rkkwan

<b>Mystery Bistro</b>
2/F, 39(?) Hankow Road, Tsimshatsui

Okay, this is one of the more interesting dining experience. I met up with Hailey at the TST MTR station for dinner, and I was thinking about one of the restaurants on Knutsford Terrace behind the Miramar Hotel. But Hailey, who works in TST, led me into an old mixed-use building on Hankow Road with no signs or anything for a restaurant.

She didn't even know the floor, but decided to try 2/F. That was the right floor, and we found the appropriately named &quot;Mystery Bistro&quot;, one of the many so-called &quot;private kitchens&quot; of Hong Kong.

This place serve cheap western food. Food's okay, but the place is quiet and service laid back. Few places in Tsimshatsui offer such settings to chat, especially for the price. Set dinner ranges from ~$60-80, including soup and drinks. Dessert is a little extra. They don't have a liquor license, so no alcoholic drinks. We spent $162 for two people. [That's the type of price my mom will appreciate! ]

Anyways, I think it's at 39 Hankow Road (near Haiphon Rd), but could be the building next door. I later found that they did have a sign painted on their windows, so you can look up from the sidewalk on the street to see if it's that building or not.

<b>Guangzhou Gardens</b>
L3-35 Langham Place, Mongkok

This is a Cantonese restaurant run by the Maxim group, a little bit more upscale than the Maxim Palace (like one at New Century Plaza in Mong Kok, City Hall or other spots). Went with 4 highschool buddies, and they paid for my meal. I think it was about $600 for the 5 of us, and again, they gave us 6 Maxim $15 coupons. Pretty reasonable. Food also good.

<b>Hui Lau Shan</b>
60 Soy Street (@ Far Yuen Street), Mongkok

Hui Lau Shan is a chain that sells typical Cantonese/HK-style dessert. Many stores all around Hong Kong, including several in Mongkok alone. The one a friend and I went to is their new &quot;flagship&quot; store with slightly more spacious sitting. ~$25 for most dessert dishes. One block east of Ladies' Market.

<b>Tak Yu</b>
372-376 Shanghai Street, Yau Ma Tei (Yau Ma Tei MTR, Exit A1)

I went back to this old Chinese tea house for breakfast with my parents. It's like the second entry in my last dining report: fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=27&amp;tid=34551643

One major difference though. Now we went up to 3rd floor, and it's cleaner and <b>no spitoon</b> under the table! Excellent traditional Cantonese dim sum. But despite its downscale setting, prices are about the same as newer, more comfortable dim sum restaurants.

<b>Fung Shing</b>
30 Leighton Road, Causeway Bay (across from Lee Theater)

A northern Chinese restaurant occupied this location for decades, but is now a restaurant for Cantonese (and more specifically Shunde) cuisine. Shunde is the county halfway between Guangzhou and Macau, where my maternal grandpa was from. They are really well known for the best Cantonese food. I went with my parents, my uncle and a grand-uncle for dim sum.

The dim sum is really excellent. A little better than the mainstream Maxim/Jade Garden fare. But the place is really really cramped with very low ceiling. <b>Immediately I thought of the &quot;Floor 7 1/2&quot; in the movie &quot;Being John Malcovich&quot;.</b> Tables are so tightly packed that once you sit down, you can't move.

<b>Fish ball noodles</b>
Shau Kei Wan Main Street East

It's a 15-minute walk between the Museum of Coastal Defense and the Shau Kei Wan MTR. Part of the route is on Shau Kei Wan Main Street E. On this street are about a dozen diners that sell Chiu Chow fishballs. Forgot which one I went to, but most should be similar. $16 for a bowl of fish balls with rice noodles in soup, and $5 extra for a &quot;HK-style milk tea&quot;. Very very traditional, just like how I remember it as a kid.

<b>Chao Inn</b>
10/F, 1 Peking Road, Tsimshatsui

When my friend told me we're having dinner at 1 Peking Road, immediately I thought of my wallet. Hutong, on the 28th floor, is one of the hippest (and most expensive) Chinese restaurant in Hong Kong, with a great view of the harbor. Well, I was relieved that we're going to Chao Inn (Chiu Lau in Cantonese) on the 10th floor instead.

