The whole family traveled this past November as my sister held her banquet wedding for friends and family in Hong Kong. I took the opportunity to visit some places I’ve been bookmarking, and enjoying the extremely pleasant weather in Hong Kong this time of year. We even crossed the border over to Guangdong a few times for some short visits.

Hong Kong - Gold Garden Restaurant | 金園茶餐廳

The first morning in Hong Kong must begin with a traditional breakfast with either a yuenyeung or a milk tea. I had bookmarked this cha chaan teng after watching a Bon Apétit video, and dragged my brother along all the way to Cheung Sha Wan to try their egg tarts. Their egg tarts are fresh out of the oven and usually sells out quickly, and when we arrived we were told the next batch of egg tarts won’t be ready for another 2 hours. We ordered other breakfast items thinking we would have to make our way back later. Halfway through eating we saw an uncle gently pushing a fresh cartload of egg tarts past us to bring to the storefront, and we immediately flagged down the staff to secure us two egg tarts. They were fresh out of the oven and super bouncy!

Hong Kong - Nan Lian Garden & Chi Lin Nunnery | 南蓮園池及志蓮淨苑

The sightseeing continues where I took my brother to Nan Lian Garden and Chi Lin Nunnery. I am always amazed by how quiet and serene this place is in the middle of the bustling city. The garden and nunnery is in the Diamond Hill area away from most touristy spots so there aren’t a whole lot of visitors here on this weekday morning. There are exhibits within the garden and we happened to come across one for ceramics!

Hong Kong - Rainbow Estate | 彩虹邨

Taking my brother here to this IG spot before the demolition and redevelopment projects start. What colorful badminton courts.

Hong Kong - Happy Valley Racecourse | 跑馬地馬場

Horse racing is THE activity to do in Hong Kong, even though I suck at betting (and needs to be reminded of all the rules every time). Interesting fact is that I used to live in Happy Valley and our apartment looks out to a corner of the race course.

Shenzhen | 深圳

Took some day trips to Shenzhen since crossing the border has become so easy and convenient. It’s been the trend since everything is cheaper on the other side of the border.

Hong Kong - Kowloon Walled City Park | 九龍寨城公園

I have heard so much about Kowloon Walled City since the Hong Kong Film Awards Best Picture Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (九龍城寨之圍城) came out, and I have been wanting to visit the Kowloon Walled City Park. Regrettably I have not finished the movie yet but there is a movie set exhibition at the park so we wanted to check it out. The exhibition is free but entry is timed for crowd control, so we explored the rest of the park before checking out the exhibit.

The movie exhibit was actually very cool - it feels like you travelled back in time to the 1980’s.

Guangdong - Shawan Ancient Town | 沙灣古鎮

Took a little overnight trip to my grandparents’ hometown in Shunde (順德) with the family towards the end of our stay. I hadn’t been back since I was a teen and my parents wanted to show us how much the town has developed over the years. The community board of the town organized a whole tour for us, first taking us to an amazing lunch spot which had the best chicken dish, and then to Shawan Ancient Town, an 800-year old town founded in the Song Dynasty. The town is really well preserved and the main street is lined with stalls of different local snacks and treats.