Strange foods you can find in Hong Kong

Hong Kong can be a minefield of strange smells and even stranger tastes. Below you’ll find a profile of weird Hong Kong foods that are worth trying.

Thousand Year Old Eggs

If you can brave a thousand-year-old egg, you can consider yourself an honorary Hong Konger – these things are potent! They are made from duck or quail eggs buried in a clay, sand and salt mixture for a couple of months.

The shell of the egg turns a browny, black, but it’s the inside where the real surprise awaits. The yolk turns dark green and boasts a powerful smell of, well, eggs that have sat around for a couple of months. The eggs can be picked up whole from street vendors around the city or found sliced up in noodle dishes.

Birds Nest Soup

One of Hong Kong’s most prized delicacies, Bird’s Nest Soup is a gelatinous mix of chicken broth and swiftlet’s (a type of bird) saliva. That’s right, you’re eating swiftlet's spit.

Swiftlets make their nests from saliva and each year, after the bird has left the nest, it’s harvested and added to the soup. Like many things in the city the soup is famed for its health benefits, though environment-minded eaters avoid it because the industry may endanger swiftlet populations.

If you’re still inclined to try some, visit a Cantonese restaurant to order large steaming bowls of bird’s nest soup – then dig in!

Chicken Feet

The Chinese like to say about themselves, “Beijing people dare to say anything, Guangdong [Cantonese] people dare to eat anything, Shanghai people dare to wear anything.” The Cantonese of Hong Kong prove this by turning a rejected part of the chicken into a cherished dim sum dish.

Your biggest obstacle to eating chicken feet is their appearance: these wrinkled, claw like tidbits look like something from a witch’s cauldron. Luckily, they taste better than anything else the wicked witch could cook up, if a little crunchy. Steamed chicken feet are a staple at dim sum restaurants across Hong Kong, one of the most affordable exotic items on this short list.

Chicken Testicles

A favorite at hotpot restaurants in Hong Kong, diners chow down on chicken testicles, or gai zi, for their supposed aphrodisiac properties. “The Chinese – especially Hong Kong Chinese – believe in 'you are what you eat',” the South China Morning Post’s Luisa Tam explains. “So you eat the organ to actually nurture your organ."

Before eating it, dip the gai zi in the hotpot broth; it’s ready when the exterior turns opaque white. The interior remains soft, exploding inside your mouth when you chomp down on the firm exterior. Have them with rice, or noodles and broth.

Turtle Jelly

Turtle jelly, or gwei ling go in Cantonese, is another naughty delicacy that doesn't impress any environmentalist. Powdered turtle shells and bellies are boiled for up to twelve hours, mixed with herbs and lotions and served up as a type of jelly-like soup.

Turtle jelly enthusiasts in Hong Kong swear by turtle jelly’s medicinal properties – it’s supposed to be a cooling food, helping with coughs, indigestion, and eczema; while beautifying the skin. Authentic turtle jelly – made from the ground-up shells of the Cuora trifasciata turtle farmed on the mainland – can be prohibitively expensive, costing about HKD 300 (or about US$40) per cup. Most of the commercially available turtle jelly in Hong Kong actually contains no turtle shell.

Snake Soup

Snake soup is considered somewhat of a gourmet dish and a famed winter warmer. Most of the city’s snake meat is now delivered chilled or frozen from China, but to try the meat and the soup at its best you need to have it fresh.

This means braving the handful of live snake restaurants that still exist in Kowloon. Here, you pluck your favourite python or cobra from behind a cage and watch him slither to the chopping block, with more unusual snakes attracting heavier price tags.

The soup comes with the snake shredded inside, although, if you’re braver, you can try sliced snake in a host of other dishes. As it seems with almost all exotic meats many say it tastes like chicken.

Sea Cucumber

The Chinese prize four seafoods above all, christening them “the four treasures”: sea cucumbers, shark fin, abalone and fish maw (swim bladders). Sea cucumbers are perhaps the least likely to end up as food, but the Chinese love it nonetheless, eating it in soup or stir-fried.

You’d think sea cucumber would be slimy and slightly rubbery and you’d be right. Beginners should try it fried as this takes away some of the slippery texture, or on a bed of noodles or rice with an accompanying sauce. Demand for sea cucumber has devastated many far-flung ecosystems, so avoid if the environment matters to you.

See more: Top 9 Asian daring delicacies

Source: Internet

7 reasons to visit Brunei

Brunei Darussalam on Borneo Island offers rainforests, some of Asia’s most beautiful mosques and almost a complete lack of tourists. But sadly, the tiny Sultanate does not register on most travellers’ radars. Here are the reasons to visit Brunei and why you should put it on your Southeast Asian itinerary.

1, Brunei is far from touristy

Brunei may not have the allure of other more popular travel destinations in Asia but one thing you can be sure that it is absolutely not touristy. You can explore the city of Bandar Seri Begawan on foot or visit attractions without literally rubbing elbows with other tourists. A lot of people may find this a disadvantage but come to think of it, this also means no opportunistic individuals like taxi drivers or tour operators who prey on unsuspecting tourists. Plus, the attractions will not be crowded and there will be no one to ruin your best shots of a mosque or the Sultan’s palace with perfectly timed photobombs.

