My trip to Hong Kong...

[Hawkeye]

Pics from Ocean Park - an amusement park type place similar to seaworld. We went on a monday and unfortunately I guess so did all the schools because I had a very hard time taking pics without getting elbowed.

First of all - i think there is some stereotype about asians and cameras - well I just want to say it's well-founded because while I was there - either everyone just happened to be Canon/Nikon shareholders, or they all really like $2000 cameras.

typical couple (notice huge DSLR). Sometimes both the wife and hubby had DSLRs each.

the main attraction:

unfortunately one was inside sleeping, the other was outside being lazy...

Ocean tank display...yes that huge fish was probably bigger than my 5 yr old daughter:

Same tank from below:

more shots:

from below again:

They had a large display but with only a few reef fish in this one...this one had a big fat yellow tang (not the prettiest specimen) and a powder blue hiding from my lens:

Also a huge sohail that did not cooperate with my lens:

Puffers:

big old ray with some ginormous fish:

Leafy seadragon display:

Cuttlefish display, these two were not shy about Public Displays of Affection:

Hard to tell but a large display of garden eels:

Anthias and damsels:

Top down pic of Large group of perculas:

Tidal pool display with huge sea stars and a large (both size and quantity) of sea cucumbers

This a close up of the bigger sea cucumber on the upper left of the pic above.

 

[Hawkeye]

They had a beautiful bird on display here, considering the bird flu epidemic from years ago in asia - i was impressed:

jellyfish exhibit was pretty neat - they used LEDs to light up plain old jellyfish into some pretty funky looking aliens:

So...of course I wanted to go to Tung Choi Street - which is the official street name - but locals call one stretch "goldfish market". But even that is a mis-nomer - it's basically a street full of petshops. Unfortunately I was dead tired with jet lag at this time and dragging two kids around did not make for convenient picture taking...also I noticed a lot of the places had big "NO PHOTO" display. So i tried my best to take photos where I could. Unfortunately the saltwater displays weren't all that - or perhaps I didn't find those stores (a few were on the second floor and I had no desire to walk up).

Looks like any old street:

A lot of stores had this out front:

in this pic - you can see a lady self-serving herself to some freshwater swordtails - i think they were $1 US each. It was unusual because the fish were in a tank. You'll see later...

in one store where I could sneak some photos:

This was more typical - fish in bags. they apparently pre-bag fish daily. Crazy!! but stores were smaller than shoebox size so there is no room for a real display:

yes this is an arrowana in a very big plastic bag:

 

[Hawkeye]

As we are in "open water" - i wanted to post some other stuff...like the largest toys r us in hong kong...and while that's not much compared to US sized things - it had some impressive displays:

new releases of Wii games (of course only for the japan wii) not available in the states yet:

nice big displays:

Anyone fans of gundam? you'd be in heaven here:

Not sure if people follow anime - but they had OnePiece toys...

Who'd have thought of a real beetle in a toy store:

I loved these little details (christmas)

sick display of legos:

Not lego - but close...transformers

 

[Hawkeye]

Angry birds is very popular...there were all kinds of accessories (e.g. iphone covers, ipad covers, etc) - but i couldn't resist snapping a photo of these huge stuff animals. we probably have them in the states too.

Here's a display in the japanese department store called Sogo - i thought it was amusing to see a full wall of trading cards for various animes:

 

[Hawkeye]

more off-topic stuff....

we also went to a seafood market...no not like the fulton fish market or the seafood section in pricerite. I mean like a town where most of the stores are open stalls selling fresh and LIVE seafood. you have the option of bringing it home live to clean yourself (what a pain) or having them bring it to the restaurant where they (for a fee) will charge you to prep the food.

anyways - on with the pics:

We ended up picking this one...why? well it was first and i didn't feel like walking anymore...hahaha

7 pound aussie lobster, too pretty (and expensive) to eat....lol.

Not sure what type of a fish this was....

Prawns looked genetically altered big:

Crabs being dumped in for display.

Close up of crabs, notice how each individual crab has their claws tied...talk about labor-intensive!

Cuttlefish

Mantis Shrimp!

 

[Hawkeye]

Finally - who could go to HK without having chinese dim sum food right?

well we decided to hit a local joint (literally a hole in the wall) but was rated on the Michellin Guide with 1 star. For those of you unaware - 3 stars is the best, and having 1 star is an astonishing feat for a place like this given that only a few hundred restaurants globally get a rating. They are all typically very expensive. This place was dirt cheap. The place is on a street filled with hobby stores - (odd placement) and doesn't open until 10AM.

