The end of the semester is almost here! Classes end in two weeks, which means I have a million group projects and papers due. Because of this, I haven't ventured out of room much recently. Luckily, Kennedy Town has tons of eateries, which means I don't need to go far to fuel up for studying! These are my favorite places to get a quick meal in Kennedy Town. Bao Dim Gui Yan If you want dim sum, but don't have time to gather a few friends and sit down for a meal, this is the place for you. I would compare it to Chun Wah Kam, but with more traditional dim sum offerings. I would recommend going earlier in the day rather than at night if you want steamed buns, because the buns do get a little stale, but they're delicious regardless. The most challenging part of ordering here is that they don't speak English and the menus are entirely in Chinese. But do not fear! Pointing at what you want works really well, and you can always Google a few dim sum names (like char siu bau for a steamed manapua). My favorites are char siu bau and ham sui gok - a deep fried mochi ball with a meat filling. North Viet Pho This is the best pho in Kenedy town, in my opinion. With both lunch and dinner sets you can get a lot of bang for your buck here. The pho is tasty and filling, and there are lots of options aside from pho if you feel like eating other types of Vietnamese food. They also make a frozen lychee drink that I highly recommend, especially in the hot and humid months! This restaurant does not do take out, as far as I'm aware, but you can order online through food delivery apps if you don't feel like dining in! It's like an upscale Bale - hard to dislike that! St. Lolan If you want fast and cheap baked goods, look no further. St Lolan is the cheapest bakery in Kennedy Town and is less westernized than the other options. You'll find Hong Kong's iconic pineapple buns (with or without a slab of butter in the middle), baked manapua with a variety of fillings, cakes, muffins, and lots of other snacks. Most baked goods are around 7 HKD, which is less than $1 USD! If you go around lunchtime, they offer mini versions of their baked manapua, so you can try many different types without getting too full. Some things to be aware of: they only accept cash and they're closed on Sundays. Bafang Dumpling I LOVE Bafang Dumpling. Their dumplings are really delicious and affordable - around $5 USD for a meal (10 dumplings + soup or a drink) or $2 USD for 5 dumplings. My favorites are the pan-fried vegetable and pan-fried pork dumplings. You can also get your dumplings steamed if you prefer that over pan-fried. I've never had a bad meal at Bafang Dumpling. Aside from dumplings, they also sell drinks. They have milk tea, soybean milk, and passionfruit iced tea, with the option to add boba or jelly (or both). I frequently stop by Bafang just to get passionfruit iced tea with jelly because it's less than $2 USD and is the perfect pick-me-up. Sweet Dreamer Dessert Dessert shops are really popular in Hong Kong, so every town will likely have multiple. Kennedy Town is no exception. The dessert shop that never disappoints here is Sweet Dreamer Dessert. Their desserts are beautiful - more like works of art than food - and affordable compared to other dessert shops. They have tons of different options to choose from, including lava cake, fancy banana splits and sundaes, waffles, and traditional Asian desserts. Many of their western desserts are paired with frozen yogurt rather than ice cream, so it feels a little healthier (even though it probably isn't). I think Sweet Dreamer Dessert is definitely worth a visit - you'll go for an Instagram photo and stay because it actually tastes as good as it looks. Winston's Coffee First things first - coffee is pretty expensive in Hong Kong compared to the US. If you're going to pay more, you might as well get high quality coffee at a place like Winson's. Winston's is an adorable coffee shop that transitions into a bar at night. While I can't speak to their alcoholic drinks, their coffee blows Starbucks out of the water in my opinion but costs around the same price. My go-to is their mocha latte, truly one of the best mochas I've ever had. When I first got it I thought the serving seemed really small, however for such a small cup it really packs a punch. If you like Morning Glass coffee in Manoa, you'll love Winston's. Bento Express When I'm knee deep in work, all I want to do is walk down the road, pick up something filling, and take it back to my room. Bento Express is my go-to on days like that. It's very similar to Aja bento, like the one in UH's campus center. I find the meat and rice combos to be comforting and I always know what to expect from them. They also have tons of sushi trays available and a few varieties of hand-rolls and musubis. The best part about Bento Express is how affordable it is - most bentos are around $5, which I think is a total steal. A-1 Bakery While A-1 Bakery's products are around twice the price of St. Lolan's, I think that they are totally worth the money. A-1 Bakery creates more Western and Japanese baked goods. It reminds me a lot of Brug bakery at home in terms of product offerings. I've loved everything that I've tried from A-1 Bakery so far. One of my favorite things to do when I need a little break is to buy one of their bread products and eat it at a bench down by the waterside (right down the road from the bakery). Two of my favorite things from A-1 Bakery are their cinnamon roll and their soft pretzel. For a perfect breakfast, you can walk down to Winston's coffee to grab a drink then stop into A-1 Bakery to pair it with a fat cinnamon roll! If you're more of an instant ramen type of student... Let me introduce you to one of my new favorite foods. It may sound strange but trust me, once you try it you will never turn back to regular old cup-of-noodle. This isn't just any type of instant ramen, this is cheesy instant ramen!!! Imagine the cheese powder from Kraft's microwavable mac-n-cheese. Now imagine if you combined that with the typical instant ramen seasoning, then added it to noodles (the water gets strained out beforehand). The result is a meal that is somehow both nostalgic and new at the same time. It's truly addicting, I could easily eat this everyday without complaint. You can buy this at any grocery store around town, often for a discount if you are willing to buy it in 3's. How could anyone not love this ingenious combo!
