04 Saturday Jan 2014
Posted in Asia, China, Food & Drinks, Hong Kong
Tags
Afternoon Tea, China, Food & Drinks, Hong Kong, Kowloon, Ritz-Carlton, Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, Selfish Year, Selfish Years
The last time Mr. Selfish and I were in Hong Kong, we attempted to go to afternoon tea at the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong in Kowloon, which is the 2nd tallest hotel in the world. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it because we didn’t have a reservation and it was a Saturday. This time around, we reserved window seats for afternoon tea.
03 Friday Jan 2014
Posted in Asia, China, Food & Drinks, Hong Kong
Tags
China, Food & Drinks, Fu Sing Shark Fin Seafood Restaurant, Hong Kong, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Spring Deer Restaurant, Tim Ho Wan
Mr. Selfish and I spent only 36 hours in Hong Kong, and it was a whirlwind of food and lights. We ate dim sum twice and had peking duck once since Mr. Selfish was seriously craving both.
Of course, we went back to Tim Ho Wan for the baked pork buns. They are Mr. Selfish’s favorite, and we haven’t found any better in SF lately.
07 Saturday Sep 2013
Tags
Angkor Wat, China, Downton Abbey, Great Barrier Reef, Highclere Castle, New Zealand, Nha Trang, Russian Tourists, Selfish Year, Selfish Years, Terracotta Warriors, Yellow Eyed Penguins
Mrs. Selfish and I were very fortunate to be able to travel the world (safely!) for a year, seeing and doing things we would otherwise never do. While the majority of the trip was amazing, we had more than our fair shares of letdowns.
Whether we went in with inflated expectations, or the experience really wasn’t that worth doing, there were things that just didn’t live up to their reputations.
For your consideration, I present you our 10 biggest letdowns (in no particular order). The first image is what I imagined the experience would be (thanks to the magic of the internet) and the second is reality.
Enjoy!
Imagination: Sunrise over mystical Angkor Wat. Peaceful. Tranquil.
Reality: Shoving your way through throngs of tourists to catch a shot of overcast ruins at 5:00am in the morning.
Siem Reap, and Angkor Wat are awe-inspiringly awesome and totally worth doing. That being said, catching the sunrise was one of the most touristy experiences of our entire trip. We woke up at 4:30am to hit Angkor Wat along with what seemed like 1000 other people. Totally packed, and not that sanguine – definitely not what I was picturing.
Imagination: Strolling the grounds of Downton Abbey with Maggie Smith on a perfect day.
Reality: Rainy weather most of the time. Plus they rent it out for weddings. Wha-wha.
While we still had a blast at “Downton Abbey,” Highclere Castle is actually quite different from what you’d hope. The Castle is used to shoot the show mostly during the summer, and is open to the public for a few (hotly visited) months. The inside is peppered with familiar rooms, but it’s full of family skiing photos from the 80’s. Plus the duchess of Highclere will try and sell you her book on the REAL Downton Abbey in the gift shop. Classy.
16 Thursday May 2013
Tags
While planning our trip to China, Mrs. Selfish and I determined that a trip to the Great Wall was mandatory. I mean, how could you go to China and not visit the Great Wall, especially if you’re staying in Beijing?
After a little research we discovered that there are numerous sections of the Great Wall ripe for visiting, all in various states of disrepair. From Datong we could have visited a dilapidated section of the wall – it’s bricks stolen by local farmers to use as building materials – but the more famous sections are near Beijing.
The Great Wall is big business for the Chinese government, so sections near Beijing have been restored to match what they would have looked like back in the day. Instead of holding back throngs of Mongul hoards, however, many sections of the Wall now house throngs of Chinese tourists and hoards of Chinese merchants hawking crappy t-shirts and calendars.
With that in mind, Mrs. Selfish and I quickly settled on the Jingshanling section of the wall – and while we did spot a few hawkers, the wall was blissfully empty for the 6 hours we hiked its heights.
15 Wednesday May 2013
Posted in Asia, Beijing, China, Food & Drinks
Tags
Asia, Beijing, Beijing Duck, China, Duck de Chine, Food & Drinks, Made in China, Peking Duck, Selfish Years
While doing yoga in Hoi An, Mr. Selfish and I ran into an American couple who were living in China. We immediately asked them for recommendations, and they told us that we had to go to Made in China for peking duck in Beijing. It turns out that Made in China is quite well known for its peking duck.
