I am a big, big advocate for vacation time. Whether it's an overnight trip out of town or a month-long escape abroad, sometimes you just need to get away from your usual surroundings and freshen up the brain cells. My mini-hiatus from the world of TV.com -- two weeks in Hong Kong reuniting with my family, eating TONS of food, and a small side trip to a tropical beach resort -- fell somewhere in the middle of the quick getaway/full-blown escape spectrum, and it was just what I needed.

Reuniting with my family anywhere in the world is generally synonymous with eating. Luckily, Hong Kong is a city full of food, from the fancy-schmancy 3.5 hour brunch to the five minute, "dai pai dong" street stall food. Here's a sampling of my sampling of said food:

Dessert platter to round out brunch at Zuma


Some artfully molded mango pudding, part of our dim sum meal


My niece eagerly digging into her bowl of ramen


Drinking lai cha or milk tea at a classic, no frills cha chaan teng (with my favorite, peanut butter french toast in the background)


A taste of the colonial times: high tea at the Mandarin Oriental, complete with three-tiered tea set. Here's a peek at the savouries tier:


I literally scooped up every last drop of the DELICIOUS rose petal jam for my scone... perhaps not the classiest thing to do at high tea, but sooooo good!


Assortment of desserts at a Chinese dessert house. Clockwise from top left, black sesame soup, something I can't remember, steamed egg custard pudding, black sesame balls in ginger soup.


Mos burger. Check out the "rice burger" on the right, thin slices of beef grilled with onions and served on a sticky rice "bun". Kind of like a Japanese rice bowl on the go!


While the trip was more about visiting my family than about playing tourist, I still got some tourist sights in. The boyfriend's and my attempt to get the full impact of seeing Hong Kong from the top of Victoria Peak last year was diminished somewhat by the persistent fog. So this year, my boyfriend and I were discriminating in making sure the weather was mostly clear (though we couldn't completely escape a stubborn haze) before heading up.



We also made the trek out to Lantau Island to visit the Tian Tan buddha, purported to be the largest outdoor bronze seated Buddha sculpture.



Just below the Buddha is a monastery where you can eat a vegetarian (per Buddhist guidelines) lunch. Believe it or not, this is what our table looked like AFTER we had finished. It was a lot of food!


Our visit happened to be around the time of Buddha Day celebrations, which incorporates a bathing the buddha ritual


Finally, after trekking up lots of steep stairs, we made it to the Buddha himself! Go us!


My family also took a side trip to Hainan Island, a tropical island known as the "Hawai'i of China" for its beach resorts and lush greenery. Unfortunately, the H1N1 virus was just taking the world by storm around this time, and we got caught up in some of the extra precautions to prevent the spread of the virus. Upon arrival in China, we had to all sit tight in the airplane while health officials came by and manually took everyone's temperature with an ear thermometer:



Luckily, we (and everyone else on the plane) were pronounced healthy and admittable into China. The following days flew by in a perfect combination of a great hotel (we even got a private swimming pool!),



fun on the beach


and, of course, more food, particularly loads and loads of fresh fruit and juices every day.


All in all, some good family time, good eating, and a great break from the normal grind -- gotta keep those crazies at bay...