This place is super super busy, as it combines decent food, great location, moderate price, and harbor view. Basically, reservations are accepted (~6pm) or late (8:45pm or later). Don't bother going without a reservations, and even with one, expect a short wait.

I can't remember what we ate, but it's decent. Our table is near the rear of the restaurant, but on a raised platform, so there's SOME harbor view. What's surprising is the check. $690 for 7 people, including dessert.

<b>BB's Bistro</b>
13 Knutsford Terrace, Tsimshatsui

So, after dinner and just hours before my flight departs, we decided to go for a drink. The place to be these days in Tsimshatsui is Knutsford Terrace and Knutsford Steps behind the Miramar Hotel/Shopping Center. One can walk up the Knutsford Steps from Kimberly Road, or walk in from Observatory Rd. It's basically like Soho on Hong Kong Island.

BB's Bistro served French cuisine, but we were just there for drinks. Prices are reasonable - about $60 for a cocktail (most hotels in Tsimshatsui cost at least 50% more), and closes at 3am on Sunday mornings.

---

Okay, that's it for Hong Kong. I've already mentioned about the milk tea in Tai O, vegetarian lunch at Po Lin monastery and Tofu Far there. So, won't repeat it.

Next up: short trip to Macau

twotravel

Excellent enjoyable informative report! I've printed off to take with me, and have added the Chi Lin Nunnery to our itinerary, we have 8 days so that should be okay.
Your report will be part of &quot;travel guide&quot;, see - your new career choice is brilliant.
Many thanks for the info on the pollution, I don't remember it being at all like that, a little hazy on some days, so I think I'll have to be prepared. We are seriously thinking of using the MTR this time, is that doable with limited mobility? Not too good on stairs. It would just make access to some of the places easier I think, we want to go to Sai Kung and I'm not sure how much that would be by taxi.
anyway, looking forward to the next instalment as we are also going to Macau for the day.
Pauline.

rkkwan

Pauline - problem with the MTR is that while there are escalators and elevators between the main concourse and the train platforms, it's mostly steps between the street to the councourse.

All stations should have ONE elevator to get from the street level, but it may not be easy to find. You can download the station maps one-by-one from here:

fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=27&amp;tid=34899301

The exits with elevators are depicted with a wheelchair sign.

To get to Sai Kung, you can take a taxi from Choi Hung MTR. That'll cut down the cost, compared to a hotel in Tsimshatsui or Hong Kong Island. Or take a green minibus #1A, also from Choi Hung MTR, Exit C2 (which has elevators):

http://www.mtr.com.hk/jplanner/jplan...s/maps/chh.gif

Make sure you go have dessert at Honeymoon in Sai Kung after having seafood.

rkkwan

Oops... Sorry. The links to all MTR station maps is on this page:

www.mtr.com.hk/eng/train/facilities.html

Cicerone

Nice report rkkwan, I am glad you now like the Wong Nai Sing temple, I have been encouraging people to go there for quite some time (it’s part of my “anything but Nathan Road and the night markets” plan). Yes, I don’t get the hype with the Symphony of Lights either, I hope people do not rearrange their whole schedule to be on the harbour side for 15 minutes at 8 pm. I have the Nunnery on my own list, there is just so much to see in Hong Kong even if you LIVE here.....

With regard to the air pollution, I just don’t know how to explain the past few months. When I returned to Hong Kong in July 2005 after almost 5 years away, it was immediately apparent that the air pollution had gotten worse, but from then until about last June it was still manageable. Then something happened after a serious of rainstorms and fog in the early summer: the smog just seemed to sit here for months on end. It lifted for a bit in August and September and then again it would be clear for a few days, but it has really been terrible basically. We have also been having very strange weather as well which may be a contributing factor. We had a very warm October, a typhoon last week (and we never get them in November), and it is pouring rain today, in mid-November, which basically unheard of. (My assistant was just standing at the window muttering in Cantonese about this.) It may be an el Nino year here.

