Tag: Hong Kong

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Gratitutious Ramen entry

This was a fast trip, to be ended with an early morning in Tokyo. It made more sense to get my ramen fix while I was in town, as opposed to being in transit.

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Shinagawa. Going from the Keikyu Line to JR.

This is how transit looks like in Tokyo. The trains are color coded and queueing is orderly. However, it’s a huge crush even at 0700 in the morning. Thankfully people here have a good sense of hygiene. But you don’t have ramen for breakfast here. Yet.

I was in Hong Kong for several days so I decided to get my ramen fix there. Many of the major ramen chains are there including Ichiran.

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Magic cubicles
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Just a curtain then…
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Tah-dah!

Ichiran is (in)famous for it’s attitude towards it’s ramen. Instead of tables where you can occupy space for hours, yakking with your friends, their ramen is served individually in cubicles so nothing gets in the way of the ramen. Then when you finish, you leave. Your bowl is customizable. The softness of the noodles, the intensity of the broth and as many (or as little) toppings as you’d like. As it should be.

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Hard noodles, rich broth with scallions and red oil. YESSSSSS

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The aftermath after one serving of kaedama.

Since the Singapore leg of this trip was going to be busy, I’m glad I got my fix here.

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Always show up before the gates close

When you fly, you want to make sure you follow the rules. When you know what time the gates will close, always get there BEFORE that time. Don’t expect the doors to be held open for you simply because you can’t be bothered to tell time. Otherwise, you’ll turn out like this:

An embarassment to all the Cantonese in the world

If she tried this stunt in Singapore, she’d already be in cuffs and perp-walked away. If she tried this in San Francisco, she’d be appointed to the Board of Supervisors.
Thanks to Lucky and Cheesie, who both had this video before me!

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The most hidden Chill spot in Hong Kong…

…is probably the Chi Lin Nunnery in Kowloon City (near Diamond Hill MTR). It’s one of the more easily accessible of HKG’s attractions. Walk into the mall from the MTR and through the Marks and Spencer. Hang a right and go up a block. 5 minutes max. However, if there’s heat and humidity, your time may vary.

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The nunnery was rebuilt in 1998 with the actual temple parts (the ones with the various Buddhas housed) made of wood and in the Tan’g Dynasty style of construction.

The gardens and foundations (there’s a garage underneath) are of course, modern stone and concrete.
It’s amazingly quiet and comfortable inside the compound. Like I wrote in the title of this post, it’s chill. Despite the fact that the Nunnery is surrounded by housing blocks, a big mall and an expressway, you don’t really feel or hear much of it.
Unless you look up…

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yay, off the plane!

So we finally land. Whoo hooo!
But now it takes time to get off the plane since I and others are in the back end of the plane.
Passport Control (a very long wait).
Get the luggage (sort of a wait).
Customs (pretty quick).

Wonder why it takes so long for the bags to show up? I mean, you wait for a realllly long time for Passport Control. You would figure that the ground crew would use that time to get the checked bags onto the carousel so they would be ready for people to pick up.