Chapter 6
Day 7
Hong Kong – The fragrant port
I woke up in Hong Kong. The strong silvery sun light was coming from the window brightening my room. I turned over and glanced at my watch. It marked almost 11.00 a.m.. It was already too late. So, I stood up, wandered to the bathroom and after a nice shower I got dressed for the day, took the backpack, and left the hotel.
My plans of the day would be quite intense, but seeing how my relationship with Hong Kong started, it was quite obvious that I had to sort out what to do. My first decision, was to have a stop at my dear Starbucks. First I needed to have a nice caffeine-based breakfast, and then, to plan my day. I found a nice Starbucks near Nathan road and I entered it. The place was packed with people, mainly Chinese, and some tourist too. I ordered a small Latte and a warm “Pain au Chocolate”.
I sat at a table in the chilly Air-Con. I opened my red booklet and a map. My original plan would involve the following checkpoints.
Wake up: VERY EARLY!
Note: Checkpoint missed
Step 1: Breakfast somewhere around the “Embassy Hotel”.
Note: Changed hotel, but the Starbucks was still quite near.
Step 2: Jade Market near Temple street.
Note: For people that aren’t Jade Experts, it turns into a sort of tourist-trap.
Step 3: Following Temple Street and visit at the famous Temple Street Market.
Note: The above step, according the Old Chinese Lady advice, should be done trying to not being pick pocketed.
Step 4: Take the Metro from Yau Ma Tei Station to Prince Edward Station.
Step 5: Visit the Goldfish Market, Flower Market and Bird Garden.
Step 6: Take the Metro from Prince Edward Station to Wong Tai Sin Station.
Step 7: Visit of the Wong Tai Sin Temple.
Step 8: Visit of the Nunnery.
Step 9: Take the Metro from Diamon Hill Station to Admirality Station.
Step 10: Visit Hong Kong Park with the Tea Museum and Tea Tasting classes.
Step 11: Visit Wan Chai neighborhood.
Since the first glance, it was obvious that, having lost the first day, and having in “maybe” the fourth day, I had the urge to change my plans. I opened my map and my useless guide book. I cross-checked them and in the end, while sipping my coffee I thought, I’m wasting time here!
Yes, I was wasting precious time.
In hurry I moved my fingers on my map, picturing the things that I shouldn’t miss and the time that was flowing away fast. Then, I packed my bags and I left the shop.
I crossed the street and I entered Kowloon Park. It wasn’t in my “To do” list, but, it was so close to me, and from my hotel window it looked so pretty, that I decided to visit it. Once inside, it was nice to see that many Chinese people, mainly old, were going there to relax and to make some stretching exercise. The park itself has some nice areas, like the maze, the bamboo plants area and the pond with a small temple-looking structure. I liked it, and I Ioved to sit there for a moment, in quiet, with a gentle wind blowing between the tree branches and tall bamboo plants.
My plans of the day would be quite intense, but seeing how my relationship with Hong Kong started, it was quite obvious that I had to sort out what to do. My first decision, was to have a stop at my dear Starbucks. First I needed to have a nice caffeine-based breakfast, and then, to plan my day. I found a nice Starbucks near Nathan road and I entered it. The place was packed with people, mainly Chinese, and some tourist too. I ordered a small Latte and a warm “Pain au Chocolate”.
I sat at a table in the chilly Air-Con. I opened my red booklet and a map. My original plan would involve the following checkpoints.
Wake up: VERY EARLY!
Note: Checkpoint missed
Step 1: Breakfast somewhere around the “Embassy Hotel”.
Note: Changed hotel, but the Starbucks was still quite near.
Step 2: Jade Market near Temple street.
Note: For people that aren’t Jade Experts, it turns into a sort of tourist-trap.
Step 3: Following Temple Street and visit at the famous Temple Street Market.
Note: The above step, according the Old Chinese Lady advice, should be done trying to not being pick pocketed.
Step 4: Take the Metro from Yau Ma Tei Station to Prince Edward Station.
Step 5: Visit the Goldfish Market, Flower Market and Bird Garden.
Step 6: Take the Metro from Prince Edward Station to Wong Tai Sin Station.
Step 7: Visit of the Wong Tai Sin Temple.
Step 8: Visit of the Nunnery.