2, Brunei is supremely safe and clean

Brunei is an amazing destination hardwired for solo travelers and for those traveling abroad for the first time. Not only does it exude a peaceful charm, but it is supremely safe as well, making it the perfect destination for folks traveling solo. As a matter of fact, the crime rate in Brunei is so low that you can explore its capital freely, even solo at night. What’s more, the consumption of alcohol is illegal for Muslims and strictly restricted for non-Muslims, meaning you are less likely to bump into drunken people behaving disorderly in Brunei.

3, Food is awesome in Brunei

The food in Brunei is a mix of Indian, Malaysia, Singaporean, Chinese, and Indonesian cuisines. Must-try food during your visit are nasi goreng, ayam penyet, roti, kolo mee, chicken laksa meehoon, nasi katok, rending, and assam pedas.

Brunei has an emerging food scene so you will not have a problem finding good halal or non-halal restaurants and eateries.

4, An affordable cultural experience

It has no secret that the Sultan of Brunei bathes in wealth and lives a well-documented opulent lifestyle. But he also makes substantial investments into the country. As a result, many of the attractions and museums (at the time of writing in 2018) are free. Water taxis to and from Kampong Ayer typically cost B$1 ($0.66) too.

5, There are plenty of attractions in Brunei

They say there is not much to do in Brunei for foreign travelers. But, guess what? There are dozens of places to visit, fabulous sights and incredibly fun things to do in Brunei for Pinoy travelers. From photography connoisseurs to casual sightseers, Pinoy travelers will love the country’s collection of attractions and diversions, including Kampung Ayer, Sultan’s Palace (Istana Nurul Iman), Jame Asr Hassanil Bolkia Mosque and Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque.

Additionally, the country has a handful of treasure troves that will give you a deeper insight of its history and culture, including Malay Technology Museum, the Brunei Museum and Regalia Royal Museum.

6, Shopping is the favourite pastime in Brunei

Because nightlife is close to nonexistent in Brunei, shopping is arguably Brunei’s favourite pastime. There are markets, malls, and shopping centres to satisfy your retail therapy needs. Not to be missed during your trip to Brunei is the shopping scene at Gadong, the commercial centre in Brunei that is about 5 kilometres away from Bandar Seri Begawan. Check out the ‘The Mall,” an eight-storey shopping and entertainment complex.

7, Good location

Another one of our top reasons to visit Brunei relates to its location next to Malaysian Borneo. The tiny slither of land lies sandwiched between Sarawak. Buses connect Miri to Bandar Seri Begawan within two hours. Daily flights pass between cities in both Sabah and Sarawak. Visitors can take the ferry from Bandar Seri Begawan to duty-free Labuan too.

See more: Visit the most stunning mosques in Brunei

Source Internet

Visit 5 most beautiful beaches of Cambodia

Cambodia is home to stretches of untouched coastline, postcard-perfect tropical islands and powder white sand lapped by a turquoise ocean. Here are the 5 most beautiful beaches in Cambodia, but be warned, once you arrive, you may never want to leave.

Long Beach, Koh Rong

As Cambodia’s largest and most developed island, Koh Rong tends to get all the attention, with the majority of travellers heading straight to Koh Touch. However, peace remains easy to find, thanks to the island’s 28 beaches. Long Beach (also referred to as Sok San Beach) is undoubtedly one of its finest, with the seven-kilometre (four-mile) stretch of blindingly white sand that crunches beneath your feet flanked by deliciously clear waters. A true tropical paradise, the coastline provided the setting for the 32nd season of the reality TV show Survivor. It is home to a sprinkling of guesthouses, upmarket Sok San Resort and the recently-opened, luxurious five-star Royal Sands Koh Rong.

Lonely Beach, Koh Rong

The clue is in the name, with Lonely Beach sitting at Koh Rong’s isolated northern tip. Development is yet to hit the area and there remains only one resort there, meaning guests pretty much have this secluded paradise to themselves. If you’re lucky, a late-night dip may light up the waters, as bioluminescent plankton like to hang out here. Make sure you remember to pack all the essentials because there isn’t a shop in sight.

Lazy Beach, Koh Rong Samloem

While the island of Koh Rong Samloem is a long way off from becoming over-run by tourists, if you truly want to escape, then head to Lazy Beach. Situated on the west side of the island via a 40-minute walk through the jungle — or, Lazy Beach resort guests can take a speedboat from Sihanoukville — from the main tourist beach of Saracen Bay, the long stretch of pristine beach provides the perfect prescription to follow its namesake: kick back, relax and immerse yourself in tropical island life.

Otres Beach, Sihanoukville

Although undoubtedly still a quieter alternative to Sihanoukville’s other offerings, Otres is becoming increasingly built-up, with concrete accommodation that includes swimming pools and AC. These buildings almost outnumber the bamboo huts that line the sand. Boasting a chilled-out vibe, Otres attracts the more laidback traveller. The beach is edged by shacks selling food and drinks, as well as cheap places to rest. On the other side of the dirt track sits more upmarket accommodation and even more bars and restaurants.

Koh Tonsay, Kep

Koh Tonsay, or Rabbit Island, sits about a 20-minute boat ride from Kep. Development is sparse on the small island, with accommodation in the form of a few basic wooden huts on the shoreline. Most visitors stop off at the island for the day to splash in the shallow waters, feast on the local food served from the few basic restaurants and relax in the hammocks that swing beneath the palm trees.

See more: Must-visit islands in Cambodia

Source: Internet