i had a serendipitous opening in my schedule this month that appeared quite suddenly. my tuesday student had me commute his lesson from tuesday to friday which gave me the opportunity for a 4 day weekend. my original thought was to go to Himeiji for a few days since i was due to go to Hong Kong with my friend Makie in late November. however, we decided that due to time contraints, we wanted to stay domestic instead of dealing with the flights, hassle, and headache of international airports so the two desinations got swapped. i booked a ticket and before i knew it, i was on a plane to the honkers.
got to do some long overdue catching up with the Big H (she was kind enough to let me crash at her place on the island) and i also got to see the boy for a bit as well. Deep in his studies, i was determined not to get in his way, but he kindly made the time for me so he got a couple meals and a new school bag for his troubles.
i now know why they like it there so much: Hong Kong is rockin'!! the food is awesome and there's tons to do throughout the city. since my trip included a weekend, the H and cor took me all around. (Sidebar: i am a complete idiot. i went to Bic and bought a brand new 2 GB SD disk for my camera and even packed the charger but totally forgot my camera. Goddammit!!! so my photos are courtesy of the H's dying IXY and my disposable camera shots finally got digitized at Bic. when i returned home, the first thing i see on my bed is my fucking camera, sitting there, taunting me.....)
After landing and dropping my stuff off at the H's we went out to Prince Edward Station to meet Cor and do a bit of shopping/sightseeing. After getting a bit lost, we managed to find our way to Fayuen Street market and made our way down to Mong Kok. H took us past a smelly tofu stand which had the aroma of warmed ass. She warned us that it woud make us want to puke (she really wasn't kidding).
after getting our appetites and our olfactory senses back we headed towards a super yummy restaurant that served Shanghai food. we had the little dumplings with the soupy stuff inside (one of my favorites!!) and some super spicy tan tan men as well as some eggplant and a spinach like veggie known as Ma Lan Tau. it was all soooooo yummy!
afterwards, we continued the walk through Kowloon. We hit the night market on Temple Street and saw all the brand name shops on Nathan Road (a stark difference).
Finally, we saw the clock tower and the observation deck where they had a display of a dragon and flowers and people covered with a bunch of lights.
after parting ways with Cor (he went back up to his university in the new territories), H and i took the Star Ferry back to the island. the ride was a tad rocky but provided us with an extraordinary view!
We had very ambitious plans to climb the peak at 7:30 the next morning but since we stayed up talking wil almost 3 in the morning, we decided to take it easy. after rolling around for a bit and washing our faces with the special facial soap, we walked towards city hall. The H took me to Man Mo Temple, a smoky incense filled temple.
we also walked down Hollywood Road and saw the antique stores as they opened up, saw the hustle and the bustle of the wet markets on Wellington, and checked out the halloween paraphrenelia on Pottinger.
Good thing we had worked up a massive appetite! We had a very nice brunch at a fantastic restaurant in City Hall. we got there at the perfect time; no waiting for a table though had we been just 10 minutes off the mark there would have been a big wait. we even scored some free meat buns! i think the lady with the meat bun cart was on her own planet; bad for her, good for us!
After lunch, we decided to go to Tiger Balm gardens which i read about in an old guide book i'd picked up from a recycling area. Both H and Cor said they'd not been there before so i thought it might be a good destination. after walking quite a distance uphill, we were informed by a local man that the gardens had been torn down some years ago and two new high rise buildings had been erected. i was soooo bummed! i guess these are the perils of travelling with a slightly outdated book. but i really wanted to see "scenes from Chinese religion and mythology, including some graphic portrayls of sinners being tortured in the Ten Courts (or Levels) of Hell. Note the sinners in the Eighth Court, whose punishment is to be run over by a 1940's truck." Doesn't that sound neat? oh well, the journey out there was fun.
Perhaps it's better to be disappointed with not seeing the gardens rather than seeing them. at any rate, we decided not to waste the day so we took the tram up to the peak. took tons of pix, got to enjoy some ice cream, and took a walk around the mall at the peak.
After taking a slightly scary ride back own the tram to the city (it was really full and they had problems progressing at a steady speed), we headed over to Rat Alley for some Thai food. Very yummy, and a very full area despite the name.
After our meal, we split ways and i went up to the Sha Tin area in the New Territories to check out life on a Hong Kong university campus. about 45 minutes, 3 trains, and a short hike later, we got to his dorm. his cell, er room, is the tiniest little thing with the world's hardest mattress (if i dare call it that) and beigey-diarrhea-colored curtains with bleach spots in them. i hate to think of him in such shitty conditions but i guess it can't be helped. as Cor says with a shrug, "it's temporary."
the next day, the boy was jonesing for a burger so we hit this big ass mall in Sha Tin to satisfy the burger craving. everyone eats late in HK; restaurants get packed around 8 or 9 for dinner and restaurants don't open for lunch til 11:30. after killing 30 minutes, we downed the biggest cheeseburger there (i had the chicken sammich -- yum!) and parted ways again. he had class and had to return to the studying ways and i went for a walk up to see the 10,000 Buddhas Monastery which was a bit of a steep hike on the top of this big ass hill.
there were warning signs about the monkeys in the area and at the foot of the monastery, was a gate and gold painted buddhas as far the eye can see.
i felt like i was in an episode of the Simpsons. The goldish yellow statues were all different (though ome only a tiny detail different from another): fat ones, little ones, bald one, young ones, old ones, silly ones, scary ones, big ones, hairy ones, skinny ones, ones with flowers or fish or food or pots or rods or tigers, etc. Apparently there are more than 10,000 (not surprising) and the place was in a bit of disarray as they were going through some rennovations.