Step 9: Take the Metro from Diamon Hill Station to Admirality Station.
Step 10: Visit Hong Kong Park with the Tea Museum and Tea Tasting classes.
Step 11: Visit Wan Chai neighborhood.
Since the first glance, it was obvious that, having lost the first day, and having in “maybe” the fourth day, I had the urge to change my plans. I opened my map and my useless guide book. I cross-checked them and in the end, while sipping my coffee I thought, I’m wasting time here!
Yes, I was wasting precious time.
In hurry I moved my fingers on my map, picturing the things that I shouldn’t miss and the time that was flowing away fast. Then, I packed my bags and I left the shop.
I crossed the street and I entered Kowloon Park. It wasn’t in my “To do” list, but, it was so close to me, and from my hotel window it looked so pretty, that I decided to visit it. Once inside, it was nice to see that many Chinese people, mainly old, were going there to relax and to make some stretching exercise. The park itself has some nice areas, like the maze, the bamboo plants area and the pond with a small temple-looking structure. I liked it, and I Ioved to sit there for a moment, in quiet, with a gentle wind blowing between the tree branches and tall bamboo plants.
Hong Kong – Down the shopping streets
Soon later I left the park and moved down the street where I found this nice looking mall. Everybody, in every travel-diary suggested to visit at least a mall. So, I entered it. The first feeling was that the Air-Con wasn’t as freezing-cold as everybody described. While reading those diaries I was picturing the malls like huge, multi stories, refrigerators.
“Hey, you see, here is the floor of the frozen food, the next one, is the frozen underwear and the next again, is the ice-furniture” that’s how I imagined a waiter, dressed like a Sherpa guide, that was telling me the differences between the floors. Even though that, maybe, the frozen underwear could be appealing.
I entered it, and the shops were quite plain. I found nothing interesting in it. It was just clothing and stuff of below-average interesting fashion. I don’t know if it was just the wrong mall, but I found nothing interesting in most of the floors. The only shop that could be, somehow, interesting was the one that was selling furnishing made with recycled stuff. A sofa made with spare parts of a car, a lamp made with entwined clothes hangers, a wall watch made with led lights installed into a computer keyboard.
Again, I wasted time. It was beginning to be the rule of my Hong Kong tripping.
I went back down the 24 floors and soon I was back in the messy streets. The heat was high as it was already past midday. I entered soon in the Jordan Metro Station, and I took the first northbound train. Eight stops later, I was the Wong Tai Sin Station, where I went back outside in the open sun. This time, I was going to visit a temple, perhaps, the most important one that I should visit in Hong Kong.
“Hey, you see, here is the floor of the frozen food, the next one, is the frozen underwear and the next again, is the ice-furniture” that’s how I imagined a waiter, dressed like a Sherpa guide, that was telling me the differences between the floors. Even though that, maybe, the frozen underwear could be appealing.
I entered it, and the shops were quite plain. I found nothing interesting in it. It was just clothing and stuff of below-average interesting fashion. I don’t know if it was just the wrong mall, but I found nothing interesting in most of the floors. The only shop that could be, somehow, interesting was the one that was selling furnishing made with recycled stuff. A sofa made with spare parts of a car, a lamp made with entwined clothes hangers, a wall watch made with led lights installed into a computer keyboard.
Again, I wasted time. It was beginning to be the rule of my Hong Kong tripping.
I went back down the 24 floors and soon I was back in the messy streets. The heat was high as it was already past midday. I entered soon in the Jordan Metro Station, and I took the first northbound train. Eight stops later, I was the Wong Tai Sin Station, where I went back outside in the open sun. This time, I was going to visit a temple, perhaps, the most important one that I should visit in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong - Wong Tai Sin Temple
The temple is near the edge of Hong Kong city, just outside the metro station, in the middle of a cluster of human-hive buildings. I entered the large temple, that like any other Chinese temple, is very colorful and rich in decorations. The entrance gate is a portal with concrete pillars guarded by two fierce bronze Chinese lions. Finally, while walking through the gate and between the lions, I felt like something was starting to go on the right way.
I entered the temple boundaries, and I had to decide which way to take. The main one would lead me toward what looked a big temple, quite similar at the Buddhist ones that I’ve seen across Asia, while the left one would take me somewhere hidden upon a terrace. So, I headed for the mystery, leaving the Asian Temple for later.
