Going to Asia (1/3) – Hong Kong

Eating dim sum in the future – Hong Kong – Trip to Asia (1/3)

Last year in November my friend and business partner Marius (aka Vice) were having a beer and catching up. He mentioned he was thinking about going to Japan to take some photos and I invited myself to join. We decided to kick things up another notch and have an extended layover in Hong Kong before and Singapore after. A few months go by and suddenly I found myself in Japan during the height of picture-perfect cherry-blossom season!

A whole country covered in pink flowers! If you consider going to Japan, why not choose the most beautiful time of year?

What are my three take-aways from my first trip ever to Asia? If I need to sum up the whole trip I would come up with the following 3 things:

Hiroshima leaves you absolutely speechless
I can never eat normal steak again after eating Kobe once (yes, it’s really that good), and
Mustafa is a horder

Does not really make sense without a bit more context, right? I went for 3 weeks in total – so, let’s start at the beginning and see what I did and ate during this whole time in Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore!

This post about Hong Kong will be the first in a 3-part series about my travels to Asia. Next week will be about Japan and the week after about Singapore.

Eating Dim Sum in the future – Hong Kong (4 days)

Before actually going I talked with a colleague about Hong Kong. He told me that it feels like going to the future! After almost missing our connecting flight in Delhi, India, because of the somewhat too relaxed atmosphere of the 6 guys at the airport counter, we ran through the airport like crazy people, jumped the plane and landed in a shiny futuristic paradise.

Welcome to the world of tomorrow!! I’m a small town boy and Hong Kong was the first city with real sky scrapers for me

Hong Kong is a city of pure contrast! It’s a weird mix of grungy old and the high-tech neo-future. You walk through dirty little side streets with weird smells and suddenly find yourself surrounded by neon-lit skyscrapers that look straight out of science fiction cartoons á la Akira. You take a bus and are transported back in time suddenly visiting temples surrounded by jungle.

Food is around every corner – No matter how late your hunger strikes!

Feeling like a tiny ant somewhere stuck in the future. Hard to imagine that there is actually people in these giant constructions

Sweet and sour chicken. Well, this #45a here tasted soooo much better than at the local European Chinese restaurant

If I’d need to put myself into a spiritual category I feel most comfortable with being Buddhist. Especially self-development is very important to me. The last 1.5 years I went to a several classes about Buddhism and Meditation. When I went to Hong Kong it was really cool to visit the giant Buddha. Thought the whole scene felt quite touristy, I enjoyed visiting the 35 meter tall Buddha statue and the serenity of the surroundings. Makes you feel so small and humble.

Suddenly back in time again and surrounded by green forest. The first temple I visited in Asia, turns out there will be dozens more!

Beautiful sunset in Hong Kong in the middle of nowhere

For foodies like you and me, Hong Kong is an absolute heaven with its 24/7 food culture. Small little food carts, vendors and stands everywhere – especially at night. Next to all the different small little dim-sum treats you can find a lot of other delicacies in the streets and restaurants.