myhktrips.com- My Adventures Through Hong Kong and Mainland China

China Runs on Dunkin?

branhow — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:19:01 +0000

Yesterday I was coming back from a productive jog in Shenzhen and we stumbled across a Dunkin Donuts! I thought the sign alone was cool in Chinese, but my friends insisted on us stopping. When we walked inside, I asked one of the girls behind the counter how long they had been opened and she told me it was their third week. So I am not sure if Dunkin is a new concept in the area or if its been in China for a while and we just happened to see the first one that we have seen in Shenzhen.

If they had a mug with this logo on it, I probably would have purchased it! I really like Dunkin Donuts in the US and to see it in China was kind of having a little piece of the United States over here.

This is a Red Bean Donut and it was absolutely delicious! A lot of my friends (westerners) do not like Red Bean, but if it is done right, I really like eating Red Bean. They also had a Green Tea flavored donut.

The last thing I wanted to share are these interesting little donuts! I do not usually go into Dunkin in the US, because there is a drive thru, but I have never seen donuts like this before! They have the donut holes on the outside! So this may not be new to Dunkin and since I do not go in often, I have just never seen them. But either way I still think this is a little funny.That is all for now, I am off for a morning run!

Cafe de Coral

branhow — Mon, 14 May 2012 00:48:29 +0000

Well everything is going well here in Hong Kong! We are doing A LOT and working up quite an appetite! Cafe de Coral I think is a Hong Kong chain and it is one of the more popular chain of restaurants here. Everywhere I turn I see them, whether it is in Central, off King’s Road or even during my trip to the New Territories. Cafe de Coral is not really 100% Cantonese food, but they do have some dishes that are Cantonese inspired! A lot of the food has a west meets east kind of flair.

The atmosphere is very nice, even with it being crowded for lunch time! I have never been a picky kind of guy when it comes to food! So wherever I see a long line, well that is the place to stop right? I have been to Hong Kong three times now, but I am no where near being as familiar with the territory as the locals. Plus Hong Kong is always rapidly changing, so it may even be difficult for the locals to find a particular shop or restaurant.

This right here was a chicken curry dish, which was amazing! Curry is one of my favorite foods, so when in doubt with the menu, CHOOSE CURRY! lol But why am I talking about food instead of my travels? Well nutrition is good for the soul and the body! Also getting fed is important to anyone’s travels.

Delivery!

branhow — Fri, 11 May 2012 23:48:37 +0000

I had a friend once tell me (in Hong Kong) that restaurants are different depending on the location, particularly in taste! He said “Brandon, I think the pickles are sweeter here at the Hong Kong McDonald’s as opposed to the United States” or something to that affect. I told him that I thought it was all in his head! There are some places like Pizza Hut that have different dishes that would not be served in the United States, like Chicken curry pizza, but for the most part McDonald’s is the same in taste. But one thing I can say that is different is in Hong Kong they deliver! I was riding in an elevator and took a quick snapshot before the delivery girl noticed. I saw her little delivery bag and I thought it was so cool!

Anyways on to a more serious topic! This is the last picture I was able to get with my camera… The camera I just purchased last week in the United States at Cash Converters just stopped working yesterday. I was trying to take pictures in Mongkok, but it was no use. Needless to say, once I get back, I am going to have a long talk with them in why they sold me a defective productive. So I am going to have to dip into my savings account and buy a camera here in Hong Kong. Most things in Hong Kong are much cheaper than in the United States, but that being said, electronics and apartments are much more expensive in Hong Kong. I hear people say well there is no sales tax in Hong Kong, therefore it must be cheaper. Well even with sales tax in the United States, cameras are MUCH more inexpensive compared to Hong Kong.

I also wanted to mention our team’s success in the marathons! We have had three successful runs out of four! Our Coach is giving us pointers and it is going great!

Finally, Hong Kong!

branhow — Wed, 09 May 2012 12:56:58 +0000

So after a two hour flight from Raleigh, North Carolina to Toronto and then a sixteen hour flight from Toronto to Hong Kong, I’m finally back! This is the first time I have been back to Hong Kong in three years and just coming back brought up so many memories. Hong Kong smelled the same! Has the same beautiful mountains that populate the territory. It is also still a very busy city! I arrived in Hong Kong about 3PM or 3 AM EST. After meeting with all of my “friends”, I thought it was necessary to drop by and purchase a phone card and some groceries! I wanted to give a quick update before I go to sleep! I am exhausted from the plane ride. To help get over my jet lag, I thought it would be better to get as little sleep as possible. That was a lot harder than I thought it would be, but then again, we were on a plane.

