Hong Kong - Hipstamatic Tour

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Cheers and Thank You!

Hong Kong is easily the most dynamic city I have ever visited. Alive, moving, walking, running, and most of all eating and all of this with great vigor.

I was charged to do a Hong Kong post by another lovely blogger and so I decided it was long overdue to take my Blissful Adventurers on a tour.

I fell in love with the Hipstamatic iPhone app last year and I enjoy how this $3 investment really forced me to look at Hong Kong under the surface and explore subjects that on my Nikon D90 may have seemed plain and ordinary.

Hipstamatic forces the user to function within parameters assigned to lens and camera type (electronically simulated) and shoots only in square images which are ideal for blog posts.

I hope you enjoy and let me know your thoughts.

LIFE AND FOOD

HK is obsessed with food, and that is OK because so am I. It was on every corner and at every time of day. I could easily stay here 6 months and not tire of the food but perhaps I would get a little sick of the hurried pace and the confining cityscape. Our photos of the traditional Cantonese Dim-Sum simply were not suitable for the post, but know that we ate this every other day till we could not move.

Notice the window unit air conditioners. There are so many of these in HK that the exhaust from them is said to warm the city by several degrees in the summer nights.

This amazing all-in-one meal includes rice, vegetables, and some form of protein served in this steaming hot clay pot. Adding lots of chili sauce and tall beers makes the meal that much more of a party.

I wanted to love this. I did not :-(

CHINESE MEDICINE

In all of my travels this was one of the most fascinating sites. Store after store, vendor after vendor hawking every kind of herb, sea creature, shark fins (fucking bullshit) and an array of dead stuff plucked from the planet to keep humans healthy. I want to know more.

THE MARKETS

I was simply blown away by what one could purchase on the streets. Fish, both fresh and freshly butchered. Meat, hopefully fresh, every kind of shellfish possible. Just walking around HK I felt like the oceans would be empty in less than a generation as I cannot imagine how much food we are eating as a planet.

STREET SCENES

Juliet and I walked for hours each day to simply immerse ourselves in the life of this city. My head was on a swivel as my camera was clicking non-stop

Hong Kong - City of Food (presented by iPhone and Hipstamatic)

All shots in this post were taken with my iPhone 4 and Hipstamatic App

Last year was my first experience in Asia. I had long studied the cuisine (meaning I ate the shit out it) especially in San Francisco and West Houston. I knew what I was in store for and I was not disappointed.

Watching a recent episode of Anthony Bourdain's The Layover, I was reminded I had not yet posted a blog on HK. Shame on me and shame especially considering how badly I want to return.

There are blogs aplenty that will give you the nitty-gritty on where to eat and where to stay in HK. I am just going to show you pictures and tell you that if you are into food and have been to NYC, Paris, Rome, Barcelona, and beyond while not paying a visit to Hong Kong, get a ticket and go live like a native on the Kowloon side of the city. The soup above another bowl for Juliet, some Chinese Broccoli and a 32 oz beer was all a whopping $9 US, and it was world-class.

HK can be very expensive in the ex-pat parts of the city, and I frankly was bored stiff by the finance boys, business suit clad women, and the other douche bag whiteys hanging out at the pubs and pretending to be in London. This is Asia and I want to be with Asians doing Asian shit (karaoke, milk-tea, and iPod subway rides). I want Cantonese food and to gawk at the exotic components and elixirs of Chinese medicine. I cannot wait to get back to Hong Kong and rock my dim-sum till I drop. This place is Bliss if you like to eat.