I don't find the pollution affects my nose or throate, the respiatory issues you have may have more to do with population density here in Hong Kong which you aren't used to and air plane travel than parituclates in the air here. I do get affected in Beijing and Shanghai, and used to be affected in New Delhi before they switched to LPG buses (as all taxkes about about half the buses here in Hong Hong have as well.)

As for the Journal article, I am not aware of any US companies relocating to Singapore (and I work for one), and I know that house rental prices are up and office rental prices are in fact almost doubling in some areas, so I am not so source about the Journal’s sources, and in any event, any US company moves do not seem to be affecting Hong Kong. (And of course Singapore is having huge problems with smoke from the forest fires in Indonesia, so it’s not much better recently.) It would be a good thing actually if a number of companies WOULD leave and would make it known to the government that they are doing so because of the air pollution. Losing money is the only way the government here will change things and will put pressure on the PRC government to change things.

As for tourists, if the air bothers you, you should defiantly mention it to your hotel, the Tourist Board and write letters to the Tourist Board as well to say you won’t be back until it improves. Impact on tourism and the dollars it brings in would be another reason which would encourage the government to impose stricter restrictions.

rkkwan

Cicerone - I was planning to say more about the pollution later on, but will add it here.

The worse I've seen during this trip is in Dongguan, just north of Hong Kong. I was riding the bus back from Panyu on the west side of Pearl River, and we would cross the Humen suspension bridge. The air was so bad that I could hardly see the top of the bridge tower. But after getting to Shenzhen and Hong Kong, it improved a bit.

But it's really not just a Hong Kong or even a regional Pearl River Delta problem, but a major major one concerning all of Eastern China. Writing to the Hong Kong Tourism Board or the HK Government isn't going to help I'm afraid...

My CO98 flight to Newark took us straight north from Hong Kong to Beijing and then skirt through NE China before entering Russia. I could see the smog all the way until just past Beijing, as I could not see the ground at all for all that 2.5 hours. Then suddenly, right before Chengde, it all cleared out and I could see the mountain ranges north of the capital (though I couldn't find the Great Wall).

So, it appears to me the air is just not bad in the metropolitan region, but basically all the way from the Pearl River Delta to Beijing. Pretty scary stuff.

A couple months ago, I was accompanying my mom on a visit to Palo Alto. One of her old classmates teaches in Stanford and spend time in Hong Kong consulting various business groups. He said that even though most of the smog was blown in from China, Hong Kong is still responsible as many of those factories are built by HK business people, and they could do something about that.

But after this recent visit, I really think the problem is much more massive, and it really will take a while until most of China get more prosperous and every Chinese are aware of the problem.

I kept wondering if it was the same way in England during the Industrial Revolution. And how long did the bad air last over there 150 years ago?

Cicerone

Oh yes, no doubt that its a huge wall of smog extending hundreds of miles over the PRC. Also, as the HOng Kong government likes to blame the PRC, a good bit of it comes from our own power plants here, our own factories and of course of own cars. Easy to shift blame but not correct.

I have this conversation with HOng KOng people all the time: I say you should have been in LA before the Clean Air Act was passed, or in places like Cleveland or Detroit. In LA, there were smog alerts (there still may be), when old and young people were warned not to go out of the house, etc. LOndon of course was infamous for its pea soup fog, due mostly to the burning of soft coal which has been eliminated.

Clean-up can be done, it just takes a willingness to spend money, and let's face it, the willingness is not yet there on the part of the PRC. New Delhi's air quality has improved tremendously over the last 5 years, because there was a willingness to make the change. I can just about see it in Hong Kong people, which is an encouraging sign.

twotravel

Thanks very much for the information on the &quot;pollution&quot;, at least we know.
I'm sure what China is experiencing now is exactly the same as London and other cities experienced in the industrialisation, I can remember my mother telling me about the London fog/smog, but the clean air acts have made a great difference. I checked out the web cams on the HKTB site, it does look quite bad. Re the MTR, we'll decide when we are there, I'm going to do some more research on transportation first.
looking forward to the next instalment...
Pauline.

tower

rk:

&gt;&gt;&gt;Total price: $740. [Like all seafood restaurants, make sure you ask about the price of stuff first!]&lt;&lt;&lt;

I hope I'm assuming correctly...HK dollars!? That would be about 7-1, right? Please specify.