Keeping in Touch for CHEAP!

branhow — Sat, 05 May 2012 00:26:39 +0000

The number one bummer about traveling is leaving family, friends, and other loved ones behind. Well that no longer has to be a problem, especially for the modern traveler. I remember I spent a considerable amount of money just trying to keep in touch with my mom and sister when I traveled to Hong Kong back in 2009, needless to say it was rather expensive. When I traveled to Mainland China back in 2010, I did not spend as much because I began figuring out ways of saving money.

Ignore the Facebook app because unfortunately Facebook is blocked most of the time in Mainland China. I know you can use proxies to get around that kind of stuff, but I am not sure how to do it on a mobile device. But lets look at the other apps like Qingwen. I have actually recommended this app before on my blog, its an amazing dictionary that can even look up a Chinese word by writing the Chinese word! So if you cannot pronounce the word, this is an excellent app for those studying Chinese or traveling to China.

The last apps are the most important and what this blog entry is really all about. My mom is the least bit techie, but she is definitely getting more sophisticated. She still has some trouble, so with the Google Voice app, I will be able to send FREE text messages and she will not even noticed the difference. I have a friend in Guatemala who is currently using GV, so I am pretty sure it should work in China. Plus the other benefit is my friends can continue to text my number and not have to pay the International SMS fee. For those of my friends who are outside the USA that I keep in touch with, I have Kakaotalk which is my new favorite SMS app. The only downside is that your friend needs to have this app on their phone also. iMessages and Line are also very nice, but I rarely use them anymore since most of my friends I can use either GV or KakaoTalk.

I also want to say the Skype app is absolutely a life saver! I am going to put a $10 credit on my account and use it to contact my family and friends. Internet is somewhat iffy in China, especially ones that are OPEN networks. A lot of these networks are set up explicitly to store your private information, so please use some good judgement. The last thing I would like to add is that I am not bringing my iPod this trip, I am trying to minimize what I bring and I will just be bringing my Android phone (Nexus One) which has all of these apps except iMessages and the Qingwen dictionary. Instead of Qingwen I use a program called Han Dictionary which is not as good, but still useful. So utilize these tips and you can save a butt load of money on your next trip to China/ Hong Kong or where ever your path leads you!

P.S.- For my readers outside the US, unfortunately GV is only available to US numbers. Sorry

Dual SIM Phone

branhow — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:58:43 +0000

I am the proud owner of a Google Nexus One and I have been really loving my new phone. But when it comes to my travels in Hong Kong/ China, I highly recommend a dual SIM phone. This phone is nothing fancy, but it gets the job done. This being said, some of you may be asking why do you recommend a dual SIM phone?! The answer is simple, even though Hong Kong is part of China, they treat one another almost like separate countries! By this I mean there is the Hong Kong dollar (HKD) and the Mainland uses the Yuan (RMB), there is an immigration to travel out of Hong Kong into China required for both Mainlanders and Hong Kongers to travel back and forth. The same can be said for cell phone coverage, it is rather expensive for you to roam in one of those destinations. If you have a Hong Kong SIM card, I would not recommend using it on the Mainland and for those coming to Hong Kong with a Mainland SIM, I would also not recommend using it in Hong Kong. It will roam whether your in Hong Kong or China, but the balance on your phone will be run up quickly. Therefore I recommend having a local SIM for whatever destination you are planning on traveling to.

I myself travel back and forth from Hong Kong and Shenzhen a lot for a multiple of reasons. So instead of having to switch my SIM card out back and forth, a dual SIM phone makes things easier. The second thing that is necessary is an unlocked quad-band phone. Hong Kong and Mainland China use different cell frequencies and to make sure your phone operates at optimum levels, I think it would just be easier to have a quad-band phone. If your traveling from Hong Kong to Shenzhen, there is a conveniently located China Mobile shop downstairs immediately to your left after leaving immigration (in Luo Hu).

