Stutong Park Macro Outing with the Kuching Shutterbugs

I woke up early today for my second outing with the Kuching Shutterbugs after the first one to the White-cloud Waterfall. Apart from the passion for photography, these people are funny and humorous who make good hang-out buddies too. There's never lacking of jokes when Alex and Mick are around.

Today's outing is purely macro photography for small living things. Stutong Park has plenty of those, so we went. Although it was an overcast morning, and the walked through the Park made us sweat like buffaloes!

Alright, no more words from me, just pictures!

These photos are also available on my Multiply.

Power Jelly

The Cantonese people are very health conscious that they use a remarkable number of herbs to help in regulating the body heat. Gwai ling gou (龟苓膏, gui ling gao) is a type of jelly that is said to cool down the body heat, so we went into this specialist shop to have it.

It can be had either hot or cold. I chose the cold one because I needed something refreshing then.

The jelly is basically bitter in taste with the smell of herbs. So, adding some honey helps to make it more easy on the taste bud of those who are afraid of bitterness.

If you don't like honey, adding some fine sugar also helps to ease the bitterness of the jelly.

The Star that Really Shines

My first attempt to shoot the night scene of Vitoria Harbour was interrupted by the haze. I was quite disappointed but determined to go back there and shoot again, and I made it!

It was a very clear day on our second last night in Hong Kong. I was really excited about it after the unsuccessful first attempt.

I shot the Vitoria Harbour from every possible angle; left, right and centre.

I also zoomed out as much as possible to capture the whole scene.

It was never wide enough! So, I stitched several shots together to create this extra wide panorama. You may click on it to see a bigger image.

I was really happy to have this chance to shoot the Hong Kong night scene with many clear shots. I felt as great as Bruce Lee!

Coffee, Tea or Me?

I always heard stories about the coffee shops in Hong Kong, or tea shops (茶餐厅), to be literally correct, being a fast-paced place for a quick meal or snack. Some of them were said to have very nice food served.

Mido Cafe (美都餐室) is located at 63 Temple Street of Yau Ma Tei. We learned that it serves pretty good ying yong, a drink that you order if you can't decide between the milk tea and milk coffee. It is a place with very traditional set up.

I wouldn't describe this place as fast-paced though. It was rather 'academic' as people were reading books and newspapers there. There were some other tourists snapping on the food as well.

The legendary iced ying yong drinks had finally arrived. It was really refreshing.

Another food item that shouldn't be missed in a coffee shop in Hong Kong is the polo bun or pineapple bun (波萝包). I was told by a Hong Kong friend that the polo bun that comes with a slice of frozen butter is denoted as polo bun on fire and ice (冰火波萝包). This was probably derived from the hot bun and cold butter. Biting into the bun with the melting butter was just beyond my ability to describe!

A polo bun was just a starter. There were more food to come! The crispy fried noodles with sliced pork was also very good. I like the crispiness of the noodles with thick gravy.

According to our food bible, the baked spare-rib rice at this place is its signature food item too. It was really top notch! Each spare-rib cube was coated with flour all over and deep-fried to golden brown. Coupled with the sauce which tasted on the sweet side, it was really food in heaven!

This meal was as good as taking a ride in one of these!

Wordless Wednesday – Universiti Malaysia Sarawak

Teochew People Have Balls

When you walk around Fa Yuen Street at Mongkok, you'll find this signboard that says: "Lok Yuen King of Beef Balls" with the smaller print saying "authentic Teochew food."

This shop which is located at 11, Fa Yuen Street is well-known for the meat and fish balls.

They even have to emphasise on the menu that all the balls are made by a Teochew master chef.

There are not many tables in the shop, but most of the customers come here for the takeaways.

Since I couldn't make up my mind on what balls to have, so the best thing was to try a bit of everything. The bowl of noodles I ordered came with three beef balls, a pork ball, a fish ball and another hairy ball beyond identification.

This placed is famed for its 'exploding' balls, so we ordered some to see how the explosion is like. Nee actually got the explosion 'debris' on her face and her hair! Inside every exploding ball, there is a small cube of fish mold surrounded with soup.

Eventually, we didn't stop at just balls. We walloped a full plate of deep-fired fish skins too!