"Just for today, I will be happy, I will be not afraid to enjoy what is beautiful..." : Hong Kong & Singapore

Our little family was supposed to fly to Asia to accompany my husband for work but due to C's eczema flares, we thought the long haul flight would not be good for him. So, it was just the two of us. Our very first trip without C! We got to experience the Swiss-port lounge at Heathrow for the first time. It was a very fun experience having some snacks, warm soup and some drinks before flying.

While we were away, we kept making mental notes of places we would take him to the next time we're all together in that part of the world. The HKU area is a really nice part of Hong Kong. New subway station and a more relaxed side of HK. The tourist spots in HK are mostly not for the faint-hearted- enormous crowds, long queues exacerbated by the summer heat and lots of pedlars.

Be forewarned, this post will largely revolve around food as we have been so deprived of Asian food by that point. We were also too exhausted from caring for C to commit to other touristy activities. Our secondary purpose was to rest and eat!

Upon landing we found ourselves deep in jet lag. At 230am, we walked down and asked for recommendations for food. The front desk pointed us to an alley across the hotel where there was a small shop selling a variety of foods (only in Chinese characters)- noodles, rice, fish, roast duck even at 2am! Thankfully, my husband can read some Chinese and managed to get us some giant beef ball and mooli noodles. We went back to the hotel, opened the little packet of chilli oil and the warm soup combined with just being off a long haul flight was heaven! We were probably two of the most overly enthusiastic people over something as simple as supper but being away from the foodie perks of Asia for so long does that to you. We were beyond thrilled and fascinated at the prospect of being able to get good warm food at such an ungodly hour.

The next evening, we met up with a friend and his wife for some more delicious food which I had never tasted before. I also very quickly fell in love with the classic egg waffles. It was such a treat to have people we know in a strange city. It made the entire trip such a memorable and enjoyable one.

We met again for some Chiu Chow cuisine at Kei Tak restaurant. The oyster omelette was mind-blowingly good and so was the whitebait dish. But the star of the meal was the soup. It tasted like it had been boiled for a day, such amazing flavour. I have no idea what soup that was but it had some sea cucumber in it with chicken pieces and herbs. I felt like writing a poem about it.

We had to leave for Singapore the next day for my husband's work.

My attempt at doodling at an Apple store to kill time.

We were booked to stay at Carlton and they kindly gave us an upgrade as they were fully booked.

We had a wonderful view overlooking some familiar sights, a free Android phone to use during our stay and a gorgeous bathroom which had those automated window blinds and an open-planned tub. We really did not expect such luxury and were so grateful to even be in Singapore. What a beautiful hotel.

We met up with some old friends from Nottingham for some chicken rice. They kindly helped my husband in his quest for durian. Poor guy has been kept away from his true (food) love for too long. We found some in Rochor. The Musang King in Singapore had me, a non-durian enthusiast, converted. It tasted so good! The rest of our time in Singapore was spent catching up with more old friends, having great conversation, some who spoiled us rotten with more delicious durian and meeting with family. I do regret not remembering to eat some rotis and curry!!!

All too soon, we had to leave to go back to HK. Dim sum for breakfast? Yes, please! Good quality dimsum, easily obtainable and affordable too. Loved the hargaus and wantans.

We greeted my brother-in-law and his wife who made the trip specially to meet C who unfortunately couldn't make it to see his Suk Suk and Sen Sen. We were thrilled to catch up and go around with them. We went to Victoria Peak together. It was quite a long queue to go up the tram and once we got up there, the view did not disappoint. However, it was a tad annoying that a photo-taking crew had blocked off quite a chunk of the scenic portion for photo-taking business. They taped it off and no one was allowed to step in that area. There was a huge crowd up there and people tended to hog spots once they got close to the glass panel. Thankfully my brother in law is very tall and he could take some nice pictures while my sister-in-law was small enough to squeeze and get a space which we could swap with them to get a turn at looking out.

The gorgeous night view

Later that evening, we had a 1 Michelin Star experience at Yat Lok's Roast Goose! Such yummy sui kows too.

I got to visit my husband's temporary office which had such a beautiful view of the harbour. I love the long doors of the HKU offices. I got to sit in his staff seminar after a lovely lunch with a new friend. Such fun!

We met up for a friend's birthday celebration at a Japanese place. I tasted fatty tuna for the first time and it was marvelous!

My bro and sis-in-law recommended this amazing food called molten egg yolk custard ball law cowssant. Haha! Their friend told them to heat it up before eating it and it was so rich and yummy that we bought one back for my in-laws to try. Definitely must not miss this on any visit to HK. We also tried a matcha cake and it was good!

We were treated to a black pepper duck pau in Singapore by a family friend which interestingly was from London Fat Duck! It was a very unique taste. I also wanted to try Pocari Sweat and Honey Tong Tong of social media fame. Our favourite junk snack, however were these jelly pods with real fruit in them. They were so good! We also got to dine with my husband's colleagues at Shanghai Garden. A proper Chinese banquet with many courses and very refined cuisine. It was such a luxurious experience!

We also managed to try some amazing Dim Sum at Chiu Chow Garden and some really yummy egg tarts before taking the ferry over to Tsim Sha Tsui.

We decided to go to Mongkok area for some shopping and boy were we exhausted after a mere 2 hours. We did find some cool things for the family and ourselves. My husband is so good at haggling! Haha. I found a phone case which had 3 rubber duckies swimming on actual water. The baby one was on the papa's back! I couldn't resist that!

We tried the iconic curry fish balls and I also tried my first and last smelly tofu. It was not what I expected at all and it ended up in the dumpster. The street food we really enjoyed turned out being Taiwanese fried chicken and bubble tea. The bubbles in HK are so different in texture. Not the usual plasticky feel but soft and pleasant. The milk tea unquestionably lives up to its fame.