A Global Gourmet Tour

There are many things about Hong Kong that are overwhelming and intimidating, but none more so than the prospect of eating.  Even the idea of trying to write a little blog post is difficult because I just don't know where to start.  But Jeff and I both love to eat.  I come from a family of foodies, and we love to cook.  So food is clearly a topic I just can't ignore.

A lunch special at Sushi Kuu

One of the first things we noticed about Hong Kong is the atmosphere.  Everything is very densely packed together - the people, the housing, the buildings, the traffic, the lights, the sounds and the smells - literally everything.  With that density comes the sense that everything is in your face, all the time.  I've used the term "sensory overload" before, but I've never been to a place where it is so applicable as Hong Kong. And when it comes to food, it's simply not possible to walk down the street here without encountering something to eat nearly every step of the way.  

Jeff digs in to a Chinese "hot pot" dinner

Dumplings at Queen St. Cooked Food Centre

People love to eat out in Hong Kong, so on nearly every street there are restaurants from every corner of the globe, and they are full nearly all day long.  There are also convenience stores (stocked primarily with food), supermarkets, green grocers, fish mongers, rotisseries, delis, bakeries and neighborhood streets that convert to an open market every day.

Shellfish at North Point wet market

One of my favorites - a "Housewife Cake"

In the time we've been here, some of our funniest - and most frustrating - moments have come in pursuit of a meal.   There is no shortage of advice about food either - both from the locals and our fellow expats.  In general, there is a lot of suspicion towards food sourced in mainland China.  The use of pesticides and other agricultural chemicals is apparently so heavy and widespread, people openly avoid buying food from the mainland, and restaurants promote non-PRC food sources in the meals they serve.  In the supermarkets, there are as many imported products as there are locally produced.  Meat and dairy products are imported from Australia, New Zealand, Europe and the U.S., while much of the produce is from the U.S. and Kenya.

Honey imported from New Zealand

Sticky rice steamed in a Lotus Leaf

 
We'd like to think we are the adventurous types and willing to try new and unusual things.  After all, we didn't come all the way to Hong Kong just to eat food we already know.  We've had some terrific meals and some that have tested my nerve.  There is so much to learn about food here, I suspect that we will have only scratched the surface by the time my work assignment here is complete.

The photos below are a sampling of restaurants that we've passed in our various walks.  We are truly enjoying a global gourmet tour right here in Hong Kong!
 

 

 

Hanoi: Hot, Humid, Hectic

The Hanoi Opera House

Growing up in the '60s and  '70s, I formed my impressions of Hanoi through the media coverage of the war and the fact that my Dad, a Marine Corps pilot, served for more than a year in Vietnam at the height of the war.  In other words, Hanoi was not necessarily high on the list of places I wanted to visit.  On the other hand, I find Vietnam's history in pre-war French Indochina intriguing, giving me a curiosity to learn more about the culture there.  Just 90 minutes by air from Hong Kong, Hanoi is an easy trip, so we decided to go for a visit.

Typical street congestion in Hanoi

Following the war, Vietnam spent a number of years as an international pariah before adopting reforms in the mid-'80s that would restore diplomatic relations with other countries and begin to stabilize its economy.  Those reforms have paid off and in recent years, Vietnam's economy has been one of the fastest growing in the world.  We saw creative, entrepreneurial energy springing up nearly everywhere on the back of an aging infrastructure built under Communist rule.  Following a Tchaikovsky performance by the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra, we were greeted by a tropical downpour when we emerged from the Opera House.  Vendors suddenly appeared from nowhere selling rain ponchos to the audience eager to get home.  Hanoi is filled with westerners, and they are the targets for citizens looking to sell everything from rickshaw rides to t-shirts.  But we found nearly everyone that we came in contact with to be helpful, polite and kind.

The park around Hoan Kiem Lake

Central Hanoi is a 45 minute drive from the airport, and the landscape was largely rural, with development springing up at random intervals.  Fields of corn, rice and other crops were dotted with oxen and periodically broken up by sprawling construction projects that look like they might be years from completion.  Interestingly, we noticed that many of the large projects (such as a new terminal under construction at the airport) involve partnerships with Japanese firms with engineering expertise. 

Ngoc Son Temple

Motor scooters dominate the roads in and around Hanoi - an unfortunate dilemma in that they clearly represent an affordable means of transportation, while fouling the air with exhaust and noise and endangering the children riding helmet-less on the backs of them.  Cars and motor scooters share the narrow and crowded streets with bicycles rigged up to carry large quantities of anything that can be sold - examples we saw included flowers, large baskets of fruits and vegetables and even sets of dishes and kitchenware.  Traffic is best described as a chaotic free-for-all, to our way of thinking at least.  Drivers seem to view whatever lane markings and traffic signals that exist merely as suggestion or rough guidelines, rather than hard and fast rules to be followed.  We saw many near-misses, some involving us during our attempts to cross the busy streets.  But the lack of actual collisions likely means there is an unwritten set of rules that govern the chaos.  Even driving on sidewalks, on the wrong side of the road or against traffic on one-way streets all seem to be tolerated.

