samcantfindit

I should probably start this post with the fact that I love food. I do, food is absolutely fantastic.
So when planning for the grand adventure not only was I looking at hostels and activities, I was also looking at what food I wanted to chow down on. #priorities.
It usually would go without saying that a Michelin star restaurant would not be in the ideal budget for a backpacking traveler.
Well, it’s time you said hello to Tim Ho Wan.
Now I’m not a food historian, so if you want to know more about the original restaurant and a little bit about how the company started then click here.
SO WHERE IS TIM HO WAN? 

• Follow directions inside either Central or Hong Kong station for the airline check in desks. If you can’t see directions for them you might actually be there. So if all of a sudden you feel like you’ve been transported to an airport you’re in the right place. Tap yourself on the back. 

•  You should see a set of lifts opposite the check in desks and TV’s, they will only have the option to go down, press L1 (the floor lower than you are currently on). 

•  Once the lift doors open, Tim Ho Wan will be directly in front of you, or slightly to the left (depending on which lift you get out of). Go enjoy your dim sum, or queuing for it more likely. 

 SO HOW DO I ORDER?
Pretty easily actually, in either English or Chinese. You are provided with what looks like a lottery ticket. Write the amount of plates you want in the boxes (not the amount of dim sum items), and hand it over to a member of staff. They’ll give you a copy of the order back with a receipt attached mid eating, so you can check it and then pay.

WHAT DO I ORDER THOUGH?
Well if you like Dim Sum you’ll have more of an idea than we did upon ordering. We decided to go for one beef rice topped with fried egg, two types of rice rolls, a traditional dim sum pork ball and then the thing you have to order. And if you go there and don’t order these there really was no point going FYI. The baked pork buns. Order more than you think. That’s all you’ll actually want to eat when they turn up.
The rice rolls were quite slimy and it got to the point where I was just eating the filling (it was a lot of dim sum for a first try!), however the steamed dim sum balls were lovely, the beef rice nice but I would go back again and again for those baked pork buns. SO SO SO GOOD.

SO WHAT’S THE VERDICT?
I’d go back again, it’s an experience to sit next to someone who is eating chicken feet in a Michelin star restaurant chain in the middle of a train station in Hong Kong, I’d order the beef rice, steamed dumplings and baked pork buns again and again. And then maybe see if they could do the BBQ Pork Buns to go. Everyone loves a trier, right?

2019 is by far the year of travel for me. The Grand Adventure (as I have now decided to refer to it as) started on 11th February and is planned to cover a number of months, a fair amount of destinations and given the best intentions, an awful lot of new experiences. So far the first 30 days have not disappointed!

11th February - 12th March: A Summary Countries visited: 3 (Hong Kong, Vietnam and Thailand)
Kilometres travelled: 12,608.8 by car and plane
Steps walked (when I actually had my FitBit on!): 303,700
Successful kayaking journeys: 2 (to a beach in Ha Long Bay and back, seen as I got out in the middle I am counting it as two journeys)
Bouts of food posioning: 1
Plates of stuffed crab eaten: 1 (and no, it didn’t cause the food poisoning!)
Photographs taken: 1600+


Hong Kong: The Summary
The big city was the first stop on the Adventure, taking in huge buildings, parks with flamingos in, a huge Buddha, the peak tram, a Michelin star restaurant, lots of shopping centres, a free light show and of course a day trip to Hong Kong Disneyland (I obviously couldn’t have gone all that way and not gone now could I?)


Hong Kong: The Highlights

• Riding all of the rides in Hong Kong Disneyland and staying from opening until closing!
• The experience of eating in a Michelin stared Dim Sum Restaurant, even if it is quite slimy!
• Riding the Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car to the giant Buddha on Lantau Island and having to walk past wild cows in the street just to get there.

Hanoi & Ha Long Bay, Vietnam: The Summary
A quick flight, and all of a sudden I was in the capital city of Vietnam. Along with what felt like, every single scooter in the entir world! Traffic doesn’t stop for you in Hanoi, especially in the old quarter. You literally have to walk out into oncoming traffic and not stop even if you fear imminent death. Somehow everything does actually manage to go around you. Is it enjoyable? No. Do you genuinely feel like that would be the last time you ever cross a road? For the first few days at least.


