After coming back from Taiwan I think my energy started to drain. I probably slept around 6 hours each night while I was in Taiwan to maximize my time, but once I was back in HK my laziness (and maybe some jetlag) finally kicked in. I didn’t really have a lot planned for my last two full days in HK. 

On the first day I had to go to Kwuntong to meet my aunt, so I ended up going to apm to shop. I got there near lunch time so I initially figured I would grab a bite to eat at the food court upstairs. However as I was wandering through the mall, I noticed that the food court seemed to have disappeared. I literally walked around in circles, up and down the escalators, and I could not for the life of me locate the food court. I thought I was going crazy, but I disregarded that thought and simply ate at Toast Box to satisfy my hunger first. It was only afterwards I found out that they underwent a major renovation and scaled down the food court seating capacity by more than half. That was in addition to relocating it to a different floor. It’s comforting to know I wasn’t crazy afterall. =P

The best part about spending the holidays in HK are the insane Christmas decorations throughout the city. apm was no different with dozens of Snoopy figures on display on the ground level. It was probably my favourite display this year. 

After I left apm, I ended up wandering around Times Square in Causeway. Again I didn’t really have much I need to buy, I was just killing time till I had enough space to eat my second bowl of noodles that day. Hehe. I was really craving Hakata ramen, so I tried a chain a friend recommended called Ichiran, which was a few blocks away. I didn’t have to wait long to be seated. Essentially the setup is very much like the ramen restaurants in Japan, where there are separate booths for all the diners. Any sort of conversation, even for ordering, is very minimal. I got the most basic kind of ramen for $89 HKD with no extra toppings. I can still remember the taste of the noodles as I type this entry a month later. Lol.

After finishing my ramen I went and explored Hysan Place and the Eslite Bookstore inside the mall. It was my first time going since it opened two years back, so it was a new experience for me. It’s amazing the things you find as you’re wandering around the city.

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For day 2, I started the morning off going for dim sum with my grandma and my sister, who finally arrived from Toronto the previous night. Then I went off on my own to meet Teresa for lunch in Wan Chai. There was a lot of commotion in Admiralty with the police crackdown on the protest sites, so I had to be extra careful to avoid the area, since we were meeting for lunch at a restaurant in between both stations. 

Teresa and I met at Xi Yan, which is a restaurant run by some celebrity chef. (Actually my mom owns one of his cookbooks lol.) It was great to see Teresa again after NYC. For lunch I ordered their dan dan mein and ate tong yuan for dessert. I don’t know how I managed to eat most of my food cause I was still full from my dim sum breakfast. =P

Later that day I met up with my sister at Times Square and we ended up walking back to Eslite and then grabbing afternoon tea at the food court inside Hysan Place. (Again, more food that I had no space for.)

For dinner that night, my uncle made reservations at a seafood restaurant in Lei Yue Mun. We met him and my grandma at Quarry Bay station, then proceeded towards Lei Yue Mun by subway then taxi. It was my first time traveling there and I was surprised by the amount of seafood restaurants in the area. All the seafood stalls cater to specific restaurants. Essentially you just grab a seat at a restaurant, then you go to the corresponding stall to pick out the seafood you want to eat. The service is pretty efficient!

We had an incredibly extravagant seafood dinner courtesy of my uncle. I’m not sure how much he paid, but I’ve never had such delicious abalone in my life. (In addition to the shrimp, lobster, scallops and fish of course lol.) 

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That was pretty much the last of my HK vacation as I was flying to Japan the day after. I’m glad I was able to spend time with my grandma during my stay in the city. No matter how much I complain about the noise, the crowdedness or the lack of space, I think HK will always be a home away from home.