Month: November 2018

Gourmet Travels in Shenzhen – Day 17: The Return Home

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Friday 13th July 2018

My last day on this holiday! (I’ve really missed the foooood since I’ve come back).

Couldn’t resist another bowl of abalone and pork congee! Yeeeee… Have to wait for another time to eat this!! It’s always worth the wait!

After check out that morning. I took the Airbus all the way to the airport. I was a tiny bit early, so I went around. MummyGeek told me I should find an elastic band thingy for my suitcase in case it gave way to the zip… I didn’t bother buying one in the end. They were too expensive! 
Before checking in I decided to weigh my suitcase on the free weighing scales – yes, you can find them near the check in desks, and they’re basically on the floor. Mine was over 2kg, so I decided to take a few things out… 
After check in (the queuing was better than the queuing in France!!) I went and sat in any space I could to take a deep breath and relax… Trying to find something to eat was hard. The Chinese food section was under renovation, so I had to settle with a chicken burger. 😣 Maybe another time I can eat the Chinese food at the airport… Boooooo!!

The weather was still bad outside which caused a delay with our flight time…

It was well after 2pm before we could board our flight, I think one of the typhoons or heavy rain was on its way into HK…

I queued quite diligently with an old couple flying into London to visit friends. I just knew when to queue before the flight happens. LOL! I used the Cathay Pacific app to board the flight whereas a lot of people seemed to use paper boarding tickets. I’m trying to mordernise here! 
I sat next to an New Zealand couple at the very back of the plane and talked to them briefly about our lives… They had travelled for a long time before getting onto the London flight… Tiring!
The flight was probably one of the best I’ve been on. Food was ok. No babies screaming. No children running off. No Chinese people doing bad things except for one man just being nosey! I watched a lot of foreign stuff… And I tried so hard to doze off… so hard…
Well I arrived in London on the same day in the evening… It was still Friday… I wasn’t in a hurry to get off the plane after landing, and since I have a British passport whereas the majority of the people on the flight were foreign… 
It looked like I had left the airport before most of the people. Took a black cab home who kind of got lost, but anyway, I tipped this person.
And that’s the end of this holiday trip to China. 😆
End of Day 17!!
Next holiday booked for March-April 2019 … I feel lucky coz I quit my job in the right time before my next holiday!

Gourmet Travels in Shenzhen – Day 16: Back in Hong Kong + 17th Floor Hotel Review

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Almost pain free from my wisdom tooth extraction! And I’ve managed to quit my job in the public sector! Yay! OMG, it’s been such a palava in this past year, I think it’s time for me to gooooo…. Go, go, go!!

Thursday 12th July 2018

Gosh it rained in Shezhen on my last morning. There was no way it was going to stop and it looked like there was going to be major floodings (which I think there was).
First thing in the morning was to eat brekkie, and I can’t remember what I had… Mrs Travels mother bought a few things for to take home, but I think I would have outweighed my luggage allowance. LOL. One of the things she got me was a big bag of lychee and I came across this bunny shaped one. So cute!
At the very end, they booked a taxi for me, but the driver didn’t even attempt to help me put my luggage in the trunk, I hugged Mrs Travels goodbye. No tip for the driver she said. Hahahahah.

I got to the border within half-an-hour I think. It felt forever because of the rain. Again the driver didn’t even attempt to get out and help with my luggage! Definitely no tip for this man!! I followed the people going into the border part but I had to find a way to get to the next floor down… Whilst I was attempting to go down the stairs… the zip (already broken) fell apart and my luggage spilled. I had to quickly re-arrange everything… Mrs Travels had already warned me that I should sew up the ends when I get to Hong Kong. SIGH 😢 It was tough work… where was the frigging lift!!
Anyway, I crossed the border in no time. Bye bye Shenzhen! This was the longest time I’ve spent in Mainland China. See you again in the future!
So at Lo Wu Station (the Hong Kong side), I topped up my Octopus card and I off I went to my next location! I took the train to Shatin, I stood the whole journey by the way… So many travellers coming back into Hong Kong that day. Then from there I took a taxi to my usual hotel, Regal Riverside… For some reason I tipped the driver, I just wanted to get in the hotel and relax…

Luckily the reception was able to give me a room before check in time, so first things first find the room, go and eat, plus buy lots of snacks for the night!

I’ve missed eating this abalone congee… Can’t beat it!

