How else do you do a Hong Kong travel? To for a fact be mentioned that American writer Elizabeth Gilbert authored a bestselling "chick-lit" in 2006. It sold a million copies, translated into 40 languages, and turned into a big hit travel-romance movie. Apparently, it is a travel bible to many country drifters.
It's gratifying how we all can take a trip to places as fascinating as those in the book without having to spend largely for tickets and hotels for a taste of Muhgal architecture and feel- good mantras, or for a dominion inhabited by Roman-numeral boys. :)
Hong Kong is a pretty good choice. While an eat, pray, love kind of adventure can be done in many other countries, a Hong Kong travel can be far less expensive and doable compared to those in the west side of the globe.
Options are abundant. But if there's a way to do it remarkably, it can be specified into 3 unforgettable should-do's:
Eat
Dai pai dong is a Hong Kong style open- air food stall. It's a term usually used to refer roadside food stalls with foldable tables and chairs and no air conditioning. Although it literally means as "restaurants with big license" denoting the size of license bigger than the other licensed street vendors.
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| Dai pai dong food stall |
Legally, the term can only refer to the 28 stalls with "big licenses" -- those in Causeway Bay Central, Sham Shui Po, Wan Chai, Tai Hang, and Tai O. Although food stalls of the same kind are scattered widely around the country.
It characteristically has an untidy atmosphere. But to experience a pure Hong Kong dining together with pure Hong Kong locals is a sure bet. It's not everyday that you get to eat those dai pai dong congees and yuanyuang the way Gilbert has given up a love-handle-free potbelly for a daily sellout with gelatos and linguine pastas in 4 long months in Italy.
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| Yuanyuang drink |
Most dai pai dongs offer authentic Cantonese food. English is hardly spoken so a little more of hand pointing will serve as your tongue.
Pray
For an experience of a Chinese solitude, try the ancient and fluid movements of tai chi in a peaceful side of the city, say, in a park or at the waterfront facing the Victoria Harbour.
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| Tai Chi in Hong Kong Clock Tower |
Tai chi movements are said to balance the body's internal yin and yang, for the mind, soul, and body. There are tourists and locals who do this outdoors under the morning light. Even Andrew Zimmern did it, too in a Bizarre Foods Episode!
Love
Love is a widespread phenomenon and odds are that Hong Kong established activities that can foster this.
Less expensive than a Harbour Cruise is a late-afternoon Duk Ling ride for only HKD100. It is a Chinese sailing junk that sails the harbour, holding out a 360-degree view of the captivating skyline. It sails regularly three times a week for about 2.5 to 4 hours.
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| Duk Ling Cruise, Victoria Harbour |
Duk Ling is to Hong Kong as much as Taj Mahal is to India. And the most romantic thing, if at all, is riding in one of the red- sail sampans, the ones that look like an iconic bat wings in red colors flashing against the scenery of the modern skyline.
Plan it or wing it, the important thing is to make the most of the experience. Because it's one thing to "know" how to do these things, but it's another thing to "live them up".
We may not always be able to visit every part of the country in a travel, but sometimes less is more, especially when you know how to do just that. It's the reason why I always want to travel the eat pray love way-- minus the divorce and the erratic affairs. Teehee!
Now let's cross over to the sides of Hong Kong. Attraversiamo!
References:
wikipedia (dot) org
discoverhongkong (dot) com
Photo Credits:
google (dot) com (slash) images- 1st photo
commons (dot) wikimedia (dot) org- 1st photo
scoopweb (dot) com- 2nd photo
theredheadriter (dot) com- 3rd photo
businesstravellerasia (dot) com- 4th & 5th photos
