Asia's World City

So much has happened since I last updated this blog! I have to get it all down before I forget it. Also, please forgive all the misspellings in this blog. I don't have an internet connection to check location spellings.

When I last wrote, we had checked into the YMCA. It was a really nice place with an amazing view of the HK skyline and somewhat softer beds. The breakfast buffet was MUCH better, though Mike may disagree with me. And Leslie, there was the watermelon again! The newspaper I read at breakfast had reports of a new strain of bird flu. I decided to avoid chicken for the rest of the trip. The bird flu was a big deal in HK, since I read signs about sanitation everywhere where I went.

There was no rain the forecast so we decided to hold off on Macau for another day and do some more exploring in Hong Kong. We started the day off in the neighborhood of Wan Chai. It was formerly a red light district, so there were various "nude model dancer" clubs. We strolled around a bit and took photos before we headed to Causeway Bay. The guidebook said it was a major shopping destination. It reminded me a lot of Times Square and there were a lot of the same Western stores that we have back home, so we didn't stay there long.

At this point we were pretty hungry so we decided to go back to Soho, the area full of international restaurants and the escalator with great people watching. If I lived in HK, I would probably hang out in Soho a lot. It's an area that combines two of my favorite things: international food and beaking. There was a Mexican restaurant that seemed interesting, so went in and ordered some veggie tacos and taco salad. The place was staffed by Indians and the food was fine, but extremely bland. Being from California, I am used to Mexican food having bold flavors and lots of spice. Ketchup was spicier than the salsa they were serving. I think the restaurant was trying to appeal to the HK palate - and I've noticed that Cantonese style cooking doesn't seem to have much spice. It seems to be more about texture and savory flavors.

Next we visited the Cat Street Market. The guidebooks said there were lots of stalls selling curios and antiques. It was a charming little street full of very cute little booths with nicely arranged items. I spent more time than I probably should have looking at things like Chairman Mao ashtrays, cinnabar jewelry, and bronze figurines of pagodas. Mike was very patient with me as I dithered over what I wanted. I really wanted a knick knack to stick on my shelf, but nothing was really speaking to me so I just gave up. I'm glad I didn't buy anything because I saw all the same things they were selling later on at the Sham Shui Po market for a fraction of the cost! It turns out they weren't selling real antiques at all! Oh well.

So... Sham Shui Po. Friends of ours told us this was an interesting place we needed to check out. It's the oldest and poorest part of Hong Kong. It also turned out to be the place where all the Hong Kongers shop. The Sham Shui Po Market kind of blew my mind. I think there had to be at least a thousand tiny stalls selling everything and anything you can think of. Piles of greasy drills, obsolete VCRs, eyeball searing strips of LED lights, Kenny G CDs, you name it. The sellers here weren't as aggressive with us, either. We were pretty much ignored which was a change after being harassed nonstop in the other markets. I think it's because there were very few foreigners there.

One of the most interesting things I saw in the SSP market was a snake soup stall. On on side of the entrance was a tank with live snakes. On the other side was plastic box piled with snake skin items like wallets. There was a cart with a woman ladling out chunky looking grey soup to men of all ages. I wonder what medicinal properties snake soup has? It must have something to do with men's health.

Adjacent to the SSP street market is the electronics district. Mike and I went into one of the malls and again - mind blown. It was a very brightly lit place with thousands of stalls selling any kind of gadget and part you can imagine. You could get totally lost in there and not find your way out of the maze for hours. It was just like Akhibara in Japan. Most of the clientele were men and some of the stalls had shop owners opening phones and repairing electronic items. I was overwhelmed by all the screens and blinking things, I didn't know where to look.

We headed to the Temple Street Night Market next. It was pretty different after being at the chaotic mess that is the SSP street market. The stalls were much more orderly and the walkways weren't jam packed with people. I found some awesomely tacky purse holder thingies and enameled wing earrings for a few dollars. Besides street vendors, the TSNM also had lots of street food, fortune tellers, and a Cantonese opera singer.

We dashed back to the harbor waterfront to see the Symphony of Lights show at 8 pm. Every night the city of Hong Kong puts on a light show where all the skyscrapers light and up in time to awesomely bad midi music. It was really cool and totally Hong Kong's style - over the top, a bit garish, and futuristic.

It was pretty late by then but we were hungry and decided to grab a bite to eat at a vegetarian Indian place nearby. To get to it, we had to ring a doorbell and go upstairs to a door. It seemed hidden until we opened the door and saw that the place was packed. The food was really good but I was beyond tired at this point. I fell asleep at several parts during the meal, even dropping tikka masala into my hair at one point. Glamorous.

The next day we took a ferry to Macau. To get there, we took a hour long high speed ferry. Navigating the ferry terminal was a bit confusing, but we figured it out eventually. The boat ride was a relaxing change of pace after all those days of walking for 10 hours straight. It was rainy and foggy outside so I didn't get to see much besides a fishing boat here and there.

When we arrived in Macau, we took a bus to the historic area. Macau is a beautiful and interesting place. It was colonized by the Portuguese, so the architecture is a mixture between pastel colonial buildings and Chinese buildings. The streets very narrow cobblestone, so a lot of the people who live there ride scooters. I thought it had a quieter, more tropical vibe than Hong Kong. It rained buckets while we were there, but we had our umbrellas and made the best of it.

Besides having a historical district, Macau is also the Las Vegas of Asia. Gambling is illegal in Hong Kong (besides betting on horse races) so a casino industry has sprung up in Macau to satisfy gamblers' desires. Mike and I don't care to gamble, so we skipped that area but saw it on our bus ride back to the ferry terminal. It's just as tacky and artificial looking as Las Vegas! Some things are the same the world over.

It was a relief to get back to our hotel and change into dry clothes and shoes. We had hoped to have dinner at a Moroccan restaurant in Soho, but it was so late that we decided to stick around our neighborhood of Tsim Tsa Tsui. We found a pizza place that reminded me a lot of California. The margharita pizza didn't have much cheese, which I liked. I assumed it was to appeal to the HK palate - they eat little to do no dairy.

After dinner we wandered around for awhile in search of a decent bar. Just when we were discussing how it seemed like Hong Kongers don't like to drink since we never saw any bars anywhere, we stumbled upon a bar district. Ha! We found a tiny place and had a beer. I was so tired at this point that I started to nod off again so we decided to head back.

As we were heading back, we were accosted repeatedly by ladies at every block offering foot massages for as low as HK $80 (equivalent $8 in USD.) I was REALLY tempted because my feet having been aching after all the walking I've been doing. There seems to be a brisk foot massage trade in HK, which doesn't surprise me because it's a city where everyone walks a lot. I decided to forego the massage because it was almost 1 am at this point and I was embarrassed of my feet stinking after being in wet shoes all day long. As I drifted off to sleep that night, I vowed to one day return to Hong Kong to get that foot massage I've always wanted.

I'm writing this on the plane and my flight is almost over! When I next write, I'll be in Seoul. Hooray!