I turned left and I started to walk up the first flights of stairs. At half way there was a small shrine where a man was knelt lighting some incense sticks. The thick smoke was leaving up to the sky flowing all around the robes of a huge statue of what looked like a very angry giant. Actually the scene was that the statue looked like being very angry with the man and about to hit him with a mace.
I passed by the man and the statue, went up one more flight of stairs and I arrived on top of the terrace. Here, on the side toward the city, that should have been southward, there were twelve very beautiful human-size statues of the Chinese Zodiac. Each of them was different from the others and each of them had some peculiarity. The thing was that they were like humans with the heads of the Zodiac signs. My favorite were the Rooster and the Snake. Mine is the Snake, and I had absolutely to have a picture with him.
On the opposite side of the zodiac there was a double stairway, which the two lanes were separated by a grey garnet huge stone finely carved with Chinese Dragons. It was amazing, a real masterpiece of Chinese Sacred Art.
Following the stairways on both sides of the dragon carved stone, I arrived to the upper terrace. It was some kind of a cloister. I went through what looked like gates as a rustling noise was getting louder and louder. In front of me, there was a small square with many people knelt doing something, perhaps, praying holding in their hands something making the rustling noise shaking it. Beyond the people there was the real temple with many statues of Chinese Deities. On the both sides, there were covered walkways, each different from the other. While the one on the right hand side had no wall and you could see the other temples behind some dragon carved columns, the opposite one had a wall, something looking like small shrines, something that looked like a small shop, and a gate to go somewhere.
I went closer to the kneeling people and all of a sudden I recognized what they were doing. They were performing the form of divination called Kau Cim, or The Oracle of Kuan Yin. They were kneeling and holding with their hands a can filled with wooden sticks. They had to shake the can until one of the sticks would fall off the can. At this point, they had to collect the stick, go to the shop, that surprisingly wasn’t a shop, where they’d give back their can of sticks and would have a piece of paper with written the number that they collected. Then, they’d go out of the “gate to somewhere” and would take their paper to the Fortune Tellers housed in a pavilion nearby, still in the boundaries of the Temple.
The sun was high in the sky giving at the grey stones some kind of a bright glow. It was hot on the skin, but this square was somehow sheltered by many lanterns hanging from ropes stretched across the same square from the roof of the sides of the cloister.
A sky of lanterns!
I looked upward, and it was so beautiful to see the red lanterns against the bright sky. All around there were people giving offerings in the shrines and lighting incense sticks. The same incense gave a nice smell at the air and at times, it became like a thick mist.
I wandered around, looking at the shrines and the Chinese statues. Inside these temples I always feel the same way. I feel like there are so many decorations that, for a Westerner, or at least for me, could even be distracting. But it looks like it has to be the rule as all the Chinese temples that I’ve visited are the same. I mean, they are distracting and confusing but they always give me a strong sense of spirituality. Even if for my tastes, I prefer the empty spaces of the Thai temples. But it’s another religion, and they shouldn’t be compared.
I waited a bit, then, when a place was free, I collected a can and I went to try it too. It took quite long, but then, a stick jumped out of my can. I kept it in hand and I left the place. Then, all of a sudden a guy, a Spanish boy, asked if I could give him my sticks can, so I answered that he’d have it, but I wished that he’d take me a picture in the temple. He was glad to help me, and soon, I was heading, first to the place that looked like a shop, and then to the Fortune Tellers Pavilion.
I went through the small door and I found myself on the top of a short stairway going down, first to a terrace and then to the Fortune Tellers pavilion. Actually, when I arrived in the bright terrace in the strong sun I wondered where the Fortune Tellers were, but as soon as a Chinese man seen me holding my piece of paper with the number of my stick, she smiled broadly and told me something in Chinese. I looked at him and he kept talking. I kept watching at him, and he was keeping on talking, until he pointed, with his cigarette dirty finger, the direction of the Pavilion. I thought “Ok, or it’s the good Pavilion or some Chinese triad guy will ambush me to torture me taking me back at the National Court hotel and feed me, in form of Dim Sum, to the Old Chinese Man”, but then, seen that there near should be the Fortune Tellers Pavilion, and it was the only Pavilion left there around, I couldn’t mistake.