On our first night in Beijing, we headed to its location at the Grand Hyatt Hotel (1 Dong Chang’an Jie). Unfortunately, even though we had a reservation, the hostess informed us that there were no tables available and that we would have to wait. After wandering the lobby for a while, we returned and were given a table all the way in the back of the restaurant.
13 Monday May 2013
Tags
Asia, Beijing, China, Lama Temple, Selfish Years, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Yonghe Temple
Mr. Selfish and I spent only four nights in Beijing, and it was barely enough time to see all of the sights we wanted to see. Beijing certainly has a lot to offer in terms of sightseeing (certainly more than Shanghai).
First, we visited the Lama Temple (aka Yonghe Temple), which is the only Tibetan temple or monastery we’ve ever visited. It is apparently one of the largest and most important Tibetan monasteries in the world. It was beautiful and had a different feel compared to other temples we’ve seen.
12 Sunday May 2013
Tags
Asia, Beijing, China, Emperor Hotel, Forbidden City, Forbidden Palace, Jingshan Park, Selfish Years, The Emperor Hotel, Yin Bar
The first thing that Mr. Selfish and I did in Beijing was visit the Forbidden City. We had high expectations for the grandeur of the palace. Although we were there during the middle of a weekday, it was still packed with hoards of tour groups.
10 Friday May 2013
The city of Datong itself is currently under massive renovation and improvement. Mr. Selfish and I had our driver look for an ATM to withdraw some yuan, and we had great difficulty finding one. Most of the large banks in China had already set up locations but the ATMs inside were not yet functional. As I’ve stated previously, Datong is slowly but surely setting itself up to be a big tourist destination.
The Hanging Monastery and the Yungang Grottoes are reasons alone enough to visit Datong. Unfortunately, we didn’t find the other attractions in Datong that notable.
First, the other primary attraction is the Yīngxiàn Wooden Pagoda, which is about a two-hour drive from the Hanging Monastery. Built in 1056, it is the oldest and tallest wooden structure in China. However, due to its age, you can’t climb the pagoda but can only visit the ground floor. The pagoda has a Buddhist temple behind it with some interesting looking statues. Mr. Selfish and I only spent about half an hour at the Yīngxiàn Wooden Pagoda, so I don’t think it was worth the two-hour drive or the 60 yuan per person admission.
09 Thursday May 2013
Tags
As I went over yesterday, Datong is certainly a worthwhile destination if you are visiting China. Aside from Beijing, Mr. Selfish and I enjoyed Datong’s attractions the most, particularly the Hanging Monastery. The other primary attraction near Datong is the Yungang Grottoes, which are ancient Chinese Buddhist grottoes. Admission was 150 yuan per person, which was completely worth it.
The Yungang Grottoes has 252 grottoes with more than 51,000 Buddha statues. Some of the grottoes date back to the year 465 AD. You can’t visit all of the grottoes but it was still awe inspiring to see the ones that we could. The grottoes are, of course, in varying states of disrepair but the better preserved ones were Caves No. 5 and 6.
08 Wednesday May 2013
Tags
Shortly after Mr. Selfish and I had planned our trip to China, we started hearing reports of the horrible pollution in Beijing. Initially, we had wanted to spend an entire week there, but we decided to shorten it to four days. We had an extra three days and chose to visit Datong, which is a smaller city in the Shanxi province northwest of Beijing.
Most people in the States have never heard of Datong, and the locals we met in China were surprised that we were going there. Two Shanghainese locals even asked us, “Why are you going to Datong?” I now have the answer – because Datong is awesome!
Datong is located close to the Hanging Monastery and the Yungang Grottoes, both of which were the best sights we visited in China (aside from the Great Wall). Yes, they were much better than the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an and even better than holding a baby panda in Chengdu.
The sight that I enjoyed the most was the Hanging Monastery, which is about an hour and a half from Datong by car. It is a temple that was built 246 feet above the ground. Legend has it that the temple was built by one man, a monk named Liao Ran, more than 1,600 years ago.