I have had a $50 HKD balance on my PCCW card when entering Shenzhen and answered a call from Hong Kong, which within five minutes, it almost ate my entire balance! So it is of extreme importance to purchase separate cards for each destination. The final tip I would like to share is if you dial 1259300852 before you dial a Hong Kong number in China, you will actually save money on your call in Shenzhen. I haven’t been to Hong Kong in several years, but last time I was there, this worked when I had a People’s (Hong Kong China Mobile) SIM Card.

I bought this phone unlocked on Amazon for about $50 USD. The model is a Unnecto U-100-2NA-ECO, it is also known as the Unnecto Eco. It is nothing fancy, but it will definitely get the job done! Plus if I get pick pocketed in Shenzhen, I won’t be as upset loosing this phone as I would be loosing my Nexus One!

Music Recommendation

branhow — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:14:23 +0000

No offense to my friends in China or Hong Kong, but I think Taiwan has the best Chinese music! I have detoured from my old tastes in music (mostly heavy rock or screamo type music) and now I listen to a lot of Jazz, Pop, Rock and Tencho sounding music. Anyways my favorite Taiwanese group by far is Da Mouth (大嘴巴). I embedded a new music video from their soon to be released album ‘influəns. I am guessing you would pronounce it like Influence. YesAsia.com is speculating the release to be April 27, 2012. YesAsia is typically pretty good with announcing the correct release date. I discovered Da Mouth a couple years ago and I have been a fan ever since. I have a couple of their albums and I plan on picking up this latest one in Hong Kong this May. Hopefully it will be cheaper in Hong Kong or Mainland China than ordering it online! Anyways I hope you enjoy the music recommendation! I am including a link to their Wikipedia Page if you are interested in investigating a little more about the group.

Wikipedia Article on Da Mouth

Korean Artists Singing More Chinese

branhow — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 22:27:35 +0000

K-Pop is becoming more and more popular. I remember just about a month ago when I was in Greensboro at the United Nations Conference in Greensboro, North Carolina, I was speaking with several people from around North Carolina. As we were talking, we came to the discussion of K-Pop and to my surprise a lot of the people who I was chatting with in the conversation were interested in K-Pop. I often joke about how K-Pop has destroyed my taste in music because I used to listen to a lot of heavy rock music or just a lot of rock in general. The amazing thing about this is that the Korean population is relatively smaller in comparison to other global languages, such as English speakers or French speakers. I myself love Korean and I have been independently studying Korean on and off for several years. But as K-Pop continues to reach a global audience, these Korean singers/ bands will continue to find ways of differentiating themselves across the globe. The more commonly spoken language either sung partially or entirely by K-Pop singers other than Korean would be English, except many bands are branching out into the Chinese market.

My Chinese is much better than my Korean and when I discovered this group, I was actually surprised at their pronunciation. Some other groups have tried singing in Chinese and I have been appalled by their proficiency! The two that more recently come to mind are the Wonder Girls and Avril Lavigne (yes she is not Korean). As China continues to become a economic hub for the world, more talent will be focusing its attention to the yuppies of China. As I was watching these two renditions playing, this was mostly what I was thinking about. My only prayer is that the people of China will be able to experience more personal freedoms, especially of expression and religion.

Chinglish

branhow — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 03:21:29 +0000

The topic of Chinglish has been pretty popular lately on two radio broadcasting services, more specifically RTI (Radio Taipei International) and RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong). Well what is Chinglish? Chinglish is not as simple as saying it is English mixed into Chinese. Chinglish is more particularly referring to the incorrect translations that are done from Chinese into English. I have seen some crazy translations in China/ Hong Kong during my travels and I will definitely be keeping my eye out for anymore random translations. I am posting the particular post I was reading on RTI’s blog today. I thought this translation was epic! Please refer to the link for the story. RTI Blog Post The other discussion about Chinglish that I was referring was on a show on Radio 3 RTHK called Teen Time. I will also link to that story/ radio broadcast! Radio 3 Broadcast- Teen Time

Chinese Lesson 1

branhow — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 03:49:40 +0000

This is the first installment of a new series I want to do here on the internet to help assist those who are learning Chinese. I eventually want to do videos on Korean and Japanese. These videos are to help others but I also think it will be a great help to encourage me to practice! But we are currently using the New Practical Chinese Reader Textbook Vol 1. You can search for it on Amazon. I’ve been using this textbook for a little while. But if you like what you see, please comment or subscribe. Thanks!