Hanoi & Ha Long Bay, Vietnam: The Highlights

• The overnight stay in Ha Long Bay that included 6:30am Tai Chi, kayaking on the bay, a five course lunch that included the already mentioned stuffed crab, another five course evening meal, competitive games of uno, incredible views and a bacon toastie and pancakes for breakfast.
• Taking in the sites and learning about the past in a wide array of museums, temples and even an old prison!
• Walking around Hoan Kiem Lake on a weekend afternoon/ evening. Every man and their dog (all very small and fluffy) is there and you’ll witness; tug of war competitions, skipping challenges, groups of people playing keepy-uppy and groups of teenagers dancing full k-pop routines. Just be prepared to be stopped and asked to speak English to a lot of Vietnamese adults and children, and yes they really believe the stereotype that all English people enjoy afternoon tea daily!

Bangkok, Thailand: The Summary
The flight from Hanoi to Bangkok was another quick one and after a small customs queue a car dropped us in a very hot and humid Bangkok. Bangkok is a city of two halves; modern skyscrapers fill an area further away from the river, packed full of huge shopping centres, food courts, fancy hotels and sky bars. While nearer the river there’s the temples, the Grand Palace and the world famous Khao San Road. Bangkok was where I was introduced to the magic of 7 Eleven, however I didn’t eat that much for the first few days in Bangkok (had to get that food posioming out of my system before I could go mental).


Bangkok, Thailand: The Highlights

• Spending the morning visiting The Grand Palace wearing my new gap year style trousers (if we can ignore the fact they don’t actually have an elephant on that would be grand!)
• Wandering down Khao San Road while the sun was setting, watching the street come to life and the vendors selling everything from Chang beer T-shirt’s to fried cockroach on a stick!
• Visiting a sky bar and seeing Bangkok from a totally different viewpoint.

Phuket Town & Koh Phi Phi, Thailand: The Summary
Arriving at Phuket International Airport and not having to go through any kind of immigration was an odd experience, but pretty quickly the bags were loaded into a car and Phuket Town was the first stop. After a few days it was time to board a very nice ferry and head over to see the beauty of th Phi Phi Islands, the blue waters and sandy beach is one of the nicest I’ve ever seen!


Phuket Town & Koh Phi Phi, Thailand: The Highlights

• Catching the Sunday night food market on Phuket Walking Street. Incredible food at every stall, bright coloured buildings, being surrounded by tourists and locals alike and watching the sun go down. Doubt you could get much better than that!
• Hiking to the view point on Phi Phi was tiring, sweaty and I did consider turning around at least twice; but I didn’t and once at viewpoint three the view of the whole island was totally worth it. The downside to this three hour expedition was that apparently there were stairs that would have made the journey about 20 minutes from bottom to top, but hey you live and learn right?!
• The food offerings on Phi Phi. Buy this point in the trip I as back to eating normally, and I enjoyed: stuffed cheesy garlic naan, fried rice and huge slices of deep pan pizza. Good food and a great view! What’s not to love?

Last September I was lucky enough to be able to go to Tokyo, and three of the days were spent in the Tokyo Disney Resort. As with all Disney trips a lot of planning was involved, and a lot of my planning and researching revolved around the food I would eat in the parks. A quick search of Instagram and you'll see incredibly themed food and drink, and if you're anything like me you'll want to eat absolutely everything. Which seen as I went on my own; wasn't exactly possible. This post is full of the food that I did manage to eat, most importantly where I found it, a rough cost and how great it actually was (spoiler alert: the food was all pretty incredible!)

Snacks
Pizza Spring Roll
Where to find it: Tokyo DisneyLand; Mickeys Trailer, Toontown 
Cost: 350 Yen (£2.40)
What did I think?: If you like pizza (which I love) and you like spring rolls (also love, see a pattern here?) then you'll love this snack. It's larger than a standard spring roll, and it's full of melted cheese and pizza sauce. You would also get this with an egg and shrimp combination, if that floats your boat. I was all for the pizza. If I went back I'd 100% get this again.