I went straight to the Pavilion and entered it. It was dark, and mostly deserted. A ghostly version of a indoor bazaar. The pavilion itself isn’t straight, but slightly bended, forming a long turn. Inside of it, there are many small Fortune Tellers shops. They are on the both sides and two series in the middle, with shops back-to back, forming, ideally, two Fortune Telling streets running parallel inside the pavilion, both surrounded in both sides by the shops.
The place was dimly lit, and most of the shops were closed. The first ones, of course, were already busy with other clients, some Chinese and some Westerner too. I entered, and, in that kind of indoor crossroad, I went straight to the second alley. Here I turned left, and soon, I was called by an English speaking voice. It was a lady Fortune Teller that was calling me. The other Fortune Tellers around were looking far too much like the Old Chinese Man to be taken in account. So, I entered the small shop, more like a cubicle, of the lady. She introduced herself as Miss Priscilla Lam, Fortune Teller and Physiognomist.
I entered her midst, she invited me to sit down and she took my piece of paper, she glanced at it, placed her glasses better, opened her mouth, glanced at the paper again and then she looked at me. She asked which service I wanted, the standard or some different one. I told her what she meant, and she said that the Fortune Telling using my number would cost about 3 Euro, while other kinds of Fortune Telling would be more expensive. I chosen the 3 Euro one.
She took my number, checked into boxes with many papers matching to the numbers and took out a small, pretty paper with over written a story in Chinese. She asked me to make a question about the future and she’s answer me decoding the story written on it. For more questions, the price would rise. So, I asked my question, she read on the paper, translating in English what was written, and then she gave me my answer. After it, we spent still some minutes talking about Italy and Fortune Telling, and then, I left the place with a pretty decorated envelope with inside my Chinese story.
I left the pavilion, I passed through the terrace where before I met the Chinese man and passing by a huge metal-plated Chinese calendar, I came back to the terrace with the Chinese calendar statues. From this point, I went toward the temple that I’ve seen at the beginning, and in this way, I arrived in the hidden garden of the temple.
The hidden garden, that’s the way I called it as when you enter the temple it’s mostly sheltered by the front side of the same temple, is one of those gardens that make you feel like being in one of those Chinese movies that build our Westerner stereotypized China.
As I arrived, the first sight was a bridge that stretched itself across a pod with green water decorated with sculptures, small fountains and water lilies. A very Taoist picture. On the other end of the bridge, there was the central structure of a bridge-like elevated symmetrical walkway. I say it’s symmetrical as on each side of the central structure, looking quite like an elevated temple, outstretched two elevated covered walkways that followed the shores of the pond.
I went across the bridge, passed under the central structure of that kind of bridge, and I followed a pathway on the left. Just as it started, it passed by beautiful flower beds, which one of them resembled the Taijitu, the Taoist symbol, but instead being black (Yin) and white (yang), it was brown and green.
I walked down the way that was following a path between the edge of the shores of the pond and flowerbeds. It was really pretty, like a charming gem into the mud. The spell of such a charming and relaxing place was broken by its surrounding. Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated places on Earth, and here there’s no free place to waste. Just outside the boundaries of the temple, huge gray concrete-pillars-like-buildings rise to hide the hills and sky from the sight. Those stern buildings, more similar to those anthills from some Australian outback documentaries than to housings, killed the feeling of peace of that place.
A little farther from the pond, there was a second pond which was connected with the first by a small artificial river. Here an artificial waterfall was thundering on the small lake. Plants and flowerbeds were perfectly displayed in a beautiful human-controlled Feng-Shui natural landscape. Here the picture was beautiful. It looked like also this place was coming from some ancient Chinese picture or an oriental movie.
After a short contemplation of the place, as there were many people swarming around and taking pictures with “V” shaped fingers, I left the place. I followed the path in the shadow of some tall trees, and soon, across some more beautiful water-and-plants composition, I was back into the terrace near the Fortune Tellers Pavilion. From this point, I went one more time to meet the beautiful zodiac statues, and soon, I was back outside of the temple.
I entered the temple boundaries, and I had to decide which way to take. The main one would lead me toward what looked a big temple, quite similar at the Buddhist ones that I’ve seen across Asia, while the left one would take me somewhere hidden upon a terrace. So, I headed for the mystery, leaving the Asian Temple for later.
