Me, Jamie | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong | 48 years living in Hong Kong - I know the culture
… and yes, I am a proud Yorkshireman
The Ultimate Hong Kong Tour Blog
I hate pineapple buns and that’s that
© Jamie Lloyd | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong | 2011 - 2020. All rights reserved. Click on the image to enlarge to full screen
April 5th 2020 | … and after 48 years living in Hong Kong I have earned the right to say this.
Pineapple Buns
Honestly the way people in Hong Kong rave about the iconic pineapple bun you would think it is the greatest single food item in the galaxy and …. I just do not get it.
I am in English terms, a fat git and a fat git that has spent a lifetime eating desserts first, main course after ( my stupidly, irrational way of thinking is that trifle covers all the major food groups!) so in a nutshell I am a connoisseur of desserts, candy, pudding, cake, sweet stuff, afters yada, yada.
I am incredulous that the pineapple bun has been dubbed by the Hong Kong Government no less as one of its 480 intangible cultural heritage items on a list in 2014, quite the accolade for a simple bakery item.
So I have laid down the marker.
First up, the pineapple bun has zero pineapple in it, zero, the term is simply because apparently (I do not see it) the crust looks like a pineapple, my way of thinking is that if it actually had some bloody pineapple in it, it might actually taste a lot better!, the thing here if you have the time to sit in a local cafe and split open the bun and shove a big slab of butter into the bun and then heat the bun to make it warm and soft…. and melt the butter… yuk.
That crust is another issue, as soon as you pick up the darn thing the crust crumbles into a million pieces, it is extraordinarily messy, the crumbs stick to your fingers, your clothes and end up in places you can’t talk about in polite company…. and if you wonder why cockroaches are fat and 4 inches long here it is because they gorge on pineapple bun crumbs… it also helps explain why a lot of people eat them out of plastic bags whilst scoffing them in the streets.
Bland, yes this is word that best describes them from my point of view, they are only slightly sweeter than a standard bread roll, there are plenty of other bakery products in Hong Kong that are much better, not least of which is the egg tart which I love by the way, egg tart vs pineapple bun, no contest and yes, the egg tarts also crumble as only a tart can but they are so delicious by comparison.
…. and my friend Amy sent me this article on Japanese Melon Pan which is their equivalent to the Pineapple bun.. listen………………. that’s the sound of me shaking my head in wonderment.
Finally, my all time favourite local dessert is mango pudding which MUST be served with a cherry on top and carnation milk, simply awesome, I could actually live on mango pudding.
Next time you want to eat a pineapple bun, go instead to the food hall at Marks & Spencers, they have some awesome takeaway desserts or buy 6 egg tarts from the Tai Cheong Bakery and pork out and feel terribly guilty afterwards.
ps. now you know why I don’t do food tours
ps 2. I am also aware that 99% of the population in Hong Kong will disagree with my opinion and they would probably point out that chicken feet are iconic as well
The Ultimate Hong Kong Tour Blog
The curse of being Diabetic
…. and I blame egg tarts & mango pudding
© Jamie Lloyd | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong | 2011 - 2020. All rights reserved. Click on the image to enlarge to full screen
April 5th 2020 | Hong Kong Medical Stuff - Insulin vials
…. and I am sticking with the image I posted yesterday, I cannot blame pineapple buns for this, but egg tarts and mango pudding boys and girls.. pork out on them and this is the punishment.
Jamie | Maximum Dosage, 2 injections daily of Insulin, this is about 5 years worth of empty vials + I also inject another Diabetes drug daily and pop a bunch of Diabetes pills daily, it is a drag.
The good news… it is free under the Hong Kong Government Healthcare System.
The Ultimate Hong Kong Tour Blog
Guess who wins the Girl!
© Jamie Lloyd | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong | 2011 - 2020. All rights reserved. Click on the image to enlarge to full screen
April 5th 2020 | Motorbike vs Bike
As a very amateur photographer I have learned 2 big things
always have your camera with you, always (and yes, I do)
virtually all my good pictures are down to blind luck and yes, having my camera with me.
This is one of those moments, I was crossing Salisbury Road to go to the iconic Peninsula Hotel to use their facilities and people watch in the lobby… the lights turned red in the middle of the road and a chap on an awesome Japanese motorbike screams to a halt, followed by the chap on the bicycle 10 seconds later, they looked at each other and nodded.
Put it in another way, the chap on the bicycle will never get the girl but motorbike guy probably will.
When the lights changed the motorbike was half a mile down the road before bicycle guy got his feet onto the pedals.
The Ultimate Hong Kong Tour Blog
The Che Kung Temple, Shatin, Hong Kong
© Jamie Lloyd | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong | 2011 - 2020. All rights reserved. Click on the image to enlarge to full screen
April 5th 2020 | Visit Hong Kong | Che Kung Temple, Shatin, Hong Kong est. 1890 (ish)
I know the feeling and I love to photograph these kinds of Gods and Deities and such.
The Che Kung Temple is a popular Temple, appears in the newspapers 2 or 3 times a year particularly at Chinese New Year but it requires a bit of an effort to get there, it is NOT in a convenient location.
... and like many Hong Kong Temples, the actual opening day of the Che Kung Temple is shrouded in mystery, secrecy, conjecture and such particularly if the claimed opening was prior to 1841. In this case it might have been 1890 or 200 years earlier!
Hong Kong has over 750 Temples (ish) and I have visited many of them and doing what I do I have to choose one Temple to visit when I do a Private Tour of Hong Kong... and I choose not to visit the Che Kung Temple unless it is a special request (and yes it has happened), I much prefer to visit the Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple in Kowloon for any number of reasons, the main one being is that it is a much more comprehensive insight into Hong Kong Culture.
Within walking distance of the Temple is the Hong Kong Heritage Museum which for me is known for the Bruce Lee Exhibition which is well worth the effort so you can kill two birds with one stone but timing is a major factor, if you only have one or two days in Hong Kong it is not going to work.
Please be aware that the Bruce Lee Exhibition will end at the Heritage Museum on July 20th 2020 although it might actually be extended again, it has been running since 2013. Visit the Museum website for details.
The Ultimate Hong Kong Tour Blog
Plastic wrap seat cover in a Bentley
© Jamie Lloyd | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong | 2011 - 2020. All rights reserved. Click on the image to enlarge to full screen
April 5th 2020 | a very Hong Kong thing to do after buying a Bentley
Things to do | rich family in Hong Kong
go to the Bentley showroom (the whole family) and have a test drive in one of the top end models ie the Bentley Mulsanne extended wheelbase
spend close to US$1 Million on the car including the first registration tax
hire a chauffeur
spend another US$100,000 on a very lucky number plate
wrap the drivers seat in plastic wrap
Only in Hong Kong.
The Ultimate Hong Kong Tour Blog
The Cars of Hong Kong
© Jamie Lloyd | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong | 2011 - 2020. All rights reserved. Click on the image to enlarge to full screen
Koennigsegg Agera S
© Jamie Lloyd | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong | 2011 - 2020. All rights reserved. Click on the image to enlarge to full screen
McLaren - NC 619
© Jamie Lloyd | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong | 2011 - 2020. All rights reserved. Click on the image to enlarge to full screen
Mercedes Benz - LY 666
© Jamie Lloyd | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong | 2011 - 2020. All rights reserved. Click on the image to enlarge to full screen
Rolls Royce - BEATLES
© Jamie Lloyd | J3 Private Tours Hong Kong | 2011 - 2020. All rights reserved. Click on the image to enlarge to full screen
Toyota - KS 5
This is NOT how I do tours! There are NO flags, whistles, stickers or large groups!
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