MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Well we can’t all say that we’ve spent Christmas in Hong-Kong…but WE CAN!! He he! Although to be fair we could have been anywhere in the world and still made this a day to remember. It was a slow start to the day with our customary oats, yoghurt and fruit breakfast followed by some prancing around in our Christmas hats. Dave slept in a little longer and enjoyed the cosyness of the apartment. We got ourselves a little pack up so we could go to Victoria Park for a Christmas picnic. We were also downloading a Christmas film that we would watch later in the day; Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and strolled out with our Christmas hats still on.

The park is just around the corner from Causeway Bay and was packed full of the local overseas contingent mainly from Indonesia and the Philippines, we’re pretty sure they are mostly maids and restaurant workers and had read prior to going that it’s a very common sight to see them all to get together in public spaces, hanging out with each other on their days off. We assumed this was the case. We walked around and found the central open air swimming pool which is an Olympic-sized pool left empty in the park. Its really eerily located right at the foot of sky-rise apartments and office blocks and left us with a great photo-opportunity.

Moving on from this we continued to walk and found a nice quiet spot in the park where we would have our picnic. For Christmas brunch we opted for the much anticipated and longed for hummus and carrot, a good tomatoe relish, rivita crackers, posh crisps, dark chocolate and cider. Oh how we enjoyed this sipping cider with the local monks passing by and just simply enjoying our little moment.

After this satisfying and overpriced picnic we went back to the apartment via the shipping area, photographed more of the locals and went back to settle in for some Ferris Bueller action. This was Dave’s first time…Can you believe it?? It was enjoyed along with a bottle of white wine and dark chocolate…oh how the other half live!

After the film we got ready for our Christmas meal we had booked the previous day. Most restaurants offer a set menu from day to day and they tend to be good value for money. We had noticed a little pub underneath our guesthouse offering a Christmas menu that didn’t look to shabby at all and was at a relatively good price considering the cost of other things on offer. So we didn’t venture very far at all, we did get a few Christmas presents to enjoy with our meal of which you can see us modeling the best below! The meal started off okay, but it just went from bad to worse and by the end Helen felt like it was the toilet that was calling her rather than the local dessert. Hmmm! You can’t win them all!

So after a slightly disappointing meal (although the picnic did make up for this!!) and a good Skype call to the Roscoe’s we went off to Victoria Peak via the metro so we would take in the Hong-Kong skyline by night. It was a good little journey, packed with many other tourists waiting to go up to the Peak, and the tram ride up was fun. Once we were up there it was really cold, so it was a good job we’d put on some extra layers. We experimented with slow shutter work on the Leica which provided us with an alternative view take of the skyline. Helen’s dinner didn’t do her many favours so she was not a happy bunny but after a good hour or so we got the tram back down and made our way back to Causeway Bay.

You can walk down from the Peak and on a nice evening this would have been a good option and alternative to getting the tram. We didn’t buy tickets to the highest viewing platform and the main building contains a lot of shops which we more or less bypassed to get outside and photograph the views.

Back in Causeway Bay we walked around a little longer, took in some more neon and then went back to our little room to enjoy the rest of our Christmas evening together.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

We used Cloudland once more as a base for our luggage and set off to get a bus to Dali. The west bus station is easy to get to from town and we got there by 1pm just in time to get the next bus for Dali. This left at just after 1pm and took around 4-5 hours to get to Xiaguan which is the new town of Dali, from here we paid around 2yuan each to take a local bus to Dali old town. It takes around 30 minutes to make the journey and we had some guidance at the other end from a school girl willing to point us in the right direction.

We booked 3 nights at The Dali Hump which we soon realised was a good move. It’s a good place to meet other travelers and most people tend to stay a lot longer than planned. We arranged a few things for the next day and went out to get some food. Cafe Du Jack is another Lonely Planet recommendation and served a lovely tofu claypot dish with a nice spice to accompany it, Dave enjoyed some Singapore style rice with egg and then we followed this up with a calzone-style looking apple pie, it did the trick.

For the first night there were only 3 of us booked into the 8 bed dorm and it filled up as the nights went on. The rooms are really spacious but at this time of year the cold nights settle in and the thin curtains do nothing to contain heat. We did pay a little extra to go in the dorm room with en-suite and electric blankets which was a nice bonus.