Maple Pumpkin Churro
Where to find it: Tokyo DisneyLand; Parkside Wagon, on the entry to Adventureland
Cost: 350 Yen (£2.40)
What did I think?: What combination of warm sugar coated churro, maple syrup and pumkpin flavour could I not enjoy? I got this before I watched the parade and it was a great parade snack. I also kept the packaging and you can still kind of smell the maple goodness on it now! It is worth me noting that the churros change constantly; this was the themed flavour for Halloween (so sadly it isn't available at the moment at least), however the themed churro on sale will always be found at this wagon location. Also another note, I spent 20 minutes queueing for this; themed event food items have long queues; at any time of day!


Popcorn (Curry Popcorn Pictured)
Popcorn is a massive deal at Tokyo Disney Resort, so much so that popcorn carts have their own icons on the park map, each map lists the current available flavours and people spend hours queueing for new popcorn bucket releases (for Mickey90 they released a Steamboat Willie one that sang the theme song!)
Where to find it: Each flavour is only usually available at one cart in the park, Curry Popcorn can only be found in one location in Tokyo DisneySea and that's in front of Arabian Coast (if you come across the bridge from Mermaid Lagoon you'll walk straight past it!)
Cost: 350 Yen (£2.40) for a standard box, 2500 Yen (£17) for a themed popcorn bucket
What did I think?: Curry popcorn is insane, easily one of the best popcorns I've ever had; it was a good curry flavour and was a perfect savoury snack, I'd go back for just this flavour in a heartbeat.
Note: Other flavours that were available in both parks while I was there were: Caramel, Garlic Shrimp, Strawberry, Milk Chocolate, Black Pepper, Salt, BBQ, Honey and finally Soy Sauce!

Mickey Shaped Chicken Nuggets
Where to find them: Tokyo DisneyLand; Tomorrowland Terrace, Tomorrowland (probably in other places too!)
Cost: 330 Yen (£2.30)
What did I think?: A good standard Disney chicken nugget, extra points because they're Mickey shaped and look cute. You can't get these as part of a meal though; they're just a side dish!



Bakery Items

Both Parks have large bakeries that are open throughout the entire day and have a full range of snacks and freshly baked delights. From sandwiches to breads stuffed with curry, there's pretty much something here for everyone; the selection in both parks is a little different so it goes without saying that I had to visit both. Another quick note is that the bakeries are very busy at park opening, lunch time (about noon in Japan), around 5pm and before the parade/ fireworks/ shows. I visited both bakeries in the evening between the evening meal and before the fireworks show, it was pretty much a walk in; they will also package up your snacks if you want to take them out of the park, so perfect for a late evening snack!

Mickey Stuffed Pastry/ Cream Bread (middle image)
Where to find it: Available in both parks (Disneyland; Sweetheart Cafe, World Bazaar and DisneySea; Mamma Biscottis Bakery, Mediterranean Harbour)
Cost: 260 Yen (£1.80)
What did I think?: Pretty much a donut without the glaze, maybe a bit more bread like, stuffed with a creamy vanilla custard. Not too sweet but enough filling for it to not be just bread. I would eat it again but I'd want to try other new items if I get the chance to go back.

Mickey Apple Custard Danish and Chocolate and Walnut Biscotti (far right image)
Where to find them: Danish available in both parks in the bakeries mentioned above, however Biscotti can only be found in DisneySea (Mamma Biscotti's Bakery, Mediterranean Harbour)
Cost: Danish: 330 Yen (£2.30) Biscotti: 200 Yen (£1.40)
What did I think?: A really great Danish pastry, extra thumbs up for the Mickey shape, you could also get this in an orange or cherry variation (or Sausage, Egg or Cheese if you wanted savoury). The Biscotti was also lovely, full of chocolate chips and walnut chunks, both great snacks and I enjoyed them back in my hotel with odd Japanese TV in the background (when in Japan eh?)