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Transportation to the airport aside, I had amazing time exploring Seoul! Seoul is such a beautiful city, especially as the leaves began to turn colors for autumn. Below are a few highlights from my trip! meerkat cafe
Imagine a petting zoo with really cute, small animals. Now imagine that petting zoo inside of a cafe setting. That's essentially what the Meerkat cafe in Hongdae was like. When I first heard about it, and about animal cafes in general, I pictured them being regular cafes with a few animals roaming around that you could pet. While the Meerkat Cafe lived up to the animal end of my expectations, they didn't really serve any food or drinks beyond bottled beverages. There are a lot of different animal cafes in Korea; we chose to visit the Meerkat Cafe because we thought that it was more unique than the usual dog or cat cafe. It was definitely an experience I will never forget. They had the cutest racoon that did tricks and would climb on top of visitors for treats. They also had adorable wallabies that they let us feed. Of course there were meerkats, as in the cafes name, but they were far less cute than I expected. While they look sweet from afar, they can be pretty vicious! More often, they simply don't care much about people. I would recommend visiting an animal cafe in Korea (or other parts of Asia, as they're popular in Japan as well) at least once. If nothing else, you'll get some great pictures out of it!
museums
The National Museum of Korea contains artifacts from Pre-historic times through the early 1900s . If you want to learn about the history of the Korean Pennisula then the museum is a must-see. Admission is free, as are guided tours! I highly recommend a guided tour, as the museum was really overwhelming without one. We were able to join an English tour and it really added to our experience at the museum. The docent showed us pieces he felt were most significant to Korea's history and told us about the stories behind them. I felt like I learned a lot more on the tour than I would have on my own because the plaques in the museum don't explain much about the background of many pieces. The museum has many artifacts that are considered to be "national treasures", including the Pensive Bodhisattva, Full Moon Jar, and Silla Gold Crown.
I think that anyone who enjoys art will enjoy this museum. You can't take pictures of the pieces, which was actually a nice change because it forces you to focus more on the actual pieces than on getting a good photo of them. If you want to learn more about the history or meaning behind pieces, you can rent a Samsung device that acts as a guided tour. gyeongbokgung palace
You can't visit Seoul without visiting Gyeongbokgung Palace. The palace was built in 1395, during the Joseon Dynasty. However, the palace that you get to visit today was actually reconstructed in the late 20th-early 21st century after being destroyed by the Japanese twice. What surprised me most about the palace was how huge it is! There were tons of buildings, each with their own purpose, along with walled villages within the palace grounds. We only spent a few hours here, but you could easily spend an entire day traversing through the palace. There are other palaces within walking distance of Gyongbokgung as well as an old Hanok village. If you dress up in a hanbok, which you can rent from multiple shops outside the palaces, you get your admission fees waived! I would recommend dressing up because it makes the experience even more fun. It really feels like you've gone back in time. A lot of people asked us to take photos with them because we were some of the only westerners in hanboks. I think visiting the palaces was probably my favorite part of the trip!
Historical sites
Jongmyo Shrine is a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site, and for good reason. You can only enter through guided tours on weekdays and Sundays, but are allowed to peruse the grounds on your own on Saturdays. I really enjoyed the guided tour because I learned a lot about the Confucian influence in Korea and about the purpose of the shrine. The shrine is used to honor the deceased kings and queens of the Joseon Dynasty. The spirit tablets of the deceased rulers are housed in the shrine, only brought out during the annual Royal Ancestral Rite. Like the palace, the shrine was built in the late 14th century but destroyed by the Japanese in the 16th century. It was rebuilt less than a century later. Although the shrine was relatively plain compared to the palaces, it was amazing to see how well preserved the buildings were and how you could feel that it was a sacred place.
food finds
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Emily BallBorn and raised in Aiea, HI, traveling to Hong Kong to study Human Resource Administration. Archives
January 2019
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