Little Adventures in Hong Kong with Daisann McLane
eat, walk, drink, explore
Daisann McLane
Daisann McLane is a travel writer,photographer and essayist. Her "Real Travel" column appears in every issue of National Geographic Traveler, and her articles about Hong Kong's food, culture and politics have been published in the New York Times Magazine, the International Herald Tribune and Slate. She's the author of the Society of American Travel Writers award winning book Cheap Hotels and the recent Living In Asia (Taschen). Daisann has lived in Hong Kong since 2002, when she came here to study Cantonese at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She spends part of every day walking in Hong Kong.Become a Fan!
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Spring 2010 Newsletter: Hot off the Press
A few days ago we emailed our Spring newsletter out to all our Little Adventures in Hong Kong friends. It features, in text and (kind of gorgeous, we think) photos, the highlights of our fabulous first season of privately hosted walking and food tours of Hong Kong.
Like this one:
We're quite excited about some of the new tours that we'll be offering. We're also announcing a special tour discount--and a great new destination, too. Find out more in the Spring 2010 newsletter.
What, you didn't get a copy in your email yet? Maybe you're not on our list. Just send us your email, and we'll be happy to send you a copy toot sweet.
(By the way, if you sign up, we promise not to add to your mailbox clutter. We're quite busy with our tours and with our on the ground research of Hong Kong's best food and most fascinating hidden neighborhoods. So the Little Adventures in Hong Kong newsletter will appear sporadically, occasionally, intermittantly and every once in a blue moon. Translation: 2 or three times a year.)
Hong Kong: Expect the Unexpected
Here at Little Adventures in Hong Kong, we love to surprise the guests who come on our private walking and food tours, by taking them to parts of Hong Kong they never imagined existed. You might wonder: How do we find these places? Answer: we hit the road.
Well, okay, we don't always climb all the way to the top of the famous New Territories mountain ridge Pat Sin Leng in search of new Little Adventures in Hong Kong. Sometimes we just take an unexpected turn down the stone steps of a neighborhood alley. But in any case, we're always on the lookout for new places, so we can treat and delight the guests who come along with us on our personalized walking tours of Hong Kong.
What can you expect on a Little Adventures in Hong Kong tour? Expect the unexpected. Hong Kong is a dynamic, ever-changing unpredictable place. That's what keeps our tours interesting. We don't follow any scripts. We custom-design every walk to your interests, whether it be food, architecture, history, or a bit of everything. The one thing we do guarantee is that after you've walked with us, you'll feel like you've really experienced a slice of Hong Kong life. And tasted it too!
Yum! This weekend, after hiking on the trail, we grabbed a bite to eat at the famous roast goose restaurant, Dai Lok, in Tai Po. This is a place that's become well-known since Anthony Bourdain featured it on one of his programs. I've long been curious to check it out, and finally I got a chance to do that.
As you can see from the plate, we ordered a combo--roast goose (siu ngo) on the bottom, and suckling pig on top. Both were pretty darn tasty--the goose was the standout. It's juicy, and the crust is crispy but not dry, and not too sweet either. But is it better than its famed rival, Hong Kong island's Yung Kee restaurant?
Well, when you come to Hong Kong, you can decide for yourself--we can take you on a whirlwind Little Adventures in Hong Kong "Roast Meat" tour that takes in both places, with some walking in between, of course.
Our walking tours are usually three hours long, but we can customize a program to fit your needs. Do you want to walk, then go for some of Hong Kong's best dim sum? Do you want to photograph traditional markets and old fishing villages? Do you want to immerse yourself in Hong Kong places that haven't changed for 50 years? We can take you there.
Email us today to learn more about how we can maximize your travel experience in Hong Kong. We look forward to hearing from you--and to steering you in the right direction!
On Tour With Little Adventures in Hong Kong!
We haven't been posting so much recently--sorry! It's only because we've been so busy showing lots of you around Hong Kong on our personally hosted walking and food tours.
We're having a blast. Each walking tour holds new surprises, because our privately guided custom tours are a bit different every time. At Little Adventures in Hong Kong, we take our cue from Hong Kong's best food stalls--you know how each one specializes in a single great dish, be it congee or fish ball noodles or wonton noodles? Well, we specialize, too--in serving up a Hong Kong experience that's made to order, just for you.
