Karen & David's travel

Oct 13-15: Hong Kong, China Hong Kong isn't new to us,  so we didn't do many touristy things.  Instead we focused on eating the delicious food that could be found in Hong Kong!  These include:  1) Lunch at Cafe Malacca for some Singaporean/Malaysian food that Lesley was missing.  We had Rojak, Bakut Teh, Char Kway Teo, Asam Laksa, Chicken Satay,  Chai Tow Kway (black version), and Chwee Kueh. So good!  Unfortunately for Karen most of it was subtly spicy.  The Rojak was a surprise because it starts off very sweet, and then it has a lingering spice that coats the throat;  whereas the Laksa was a sour and spicy taste that immediately filled the mouth.  A yummy way to start our visit in Hong Kong!   2) High Tea at Mandarin Oriental 3) A home made dinner of Wagyu Oxtail with egg noodles and vegetables finished with a lemongrass and mint Granita on lime jello. This is a signature dish of Angela's and was "fall off t...

Oct 11 - 12: Sapporo We started the day bright and early to take the subway to Asaichi Maruka - a wholesale fish market.  We had a yummy Sushi breakfast at Sushi-no-uo-masa. This is a tiny stall in the middle of the market with product fresh from the surrounding market!  We put our trust in the Sushi chef and asked him to give us his recommended 10 Sushi,  and then also asked for Uni (sea urchin), Scallop and Abalone.  All of them were nice and fresh, and my personal favorite was the Botan Shrimp Sushi.  Our only complaint was that the slices were a bit thin. Next up was the Hokkaido University Botanical Garden ... or, it was supposed to be.  Due to the holiday, they stayed open on Monday (yesterday) and closed instead on Tuesday (today!). So we headed to Odori Park and spent more time there than initially planned. It's a nice green space in the heart of the city and is quite pretty.  There are several fountains and playgrounds, the most iconi...

Oct 10: Sapporo - AEON Shopping Mall - Moerenuma Park - Miyajima-numa We started the day with a mixture of freshly baked pastries from the AEON Shopping Mall. They were yummy and a great way to fuel us up for our walk around Moerenuma Park.  This is a really lovely and well planned city park. The first section we explored, Forest of Cherry Trees, contained multiple colorful play areas. This would be an awesome place for young children - so many colours, shapes, and structures for climbing (bars,  cubes, hexagonal pods, curved Donuts,  etc)! They also had some really interesting (and steep!) slides. Next up was a jog up 'Play Mountain'! My lungs almost collapsed in the cold wind, but the view at the top was quite spectacular.  The view looking back up after descending the opposite side was also beautiful, with the 3 different types of landscaping (texture and colour).  We also checked out a few more things there, but the fountain that...