Stu T.

rkkwan

tower - Yes, all the prices in the post is in HK Dollars. 1USD = 7.8HKD. So, that seafood meal cost just under US$100 for three, including free ferry ride.

terryr

Thank you so much for your report! Really enjoying all the details, and most especially, your going down memory lane of places that you visited as a child! I'm glad that it was a great trip.

Terry

rkkwan

<b>Part 2: Macau</b>

<b>A. Turbojet</b>

I took the 11:00a Turbojet from Hong Kong Island on a weekday. Business is really good on this route, as most sailing (every 15 minutes) seem very full at the pier.

I was <b>extremely delighted</b> that my sailing was on Barca, one of only two &quot;Foilcats&quot; in the fleet. Turbojet uses three types of ferries on the 55min Hong Kong-Macau route: Boeing 929 Jetfoils, FMB 45m &quot;Tricat&quot; catamarans, and Kvaerner Fjellstrand 35m Foilcats.

The &quot;Foilcats&quot; sit 419, and is a catamaran that also have foils to lift the hulls up at speed. High capacity and super-steady. It's the first time I got on one.

Anyways, we left basically on time at 11:05, and got to Macau at around noon. The line for immigration was pretty long, and so was the taxi line at the pier. Macau is a boomtown, no question about that.

<b>B. Hotel Sintra</b>

There are now many many hotels in Macau to choose from, but most of the mid-range 3* ones are located in the reclaimed landmass between Hotel Lisboa and the ferry pier. While convenient to visit the casinos and saunas, most look non-descriptive and are far from the historical center.

That's why I chose the older Hotel Sintra, which is owned and operated by the Hotel Lisboa group. Rooms are relatively small, but well appointed. Service's very good, and the location is perfect for sightseeing.

I prebooked the room for HKD$500 a few days early at CTS in Hong Kong. I did that solely because I thought I would enter Macau from China, and I wasn't familiar with travel agents at the Macau/China border. Most of the travel agents at Shun Tak Center (the ferry terminal in HK) are offering the Sintra for about $430-450 weekdays.

Cicerone

rkkwan, take the BUS at the ferry into town, no lines, air condtioned, much faster and costs like MOP$3!!! Did you have a ton of luggage or something? Otherwise, the taxi line is just huge....

rkkwan

Cicerone - I have always taken the bus before, but I was tired after my China trip. A taxi ride cost only about $15, so no big deal. And it's still more comfortable... The taxi line does move, it's just that they only set up to have one vehicle loading at one time. If they do it two or three at a time, it'll be much faster.

In fact, if I want to go cheap, I can wait for the free hotel shuttle.

Peteralan

rkkwan, thanks for your great report as usual. Any tourist who is lucky enough to strike you as a tour guide is fortunate indeed!! Your eating places are always fascinating and not places which we would usually find . By the way with such places as the Mystery Bistro, would you really need to be with a Cantonese speaking person ? Thanks again.

rkkwan

Peterlan - Thanks for the comments.

One won't have problem at the Mystery Bistro (once you found it), as it's run by younger people and I <b>think</b> they have English on the menu.

Places where one will have problem are the little diner in Tai O where B &amp; I had rice vermicelli for brunch; or the fishball noodle place in Shau Kei Wan.

But if you know what you want, it's not that hard. For example, they can definitely figure it out if you say:

&quot;Yu Darn Fun&quot; for fishball noodles, or
&quot;Lai Char&quot; for milk tea, or
&quot;Tofu Far&quot; for the soft tofu in syrup.

Should be simple enough.

And of course, at dim sum restaurants, just ask to see what they are from the cart.

rkkwan

BTW, &quot;Yu&quot; &quot;you&quot; are close enough.

