Back from Hong Kong and Shenzen

I have not been in Hong Kong for 16 years! My memory of this city was of something awful with a beautiful secret temple. My current feeling is ... well this is a crazy city. Full of contrasts but much cleaner than expected. the shopping streets (and I am talking about Nathan Road) are a great contrast between lots of lights and old buildings. Shop windows full of everything at the most amazing prices !!! I still regret not buying a Canon 30D at 8000 HK$ (about 820 euros) or a Motorola Razr v31 at 1300 HK$ (about 130 euro) ... and this with almost no bargaining. I was amazed by how clean the shop selling food on the streets were! People being served with gloves!

Food-wise it was a great surprise! The first place we visited was Quarterback near the Ferry stop. We celebrated there my birthday and it was fabulous! Oysters, mussels, king prawns, BBQed squid and little octopuses, lobsters ... really tasty. We have visited also twice the Rainbow restaurant on Lamma island, where we could choose our fish or seafood when still alive! The taste couldn't be fresher despite their large use of garlic sauce with every dish (baby lobsters with garlic sauce, prawns with garlic sauce, scallops in garlic sauce, etc.). The price even more amazing ... about 120 euros for 4 people with lots of fresh fish!! Incredible!



However, the most amazing experience was at the Aqua restaurant and the Aqua bar ... on the 29th and 30th floor of the Peking One building! the view is fantastic! The atmosphere is really great despite the very loud lounge music in it. Food really good despite being european and japanese (in the wrong setting). I had a very tasty stir fry of lobster and mushrooms in a rucola salad as a starter, the main dish was squid ink pasta with sea urchins and the dessert was a carpaccio of pineapple with a honey, truffle and ginger foam ... fantastic! Something I would have never expected ... and some of my friend got a black pizza where the base was colored by means of the squid ink! Great idea to steal!!!

What I did not like in Hong Kong? Soho ... it feels like a dirty place full of mostly westerners.

We also spent a couple of days in Shenzen (China) to visit a couple of companies for our MBA course. We visited Wal Mart ... what a difference from the one in the states and so clean! I was amazed to see how respectful people shop there and by respectful I mean