Tag: Street

food, Hong Kong, Photography, Travel, Walking

Sai Kung – a local Hong Kong getaway

In my trip to Hong Kong in January, I wanted to make sure I hit up a few places that I had never been to. The urban cores of Hong Kong offer up an electric and fast-paced experience, but sometimes I just want something a little slower and less commercial. Sai Kung was one of these places that offered something less common place for Hong Kong.

choi hung to sai kung minibus route

To get to Sai Kung from the rest of Hong Kong, you have to get yourself to Choi Hung MTR station. It’s on the green Kwun Tong Line in Kowloon. From there, you have to find the #1A or #92 minibus. The minibus ride itself is its own adventure. These buses are like minivans outfitted with 16 seats. Once all 16 seats are filled with paying bums, the bus doesn’t take any more passengers. Remember not to take the seat with the wheel-well. You’ll have to sit scrunched up for the whole 40 minute ride if you do. Oh, and hold on tight when the minibus turns.

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China, Cities, food, Hong Kong, Photography, Travel, Walking

Hong Kong’s Dried Food Shops

Apart from all the street markets, there are different types of food shops in Hong Kong. There are plenty of different stores showcasing all sorts of strange edibles.

Dried food shop on Argyle Street in Mong Kok.

If you’ve ever visited your local Chinatown, then you may have come across stores like these. This is a dried food shop. Sometimes it’s a Chinese herb, medicine and dried food store in some places. There are walls filled with glass containers of all sorts of ingredients. It’s almost as if these items were appropriate for a witch’s brew. The more exotic things I’ve seen over the years include seahorse and snake.

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Cities, Culture, food, Hong Kong, Photography, Travel

Food Street Markets in Hong Kong

Being a North American, the traditional food and produce market is a mostly foreign concept. Most of us in North America drive once a week to the supermarket for our food. In Vancouver, I guess we’re lucky enough to have places like the Granville Island Public Market and various farmers markets that introduce supermarket shoppers to the traditional market.

Hong Kong is full of old street markets. Although most of them are no longer truly on the street. Most of them have been moved into large multi-story buildings. The name street market still adorns most of the entrances, but it’s a “vertical street of sorts”

Central Market

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Architecture, Cities, Hong Kong, Photography, Travel, Walking

Climbing Up to Hong Kong’s Mid-Levels

Hong Kong Island is one very hilly place. Most visitors and tourists would only venture up the hillside to visit The Peak. Even then, most people would likely take The Peak Tram (which in itself is a tourist attraction). If you have an extended period of time, then it may be worthwhile to explore off the beaten path into non-touristy Hong Kong.

On this January Sunday, I was meeting up with an old high school classmate. I don’t think I had seen him since my university days in Vancouver. So it was a great chance to meet up with him and his wife. We had set a time to meet at the Starbucks at Park Road and Bonham Road. Okay. I’ve heard these street names, but I had no idea where it was. Thank goodness for Nokia Maps and their downloadable city maps.

On my map, I found the intersection and ran a straight line down from there to the tram line along Des Voeux Road. It happened to follow along a street called Eastern Street. This street would be the subject of my pre-meeting exploration.

Riding the tram along Des Voeux Road

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Canada, Cities, History, Photography, Vancouver, Walking

VHF Yaletown Walking Tour

The Walking Tour season for Vancouver Heritage Foundation has just finished.  If you would like to go on these tours, contact the Foundation or check their website some time next year to see what tours they have in store for us in 2014. Here’s the last of the 3 walking tours for 2013 that I attended. We started off this Friday afternoon at the Roundhouse … Continue reading VHF Yaletown Walking Tour

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Canada, Cities, History, Photography, Vancouver, Walking

VHF Railtown Walking Tour

The Walking Tour season for Vancouver Heritage Foundation has just finished.  If you would like to go on these tours, contact the Foundation or check their website some time next year to see what tours they have in store for us in 2014. This time our Railtown walking tour actually started in or at the edge of Gastown.  I guess it depends who you talk … Continue reading VHF Railtown Walking Tour

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Photography, Travel, Walking

Walking Boston – Tremont Street

After venturing through the Boston Common and Public Garden, we passed by the Massachusetts State House.  We made our way down Park Street to Tremont Street.  On the corner of Park and Tremont is the Park Street Church.  This is one of the major landmarks along the Freedom Trail. The Park Street Church simply dominates the corner of Park and Tremont with it’s 217-foot tall … Continue reading Walking Boston – Tremont Street

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Travel

Salem Street, North End of Boston

Salem Street, North End of Boston

Sorry. It looks April is too busy for longer blogs. Busy trying to recover data from my dead hard drive, finish up my taxes, and keeping up with the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Here’s a photo of Salem Street in the North End of Boston. After a great meal in an Italian restaurant, we were stranded here with no taxi in sight. Apparently, if you are in the North End, walk over to Hanover Street where most of the action is and you should be able to find a taxi there. Here on Salem, it was tumbleweeds and us.

So I was bored and snapped a really grainy Instagram shot of the street. No danger of being run over at this time of night.

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