Purple Sweet Potato Mousse Cake (far left image)
Where to find it: Tokyo DisneySea; Mamma Biscotti's Bakery, Mediterranean Harbour
Cost: 780 Yen including the souvenir plate (£5.40)
What did I think?: I can only imagine you read the name and was horrified with the description given on the menu, this mousse cake was actually really nice, it wasn't too sweet, was very creamy, had a raspberry sauce in the middle and had a vanilla cake base. Both parks launch exclusive bakery items for the themed event, both having a mug dessert (some kind of layered jelly and mousse thing) and a plate dessert, I liked the plate from DisneySea the best so that explains why I ended up with this option. I really enjoyed it and would eat something like this again! The plate is also really great quality, so a great way to get a limited souvenir and a snack all at once!


Meals
Because I wanted to eat as much I could over my three days in the parks I snacked through the days and then had a full counter service meal each evening. There was so many choices to pick from including: Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Italian and American.

Mickey's Glove Meal
Where to find it: Tokyo DisneyLand; Huey Dewey and Louie's Good Time Cafe, Toontown
Cost: 980 Yen (£6.80) for the meal with fries and drink
What did I think?: You'll have to stick with me here but this adorable Mickey glove steamed bun was full of salad, egg mayo mix and hot teriyaki chicken. Sounds weird right? Well weird or not it was really tasty, went well together and was a good sized portion. The bun was soft and not stodgy, the chicken was a boneless thigh (I think) and the fries were crispy. I'd make sure I ate this again on my next visit!

Mozzarella and Tomato Pizza 
Where to find it: Tokyo DisneySea; Zambini Brothers Ristorante, Mediterranean Harbour
Cost: 670 Yen (£4.60) Drink 350 Yen (£2.40)
What did I think?: A really good, deep dish base with a really thick layer of cheese and tomato, the fresh tomato and pesto was also a really nice addition. I enjoyed this meal so much I actually went back the next night and enjoyed a spaghetti bolognese (700 yen/ £4.85) and a side of fried shrimp and burdock (300 Yen/ £2.05), this would be a great place to visit with kids or people that want a more western meal!

Steamed Buns
Tokyo Disney Resort is well known for it's heavily themed steamed buns that match their packaging; and I went out of my way to ensure I tried as many as I could, it is worth noting that these items also change with the events going on in the park, so these items in this style aren't always available!

Chandu Chicken Curry Bun
Where to find it: Tokyo DisneySea; Sultans Oasis, Arabian Coast
Cost: 500 Yen (£3.50)
What did I think?: This is my favourite of all of the steamed buns I had, both the 'hat' and 'face' had a mild chicken curry filling and it went well with the steamed bun texture. If you can only have one steamed bun while in DisneySea then you should get this one, hopefully it doesn't rain when you're eating it though!

Ursula Ukiwah Bun
Where to find it: Tokyo DisneySea; Seaside Snacks, between Cape Cod (American Waterfront) and Port Discovery
Cost: 500 Yen (£3.50)
What did I think?: This special steamed bun was stuffed with a combination of Pork and Shrimp. It was well seasoned and I really enjoyed both the taste and how the ring suited the Ursula packaging. This item was specially themed for Villains Halloween event, so if you were to go at another time of year you'd find the ring looks like a swimming ring and Donald is on the packaging (so cute)!

Evil Queen Gyoza Roll
Where to find it: Tokyo DisneySea; Nautilus Galley, Mysterious Island
Cost: 500 Yen (£3.50)
What did I think?: This was the largest of the steamed bun offerings, but not by much. The filling was a kind of soft over seasoned sausage. The theming of this was really fun with the red and black to match the queen of hearts but the flavour and texture wasn't great and I would say it wasn't worth the 15 minute queue to get this item, would I have it again? No, I'd head over to get one of the other two buns mentioned above!


Ice Cream
The temperatures in Tokyo were about 30 degrees in September, so it was perfect weather to enjoy an ice cream treat or two, there were quite a lot to pick from, which of course made the decision even harder!

Donald Butt Sundae (actually called the Choco-Nut and Chocolate Crisp Sundae)
Where to find it: Tokyo DisneyLand; Ice Cream Cones, World Bazaar
Cost: 500 Yen (£3.50)
What did I think?: This adorable snack is part of the Tokyo 35th celebration and includes: Vanilla ice cream with chocco crispies in, two Donald feet wafers and a stick of Chocolate crunch (Rice crispies and chocolate mixed together). If they make this flavour of ice cream permanent after the event ends I'd definitely want a scoop or three of this again!