Swiftly moving onto the snack snack section. I think I have missed 7Eleven a bit!!! I wanted to try any new-ish snacks… Like the Doritos Wasabi flavour – that was an awful mistake. There was hardly any wasabi flavour… Had a lot of drinks… and had a few sweets. I reserved my stomach for dinner that evening…

After snacking I went out again to the New Plaza and did some HK Shopping… into the old and new buildings… I bought a lot of Aji Ichiban stuff for my parents – they’re almost finished. I needed it to make the most of my luggage weight of 30kg! 😉

Unfortunatly my hand luggage decided to collapse into pieces. I think I’ve had it for two decades, so it was time to throw it in the bin. Well luckily MummyGeek told me over the phone (WeChat and WhatsApp are the most useful apps at this point) to go and buy one of these storage bags in the local stationery shop… I even found needles and thread to fix my suitcase. So lucky I have a mother who nags me a bit in such circumstances. 😅

Dinner was roast pork and char sui with rice from the usual place BBQ King. I think the workers remembered me, they probably thought why I was alone. Hehehehehe.

So the main reason I couldn’t buy a lot of snacks was because I had a big bag of lychees to eat… Mrs Travels sister-in-law showed us a way of how to peel without having to use your fingernails to dig into the fruit. If you look closely at the fruit, there’s a line, and that’s where you push and pull against to open it. So clever!

I ate a whole bag of lychee!! They were so sweet!!

That’s practically the end of the food section…

Hotel Review – On the 17th Floor in Regal Riverside Hotel

Regal Riverside Hotel is just one of those hotels that I’m used to staying in… I decided to book directly from their website. It was a bit expensive for the one night, but I hadn’t spent much in China… So it was worth it….
The receptionist put in a double room on the 17th Floor. When I was close to my room, I thought there was an invisible wall I needed to get through in the hallway! It felt like there was a reflection of the corridor that I couldn’t pass… extraordinary!
All was good with the bed, bathroom, wardrobe etc. Even the TV being on the ceiling was fine. The view was ok. Pretty amazed compared to the superior rooms! I had a small fridge I could use which was well hidden in the wardrobe.

The nice wet view outside…

The only problem I had with the room was the loud aircon noise in the evening… It was so loud. I probably only slept for 5 hours. Less than what I had done in China. 😦

So tired… I think I missed my sleep on this holiday… It’s the only thing I really missed.

End of Day 16.

Gourmet Travels in Shenzhen – Day 15: The Last Shenzhen Supper

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Wednesday 11th July 2018

I decided around two or three days before I leaving Shenzhen, I wanted to go back to Hong Kong for a day… So this was my final day in Shenzhen. Mrs Travels and family were off to the suburbs of Guangdong, and I didn’t want to really be left alone in a big home. I felt happy that I reconciled with the girls. 
So for breakfast, Mrs Travels and I went out with mischievious Missy A. She reminds me of Baby B a lot, a spitting image of her behaviour.🤣 We went around a few streets just looking around and deciding what to eat… Missy A was a little fascinated with the processing of soya bean milk. I love fresh soya milk!

So I had a lot to eat! As well as fried dough and soya milk (and from memory Mrs Travels bought cheung fun as well), I had a couple of steam buns. One char siu and the other was a veggie one.

They look so doughy from the outside and a little meaty on the inside. My breakfast was inexpensive… take me back to Shenzhen…!

The last night in Shenzhen meant I needed to eat my last lot of midnight snacks.

This is black stinky tofu. It didn’t stick as much as the one in Hong Kong. I ate the whole lot… there were so many pieces!

Black colouring on the outside.
White and tofu looking on the insid.
I didn’t realise I had to eat these noodles too… 

And some pan-fried bread… So stuffed!!

Goodnight to Shenzhen!

End of Day 15.

Gourmet Travels in Shenzhen – Day 14 – BOOK City Store 深圳書城店

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Tuesday 10th July 2018

The girls had a photoshoot on this day, and I think Mrs Travels felt bad, like not being a great host, to be honest I was ok apart from the two eldest girls still being mad at me. Oh well. That’s life.

Mrs Travels told me to find this Chinse bookstore called BOOK, which is one of Shenzhen’s biggest bookstores. So I took a bus. Mrs Travels sister said, when I see the Gucci store, get off…  And I found it!

From here, I had to use Google Maps to find my way…

It was basically where those cars below were coming from and it’s across the road.

This is actually the back entrance… I took one of the lifts and went from top to bottom. The top floor is basically a calligraphy section. Don’t go to the top floor. Just go down to the next floors. There’s about 3 or 4 floors and a basement. I think this store is about 3 or 4 times bigger than Foyles. And probably much bigger than the Waterstones in Piccadily.

