Dumplings and Buns

We must have eaten our weight in buns and dumplings while in Hong Kong.  We found a vendor near our hotel and more often than not, her buns & dumplings were our breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  We did mange to get to a 3-starred Michelin dumpling restaurant— it was also dim sum.  We were adventurous there: we ordered the chicken feet.  I thought that they would come in bun form….  

They did not.  They looked like chicken feet.  I managed to eat one, barely.  Will ate the other three.  At one point, he spat out a toe bone and/or toe nail.  The flavor was good, don’t get me wrong, it was just the look of the things.  For the rest of the day, Will has chicken feet jiggling in his belly….

I was happy just sticking to the standard dumplings we found on the street and washing them down with Mango Juice— why isn’t that available here??  It is so good!!  Sticks for forks, mini packets of soy sauce, meat and veg buns: delicious!

Rainy days in Hong Kong

Just walking around Hong Kong is an assault on the senses: there is so much to see and read and smell— and traffic to avoid.  Walking down a street, I kept giggling at how far out from the building store signs hung, all in order to get your attention.

For the most part, the buildings aren’t pretty.  They are pretty weather-beaten and everyone has their air conditioning or laundry on their balcony, if they have a balcony.  Advertising is plastered on the buildings at least three stories up.  

 

Even in the rain, the streets are teeming with activity.  We thought that all the umbrellas added to the colors of the urban landscape and we sat for minute or two, watching all the brollies go by.

The rain— the downpour!— didn’t stop the laser light show that the city puts on nightly.  The buildings that line the harbor dance to music every evening for about 20 minutes.  The music blasts over speakers along the waterfront and the buildings respond to the beat. It was a nice way to say good bye to Hong Kong— I hope that we will be back one day!

Birds, Flowers, and Fish

The next day we spent hours at the Hong Kong History Museum— it is a great museum.  The first floor is all about the Chinese heritage of Hong Kong and the sailing history of the bay; and upstairs is how the British screwed the Chinese over with opium and then took over the island with a 100 year lease.  

Having Flat Stanley with me meant that he must pose with replica opium crates and balls!  This is for educational purposes, after all.  Flat Stanley also drove a tram and sat with me on the trolley.

The section of Hong Kong after World War II was fascinating to us, especially knowing that Edward was stationed here during the Korean War.  He commented that when he was there in the later 1950s, the only tall buildings were the St. John Church and the Standard & Pours bank (8 stories high).  We laughed at that, as we craned our necks up to see the tops of the hundreds of skyscrapers that now make up the skyline of Hong Kong.  In the 1960s section, we kept listening to this great song by the Reynettes, “ Kowloon Hong Kong”   You should take a listen….

After the museum, we walked to the bird street and the flower street, passing the best idea ever: a dog latrine. 

Yuen Po Street is where the bird market is.  One can buy almost any type of bird, from finishes to toucans, and take them home as pets.  There are several birds crammed into bamboo cages, porcelain water & food dishes, and other bird-care products all for sale.   There is a garden near-by, where you can see old men preening their birds trying to get a song out of them (no one was there when we passed by, cuz it was raining).  

This street was more sad to me as so many birds were crammed into small cages.  There were large parrots that could hardly open their songs.  The toucan just looked so depressed in a small cage that he could hop around in but not fly.  I was glad to leave this street.

We wandered over to the flower market, where orchids and bonsais and all the paraphernalia are sold: small statues for the bonsais, gorgeous large pots for the orchids.  If we did live in Hong Kong, I can guarantee that we would have no furniture in our flat, just miniature trees and sprays of orchids.

Further on, we came across the fish street, where every time of fish is sold, displayed in plastic bags hung from a rack.  Some of the bags were about 10 gallon, half filled with water and the largest fish I have ever since, hung up for sale.  

Most were beta fish and clown fish. We did see lots of people buying the baggies, so hopefully the fish don’t spend too much of their lives hanging around in plastic.

Victoria Peak

on the tram

Victoria Peak is the highest point on Hong Kong Island and offers amazing views of the city and the harbor.  We took the 125-year funicular to the top— and couldn’t believe the angle that the car was traveling!

Waiting for the tram, the terminus had historical photos of traveling to the top.  In the early 19th century, rich tourists would hire locals to carry them in sedan chairs up the steep mountain side.  There were three resting spots along the route; now, the tram takes you up in 8 minutes!

And the view from the top is truly spectacular!

We were there on a rainy day, but the wind carried the clouds away quickly, offering misty views of the city.  It was pretty awesome to see some buildings poking above the rain clouds.

We were giggling thinking about what Will’s father had said: when he was stationed here in the early 1960s for the Korean War, the tallest buildings were the church and the Standard Bank (8 stories high).  Nowadays, those buildings are dwarfed by apartment buildings.

At the top of the Peak, is the anvil-shaped Peak Tower, that offers even higher views of the city,  and several floors of restaurants and shops for all the souvenirs you could possibly want.

tram tracks