In February of 2024, the fiancé and I revisited Hong Kong for 2 weeks! I used to go every 2-3 years, and given our move to Montreal and then subsequently COVID, this trip was long overdue.

I think my greatest fear in going back was me feeling foreign to the city and my family there. I had worries about my Cantonese having deteriorated and the streets becoming unfamiliar. I seemed to have muddled a lot of the malls and neighbourhoods in my head as I dug through my memories. A few family members have passed away since I last visited and I felt more distant to the ones who remained. But I am glad I made the trip because my brain was inventing greatly exaggerated fears. It was also nice that we went during the tail end of Chinese New Year because we got to see a lot of the festive decorations and celebrations still up!

I’m delayed in writing this blog, and I likely will have to split this into several parts. But I wanted to document this trip for myself so I am reassured of how familiar everything still felt this visit. I’ll go through my memories sorted by the different districts/areas in Hong Kong!

Tung Chung

Tung Chung may not be a place that most people visit when they think of Hong Kong, but it’s home to me. For my high school years in Hong Kong, we exclusively lived in Tung Chung.

Citygate Mall doesn’t look too different when it comes to the “old” side of the mall. Still lots of familiar outlet shops. However, they’ve completely converted what used to be the cinema into another few floors of shops! This was cool to see. They have a bunch of new restaurants and clothing stores for the most part. And I’m glad to see a return of Jumping Gym (an arcade/gacha place) in a miniature format. I still remember when the 2nd floor of Citygate hosted a fairly large Jumping Gym and my sister and I would spend a good chunk of time there with our limited tokens.

I’m also thankful we still have a Sasa for my Asian cosmetic needs. However, they’re now tucked away in a small corner of the mall right next to a hot pot all-you-can-eat place called Nabe Urawa. I learned that Nabe Urawa has a few branches in Hong Kong. This place was so good. We went on our first day in Hong Kong and then also did one of our last proper meals there too. They have different prices of menus to choose from (we always went with the cheapest one) based on the quality of meats you’d get. But otherwise, the restaurant itself has a self-serve section with great options for hot foods, desserts, drinks, and more. I kept eating their premade gyudon meats! It was amazing.

My dad took my fiancé and me for a walk along the Tung Chung seawall on our last day in Hong Kong. There are now a lot more residential buildings and I heard there might be 2 new MTR stations that they’re building to service Tung Chung—one that’s going to be near my old high school. I’m happy to see Tung Chung developing. It’s a great place.

YMCA of Hong Kong Christian College

In the years I was gone, what I formerly knew as YMCACC had become YHKCC. I guess I’m always down for saving some acronym space.

This can probably just fit under the “Tung Chung” column but I also feel it deserves its own portion. I last saw YHKCC when I was about to turn 16 years old. I finished my HKCEE (government-mandated certificate exams) after Form 5 and then moved back to Canada so I could finish up schooling and go to university in Vancouver. This means it’s been 15 years since I last saw my old high school.

So much has changed — for the better. Firstly, I always thought our old school uniforms were kind of atrocious. They were these plaid things that definitely stood out among other uniforms in Hong Kong. They have new uniforms now and I think it looks a lot sleeker.

I remember my friends and I would hang out in the outdoor amphitheater during break/lunch times. That’s gone now because they’ve knocked out the back fence/walls of the school and made use of the giant grass patch behind it. We also now have a PE block and a music block that are its own building structures! The students now don’t know how good they have it! My friend F, who now works there as a teacher, gave me a tour and I’m so grateful I got to reconnect with my old alma mater.

I ran into several of my old teachers and most of them still recognized me!! I had a PE teacher who coached me for my shotput days. I swear he seemed to have aged backward. When he saw me, I asked if he remembered me as he walked towards where I was chatting with my friend. He walked right up to me to give me a handshake and said “Of course, my champion! Guaranteed gold medalist!” He said that I was among a few of his students who he knew could secure a gold medal for him/our school haha! I was pretty good at shot putting back in the day and he was my coach. He would also be the one who would accompany me to weekend matches against other districts and schools and was my hype person right before it was my turn to throw the shot put. It was touching to realize he remembered me. He says until very recently, I was the shot putting record holder for the school. Congrats to whoever beat me in the last year or so!

I also remember I used to walk to Yat Tung with my friends. Yat Tung was the residential area that was nearest to my school which had a small shopping complex with a 7-Eleven and a McDonalds. But even then it was a 20-30 minute walk from my school. I revisited it this trip too just for nostalgic purposes! I was shocked to see that the school now has a residential area right across the street called Mun Tung Estate! And a 7-Eleven! Again, the kids these days have no idea how good they have it. We used to have to fight the searing heat and mosquitos to make it to the nearest convenience store.

Mong Kok

I can’t go to Hong Kong without thinking about the fun times I’ve had with my cousins and even just my mom and sister in Mong Kok. A thing about me is I truly dislike the modern malls in Hong Kong. Give me a sketchy, jam-packed, old-school mall any day. I also know I can haggle in the older malls.

We started off our designated Mong Kok day in Prince Edward—which is convoluted I know. But I wanted to show my fiancé the Yuen Po Bird Market! He loves birds and used to have a small parrot. We were there early so not a lot of stalls were opened, but we saw a little bird that I swear if we were in Canada we would’ve brought him home. He kept doing tricks for us when we stood near its enclosure and then would look dejected when we walked away. My heart couldn’t take it.

After Yuen Po, we then went to Kam Wah Cafe (G/F, 47 Bute Street, Prince Edward, Kowloon) to have some breakfast! A good ol’ pineapple bun with a thick slice of butter, as well as HK french toast. Of course, we also had to have HK milk tea.

We headed to Argyle Center afterward (688 Nathan Rd, Mong Kok, Hong Kong). This was a mall that I used to frequent a lot! They have knick-knacks, accessories, clothes, phone cases, snacks—and upon this visit, a lot of manicure salons, crane machines, and photo booths/stalls. That seemed to be a trend with this visit to Hong Kong. A lot of “shops” were replaced with unmanned gacha/crane machines, and people went to unmanned “4 cuts” photo booths in droves.

Seb was really good at this one crane machine and we ended up getting a bunch of little penguins. I immediately put them on my bag. I also got a “bagged noodles” — these were such nostalgic snacks in my childhood. You can choose from a variety of ingredients and they’d mix it in a bag with a yummy homemade sauce for you.

Afterward we went to Sino Center (582-592 Nathan Rd, Mong Kok, Hong Kong). My cousin used to take me here for K-pop memorabilia, but in general this mall is crammed with anime merch, K-pop stuff, video games, and phone accessories. It was information overload trying to absorb all the offerings from the stores.

We then got some street snacks (I love the salty quail eggs they cook on the streets) and my favorite of all was finally getting to eat the stinky tofu they sell in MK again. It’s unlike the Taiwanese stinky tofu, where it’s very porous and light. This is substantial and the savoury flavours are unparalleled.

We later rounded off this day with a quick stop at McDonald’s and then went back to Tung Chung to meet my mom and dad for dinner at Cafe De Coral (I would give up so much for them to open a Cafe De Coral in Vancouver).

Read part 2 for more adventures to different HK neighborhoods!