First pic is at 9:30...the line was 50 people long. Mind you the place only HOLDS 25 people seated.

Anyways the star of the meal are these baked/fried bbq pork buns:

Followed up by the usual shrimp dumplings. Supposedly you can tell a master chef by the number of crinkles on the top of the dumpling - apparently this place has 12 for each dumpling. Hence part of the reason why the michellin rating. I guess only a food critic would notice this. I just wolfed it down.

Shrimp wrapped in noodles and some other items we got:

spring rolls...hmmm...

steamed ribs:

 

[Nickjr000]

Wow that must of been a great trip! Someday I would love to go. The camera sterotype is def true. Fish in bags ready to go like a bag of chips, lol. Were all the aquarium stores using the knockoff leds?

 

[wienerdog]

great pics!! Thanks for sharing. Did you see any Flowerhorns (freshwater mutations)? I use to raise them prior to saltwater?

 

[Olivier]

awesome. i wish i knew chinese to go there . someday i will go when both of my sons old enough

 

[NewJerseyReefer]

wow i totally love the picture man. they really did catch my attention. just being curious jorge were you able to find and store that make tanks reef ready or just plain?

 

[trivan]

Awesome pictures. So I have to ask, how many times did people cut the lines in ocean park? Omg. When I was there I got so tick off, I started body checking people cutting in front of me.

While its a cool place, when we went into the aquarium section, so many people were jammed in I was very afraid for the kids. The pandas were a great thing to see.

The family and I love Hong Kong, food and the sites are awesome. We'll have to trade notes.

 

[trivan]

awesome. i wish i knew chinese to go there . someday i will go when both of my sons old enough

I don't know any Chinese, it's really not an issue and many places can speak some engrish. I'm Asian I can get away with that comment, lol

 

[SHLUZER]

Stuffed angry bird for $399 ?

 

[Daniel]

Very Very nice. It looks like you all had a great time there.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Wow Phil, thanks for sharing all those photos! I’ve always had interest to visiting that part of the world, but couldn’t take an entire day of travel….that’s the hard part.

Can’t believe they eat cuttlefish! But I’m sure there were other delectable items that were more bizarre than that.

And Alex (Shluzer), I believe the exchange rate is around 7.75 Hong Kong dollars for every 1 US dollar. So that angry big bird at 399 HK would be about 52 US.

And one more thing…wasn’t Hong Kong under British rule for 99 years? So don’t a good number of the residents speak English? Was there a language problem or can you speak the language?

 

[malulu]

Olivier & Trivan, i speak both Cantonese (HongKong & China) and Mandarin (Taiwan & China), so if you guys are paying... i will go with you both somedays...


HongKong - Cantonese, we eat everything! there is a saying: "we eat everything which is 4 legs except tables & chairs, we also eat everything that fly in the sky except an airplane!"


British rules HongKong for 99 years, yes, but there were still a lots of poor individuals in Hongkong which was not get a chance to went to schools, hence still alots of them could not speak English. i think Phil speak Mandarin, which probably work 60% of the time in HongKong.

Phil, great pictures!! thank you for sharing...! I am planning to go to Taiwan in summer time... anyone tagging along?

 

[trivan]

Olivier & Trivan, i speak both Cantonese (HongKong & China) and Mandarin (Taiwan & China), so if you guys are paying... i will go with you both somedays...

LOL, I'm covered, I have in-laws in HK. So I go back at least once every 1 1/2 to have the kids see their grandma. My oldest is 8 and has been there 4 times already!!!

Last time I was there I had Mantis Shrimp, it was prepared with a mound of fried garlic and chili peppers (aka, Typhoon Chili crab/shrimp). It was pretty good, it was like the size of a lobster tail and the taste of shimp.

All kidding a side, HK is one of the easiest International trips to take. Your dollar is still worth something (unlike Europe) and you can find any type of food you want there. Yes, there are McD's, Pizza huts, KFC, and the like, but if you are going there, you will get some of the best chinese food in the world (as long as you go to the right places).

 

[TanksNStuff]

Great pics Phil! Thanks for sharing. It's always interesting to see what other cultures have to offer.

Of all the pics, I'd say that giant lobster caught my eye the most. I've never seen a lobster look so beautiful that I'd hesitate to eat it! That one would make me think about if for a while at least.

 

[ReeferNets]

Cuttlefish is a common food in asian countries.

The cuttlefish bone is what bird chew on

 

[shipwrecked]

Thanks for the picture show.Im wondering about the fish in a bag.Maybe they know something we dont.Its nice to see how differant cultures do things.Welcome back