As I mentioned in Part I of today’s blog, we went to the Tapas Molecular Bar in the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo for our first foray into “molecular gastronomy”. The Oriental Lounge seats seven at a long bar behind which Chef Jeff Ramsey and his assistant Tomoyuki work their magic with such atypical kitchen tools as…
Decemer 4, 2006
Two years ago, on our last trip to Asia, I brought along a jar of vanilla hand cream. Long after we’d returned, whenever I used that particular hand cream my mind would drift back to the time we spent in Hong Kong and Tokyo. I could close my eyes and instantly be transported back. I’ve…
December 3, 2006
I worked on my blog well into the night, trying to get the damn photos to upload without much success, so I ended up turning in a little after 1 a.m., so wound up that I was unable to fall asleep for another hour. The worst was yet to come.I woke up at 7:15 a.m.…
Ah! It’s working! Pics for December 2nd, 2006!
December 2, 2006
The conversation goes something like this:Her: Visa credit card services, how may I help you?Me: To be perfectly honest, I don’t think you can. But I’d like you to try anyway. This is the sixth time I’m calling VISA in as many days. Since I’m calling from Asia, these calls are prohibitively expensive. I know…
December 1, 2006
The response to this travel blog has been overwhelming. Over seven comments and counting! I thought it might be a good idea to take the time to answer some of the questions that have been sent my way. For clarity’s sake, I’ve taken the liberty to paraphrase –Q: Al from South Africa writes: “Given your…
November 30, 2006: The Sichuan/Peking Restaurant, Hong Kong
It was way past our bedtime when we turned in for the night after our evening at the Happy Valley race track, so it was way past our usual wake up time when we finally made it out of bed this morning.9:30 a.m. By the time we were washed and dressed, it was too late…
Let’s call it November 29th: Hong Kong Day #4! Massage massacre! Happy Valley Racetrack!
I managed to wake up a little earlier today and squeeze in a work-out before heading down for a power breakfast: grilled fish (for low-fat protein), smoked salmon (for omega 3 oils), oatmeal and muesli (for fibre), papaya (for vitamin c), Eggs Benny on a baked tomato (for lutein and lycopene), and dim sum and…
November 27th – Let’s call it the 28th: Hong Kong Day #3! Lantau Island! A trip to the tailor!
Reflecting back on our tour to Lantau Island, it was, for the most part, unremarkable.That said, it did have its highs and lows. High points: Some of the people we met on the tour: the softspoken Edgar, CFO of Price Waterhouse Cooper in Columbia, retired social worker Manju, and her wisecracking husband Dilip. Our tour…
November 26th – actually, it’s the 27th here: Hong Kong Day #2! Po Lin Monastery!
Faced with the prospect of a grueling all-day tour (and a vegetarian lunch), I decided to fortify myself with a well-balanced breakfast of Eggs Benny, four kinds of dim sum, some smoked fish, grilled salmon, and two pieces of papaya (again, purely for decorative purposes). And it’s a good thing I did because it was…
November 25th-ish: Hong Kong Day 1! Let the eating beginning!
We got in a little after 8:30 p.m. and were in bed by 10:00 p.m. I assumed I would sleep until 7:00 a.m., giving me a good 9 hours to get over the jetlag and have me well-rested enough for our first full day in Hong Kong. Everything was going according to plan – until…
November 24, 2006: A heartfelt send-off from mom!
For some reason, the women in my family share a propensity for speaking their minds with a refreshing obliviousness to consequence. There was the time my then 110 year old grandmother who, when asked to make a toast at my cousin’s wedding, offered the following off-the-cuff gem: “Of all the guys she could have married,…
November 21, 2006: The Beginning
Here I sit, watching the battery recharge on my new HD camera (less than an hour to go!), making final preparations for my trip to Hong Kong and Tokyo. For the purposes of keeping a travel diary of sorts - and keeping you all entertained, natch - I'm attempting my second foray into the wonderful…