Winner, Winner Hotdog Dinner!!!

Foodie moment

After rave reviews on Trip advisor we set off to have Dim sum at One Dim Sum Chinese Restaurant. Our luck was with us again as we avoided the expected long wait and got the last table in the house. With a great menu in English and pictures of each, we were guaranteed no nasty surprises. We tried some some stuff we hadn't had before but the steamed dumplings were still our favourite with the Chiu Chow style being some of the best dumplings we've ever had!!!

Cultural moment

So up until today, we have been pretty accepting of the cultural differences in Hong Kong, and have been quite comfortable with them. However today we stumbled across some not so nice things in the Mong Kok markets. Firstly, we walked through a wet market just out of curiosity and what we saw could only be describe as fish hell! It wasn't the butchering of fish and blood and guts on display that was unsettling, it was the live tanks that got us. Fish are kept alive on display packed in little tanks, some floating upside dead, others looking stressed out of their minds, some of them even jumping out onto the floors trying to escape. We also went to Gold Fish Street, which is a stretch of road lined with pet shops, each showing on display live fish kept in plastic bags much too small to be anything other than torture, some had multiple fish in them and fish MUCH bigger than a goldfish! The bird market with hundreds of birds kept in tiny cages for sale was no better. We know this is a way of life for people here, and its not up to us to judge the morals and ethical issues of these behaviours, but to us seeing it first hand was disturbing.

Wow moment

Wednesday night is racing night at Happy Valley, and boy did it go off! The grandstands were larger and more modern than i ever imagined, the crowd bigger and more animated. A great mix of Westerners, Chinese tourists and Locals led to a fantastic night. Even though it was more amateur than racing in Melbourne, it still had everything we wanted, and all for $10HK ($1.20AU) who could complain. Oh yeah, and we picked a winner!! A mix of form guide info and gut instinct - all or nothing - $20HK for the win (Yup high rollers!!), we picked an outside chance and celebrated like we'd just won millions (In truth we just shared a hot dog and got another beer - but oh well, poetic license!!).

What we learnt today

Hong Kong is full of amazing, hidden parks and gardens. Each have aviaries, ponds, waterfalls and free Wifi. They are a great escape from the busy hustle and bustle of the city, yet if you didn't know they were there you would find it hard to believe they existed between the skyscrapers and motorways.