Deember 22, 2010
I had a very productive morning. Slept in. Didn't blog. Again.
Total success? Absolutely.
I didn't even get to my first event of the day until 1:30 PM... or really 2:30 considering we got in line BUT IT DIDN'T START UNTIL 2:30!
What was it that Mary stood in line for an hour for? What could be so could?
Well! Tea at the Peninsula Hotel! And not just any tea, but their special Christmas tea, which included a slightly altered menu and a choir that was actually quite good. Of course, the hotel, in typical Hong Kong fashion, was totally decked out for Christmas.
And there was so much food! I made it my goal to try everything on the triple (or was it quadruple?) tiered plate. It was truly a battle of the highest order - one of epic proportion. I just barely made it, and even then I had to eat it over the course of 2 hours. Luckily for me - and this is something I love about HK - meals are an event; you take as long as you want and no one thinks of bringing you the check before you ask for it. It's like they don't want to imply that you should leave if you aren't ready; it's very nice actually.
The menu included: NOMs. Many many NOMs. Aka:
- Selection of Finger Sandwiches:
~ Balik Salmon on Buckwheat Pancake
~ Smoked Turkey and Truffle Cream in Focaccia
~ Marinated Cucumber and Cress in Whole Grain Bread
- Savoury Jalousie
- Goose Liver and Candied Walnut Quiche
- Raisin and/or Plain Scones with Devonshire Clotted Cream and Strawberry Jam
- Assorted Dessert Noms:
~ Chestnut and Cassis Yule Log
~ Festive Macaroons
~ Christmas Cookies
~ Pistachio and Cherry Almond Cake
~ Salted Caramel Mousse with Poached Pear
~ Chocolate Cinnamon Truffle
- Selection of Teas: Jasmine, Pu Er, Rose, Ti Guan Yin, Assam, Darjeeling, Earl Grey,
Peninsula Afternoon, Peninsula Breakfast, Almond, Caramel, Cinnamon, Mango,
Passionfruit, peach, raspberry, or rose. I went with the Ti Guan Yin, which was quite
good. And for those dipshit Americans who won't get with the setting, they also offer
coffee upon request.
Suffice to say, it was awesome. Expensive - If you go outside the front door there are Bentleys and shit parked out there. - but totally worth it. I loved it, but then again, I would have afternoon tea every day if I could.
After tea, we immediately went back to the hotel, though we didn't get there until like 5 PM. It was at this time that we split apart for the evening. While I chilled out at the hotel, they went to the final fitting for my dad's suit and then went on a harbor cruise (which they said was great, btw).
Eventually, I went on a quest to the Temple Street night market. Before you go, "AGAIN?" let me say that I actually really needed to buy a bag for all the stuff I had bought. Of course, I ended up buying more stuff, too, but I did get a fold up bag!! I don't know why I didn't do this before, but I finally got in on bargaining action and bought some knock off designer bags.
You may go, "Knock offs? That's wrong!" Fuck you. And fuck Jimmy Choo. There is absolutely nothing to justify the prices of most designer stuff. A $4000 purse? Are you shitting me? That's BS! Some people go, "Oh, well it's better quality than that $20 bag from H&M." Maybe, but not by that much. If a bag is better quality but very similar to that $20 bag, you could charge $100 for it. MAX! NOT THOUSANDS! So to you pretentious people waging a crusade against knock offs, I say to you with utmost respect,
Please go fuck yourself.
I also bought a lovely pashmina scarf.
As I walked back to the hotel at 11 PM, surrounded by zillions of people on my last night in the city, I thought about how much I truly love this place.
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