Walsh's Winter in Europe 2018: History then time for food.

For those interested, last night we went to bed at 05:00pm and we slept through til this morning, Katie woke at 06:30am and I woke a little before, at 5:45am. We are still a little jetlagged but do feel we have broken the beast.

Today we started with a tour of Hong Kong Museum of History, this is a very well laid out and informative museum and provided us with about two and a half hours of entertainment. We were expecting to pay a fee for entry, but it was free.

Looking inside a Chinese fishing boat

The museum obviously covered the history of Hong Kong from the geological formations through to recent events like slum fires in the 1960's and then reunification with China.

In the words of the great man 'Do yourself a favour' and next time in Hong Kong, drop in, it's free, open every day (apart from Tuesday) and is open from 10 till 6.

After finishing at the Museum we walked toward Nathan road and then caught the MTR (subway, or tube). We had about three stops to pass and also the waterway between Kowloon and Central.

The subway is efficient here and has arrows painted next to the doors so those getting off have a clear path and those waiting are instructed to stand to the sides. We waited at the platform, which looked about 500 meters long and the train arrived, it was packed. I thought surely these people would get off and make some room but no hardly anyone got off, the others on the platform managed to squeeze on the train. Katie and I looked at each other and I said, nope this is not going to happen. There was no way we could have fit on the train. I said let's wait for the next one surely they all can't be as packed as this one.

About two minutes later the next train approached, we moved forward to our assigned arrows. This train was packed but not as bad as the last, also people got off making room for us.

We hopped on and took the few stops to central. It was quick, it was packed and it is something I am glad I don't have to do often.

Happy to be off the train.

From here we went to the start of our Hong Kong Foodie Tour, Central & Sheung Wan.

The tour was run by Yammy and Ed from Hong Kong Foodie Tasting Tours, they led us up and down the streets of this area which in our opinion is much nicer than the Kowloon area. Whilst on tour we visited 6 different establishments and were able to sample Hong Kong specialities.

The venues and food sampled were;

Tsim Chai Kee Noodle

Wonton Noodles

Won Tonne Meen

Dragon Restaurant

Barbecued Pork Rice

Char Siu Faan

Kung Lee Sugar Cane Juice

Sugar Cane Juice

Jeh Jup

Wong Wing Kee (preserved fruits factory limited)

Preserved fruits

Gwo Zi

Dim Sum Square

Shrimp Dumpling

Har Gao

Pork Dumpling

Siu Mai

Deep fried Spring Rolls

Jaa Chun Guen

Crispy BBQ Pork Bun

Char Siu Bao

Hei Lee Cake Shop

Egg Tart

Daan Taat

It was an amazing tour that was also very filling, in both the culinary way and information about this spectacular part of Hong Kong. On tour, we saw (in no particular order) Chinese coffins, the beating heart of a fish, a hearse, animal intestines, the difference between a roast duck and a roast goose, and an 82-year-old man cutting hair.