This is the front of the store… 😆 So shiny from the front. I actually came from the basement at this point – there’s a whole stationery section, and I was trying so hard to find some cute Kumamoto things for Mr Bear…


I think I spent roughly around 2 hours in the store rummaging for some books to read, but didn’t find any good novels. Their English section wasn’t great, they had some really old classics, and very cheesy looking ones that I wouldn’t want to even read! I found some Japanese-Chinese books to help me with my studies. I bought them so that I can understand the Chinese sentencing of Japanese grammar… I haven’t got round to studying them yet. I just need to stop watching Korean variety shows. LOL!
To help reconcile with the girls, I bought some English books for them so that they can try and not look at their phones and tablets all day long – Even I get tired of looking at computers and phones! The girls will find out one day that it’s not fun once they start working… Also bought this funny book – 我的爆笑英文书:幽默生活么么哒 (Translates to: My English Book – A Humorous Life) which tells some jokes, but tells people the philosphy behind those jokes. I really want this book, but the English is kind of bad. Hahahahahah. I hope the girls learn the philosophy behind those jokes and learn to respect one another (as well as us adults).

Address of the book store: 5033 Shennan E Rd, CaiWuWei, Luohu Qu, Shenzhen Shi, Guangdong Sheng, China, 518010

So midnight snack ended with this spicy hot pot!!

And fried wasabi snap peas from Aji Ichiban – I couldn’t find these in any of the Hong Kong stores… so sad! They were so niiiiiice!!

Plus lots of bubble tea to end the night.

End of Day 14!

Gourmet Travels in Shenzhen – Day 13: DIY Trip to Dongmen

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Had a wisdom tooth taken out on Friday… in pain, can’t eat much too. Such a sad geeky life at the moment. 

Monday 9th July 2018

Breakfast time! I love traditional Chinese breakfasts! Mrs Travels was craving food that her sister would buy her first thing in the morning … and so we ended up going through the back streets to find this place called 石磨坊 Shi Mo Fang which means “stone mill”. They traditionally grind soy beans with an actual stone mill (you will see this in a later post). 

I got a meat “flat bun” but it’s like a pasty, however they aren’t baked, they’re pan-fried… Do you get what I mean?

They taste good. I wonder if I can find these in China Town.

Next part of the breakfast were these… This bottle contains hot soya milk. I actually thought it was cold, but in fact it was a little hot. There was no condensation at the top, so didn’t even notice it was hot. I also had fried dough. It’s so different to the Hong Kong version. This tasted more bready and less oily. Really different texture! (Missing these breakfast foods already!).

Mrs Travels said I should go out by myself today, so she told me to get which bus and get off at another bus stop. I think I missed my stop and had to walk to my destination. 😖 The Geek almost got lost again, but thankfully I was somehow able to use Google Maps. I really recommend you using your own foreign number as you’ll be able to use certain apps that the Chinese can’t even use. 

So whilst using Google Maps I took a few pictures… Looks like Deng Xiaoping is still being remembered in the back streets of Shenzhen. 

This part of Shenzhen is like a quieter version of Hong Kong City… Streets were really quiet…

Finally I reached my destination! It was a good walk, although still hot even with the clouds out.

It actually started raining whilst I was shopping. Luckily I bought an umbrella beforehand.

Walked all around Dongmen, I entered some shops here and there… I think shopping without children is the best thing ever! I say that because I feel like I’m not judged by the children whilst I take my time deciding. Plus I can spend a little bit freely… 😉

There were lots of modern styled clothing and it’s actually quite difficult to try and find any type of traditional wear.

Mr Bear asked me to buy some Kumamoto stuff in China for one of his friends. I never thought I would see this Japanese café in China! 😆

Then off I went back to Mrs Travels home. I went back via the long walk and then into another shopping centre and then took a bus back… Looks very quiet on a weekday!

By the end of the day I think all of us were a bit tired… The girls were playing with a ball, which I think should be banned once in the house. Balls need to be played outside. Well I seemed to be the target of their fun. So they hit the ball… they said it was by accident… but I kind of got angry at them. To me, I think it’s ok to be angry at children once in a while (not every day like Mrs Travels, but she’s used to it). Thankfully Mrs Travels took my side and the girls got the shock of their lives. LOL!! Don’t mess with family friends. 😛😜😝

From that shocking telling off, Missy I and Missy S weren’t talking to me… Missy A didn’t get what was going on… They were all naughty. It’s ok, I thought to myself. It would happen to them in their working lives one day…

Lunch was wonton and a bit of everything in a nearby food shop. I added the food to some already made spaghetti (I can’t eat much right now and I’m sulking with a small hunger pang. 😢).

Right now I’m huuuungrrrrrrry!!!

End of Day 13.