Speaking of congee, here are a couple of bowls we shared recently with Steven and his friends from Adelaide:
Mmm. Yue pin juk. Fish fillet congee. This is Little Adventure's "secret place" in Sai Ying Pun, and we're never disappointed here: it really serves up some of the best congee in Hong Kong, creamy and full of fresh ginger slices. The yauh tiu--fried dough sticks--at this neighborhood place are particularly delectable, especially when you tear them up into little pieces and mix them into the congee.
Steven only had one day in Hong Kong before he had to catch the Air Asia flight back home, so he asked us to give him a full on, great food experience in Hong Kong. We aim to please. From congee, we wandered down into Sheung Wan to sample some Chiu Chow oyster and rice soup, and of course, the famous Chiu Chow "lo seui" marinated goose. In this particular eatery, the broth for the "lo seui" has been bubbling continuously for 60 years!
(It's kind of like sourdough in San Francisco. Every day, the restaurant saves the previous days broth to start the next day's).
We sampled some barbecued pork at one place, and then off to another noodle shop for some seui gau--"water dumpling"--which Steven pronounced "fantastic".
(We thought it was fantastic that Steven was still ready for more Hong Kong tastes at the end of our second meal! This is what we live for here at Little Adventures!!!)
One final stop: dessert! No visit to Hong Kong is complete without a stop at the Yee Shun Milk Company.
This may be the most sublime food memory you can take away from Hong Kong: delicately steamed fresh milk, warm and quivering, and laced with a pungently sweet fresh ginger syrup. Move over Proust! This packs more punch than any madeleine possibly could!
We hope our new friend Steven, now back home in Adelaide, has a moment or two of sweet Hong Kong deja vu from time to time.
And we look forward to launching some memorable Hong Kong food expeditions for some of you, too!
Get started on your delicious adventure today. Email us at:
RealTravelHongKong (at) gmail.com
(By the way, we completely understand if Hong Kong food is not at the top of your must-do list. That's why we keep a file with dozens of different Hong Kong adventures in our back pocket. So if you want to explore cool old neighborhoods, ride a tram to the end of the line, slip into the smoky back room of an old Chinese temple, or shop for things you can only buy in Hong Kong, don't hesitate to give us a shout.)
Help for the Hungry Traveler in Hong Kong
What's the biggest obstacle faced by a food loving traveler in Hong Kong?
Ah, the mysteries of the Chinese language menu. You go into a restaurant that smells good. The food on everyone's table looks fantastic. Using the finger pointing "I'll have what they're having" method, you manage to get yourself a tasty meal. Yet...
You wonder what else is on the menu. What are the specialties of the house? What am I eating, anyway? And perhaps you wonder about the history of the restaurant, the characteristics and flavors of the various Chinese cuisines. You want to do more than just point and chow--you want to be a connoisseur.
Well, you've come to the right place. Little Adventures in Hong Kong now offers personalized eating tours, custom designed for you. We will help you sample all the tastes our great food city has on offer. We know where to find the best congee, fish ball or wonton noodles, the tastiest do fu fa. And we know how to read the specials on the wall, so you can be sure you won't miss anything.
Hong Kong food, of course, is more than just noodles and snacks. We have the world's highest concentration of top flight Chinese restaurants. But we know that even with an English menu translation, many of these restaurants are difficult for the non-Chinese traveler to navigate.
That's why we've launched our new Eating Concierge Service.
It works like this. You tell us when you are coming to Hong Kong, how many people are coming with you, and what you would like to eat. We consult with you to find a great Chinese restaurant that fits your taste and budget. Then we go to the restaurant, meet with the manager, and design a well-balanced Chinese multi-course meal, the way that a local Hong Kong person would. We scope out the restaurant's specialties, find out what's in season and what's not, and take care to order any dishes that need advance requests.
Our Eating Concierge Service doesn't end there. If you'd like, we can also come to dinner with you and your group, and be your personal resource. We'll explain each dish, give you the lowdown on the culture of Hong Kong's Chinese restaurants, and answer any other questions you might have about Hong Kong, too. (And, after dinner, if you'd like, we might take you on a little walk to grab some tong seui.)