The golden tortoise with the magical sword

During our visit, we spent most of our time wandering around the Old Quarter and French Quarter of the city.  In the center of the Old Quarter is Hoan Kiem Lake which means Lake of the Restored Sword.  The name comes from the legend of a giant golden tortoise who grabbed a magical sword from a mid-15th century emperor and returned it to its divine owners.  The lake is surrounded by a park and walking path with beautiful landscaping, interspersed with occasional, socialist-looking monuments.  The park and path were filled with locals enjoying some time outside.  At the northern end of the lake is a small island, on which the 18th century Ngoc Son Temple sits.  We wandered around the island and through the temple, taking in the beautiful architecture and elaborate alter.  Offerings on the alter included everything from incense to money to a tin of Danish butter cookies.

The Vietnam National Museum of History

We also visited the Vietnam National Museum of History with collections that date from ancient periods through the end of French rule in 1954.   The museum occupies a beautiful example of French colonial architecture adapted for the local climate.  The building's design and thick walls allow for air circulation and insulation.  Despite the heat and humidity and lack of air conditioning, we were comfortable during our visit.

One of the real highlights of our weekend in Hanoi was the food.  While it's possible the weather just made us grateful each time we sat down, I think I'm correct in saying they really know how to cook in Hanoi.  Restaurants are plentiful, casual and inexpensive, but offer sophisticated dishes that seem to marry the best of local ingredients with French preparation technique and presentation.

Prawn and Egg Spring Rolls at Bamboo Cafe

Our brief visit to Hanoi will be memorable for the experience of seeing the how entrepreneurs try to succeed in a socialist society, how French history continues to influence an Asian society and for the kind people we met during our stay.

Green Mango Salad with Spicy Shrimp at Bamboo Cafe

Tuen Ng Festival & Dragon Boat Races

A dragon head at the bow of a dragon boat

Last Monday was a quiet day here: it was Memorial Day in the U.S. and the Spring Bank Holiday in the U.K.  The resulting lack of activity in our inboxes made for a slow day, and we felt like we'd missed out on the traditional start to summer.  This weekend we got our 'start of summer' fix -- a three day weekend with the Tuen Ng or Dragon Boat Festival.

Tuen Ng is a public holiday in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.  Despite its Chinese origins, it wasn't a public holiday in the People's Republic of China until 2008.  It is also celebrated in Chinese communities throughout southeast Asia.  Like a number of other Chinese holidays, the day Tuen Ng is celebrated is based on the lunar calendar, so the day it is recognized on the modern calendar changes each year.  Officially, it is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, so in some places it is also referred to as the Double Fifth Festival.  The traditional way of celebrating Tuen Ng is by eating rice treats wrapped in bamboo leaves (called zongzi), drinking a traditional Chinese medicinal wine (called realgar) and by racing Dragon Boats.

A dragon boat team heads out to the starting line

There is some debate about the origin of the holiday, but the most widely accepted version of the story centers around a poet and government official named Qu Yuan who lived between 343 and 278 B.C.  As a minster for the kingdom of Chu, Qu Yuan developed a reputation as an advocate for alliances between various kingdoms in ancient China.  However, rival corrupt functionaries slandered him, causing the King of Chu to send him into exile, where he spent his time writing poetry and falling into a deep depression.  As a means of protesting the corruption as well as the collapse of his kingdom, Qu Yuan committed ritual suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River in what is now Hunan Province.  Qu Yuan's admirers are said to have tried to save him by racing out into the river in their boats, splashing the water with paddles and beating their drums.  This is said to be the origin of the Dragon Boat races.  When they were not successful at saving him or even finding his body, Qu Yuan's admirers dropped balls of sticky rice into the river so that they fish would eat that instead of Qu Yuan's body.  This is the origin of the zongzi traditionally eaten during Tuen Ng.

A dragon boat team competes for the costume prize

In Hong Kong, the celebrations of  Tuen Ng are centered around Dragon Boat races.  Dragon Boats are long, canoe-shaped boats decorated with Chinese dragon heads and tails and powered entirely by a crew of twenty paddlers.  The crew is completed with a drummer in the bow of the boat and a crew member steering with a rudder at the stern.  The races are held on large and small scales in waterfront communities.  We ventured to the village of  Stanley, on the south side of Hong Kong Island, to see the races there.  The Stanley races are among the largest in Hong Kong, with around two hundred local and international teams, most sponsored by big companies.  We saw primarily sprint races in a variety of classes (men's, women's, mixed teams).  Winning teams are awarded trophies, and there is also a prize for the best team costume.

This was a unique way for us to mark the beginning of summer.  We enjoyed spending a warm and steamy morning seeing a modern-day take on a tradition with ancient roots.  The crowds at the event confirmed that Tuen Ng Festival is one of the most popular of the year.