Just say &quot;you darn fun&quot;. So easy to remember! Hahahah...

rkkwan

<b>2C. UNESCO World Heritage</b>

2006 is a huge year for Macau, as the historical center of it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. It includes 25 subsites, and they are well marked and dscribed on an official tourist map you can find at all major hotels. I later found that throughout the city, clear signs have been posted to point visitors to them as well. <b>Extremely well done</b> by the Government Tourist Office.

I have been to most of those sites, but some not for a long time, so I decided to visit a few of those. Some of the 25 sites are still under renovations and currently closed. I'll describe the little walking route I took to visit a few of them. [The number corresponds to World Heritage site # on that map.]

I headed out NW along Ave Infante D. Henrique, which becomes Av. Almeida Ribeiro, the main avenue through old Macau. It leads to <b>#12 Senado Square/Leal Senado</b>, the old center with a nice fountain and plaza surrounded by Mediterranean-style buildings. White and black stones form a wave-like pattern on the ground.

<b>#14 Holy House of Mercy</b> and <b>#11 Leal Senado Building</b> are two of the many buildings surrounding the sqaure, but I didn't visit either.

Instead, after lunch at Wing Lai Yuen (more about that later) at the square, I walked through a couple of alleys to <b>#13 Sam Kai Vui Kun Temple</b>. I must have walked by this area 50 times in my life, but I've never noticed this temple for General Kwan before, as it was probably blocked by other stuff or was not open to public. Anyways, it's a small temple that became like a chamber of commerce for the business on 3 nearby streets (&quot;Sam Kai&quot; = 3 Streets, &quot;Vui Kun&quot; = club). I was the only visitor, and I chatted with the watcher there, who knows Macau and the area inside out. My own maternal grandpa had a business there years ago too.

I then walked back to Senado Square and then up the slope beside it to <b>#7 St. Augustine's Square</b> which also had beautiful color stones inlaid on the ground. Surrounding it are three buildings. <b>#8 Dom Pedro V Theater</b> is the first western-style theater in China. It wasn't open for tours, but I could see its chandeliers from outside its windows. I remembered that during the 70's and 80's, it was the venue for a Parisian-style cabaret. (I wasn't old enough to go at that time).

<b>#9 Sir Robert Ho Tung Library</b> is a large mansion bought by Ho Tung (1862-1965, one of the wealthiest Chinese persons during this time, uncle of casino tycoon Stanley Ho) and donated to the government as a library. It was under renovations when I got there. Meanwhile, <b>#10 St. Augustine's Church</b>, however is now open. Local Chinese call it &quot;Temple of Long-whiskered Dragon&quot;. Built in 1591, neither the interior nor the exterior seem that interesting to me.

Leaving St. Augustine's Square, I walked down the slopes in front of the theater and then along a narrow street towards to SW to <b>#5 St. Lawrence's Church</b>. One of the three oldest church, Chinese called it &quot;Hall of the Soothing Winds&quot;, it's closed for renovations.

Around the corner is <b>#6 St. Joseph's Seminary &amp; Church</b>. An impressive flight of stairs lead to the church (1758), which has impressive Baroque architecture and interior.

A short walk down a slope is the government headquarters, the same Mediterranean mansion used by the Portugese government for years. It just look wrong with the Chinese flag flying over it. Then I followed the Praia Grande back to the Sintra.

It's a very short loop, which I did very leisurely in about 4 hours including lunch and taking lots of pictures. I didn't see more than one or two other visitors anywhere I went, except a group of Hong Kong schoolkids on a excursion at St. Josephs'. It's apparent that all the people on the ferry, at the pier, or at my hotel's check-in counter weren't visiting Macau for its World Heritage sites.

Girlspytravel

Rkkwan-how coincidental-I was just showing a friend of mine last night my pictures from Hong Kong and Macau from my 2005 trip. The gondola sounds quite interesting-I would like to take that-but I have a picture of the clean shiny Tung Chung MTR station which I took to go to Lantau for the Great Buddha and Po Lin Monastery (one of my favorite places in the world, btw, and I think the Great Buddha SHOULD have been one of the finalists for the 7 Wonders of the World!)