I turned left and I started to walk up the first flights of stairs. At half way there was a small shrine where a man was knelt lighting some incense sticks. The thick smoke was leaving up to the sky flowing all around the robes of a huge statue of what looked like a very angry giant. Actually the scene was that the statue looked like being very angry with the man and about to hit him with a mace.
I passed by the man and the statue, went up one more flight of stairs and I arrived on top of the terrace. Here, on the side toward the city, that should have been southward, there were twelve very beautiful human-size statues of the Chinese Zodiac. Each of them was different from the others and each of them had some peculiarity. The thing was that they were like humans with the heads of the Zodiac signs. My favorite were the Rooster and the Snake. Mine is the Snake, and I had absolutely to have a picture with him.
On the opposite side of the zodiac there was a double stairway, which the two lanes were separated by a grey garnet huge stone finely carved with Chinese Dragons. It was amazing, a real masterpiece of Chinese Sacred Art.
Following the stairways on both sides of the dragon carved stone, I arrived to the upper terrace. It was some kind of a cloister. I went through what looked like gates as a rustling noise was getting louder and louder. In front of me, there was a small square with many people knelt doing something, perhaps, praying holding in their hands something making the rustling noise shaking it. Beyond the people there was the real temple with many statues of Chinese Deities. On the both sides, there were covered walkways, each different from the other. While the one on the right hand side had no wall and you could see the other temples behind some dragon carved columns, the opposite one had a wall, something looking like small shrines, something that looked like a small shop, and a gate to go somewhere.
I went closer to the kneeling people and all of a sudden I recognized what they were doing. They were performing the form of divination called Kau Cim, or The Oracle of Kuan Yin. They were kneeling and holding with their hands a can filled with wooden sticks. They had to shake the can until one of the sticks would fall off the can. At this point, they had to collect the stick, go to the shop, that surprisingly wasn’t a shop, where they’d give back their can of sticks and would have a piece of paper with written the number that they collected. Then, they’d go out of the “gate to somewhere” and would take their paper to the Fortune Tellers housed in a pavilion nearby, still in the boundaries of the Temple.
The sun was high in the sky giving at the grey stones some kind of a bright glow. It was hot on the skin, but this square was somehow sheltered by many lanterns hanging from ropes stretched across the same square from the roof of the sides of the cloister.
A sky of lanterns!
I looked upward, and it was so beautiful to see the red lanterns against the bright sky. All around there were people giving offerings in the shrines and lighting incense sticks. The same incense gave a nice smell at the air and at times, it became like a thick mist.
I wandered around, looking at the shrines and the Chinese statues. Inside these temples I always feel the same way. I feel like there are so many decorations that, for a Westerner, or at least for me, could even be distracting. But it looks like it has to be the rule as all the Chinese temples that I’ve visited are the same. I mean, they are distracting and confusing but they always give me a strong sense of spirituality. Even if for my tastes, I prefer the empty spaces of the Thai temples. But it’s another religion, and they shouldn’t be compared.
I waited a bit, then, when a place was free, I collected a can and I went to try it too. It took quite long, but then, a stick jumped out of my can. I kept it in hand and I left the place. Then, all of a sudden a guy, a Spanish boy, asked if I could give him my sticks can, so I answered that he’d have it, but I wished that he’d take me a picture in the temple. He was glad to help me, and soon, I was heading, first to the place that looked like a shop, and then to the Fortune Tellers Pavilion.
I went through the small door and I found myself on the top of a short stairway going down, first to a terrace and then to the Fortune Tellers pavilion. Actually, when I arrived in the bright terrace in the strong sun I wondered where the Fortune Tellers were, but as soon as a Chinese man seen me holding my piece of paper with the number of my stick, she smiled broadly and told me something in Chinese. I looked at him and he kept talking. I kept watching at him, and he was keeping on talking, until he pointed, with his cigarette dirty finger, the direction of the Pavilion. I thought “Ok, or it’s the good Pavilion or some Chinese triad guy will ambush me to torture me taking me back at the National Court hotel and feed me, in form of Dim Sum, to the Old Chinese Man”, but then, seen that there near should be the Fortune Tellers Pavilion, and it was the only Pavilion left there around, I couldn’t mistake.