Want to find out more about our Hong Kong Eating Concierge Service? Email us today:
realtravelhongkong@gmail.com
We've Got Mail!
This past two months at Little Adventures in Hong Kong we've been very busy! We've made lots of new friends who've come with us on our personally hosted walking and food tours of Hong Kong. And a few of them have sent us letters that, to be sure, are making us blush!:
"I am back at home at my desk, and thinking about my marvelous trip to Hong Kong. Certainly the highlight of this trip was our walking tour with you, and seeing things that I had missed in past visits--usually just around the corner from a place I have been many times. That is part of your talent--walking around with your eyes open. Plus, I give you an A for being not just an informed and interesting guide, but a thoroughly professional one. That day was just a complete pleasure. ....It was such a delight to discover so many new and interesting things last week--thanks to you!"--Ann, USA, January 2010
"We will hold our memories with you as a highlight of our many travels. You have a unique ability to personalize professionalism in a manner that ensures the kind of connection that makes experiences meaningful and rewarding.
You are a rare gift to the traveler and to the many cultures that seek to understand each other. Thank you for sharing that gift with us."--Marlene, USA, December 2009
"We sincerely had a great time with you on both of our little tours. You know HK and we will spread the good word if you don’t mind."--Steve, USA, December 2009
"Thanks for my best night in Hong Kong—ever (and that comprises two visits and about eight days!). The place came to life in your hands and what seemed to my unfocused eye a tough, commercial engine rather than a three-dimensional city began to bounce to your beat....." --Marty, New York City, July 2009
Thanks, everyone, for your compliments and support. We hope to see all of you in Hong Kong again, soon.
And for those of you who are planning a trip to Hong Kong, we hope you'll choose to spend some of your time here walking and eating and getting to know the city's culture, life, and "beat" with us.
Email us today for more information about our private, individually-designed tours:
realtravelhongkong (at) gmail.com
Hong Kong, 2010
May 2010 be the year you have your Little Adventure in Hong Kong!
And whatever brings you to Hong Kong this year, be it work, love, or wanderlust (or all of the above!) we hope you will drop us a line and arrange to take one of our private, hosted walking tours.
We'll watch priests sing to the ancestor spirits at a hidden neighborhood temple.
We'll hop on a sampan and take a spin around Victoria Harbour.
We'll wander through a tiny lost-in-time fishing village at the edge of the sea
We'll shop for shiny woks, gorgeous handmade cheongsams, fine oolong tea
We'll dig into the world's best noodle soups.
Make the resolution to do this in 2010. Give yourself a little adventure in Hong Kong. Email us now:
realtravelhongkong (at) gmail.com
and in the meantime, join us at our Facebook page where we post a new Little Adventure in Hong Kong every day!
A Hong Kong Christmas
It's a great time of year to be walking in Hong Kong. We do Christmas here in a big way. Trees, lights, tinsel. Choirs sing carols in the malls. The supermarket muzak in Park & Shop has got "Jingle Bells" on continuous loop. My building's door lady has taken to wearing a pair of antlers. And down on Ladder Street, the vendors are cleaning up with the Santa suits.
Our snow may be fake, but our warmth is jan-jing-- that's Cantonese for the real deal. We're even roasting chestnuts--not over an open fire, but in huge black woks on streetcorners. (We're roasting purple yams on the street, too--that's not exactly traditional Christmas fare, but, hey, they're really tasty!)
Perhaps you are running around now, elbowing through the Christmas crowds, fretting about the gift you need to choose for a certain special--but picky-- someone.
May we make a suggestion? Why not give Hong Kong for Christmas.
That is to say, why not give that hard-to-please person a Little Adventure in Hong Kong? We will be happy to wrap up one of our special, personally-hosted 3 hour walking, food and cultural tours in a bright red bow for you.
And if you book now, we'll throw in a bag of those wonderful Hong Kong roasted chestnuts, too.
email us today:
realtravelhongkong (at) gmail.com
Happy holidays from Hong Kong!
Only in Hong Kong
Yesterday, 1:30pm, on Lyndhurst Terrace I see a guy pushing a cart. On the cart are two huge roast suckling pigs.
He's holding the cart steady with one hand, waving his other arm out in the air at the passing traffic.
"You mean you're going to take the pigs in the taxi"? I said to the guy in Cantonese, a little shocked.
