HK Independent Traveller Blog

Vail is the first day trip destination during our stay in Colorado.  It is famous as the second largest single ski mountain in America and its outdoor activities.  It has its charm in summer.  The way from Highlands Ranch to Vail was scenic, ranges of snow mountains, rough mountain, appearing one after one to win your admiration.  Two-hour drive seemed quick. Vail is well prepared for tourists and guests.  Right upon arrival is an organised car park.  Following is a resort feel, relaxed to appreciate its tranquility.  It was a nice surprise to find an Austrian restaurant,   Gasthof Gramshammer , with authentic ambiance of eatery dotted at remote places in Austria.  Kurt was extremely happy to find a home restaurant.  We took Wiener Schnitzel and Hungarian paprika goulash, a dish I missed all along the years since my visit in 1993.  Both dishes were very good.  We filled up with energy to start walking under the heat. We bought a pass to take the cable free from here t

This local restaurant has been endorsed by different friends.  Its food is very good!  And it is not expensive.  The most outstanding dish, for me, are big shell 花甲 in peppery broth and oysters in port wine sauce 砵酒焗蠔. They are terrific!    Karen, Michelle, Susanna, Sai Wai and myself had a great meal on 25 June 2010.  Photos shown here were taken from two meals.  Apart from oysters in port wine sauce, we ordered East Wind Snail 東風螺, goose intestine with pepper in black bean sauce 豉椒鵝腸， Garlic Chicken 蒜香雞, garlic razor fish with vermicelli 蒜蓉蟶子蒸粉絲 and vegetables.  Sai Wai picked the goose intestine non-stop, saying good good and ate and ate.  We all had good time. Other recommendations include: Steamed Crab with glutinous rice, razor fish in garlic black bean sauce, Chinese mushroom with goose feet, oh, nameless.......  Address: 16-18 Hau Woo Street, Western District. 

It's the only public holiday during my first stay in Colorado.  It's the US Independence Day, 4 July 2005, the only one leaving a beautiful memory to me. Kurt, my Austrian colleague, and I were the only non-Americans in the team.  We joined the company the same time and worked 6 weeks in Colorado.  Among all the team members, Teresa was the most caring person.  She took us out for dinner some time.  Very kind of her, she invited us to her house on the Independence Day.  We spent a very nice afternoon and evening with her and Harold. Teresa and Harrods live in Parker, should be still so now.  Parker was very spacious.  Houses were sparse.  We had good time chatting on all topics.  Teresa prepared Spinach salad and we enjoyed the BBQ together.  When it was dark, we were sitting at the terrace with cold winds and viewing the firework at Denver from far.  On my mind are the smiling, laughter and warming hearts.  Thank you, Teresa.

I love eating but eat much less in the last few months as I am concerned with my ever increasing weight. Well, with fairly good discipline, I managed to lose over 10 pounds.  But it stucks. I had hard weeks.  Finally, our programme has been launched today.  It's time to relax.  My stomach kulu kulu after an appointment in Wanchai.  I followed a friend's advice and tried a Malaysian restaurant, Sabah.  Her Singaporean colleague highly recommended it, saying that it's authentic.  Why not?  And I can start sharing places of food with good value.  Be it for a single diner or groups.      There were quite a few new dishes that I wanna try.  But at the end I sticked on the safe side, laksa, a dish familiar to Hong Kong Chinese.  Two choices:  curry seafood and asam laksa of sour fish soup.  Photo of the curry seafood showed sumptuous seafood whilst the other's quite plain, one piece of sardine on the fish soup.  The selling point is: the soup is made with ginger flower (

It's the first time to the USA in 2005 as I joined a company based in Colorado .  A new experience, vision, friendship and team.  It's an important milestone in my working & personal life.  I arrived in the night and slept in an apartment in Highlands Ranch . My morning was cheered up with little rabbits and beautiful flowers around the apartment. My boss and a colleague from Austria took me out for dinner. Then 6 weeks of working in the States started officially. Thanks to my beautiful ex-boss, Denise, for the wonderful stay and working with the team. Colorado is blessed with sunshine, wild nature, spectacular sunsets and clouds.  I was there in summer and had sunshine almost everyday.   Work hard during the week.  Travel to the near during the weekend.  Thanks to Kurt, who drove me to work and new destinations throughout the stay.   We had the chance to visit Vail , Rocky Mountains , Pikes Peak , Garden of the Gods , Denver downtown , Den