I went straight to the Pavilion and entered it. It was dark, and mostly deserted. A ghostly version of a indoor bazaar. The pavilion itself isn’t straight, but slightly bended, forming a long turn. Inside of it, there are many small Fortune Tellers shops. They are on the both sides and two series in the middle, with shops back-to back, forming, ideally, two Fortune Telling streets running parallel inside the pavilion, both surrounded in both sides by the shops.
The place was dimly lit, and most of the shops were closed. The first ones, of course, were already busy with other clients, some Chinese and some Westerner too. I entered, and, in that kind of indoor crossroad, I went straight to the second alley. Here I turned left, and soon, I was called by an English speaking voice. It was a lady Fortune Teller that was calling me. The other Fortune Tellers around were looking far too much like the Old Chinese Man to be taken in account. So, I entered the small shop, more like a cubicle, of the lady. She introduced herself as Miss Priscilla Lam, Fortune Teller and Physiognomist.
I entered her midst, she invited me to sit down and she took my piece of paper, she glanced at it, placed her glasses better, opened her mouth, glanced at the paper again and then she looked at me. She asked which service I wanted, the standard or some different one. I told her what she meant, and she said that the Fortune Telling using my number would cost about 3 Euro, while other kinds of Fortune Telling would be more expensive. I chosen the 3 Euro one.
She took my number, checked into boxes with many papers matching to the numbers and took out a small, pretty paper with over written a story in Chinese. She asked me to make a question about the future and she’s answer me decoding the story written on it. For more questions, the price would rise. So, I asked my question, she read on the paper, translating in English what was written, and then she gave me my answer. After it, we spent still some minutes talking about Italy and Fortune Telling, and then, I left the place with a pretty decorated envelope with inside my Chinese story.
I left the pavilion, I passed through the terrace where before I met the Chinese man and passing by a huge metal-plated Chinese calendar, I came back to the terrace with the Chinese calendar statues. From this point, I went toward the temple that I’ve seen at the beginning, and in this way, I arrived in the hidden garden of the temple.
The hidden garden, that’s the way I called it as when you enter the temple it’s mostly sheltered by the front side of the same temple, is one of those gardens that make you feel like being in one of those Chinese movies that build our Westerner stereotypized China.
As I arrived, the first sight was a bridge that stretched itself across a pod with green water decorated with sculptures, small fountains and water lilies. A very Taoist picture. On the other end of the bridge, there was the central structure of a bridge-like elevated symmetrical walkway. I say it’s symmetrical as on each side of the central structure, looking quite like an elevated temple, outstretched two elevated covered walkways that followed the shores of the pond.
I went across the bridge, passed under the central structure of that kind of bridge, and I followed a pathway on the left. Just as it started, it passed by beautiful flower beds, which one of them resembled the Taijitu, the Taoist symbol, but instead being black (Yin) and white (yang), it was brown and green.
I walked down the way that was following a path between the edge of the shores of the pond and flowerbeds. It was really pretty, like a charming gem into the mud. The spell of such a charming and relaxing place was broken by its surrounding. Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated places on Earth, and here there’s no free place to waste. Just outside the boundaries of the temple, huge gray concrete-pillars-like-buildings rise to hide the hills and sky from the sight. Those stern buildings, more similar to those anthills from some Australian outback documentaries than to housings, killed the feeling of peace of that place.
A little farther from the pond, there was a second pond which was connected with the first by a small artificial river. Here an artificial waterfall was thundering on the small lake. Plants and flowerbeds were perfectly displayed in a beautiful human-controlled Feng-Shui natural landscape. Here the picture was beautiful. It looked like also this place was coming from some ancient Chinese picture or an oriental movie.
After a short contemplation of the place, as there were many people swarming around and taking pictures with “V” shaped fingers, I left the place. I followed the path in the shadow of some tall trees, and soon, across some more beautiful water-and-plants composition, I was back into the terrace near the Fortune Tellers Pavilion. From this point, I went one more time to meet the beautiful zodiac statues, and soon, I was back outside of the temple.