06 Monday May 2013
Posted in Asia, China, Food & Drinks, Searching for the Best . . ., Shanghai
Tags
Asia, China, Jiajia Steamed Bun, Nanxiang Steamed Buns Restaurant, Selfish Years, Shanghai, Shengjianbao, Soup Dumplings, Xiaolongbao, Yang's Fry-Dumpling, Yuyuan Garden
Ever since my study abroad program in Shanghai in 2002, I’ve been raving to Mr. Selfish about the soup dumplings. We’ve had soup dumplings in New York, California, and Hong Kong, and I never thought that they compared to the ones I had in Shanghai. Mr. Selfish and I therefore went on a search for the best soup dumplings in Shanghai. We had both the steamed dumplings (xiaolongbao) and the fried dumplings (shengjianbao).
First, we went to Nanxiang Steamed Buns Restaurant (20号 Yuyuan New Rd.) at Yuyuan Garden for its well-known xiaolongbao. We visited the restaurant during the mid-afternoon on a Tuesday, and the outside queue was still ridiculously long. I scoped out the inside of the restaurant and discovered that you could order inside even though it was a little more expensive. After looking at the queue outside, Mr. Selfish and I figured that it would be worth it to eat inside the restaurant.
05 Sunday May 2013
Tags
Asia, China, Day Trip, Hangzhou, Leifeng Pagoda, Long Bridge Pagoda, Selfish Years, Shanghai, Su Causeway, West Lake
Aside from Suzhou, Mr. Selfish and I decided to take another day trip to Hangzhou. It is about 100 miles away from Shanghai and is famous for its scenic West Lake. Apparently, there are 10 scenes of West Lake that you are supposed to see. We didn’t look for these 10 scenes. Instead, Mr. Selfish and I basically just walked around the West Lake, which is about 9.3 miles in circumference.
04 Saturday May 2013
Posted in Asia, China, Food & Drinks, Shanghai
Tags
1984 Book Store, Asia, B Real, Banh Mi, China, Egghead Bagels, Food & Drinks, Happy Hour, La Creperie, Morton's, Paulaner-Brauhaus, Selfish Years, Shanghai
From steak sandwiches to bagels to French crepes, Shanghai has it all. Mr. Selfish and I found Shanghai to be quite cosmopolitan in its restaurants. There were all types of food, and it was hard deciding where to eat out. I’ve already been over the delicious hot dogs and beers we had in Shanghai. This post is dedicated to the other non-Chinese food we consumed.
First, we enjoyed the best happy hour in Shanghai at Morton’s (8号 Century Avenue), which is located near the Oriental Pearl Tower. The happy hour is from 5-7pm Monday through Friday and consists of free unlimited filet mignon sandwiches and martinis for 45 yuan.
Mr. Selfish and I sampled the gin martini, chocolate martini, and appletini. We eagerly awaited the waiter with the tray of filet mignon sandwiches to come around. We ended up consuming quite a few sandwiches. They were perfectly cooked, tender, and very filling.
03 Friday May 2013
Although it looks as if Mr. Selfish and I mostly ate in Shanghai, we also did a little bit of sightseeing. The most notable sights were the Jing’an Temple and the Shanghai Museum.
Jing’an Temple (1686 号 Nanjing West Road) is located right outside of the Jing’an Temple metro stop and is very easy to find. It is a Buddhist temple that was built during the Qing Dynasty. Entry was 30 yuan per person, which is a little steep considering that when we visited the main area was under renovation.
02 Thursday May 2013
Posted in Asia, China, Food & Drinks, Shanghai
Tags
Afternoon Tea, Asia, China, Food & Drinks, High Tea, Peninsula, Ritz-Carlton, Selfish Years, Shanghai
When I was in Shanghai in 2002, my friends and I went to afternoon tea at the Ritz-Carlton. I don’t remember much about it but I do recall that it was a swanky affair full of delightful snacks and goodies and a little bit of tea. Since then, I’ve been to several afternoon teas, including the fabulous afternoon tea at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh.
Since we were in Shanghai for two weeks, Mr. Selfish and I figured that we would indulge in a couple of afternoon teas. First, we settled on the Ritz-Carlton since I had been previously. Second, we decided to go to the Peninsula since it is an institution for afternoon tea.
We did the Ritz-Carlton afternoon tea at Pudong (52/F, 8 Shiji Da Dao, near Lujiazui Huan Lu). There are apparently two Ritz-Carltons in Shanghai, and I think I went to the other one in 2002. I didn’t recognize the dining area at all, but it sure was swanky as well. It cost 288 yuan for one afternoon tea set. Mr. Selfish and I purchased an additional pot of tea for 70 yuan.
The Selfish Years 