My Top 5 Obsessions This Week

Hong Kong

Happy 2017 to all of you out there. We made it through 2016, suffering through many tragic losses and disappointments but we are still here. I spent this year ringing in the new year with my husband in Hong Kong. In a beautiful city like this it is hard to pick just 5 but I will do my best.

1) Victoria Harbour. Day and night this bustling harbor is beautiful with the Famous Star Ferry and the Chinese Junk Aqua Luna with its red sails,but during the Holiday season buildings on both the Kowloon side and the Hong Kong Island side are beautifully lit up with ever changing Christmas lights and motifs. This makes for a very dramatic backdrop for the electrifying NYE fireworks. It seems like everyone is out on this balmy night to see this colorful display featured on television sets worldwide, and watching it live is an experience like no other.

2) With so many food and drink options and a limited time we had to choose carefully. We spent a couple of warm evenings at the historic restaurant/bar The Pawn at The Botanicals Bar drinking some of their delish hand crafted daytime and evening drinks like "Ain't Nobody got Thyme for that " and " Into the Woods" an intense rum/ whiskey combo with smoke. This famous place was once a large 3 story  Chinese Pawnbrokers, now a hipster bar , restaurant with a botanical garden on the third level they use for their food and drinks. 

The best dim sum barbecue pork bun in the city is the Michelin Star rated Tim Ho Wan located at Central Station, but go early and avoid the two hour waits. For a very unusual dish we were sent to Lee House for their signature dish of Sweet and Sour Pork with a twist- served under a small mound of ice to keep the pork crisp and still warm with a carmelized sweet crunch. Deliciousness!!!

3) After all that delicious dim sum head out shopping! For me , I avoid all the high end stores and head out to the markets. Stanley Market is widely known as the bargaining hotspot located on edge of a beautiful beach. A rickety bus ride along the coast is better than any roller coaster. Then there is the  famous Night Market on Temple Street that is as popular for it's street food as the stalls full of junk and treasures alike. Stop for a beer and some crab , relax it is teeming till Midnight.

4) We made a special trip to a traveling exhibit called " The World of Tim Burton" at ArtisTree. It was amazing. It featured stills from all of his movies, puppets and his musings and sketches on The Napkin Series. Upcoming and unreleased projects as well as screenings of some of his shorts and a view inside the brain of this brilliant and creative man make this a must see.

5) Hong Kong- Disneyland is a super fun way to spend a bonus day. A short MTR ride on a Disney themed train brings you to this gorgeous park nestled below the green  covered hills. The sneak preview of the new Iron Man Experience and a ride on the heavy themed Mystic Manor was a lovely way to spend a last day.