Mickey and Minnie Ice Lolly
Where to find them: Both parks have a lot of mobile ice cream carts, I found mine in Adventureland in Tokyo DisneyLand and Lost River Delta in Tokyo DisneySea
Cost: 300 Yen (£2.05) each
What did I think?: I really enjoyed both flavours of these lollies, the Mickey one was tropical fruits, so Mango and Pineapple, while the Minnie one was Peach and Raspberry. I'd have them both again as a refreshing snack, however they melt quickly in the heat (obviously!) and the sticks are short, so be prepared to get covered in drips of fruit juice. I'd recommend scoping out your closest toilet and getting a few napkins off the retail assistant when you buy them!


Mochi
Mochi is a kind of sweet in Japan, it's a really stretchy gooey substance (the best way I can describe it!) that is stuffed with a filling of some sort. Both types that you can get in Tokyo Disney Resort are served cold, but not frozen. So they're a perfect snack for a warm day! They're also some of the most instagramed snacks in the parks, especially the little green aliens!

Star Wars Mochi
Where to find it: Tokyo DisneyLand; Pan Galactic Pizza Port, Tomorrowland
Cost: 360 Yen (£2.50)
What did I think?: If I was to compare the two mochi head to head I would pick the Star Wars ones as the winner, the Vader mochi was stuffed with chocolate mousse, and the Storm Troopers were flavoured with vanilla custard and a caramel sauce respectively. At the minute these aren't on the menu, but they will be back in the warmer months (I hope!)

Little Green Alien Mochi
Where to find it: Tokyo DisneySea; a random cart at the bottom of the bridge by Barnacle Bills, American Waterfront (however while writing this, they are available in all the quick service locations in Tokyo Disney Sea, and a few in DisneyLand, around Tomorrowland)
Cost: 360 Yen (£2.50)
What did I think?: The taste and texture of these mochi was exactly the same as the Star Wars ones, however the flavours were: chocolate, vanilla and strawberry (with the strawberry being a kind of yoghurt). I just struggled to find these when I was there, there were no counter service locations that have them, and what from I could gather the cart moved around frequently. I had a 15 queue to pick these up, so if you go at a time when they are hard to find, expect to queue massively for them!


Drinks
I spent most of my time drinking water in the parks, it was cool and refreshing and readily available everywhere, with free cups available in counter service locations. However there were a large range of green, red, blue and purple drinks with a mixture of flavours and popping pearl combinations in them.

Nemo Sea-Rider Drink
Where to find it: Tokyo DisneySea; Bayside Takeout, Port Discovery
Cost: 500 Yen (£3.50)
What did I think?: This was a pineapple juice drink, topped with a blue pineapple slush that had mango boba inside it. Just a bit of a mix there right? The blue pineapple was quite confusing but the taste was amazing and I would happily drink this again to cool off! The queue for this stand was quite long, but it also sold the Nemo churro and a fried chicken sushi roll, it was no more than a 10 minute wait!

Themed Bottled Drinks
Where to find them: All over both parks, I got my coke from the tea pot vending machines in Fantasy Land in DisneyLand however there are carts that sell: water, Coca Cola and Kirin in every land.
Cost: 300 Yen (£2.05)
What did I think?: Every type of drink had its owned themed packaging which was a cute touch and was very in theme with the rest of the park, can't really moan! They were also well priced which is nice!

So that's my tour of Tokyo Disney Resort's food complete! As you can tell I really did snack my way around the parks and I enjoyed that everything was well priced so I could eat what I wanted without being too concerned for the hole in my purse (that just meant more for the incredible merchandise!) Have you been to Tokyo Disney Resort? If so what snacks did you eat? Or what do you have on your list to try if you're heading to the parks?

Well hello there! I'm Sam (don't worry this isn't included in the 25 fact round-up) and I figured I should start off this site with a little bit of a fact round-up about myself; break the ice, or something like that. So without further notice, let's go; here's 25 random facts about me!