He shrugs, like this is something he does every day, and says, "Haih la." That's right.
A taxi whizzes by, ignoring him. "Hmm," I say, "Looks like nobody wants to ride with roast pigs."
The man scowls and mutters. Then he lifts his hand to the next oncoming taxi, holding two fingers in the air. It's a signal: "I'm offering him 20 dollars extra!"
The next taxi swerves over and pulls up to the curb. stops. I wait and watched as the guy loads the two greasy, fat-dripping red be-ribboned and cellophane-blanketed pigs into the grimy trunk, heads facing out.
He slams the trunk lid down, hops into the back, and they're off.
Just another lunch hour little adventure in Hong Kong.
I may never eat roast pig again.
*****
I can't promise that you'll meet a couple of roast pigs dolled up for a party when you come on one of our Little Adventures in Hong Kong walking tours.
But here's one thing I know: in this city, you never know who--or what--you might bump into on the taxi queue.
Email us to start your adventure:
realtravelhongkong (at) gmail.com
"You mean you're going to take the pigs in the taxi"? I said to the guy in Cantonese, a little shocked.
He shrugs, like this is something he does every day, and says, "Haih la." That's right.
A taxi whizzes by, ignoring him. "Hmm," I say, "Looks like nobody wants to ride with roast pigs."
The man scowls and mutters. Then he lifts his hand to the next oncoming taxi, holding two fingers in the air. It's a signal: "I'm offering him 20 dollars extra!"
The next taxi swerves over and pulls up to the curb. stops. I wait and watched as the guy loads the two greasy, fat-dripping red be-ribboned and cellophane-blanketed pigs into the grimy trunk, heads facing out.
He slams the trunk lid down, hops into the back, and they're off.
Just another lunch hour little adventure in Hong Kong.
I may never eat roast pig again.
*****
I can't promise that you'll meet a couple of roast pigs dolled up for a party when you come on one of our Little Adventures in Hong Kong walking tours.
But here's one thing I know: in this city, you never know who--or what--you might bump into on the taxi queue.
Email us to start your adventure:
realtravelhongkong (at) gmail.com
Hong Kong Snapshots
Snapshots. Unexpected moments. A door opens, and suddenly you find yourself immersed in someone else's life. For an instant, you're floating in a different world, inhabiting a different skin, wondering how you could have lived so long without understanding, feeling, thinking...like this.
This is the pot of gold at the end of every traveler's rainbow.
And it's why we love Hong Kong.
At Little Adventures in Hong Kong we like to think of ourselves not just as guides or hosts, but as cultural facilitators. Every traveler faces the problem of how to get past the hype, the guidebook cliches, the "official" tourism board attractions. How to make sense of an overload of information, languages, smells and sights.
That's what we're here for. We help you find these moments. We give the doors a little push.
We give you our city, so you can make it yours.
For more information on our food, cultural and walking tours of Hong Kong, email us now at:
realtravelhongkong (at) gmail.com
This is the pot of gold at the end of every traveler's rainbow.
And it's why we love Hong Kong.
At Little Adventures in Hong Kong we like to think of ourselves not just as guides or hosts, but as cultural facilitators. Every traveler faces the problem of how to get past the hype, the guidebook cliches, the "official" tourism board attractions. How to make sense of an overload of information, languages, smells and sights.
That's what we're here for. We help you find these moments. We give the doors a little push.
We give you our city, so you can make it yours.
For more information on our food, cultural and walking tours of Hong Kong, email us now at:
realtravelhongkong (at) gmail.com
Get Your Free Little Adventure in Hong Kong Every Day
We don't like to brag, but we are quite tickled by the warm response to our new Facebook page, Little Adventures in Hong Kong.
Every day, day after day, we're posting a tiny story and photo on Facebook, a snapshot in miniature of life in Asia's greatest city.
It's a notebook of Hong Kong moments that we think are special. Moments and experiences which, of course, we incorporate into our personally hosted food and walking tours.
Check it out today. Oh, and if you prefer getting your daily bites of Hong Kong on Twitter instead of Facebook, you can follow us there too.
Start planning your little adventure in Hong Kong today. Email us now and we'll tell you all about our special walking and food tours:
realtravelhongkong (at) gmail.com