Day 3 (29 Nov 2014)
We were very fickle-minded on this last day in HK. From considering visiting Lamma Island to the Hong Kong Wetlands to Mid Levels.....
But first and foremost, I accompanied my friend to St Raphael's Catholic Cemetery in Lai Chi Kok 荔枝角 to pay her respect to her aunt. We were surprised to find the large private cemetery located within the city!
As we had a very early morning flight to catch the next day, we decided not to be too ambitious and settled on having a good leisurely lunch at the 2-Michelin-Star Lei Garden利苑 in Wan Chai 湾仔after which we will take the travelator to the Mid Levels and roamed around the area.
The food was excellent， both in terms of taste and quality. We had an interesting soup of the day, a green veggy, a combination plate and the signature claypot rice. I would have preferred the special glutinous rice version but one of my friends prefers the plain rice version. Will try the specialty on my next trip.
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| Pork Shank Soup with Walnut and Chinese Common Yam Rhizome 核桃淮山茨实煲猪展 |
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| Combination plate comprising roast pork and crackling fatty pork |
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| Fried Kai Lan with loads of fragrant garlic |
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| Fabulous Claypot rice with duck liver sausage, pork sausage, fatty sausage and fresh scallops |
I bought 2 packets of the special duck liver sausage to bring back to Singapore and regretted not buying more!
After the heavy lunch, we decided to take the MTR to Central and walked to take the Mid Levels Escalators. The entire travelator, built in the 1990s, is 800 metres long and 135 metres high. Interesting shops lined both sides of the travelator and one can easily visit any of the shops via the stairways that flanked the travelator.
Near the end of the many changes of travelator is a supermarket and a small resting area with 2 benches. We actually took a 5-10min nap here while sitting on the bench! We woke up to find that workers had blocked off the last travelator! After taking a short cut through the supermarket instead, we decided to walk to the tram station to take the tram to the peak.
It was a very pleasant walk around the Mid Levels but we noticed that there were many groups of policemen (4-6 or more) stationed at close intervals along the road that leads down to town. Upon enquiring, we were told that they were protecting the residence of the Chief Executive in view of the pending pro-democracy student protest.
We decided not to take the tram and had a cuppa instead. I was happy to enjoy the free wifi while my friends rested. We were jolted into action by some sudden drilling work and decided to go for a movie at IFC. I always enjoy watching a movie in HK, especially listening to the advertisement in Cantonese! However, we missed the 5pm show time by 5 minutes and decided to skip movie as the next show time was at 7pm. Instead we headed back to Tsimshatsui and decided to walk to Jordan (about 15 minutes) for the famous Yee Shun Steamed Milk 義顺牛奶公司，姜汁撞奶 。 It was scalding hot but very good. Nowadays I actually prefer to make my own back home as a bowl at Yee Shun costs S$5. At that price I could have enjoyed 4-5 bowls home-made version from the comfort of my home.
Our last task was to buy the various types of biscuits including almond biscuit 杏仁饼, Wife Cake 老婆饼, pineapple tarts 凤梨酥 and tea-flavoured cookies. We also bought some buns and cream puff for breakfast and returned to our hotel to pack.
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| Some of my hauls of dried seafood |
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| Snacks from 么凤 |
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| The Lei Garden duck liver sausage and some of the biscuits I bought from Kay Wah 奇華 |
The next morning, we arrived very early at the airport at 5.30am. Only 3 counters were opened and the queue was very long. Just as well that the flight was delayed by 1.5hours as we could find time to share a bowl of the famous wanton noodles from 正斗粥麵 which opens only at 7am......
Goodbye for now Hong Kong, my 2nd favourite country to visit for hiking, dining and shopping, after Japan.
Directions to 2-Michelin-Star Lei Garden Restaurant in Wan Chai 利苑， 湾仔
326-338 Hennessy Road 轩尼诗道 , Hong Kong
Tel 852-2892-0333
Take Island Line港岛线 to Wan Chai station 湾仔
Take Exit A4 and on street level, turn right and walk straight along Hennessy Road for 7-8 minutes
Directions to Shanghai Yiu Feng上海么凤:
92 Percival Street 波斯富街, Causeway Bay 铜鑼湾
Tel 852-2504-2328
Take Island Line 港岛线 to Causeway Bay station 铜鑼湾
3 minutes walk from Exit A