Hong Kong – Going to Central
It was much after midday, and I was starting to feel the need of food. So, I decided to follow the street up. So, I passed by the station and I followed the street until the first building. This building was a mall and I entered it. It was the second one of that day. This one was definitely darker than the previous one, a little more crowded and the shops were more youngster-oriented. Inside of it, there was clearly a sight of the lower floor where there were some food stalls. I kept on searching until I found a typical and quite nice looking restaurant. It was a restaurant for families and large group of people, but I entered and the kind waiter invited me to seat. He said “Please, follow me”, and started to walk. He kept on walking and dodging tables and waiters all around, I followed him all the way, as he was some native guide into an unknown land until we entered a side room. It was as cold as ice. I mean, the air condition was a blizzard and the furnishing was killing any even far memory of a cheerful emotion. In my twisted imagination I felt like I was just an intruder into the remains of a cheap wedding party into a motel on the side of a interstate street. Not so white table-clothes were hanging like motionless whipped-cream waterfalls. The furnishing, like cheap build-it-yourself copies of some Victorian ones, and some mirror were placed all along the walls. Heavy curtains were hiding this place from the main room, which was bright, with cheerful people and equipped with a aquarium with living lobsters in nice display. This room felt like a cheap copy of an old memory of the glorious English Empire, a memory that after years of China went bad. A memory handed down by some old Chinese man trying to fake a memory that he partially lived and mostly imagined.
I sat into the chilly room and I sunk as much as I could into the big cushioned chair trying to shelter myself from the gusts of wind. Soon appeared out of the thin air a nicely dressed old Chinese man. He smiled with a smile as real as a 99 cents diamond. He told me something in Chinese and I answered “Tea Please” he smiled
Te, per favore... (I tried Italian with no results)
He kept on smiling
Phom Jak Dai Chaa... (my Thai is even worse than my English, hard to believe)
He kept on smiling
Herbata Prosze (Polish and Thai are the same good for me)
He was keeping on smiling
You don't understand a word of myself, don't you?
He smiled nodding a little
I said “Fine” and I started to stand up, but he shown me to sit and called another guy. The other guy came and took me a list written in Chinese. Then, he looked at the list and became, if possible, paler, and took another paper out of his pocket. This time it was a list written both in English and Chinese. He asked if I wanted beer, but I said “Please, very hot tea!”. He said something in Chinese to the smiling guy and they both left. I started to study the list, when the Smiling Guy came back with a thermos of tea. He poured it in my glass and fell only a few cold drops of it. He smiled and went away.
You hate me? Do you know the Old Chinese Man of Nathan street? Is him your Goddamn cousin? If Buddha is real, you both will reborn into porks and me into a ham maker...
He came back soon with a full thermos and, finally, filled my glass up. I filled the form for the ordination. I took a hot pork soup and some shrimp Dim Sum. I was ready to feel like an animal frozen into the ice-age that should wait for the meltdown to be set free. But against my prediction, all the food arrived at the unison, smoking, on my table.
The food was simply awesome. If all those people were going to eat in that shabby place, there should be a reason, and the good food was the one. I loved any bite of it. I loved it for real. Soon I finished my food, I paid a ridiculously small amount of Hong Kong Dollars, and I left the place. It was time to reach for Hong Kong island. Along the way to the metro, I noticed again those stern human hive buildings across the street, thinking, that they were totally scary.
I entered the metro and took the Kwun Tong Line, the green one, then at Mong Kok I changed the line and took the Tsuen Wan line, the red one. With the Tsuen Wan line I arrived, for the first time, on Hong Kong island, and I got off from it at the Admiralty station.
I went out of the chaotic station, making my way through waves of human tides. It was unbelievable, it was the chaotic version of a messy metro in the peak hour. I reached the right exit and I went out of it, at least I thought so.
I was into another mall.
The station turned out to have a direct access into a luxurious mall. Some shabby shops were mixed with some branded ones. I wandered for a little, and then I found my way out. On my way, I seen that outside of the window there was a thing that I was looking for. It was the so called Lippo Centre. The Lippo Centre is made of two towers that look like made with toy blocks, with some parts of the buildings that look like misplaced. They are interesting to be seen and they turned out to be a nice subjects to be pictured.
I sat into the chilly room and I sunk as much as I could into the big cushioned chair trying to shelter myself from the gusts of wind. Soon appeared out of the thin air a nicely dressed old Chinese man. He smiled with a smile as real as a 99 cents diamond. He told me something in Chinese and I answered “Tea Please” he smiled
Te, per favore... (I tried Italian with no results)
He kept on smiling
Phom Jak Dai Chaa... (my Thai is even worse than my English, hard to believe)
He kept on smiling
Herbata Prosze (Polish and Thai are the same good for me)
He was keeping on smiling
You don't understand a word of myself, don't you?