And I opted for the deluxe &quot;vip room&quot; vegetarian lunch at Po Lin. Since I am a vegetarian, but not much into Cantonese cuisine, I didn't expect too much-however the meal was EXCELLENT-one of the best I'd had in HKG-seems there were about 5-6 courses, if I remember correctly-but I wanted a little bottle of wine, which I had to go outside to the snack bar area to buy a wine and take it in to the dining room, as they didn't sell any there, which I think they should've, given that it's a &quot;vip&quot; room (smile).

As far as Tai-O, I don't think that place is going to change-it is quite interesting to walk through there, and be so close to the locals' living space, with the salted fish hanging out to cure from every tin shack. I took a lot of pictures of the stalls and the fish vendors. It's very peaceful there. But as far as Ngong Ping, that place seemed sort of ticky-tacky to me.

As to Macau-probably 50 more casinos have sprung up since I was there last! I did go to the newly opened (in early 2005) gigantic Sands Casino, but that place is probably old hat by now.

rkkwan

Girlspy - Sands just opened last time I went to Macau, 1.5 years ago. And you're right it's old news. Read on...

<b>2D. The other side of Macau</b>

As I've written many many times on this forum, Macau really is two worlds cramped together in a very small territory. On one hand, there are the historical center with its World Heritage sites (I went to many of them in my previous visits, so I didn't go this time - St. Paul ruins, Monte Fort and Macau Museum, A Ma Temple, Kun Iam Temple, Guia Lighthouse and Fort, Lou Lim Ieoc Gardens, Luis de Camoes Garden &amp; Grotto, Maritime Musuem, and more churhes); and on the other hand the casions, hotels and its nightlifes.

In particular, the number of casinos and their sizes are expanding exponentially. It's really like Las Vegas in the 90's, where they're springing up like &quot;bamboo shoots after the rain&quot; in Chinese sayings. This time, two huge casinos have just opened side-by-side, the Wynn Macau and the Galaxy Starworld. The smaller Emperor Entertainment near the Sintra is also new.

Meanwhile, Stanely Ho is building the 40-plus floor Grand Lisboa next to the landmark Hotel Lisboa. Very impressive. A taxi driver told me it should be ready by Chinese New Year 2008. And a MGM will also be open by then.

It is really a sin city. Besides gambling, prostitution is basically legal in Macau. There are saunas and/or nightclubs at most 3* &amp; 4* hotels that provide sexual services in the open. Go to Shun Tak Center in Hong Kong (i.e. Macau Ferry Terminal) and you can buy all kinds of &quot;packages&quot;.

It's no wonder that recent surveys in China find that more Chinese tourists are interested in going to Macau than Hong Kong, despite the new Disneyland in the latter.

<b>2E. Wing Lai Yuen</b>

Finally, just want to mention about my lunch in Macau. It really has nothing to do with Macau, as it's just a branch of this famous Hong Kong restaurant. Even though it has a long and interesting history, I didn't know about this restaurant until I saw a video program on my Continental flight to Hong Kong 1.5 years ago. I had wanted to eat there, but its location in Hung Hom is inconvenient.

So, when I saw that they have a branch in Macau, right at the Senado Square, I couldn't pass. Their Lunch menu &quot;A&quot; is an excellent deal with various choices. I chose their most famous: Yeung Family's Steamed Pork Dumplings, Dan Dan Noodles with Peanut Sauce (Spicy). It comes with a red bean soup for dessert. All for $35. I added a plum juice for $3.

Anyways, food is real good, though I don't think I'll make a special trip to Hung Hom in Hong Kong to eat there.

---

This concludes the Macau portion of my trip report. Next, I crossed the border from Macau into China and stayed a night in Panyu (near Guangzhou) before going back to Hong Kong by land.

Meanwhile, I've started a separate thread on the 6-day trip to Yunnan Province here as this thread is getting long.

fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=27&amp;tid=34900413