On our first day in Dali we hiked up one of the Cangshan Mountain routes, walking up through the top end of the village and out into farmland. There is a 30 yuan p/p entrance fee for the mountain area but there weren’t many walkers on the mountain so we had the paths to ourselves. We passed by many gravestones and tombs located around the hillside and there was a strong light coming through the tree tops. We wanted to get around to the Zhonge Temple which is located on the mountain side and is where the cable cars go to, from here there is a steep path down to the bottom where you just stay under or around the cable cars and you’ll reach the bottom okay. Along the way we had landscape views of Dali city, Erhai Hu (lake) and farmland, it was a good 4 hour hike from start to finish but we were keen to get back to The Hump so we could join a group for a market tour to buy food for that night’s meal.

We just about got back in time at 1.30pm and the others had waited for us, we all went to the local market with Chung Lee who was our cheeky cheerful hostel guide. She certainly added personality to the outing. We took in the market, put 30 yuan into the pot each and chose fresh vegetables and even picked out our own chicken from a cage. Dave witnessed the 10 minute aftermath of the chicken being killed, de-plucked and ready to go in the back of the basket. In it went with the fresh aubergine and herbs bought earlier on. It’s a pretty crazy environment compared to British markets, traditions here are very different and it’s quite normal for people to pick out chickens, fish and even dogs to be killed for their evening meal.

We arranged to meet everyone back in the kitchen at 4pm to start the preparation for the evening meal. So we joined a few others in search of a talked about Tibetan bread on the street, we’ve eaten something similar in Beijing, it’s a large flat bread with herbs and spice on top, often there is minced pork added onto it, but this one seemed to be meat free? Before going back to the hostel we went to another talked about favourite in the area The 88 German Bakery (a somewhat controversial name by all accounts according to some German backpackers at the hostel) but don’t let this put you off. The deli style cafe is very welcoming, and we tasted a fantastic chai and granola biscuit enough to warrant another visit a few days later.

So after being spoiled at The German Bakery we found the others in the kitchen and began to cook. It was a little messy and perhaps disorganised but Chung lee loved toggle us all a role and asked us to cook some dishes we want to. She was pretty fussy though and preferred to be the one dishing out the instructions, at times it was a little ‘too many cooks…’ but it was all fun and we managed to cook up quite a feast including eggplant and peppers, spicy fish, mushroom soup, vegetable stir fry, chicken and beef dishes. Aside from the slaughtering of the chicken and then watching Chung Lee massacre it in the kitchen it was a pleasant experience! We all ate together in the bar upstairs and enjoyed cheap beer too. We followed this with a few drinks in town at a crazy little place ran by a frenchman called Mushroom…go there and you will not be disappointed.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)

We came across The Hutong earlier in the month when we attended a Christmas event at The International Canadian School of Beijing. They had a stand showcasing some of their events and we picked up a schedule for the month. We’d already attended the Tai Chi class a week ago and booked ourselves onto a Chinese vegetarian cooking class too. Our teachers were Sophie from The Hutong who translated for the main chef; a lady from Inner Mongolia. The food we were taught was from the North that you wouldn’t really get in Beijing unless you were cooking it yourself.

On the menu we had:

Vegetable Kung Po with tofu.
Egg & tomatoe with green peppers,
& mushroom and celery stir fry.

We learned how to use the blocky knives that everyone cooks with over here, the head chef was pretty strict when it came to “The” way to chop carrots, tofu and the like. With the Kung Po dish everything was meant to be the same size so that the cooking time is equal. Some of us were spot on with this…whilst others perhaps a little more experimental!!

When it came to cooking there was a hell of a lot of deep frying going on- eek! Especially with the first two dishes. The tofu was cooked first and then put aside whilst the remaining ingredients were cooked, it then rejoined the dish towards the end with the seasoning. The egg and tomato dish is a classic Chinese meal and this was Dave’s chance to shine! He seasoned the dish very well with more pepper, chili and green peppers! We actually preferred this to the one that was cooked earlier on!! Helen had a go at the mushroom and celery dish, which was more like stirring the wok ingredients whilst the chef adds what’s required!

We didn’t get to do much hands on cooking however we really enjoyed the class and eating the food afterwards. There was a great rice dish which we took down the recipe for, although didn’t actually cook as it was ready to eat with the food. Sophie who works there is a lovely lady too! She had great knowledge about the foods we were cooking and info about why dark mushrooms are good for you in the winter.

After the cooking class we walked to the Drum and Bell Towers. They’re based not to far away from Nanluoguxiang and so we knew where we could go to warm up as it was foggy and bloody cold! The views across the city were limited but it always adds an atmospheric feel to the photos when it’s like that. We reached the towers in time for their drum performance, this too is impressive and a nice change from the norm. It was too cold to stay for very long but we lasted until the end of the performance before heading for some hot tea down the road.

(Leica M9, Summicron-M 50mm f2.0 & Olympus PEN, 17mm f2.8 & 100mm f2.8, processed in Lightroom 3)