Busy Week

Last week was great! Wednesday I was thrilled to hear from Stephanie Laubacker, saying she was in town on business. She only had one night in Hong Kong, so Liza and I arrived at her Tsim Sha Tsui hotel to greet her and her co-worker John (from Rock Hill!) and show them around after work. The recent acid attacks and chilly weather prevented us from enjoying the atmosphere at Temple Street Night Market, but it worked out nicely because we went to Knutsford Terrace to share a meal. The tucked away street of upscale international flavors in TST is charming and boasts its own unique experience. I had tiger prawns over linguine drizzled with truffle oil (yum!) and we had a blast hanging out with fellow South Carolinians. They had to be jetlagged, and were Shanghai-bound the next day, yet John and Stephanie had the energy so the four of us headed to AquaSpirit—the swanky, ultra modern bar on top of One Peking Tower. The view of the Central skyscrapers and neon lights over the harbor is breathtaking. I loved showing my temporary home to someone else, which is why I am thrilled my sister Amelia has officially booked her flight to visit in May!! Can’t wait!
Thursday after work (while it was still light out) Tripp and I met at the Chungking Mansions in search of some authentic Middle Eastern kebabs. It seems everyone is familiar with the Mansions, a gritty, smorgasbord of sketchy hotels—by far the cheapest accommodations in the city. The pungent smell of foreign spices and body odor blasts your nostrils as you walk deeper into the place. This is the first stop for many immigrants coming to find a new life in Hong Kong, thus you can find a true melting pot in this place of cultures, languages, and ethnicities. It’s a sociologist’s dream. Many vendors set up stall with about six feet of retail space selling items from their native country—calling cards to various African countries, fake Rolexes, and legit naan bread abounds! One promising stand packed floor to ceiling DVD’s, but they were all Indian films! We ate chicken kebabs (with one eye on the exit!), caught the Symphony of Lights show at the harbor, and walked the Avenue of Stars (with Jacky Chan and Bruce Lee’s handprints in the cement, of course!)
I got a big surprise at work Friday when a teacher told me I would accompany the K2’s on an excursion to the Jusco supermarket! I never really know what is going on at school, so the fact they were going anywhere at all was news to me! K2’s are my four year olds, and I have three separate groups to take, each one lasting an hour. Very nice, as I got out of all but two teaching lessons that day! We walked over a footbridge and up the elevator to the grocery store, so it was very close. The entire field trip was spoken in Cantonese, but the idea that fruits and veggies are healthy and the tempting bakery goods are not is universally understood. I wish yall could have seen the level of discipline these children have. The matching uniforms are immaculate, and they marched in perfect formation holding their assigned buddies hand the whole time. No one spoke out of turn, and everyone listened to the teachers as they stopped and spoke about different types of food. At the end, one child got to hand over cheese to the teller and put the new purchase in a reusable grocery bag. Too cute.
This weekend we made the most of this unusual city. We took to the street Saturday afternoon with an excellent guidebook full of little known local points of interest and Tripp’s new camera. We looked like the ultimate tourists. It was fun to explore places right near our apartments that have been previously undiscovered in the past months. We moved around the bustling flower markets, which smelled fantastic and were full of people buying up flowers in preparation for the Chinese New Year. We wandered through the bird garden, where elderly men hang their pet birds in cages outside for fresh air. The bird market vendors were selling rare species of parrots that performed tricks for the humans and mingled with the wild birds hoping to get some bird seed. We covered a lot of ground on the Kowloon side. We beat closing time at the Jade Market, so I was finally able to see the 400 stalls full of jewelry and Chinese curios. Moving up through Temple Street, we found deals on two movies that are still in theatres, and also a pair of speakers for my laptop!
Once dinnertime rolled around, we headed into the heart of Kowloon City, where it seems more Thai is spoken than Chinese. Many Thai expatriates have settled here, so the curries are authentic and delicious. The Thai food here is spicier and less oily than the “Hong Kongified” versions. We were searching for a particular place our book suggested, but along the way met a man who took us across the way to his friend’s restaurant. He yelled into the kitchen through the throngs of diners, presumably to tell the owners to take care of us. Tripp got red curry and I chose the green, so we sampled both. I loaded my rice and veggies with the curry sauce and the hot flavor brought tears to my eyes. At the end of our meal, our new friend popped his head back in the restaurant to ask how we liked it! No guidebook can give you that!!
On the walk home, we happened upon a home goods store. “Just a quick peek” turned into a new oven, electric toothbrush, bathmat, and towels for my place, and bedroom slippers and an electric razor for Tripp. He hauled my little oven onto a minibus and we were able to enjoy homemade potato chips the next day!
Sunday we met up to hit Lamma Island, the hippie, semi-lawless commune accessible by a ferry from Central. It is a bedroom community for expatriate and local commuters, and is famous for its fresh (so fresh it’s still swimming in the tanks!) seafood restaurants with sea views. The best way to see the island is by hiking the Family Trail. We started near some stalls of tie-dyed clothing and beaded blankets. One gift shop was run by a Malaysian girl named Dolly. Chatting with her, we learned she studied at Tri County Tech for four years! She lived in the Anderson ghetto and said her church members in the Upstate donated furniture to her and the three Malaysian friends she was living with! Malaysians in Clemson!! Can you believe that?! We were the first South Carolinians she met on the island.
We left Dolly and climbed a hill up to the massive71 meter windmill that’s the focus of Lamma Winds, an alternative energy research facility. The weather was sunny, clear, and just the perfect crisp temperature to be active outdoors. It was probably in the 50s, and yet I still saw a girl wearing HUGE earmuffs! ) The trail led us by a beach and over mountains. Once we made it to the village on the other side of the island, we took a ferry back and brought our fantastic weekend to a close!
Yall are amazing for reading our play-by-plays! I love you and appreciate you keeping in touch!