had to pose with our zodiac statue.

I had to stop by the office for the afternoon, but the travelers amused themselves with Bruce Lee and a harbor cruise on the pretty Aqua Luna boat (no pics! didn't anyone take a pic of the pretty boat for me to see?)

On another day we checked out the Tai O fishing village that we hadn't been to before.  It's famous for its residents living in houses on stilts over the water--the Venice of Hong Kong, kind of.  But first you walk through the marketplace mostly filled with dried seafood stalls, not the greatest smelling place, as Esme and K were sure to let us know.

That is one big dried piece of seafood.

 

 

 

We walked through the village and along the coastline to the far side and then looped back to our starting point on a local boat.

But not this boat...

Or this boat...

 

This boat.

 

 

Then from Tai O we wound our way up in taxis to the Big Buddha for lunch, Buddha sighting and then the cable car ride down.

 

 

The kids had a blast with each other and I love this pic of them dancing on a table, even though in real life the volume and energy level was less endearing.  Esme insisted on wearing a reindeer antler headband all day.

 

 

 

Turns out I'm the enlightened one...

We rode the cable car down and the timing was such that when we started, the sun was just beginning to set, and it was dark by the time we got down to the bottom, which made for a pretty ride.

 

 

The kids enjoyed the ride and Esme loved it so much she was French kissing the gondola.

 

The last full day of their visit in HK we shuttled the kids off to a movie with babysitters while the grown ups went out for Spanish buffet "brunch" (in quotes because it was 2pm, HK doesn't follow normal brunch timing) with free flow cava (as in bottomless, but definitely not free), bloody Mary's, a DJ, a meat parade, dishes thrown on the floor for flair, and a dessert parade.  Love that place.

 

Then we rolled our full bellies out of the restaurant, traded out grownup Paul for girlchild G, and hit the Peak.  We saw the view before the sun set and then sat and had tea at the top (aids in digestion) and then watched HK's lights come to life and enjoyed the night view from the Peak (my first time!)

 

It was a perfect ending for the day.  Then we went home to pack our bags for all nine of us to leave the next day for Christmas in Malaysia!  Next post...

Visiting friends in Ipoh and Penang, Malaysia

One of my work friends,   Razman Zambri,  was visiting his home town in Malaysia so I took that as an opportunity to invite myself over :).   I flew late into Kuala Lampur,  stayed overnight at the airport hotel,  took a train to central train station and connected to a long distance fast train from KL to Ipoh.   Thumbs up to the Malaysia infrastructure!

I arrived at the Ipoh train station after a 2.5 hour train ride from KL.   The train station has a beautiful colonial architecture.   The inside of the train station actually reminded me of the station in Minot,  North Dakota.  Here's another building of a similar style,  just across the boulevard from the train station:

The central park of Ipoh had beautiful soccer fields.   That is the state (called Perak) flag flying.

I wanted to see some of the natural beauty of Ipoh.   The most popular attractions are the Chinese temples built into caves but I get plenty of Chinese temples in Hong Kong so we found something else.   This is a small resort-type place with cottages,  a small lake,  places to hike,  bikes and boats to borrow for exploring, etc.    I thought it was pretty cool.

I explored a little bit of the Ipoh town center.  On Sunday they had a flea market.

Here's a video that captures a little bit more of the local feel.

On my way back I ran into the Ipoh Art Crawl.

The people running the art crawl were having some sort of award ceremony.   I blended in with all of the other photographers, pretending I was a member of the local media (kidding).

Razman picked me up for lunch at his house. 

Here's a picture of his backyard.   Some jungle action going on.

I was lucky enough to have some delicious home-cooked food from Razman's mom (Thanks Mrs. Zambri!)     Got to love Malaysian home cooking.   The dessert on the right (sago + coconut milk+palm sugar syrup) was da bomb!

After lunch,  we drove up to the royal town of Kuala Kangsar.   First stop was the Perak Royal Mosque (Ubudiah Mosque).   I was not allowed inside,  so we only have pictures of the outside.   Pretty impressive, though.

Our next stop was the sultan's palace.  Unfortunately,  we couldn't get in,  so this is a good a picture as we could get without causing a local disturbance. 

  Razman actually went to school with the sultan's wife,  so I was hoping he could set something up,  but no dice.

That night,  Razman and one of his high school buddies took me to a Liverpool pub to watch the Manchester United v. Liverpool game.  

The pub had a really cool mix between local Malaysian and Liverpudlian:

Here we are watching the game.  It was a beautiful night and a fun crowd.   Unfortunately Liverpool didn't hold up their end of the bargain with a 3-0 loss.

The next day we drove to Penang to see friends and do a little bit of work.   Seagate (our company) has a big factory in Penang.   On our way out of town,  we visited a hawker stand for the Malaysian Breakfast of Champions:   roti canai and teh tarik.   Roti canai is an Indian-style pastry,  kind of like puff pastry,  that can be stuffed with egg or onion (this one is plain).   It comes with a curry-like dipping sauce.    Teh tarik is kind of a sweet black tea latte.  Delicious!

Here's the view of Ipoh valley on our way up to Penang.

We arrived in Penang just before lunch time.   We were meeting another one of my good friends,  Stefan Weissner,  with his girlfriend Chooi Khim.   Chooi Khim owns and manages the Armenian House,  a cute hotel in the heart of Georgetown's old town center.  

Here is Razman,  Stefan, and Chooi Khim standing in the hotel facade.

Here is a Chinese temple in Georgetown  - a lot of the architecture actually reminds me of Hong Kong.  There are a lot of similarities among the southern Chinese immigrants that set up roots in Penang,  Singapore, and Hong Kong.

A huge cruise ship docked behind the clock tower.

We had lunch at a hawker stand right near the docks.   Supposedly this is THE place for mee sotong,  a spicy and sweet noodle dish with squid.   Delicious!

More eating.   For dinner, we went to a seafood restaurant over by the touristy beach area of Penang.   Again,  there were a lot of similarities to the Hong Kong-style seafood restaurants overlooking the South China sea.

The fish in the center of the picture was fabulous - a Cantonese-style whole steamed fish but instead of the simple ginger/chicken broth it is served in a Thai Tom Yum-style broth.   Delicious!

The next day after work we did some more sightseeing.   This is a really pretty hike through the Penang Botanical Gardens.

This hike can lead to a path up Penang Hill,  one of the most popular sites in Penang.   Again,  some similarities to the Peak in Hong Kong.   Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to check it out.

That night,  we had a really nice dinner with drinks.   None of the pictures turned out,  I think I was more focused on the drinks ;).   But here's a cool picture of a colonial-style mansion with artistic lighting.