#1: I am currently 26 years old, but have a mind set of both a 7 year old child and a 63 year old adult at exactly the same time.
#2: I live in North West England, a small town near both Chester and Liverpool; actually if you've heard of Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet I live about 2 miles away.
#3: I'm pretty into Disney, especially visiting the Parks, I've been to Walt Disney World, Disney Land Paris and Tokyo Disney Resort, and aim to tick off all the other parks too.
#4: I have a Bachelors Degree in Mathematics, and no I'm not mad, I just really like numbers, and algebra, and having to think really hard to solve problems; so much so I got a first in it. #mathsgeek
#5: I'm a big fan of traveling, I'm heading off for a huge adventure in Feb 2019, starting in Hong Kong and covering a lot of Asia and Australasia.
#6: If you happen to find yourself at a buffet and you can't find me, I'm going to be close to the savoury food options, you do you with that chocolate fountain boo, but in my eyes you can't beat a cheese and onion roll or a good quiche.
#7: That being said my favourite desserts are cookies, cookie dough, crumbles, pies, ice creams/ sorbet and macarons (the fancy french ones); so it's not that I don't like sweet food.
#8: I prefer Haribo (Star mix or Tangfastics) over most other kinds of sweet and especially over chocolate.


#9: I also don't really drink hot drinks. I don't drink coffee, only have one cup of tea a month (to satisfy both my parents and friends) and that's about it. I will have a hot squash though, hot Vimto is pretty incredible.
#10: Oh yeah, I also don't drink alcohol, no drunken stories from me will end up on this site!
#11: I'm pretty sarcastic and a lot of the time I don't even feel it happening, it just spills out, and it kind of an issue at times.
#12: My favourite animal is a Two Toed Sloth, they have them at Chester Zoo and once I was over the moon because I got to watch one poop...yeah...
#13: I really like to read, however I feel like I go through phases where all I do is read (and I forget my name/ where I am/ to go to bed/ what time it is) and then I go through phases where I never want to pick up a book; I should probably try and work on that.
#14: I'd like to think I'm creative, I had a job where I was able to design and run events for kids that were themed, and I loved thinking of new concepts and creating the materials for the event. There's nothing a bit of paint, paper-mache and a staple gun can't solve.
#15: Going down the science route I really like Dinosaurs and if I had to pick I'd rather explore space than the depths of the ocean (I think, my mind changes)
#16: When I was 8 I wanted to be an animator for Pixar, and when I was 9 I still wanted to work for Pixar but be an astronaut as well; no-one really explained to be that it takes a lot to be an astronaut and I don't think my body could handle the G-Force and motion sickness, but hey I had goals.
#17: Despite all this the top thing on my bucket list is to see Earth without actually being on it, so in reality if someone could launch a public space programme and then maybe just gift me the quarter of a million pound seat on the programme I'd be really appreciative.


#18: If I had to pick a superpower I'd want to be able to teleport; it would cut down travel time and I wouldn't need to worry about baggage weights at Check-In.
#19: I prefer Marvel films over DC, but I'm not a marvel crazy fan, please don't hate me.
#20: I have an ability to prefer the side-kicks in films over the main characters, Mushu > Mulan, Donkey > Shrek, Groot and Rocket > Star Lord (but Chris Pratt is pretty nice to look at)
#21: I'm not a big TV watcher, I prefer to load something on Netflix or watch You-Tube, so with that being said the only two programmes I watch on TV are Love Island and BBC Breakfast.
#22: My favourite Netflix shows at the moment are: Sex Education, Dynasty, Riverdale (even though I hate it as much as I like it) and The Crown.
#23: There's not a week that goes by when I'm at home that I don't eat pasta. Ravioli, Fusilli, Tagliatelle...I love em all me.
#24: I'm an Apple fan, not the fruit Apple (even though they taste great) but Tech giant apple, I've had a Mac Book, Mac Book Pro, and iPod Nano, iPod Touch, two iPads and three different models of iPhone, but they have to have a white or silver casing, I'm not for the black surround at all.
and #25: I really dislike talking about myself in person, so I'm very surprised I've been able to type out this many facts!

Did any of that overly surprise you? Are we the same in preferring Quiche to Cake? Or Mushu to Mulan? Let me know folks!
Talk soon!