Here's a shot from the top of the pagoda.
here's the creepiest Buddha i saw:
I made my way back down towards the peninsula. I got off at Prince Edward Station where i saw a lovely pie shop (unfortunately i hadn't walked off my lunch yet):
got lost trying to get to the flower market street but found the goldfish market street locally known as Tung Choi Street. this was shop after shop of goldfish. some tanks were crammed full and some of the fish (even the big ones) were in small plastic bags hanging off the doors of shops. I wouldn't want to be a fish here but i did get some fun shots:
goldfish market street turns into ladies clothing market street after a few blocks so i was able to hunt for Jess's size 10 shoes. i finally found a decent looking pair that weren't too crazy with bows and sparkles (alas, i think they were still a bit snug on her feet).
Walked down shanghai street for a spell and saw a bunch of fantastic wet markets.
after a while i found the jade market. Not hopping with stalls but there were quite a few open. i met a nice young man who chatted me up and discussed the finer points of telling real jade from colored glass (i warned him that my friend had advised me to stay away from shop owners who preyed on stupid foreigners). He told me to always hold the jade up to the light. glass will have tiny bubbles into. and if the jade is too clear and the price is too good, it's a fake. i settled on a very pretty necklace for myself and a few bracelets for my friends and family. all in all, a pretty good price for all the stuff and the young man was happy to make the sale.
another short trip down temple street (it's amazing how different the same streets are during the day compared to night. HK is definitely a nite town) and i walked through the huge and beautiful Kowloon park. The cameras died about then so i was stuck taking a few crappy shots off the last disposable camera i had before going down Hankow road and catching the ferry back to the island.
i was to meet the H for dinner at 7:15 that eveing and thought i had plenty of time. my one problem? i had to go pee. Central is a huge station and what i didn't realize is that in HK, they call the second floor the first floor and the first floor the ground floor. this was very confusing for when looking at the mall directory trying desperately to find the can. after getting lost heaps, i accidentally exited from the building (i don't know where i was or which building i was in). having less than 10 minutes to get to Admiralty, i decided to book it on foot to the station. i crossed my fingers that i was going the right way, took i road i didn't know, and tried to find the signs pointing me to a metro station. i finally made it (roughly 7 minutes late) and thank god the h was there. i got to pee and we went home to drop off our bags and change our shoes before dinner.
Yum! Yum! H took me to this local roasted meats on rice place near her apartment. the place is almost always packed and once the meats are gone, it's pretty much over. we caught the tail end of dinner just before they packed up for the night. Holy chicken and duck! the food was amazing! great sauces to go with it too! but i think our table was lopsided as our soups slid across the surface more than once.
afterwards, we decided to take a walk through the area. We stopped by this herbal tea place which served strong smelling teas served in biggish bowls:
The H said she was impressed that i could take it so well:
A very interesting menu there:
we stopped by a few shops, got to see a bunch of great looking bars and restaurants, and headed back for dessert. Dessert was traditional chinese stuff: a mango tapioca and pommello concoction which was VERY tasty indeed! H had the peanut mochi thing in the black sesame sauce; also very good. who could resist such yummy goodness?
Last day: the h went to work (as normal people do) and i set off on my last half day in HK. I went back to the crowded markets in Sheung Wan.
i revisited Pottinger, Peel, Wellington, and Gage Streets. i bought myself some yummy sauces to experiment with as well as my Halloween costume (see the next blog entry!). i even got some flowers for the H to say thanks for putting me up and putting up with me and i went back to the roasted meats place for lunch. i think the gentleman remembered me from the night before. he seemed amused at my presence (i could not speak or read anything, plus i was a bit early for lunch). i got the cripy skinned pork this time (also very yummy) and vowed to return for more on my next visit. he seemed pleased and let me take photos of the whole pigs.
i went back to the apartment, tackled the sofa bed, packed up and went to the airport. i milled around the big new mall in Central for a bit but not being a name brand girl, got bored easily. i looked for a pie shop, couldn't find one, and got on the airport express.
it was truly wonderful trip! muchas gracias to the H and cor for showing me around and answering all my stupid questions. Hong Kong is a great place for a trip buts as always, it's the friends and the food that ultimately make it a vacation :)