He smiled nodding a little
I said “Fine” and I started to stand up, but he shown me to sit and called another guy. The other guy came and took me a list written in Chinese. Then, he looked at the list and became, if possible, paler, and took another paper out of his pocket. This time it was a list written both in English and Chinese. He asked if I wanted beer, but I said “Please, very hot tea!”. He said something in Chinese to the smiling guy and they both left. I started to study the list, when the Smiling Guy came back with a thermos of tea. He poured it in my glass and fell only a few cold drops of it. He smiled and went away.
You hate me? Do you know the Old Chinese Man of Nathan street? Is him your Goddamn cousin? If Buddha is real, you both will reborn into porks and me into a ham maker...
He came back soon with a full thermos and, finally, filled my glass up. I filled the form for the ordination. I took a hot pork soup and some shrimp Dim Sum. I was ready to feel like an animal frozen into the ice-age that should wait for the meltdown to be set free. But against my prediction, all the food arrived at the unison, smoking, on my table.
The food was simply awesome. If all those people were going to eat in that shabby place, there should be a reason, and the good food was the one. I loved any bite of it. I loved it for real. Soon I finished my food, I paid a ridiculously small amount of Hong Kong Dollars, and I left the place. It was time to reach for Hong Kong island. Along the way to the metro, I noticed again those stern human hive buildings across the street, thinking, that they were totally scary.
I entered the metro and took the Kwun Tong Line, the green one, then at Mong Kok I changed the line and took the Tsuen Wan line, the red one. With the Tsuen Wan line I arrived, for the first time, on Hong Kong island, and I got off from it at the Admiralty station.
I went out of the chaotic station, making my way through waves of human tides. It was unbelievable, it was the chaotic version of a messy metro in the peak hour. I reached the right exit and I went out of it, at least I thought so.
I was into another mall.
The station turned out to have a direct access into a luxurious mall. Some shabby shops were mixed with some branded ones. I wandered for a little, and then I found my way out. On my way, I seen that outside of the window there was a thing that I was looking for. It was the so called Lippo Centre. The Lippo Centre is made of two towers that look like made with toy blocks, with some parts of the buildings that look like misplaced. They are interesting to be seen and they turned out to be a nice subjects to be pictured.
Hong Kong – Hong Kong Park and Teaware Museum
I followed my path and finally, I was again in the open air, and Hong Kong park was just in front of me. Along the street, some double-decker tram, crammed with people, was following its route. I entered the Hong Kong Park. It was much smaller and less scenic than the Kowloon one. I wandered for a bit, but, seeing that it’s rather small, it took very short to find myself before a building. It was the Tea Museum. Actually, I’m not so crazy about tea, but as far as it has free entrance, I decided to visit it too.
I entered it, and a kind Chinese young lady invited me to follow an easy path to visit it. You enter, you follow the alley, visit the rooms facing each-other, you go upstairs, you visit the alley with the facing rooms, you come down the second stairway and you exit the museum across the junk shop.
The first part of the tour was quite interesting. There were shown many different kinds of tea, mostly Asian and mainly Chinese, with detailed descriptions of the benefits of each one. I followed the path and the second part of the museum was all about the tea ware, starting from ancient tea pots, kettles and cups, to modern tea-related sculptures, some of which were very nice.
As soon as I entered the modern art part a voice was broadcasted in the room. It was closing time, and the visitors were invited to leave the place. So, I made my way along the alley, I went down the stairs and I entered the junk shop. All the things sold there were overpriced tea-oriented things. From some overpriced ceremonial tea-set replica, to some miniature tea-set, to tea ware tools, book and tea bags. I left the overpriced shop and I went outside again. A couple of Asian people decided to take the garden in front of the Tea Ware Museum as a background for their “fashion pictures”. The lady looked like a model, posing like a professional and, especially, without “V” shaped fingers. The man was just an Average Joe like a stone paced in the middle of a garden and with the creativity of a chunk of wood. She moved like gliding, moving like dancing in her white dress tight in the waist and with large sleeves, while he was just standing, with his point-and-shoot camera in hand, with spread legs, half-bent knees, bent back like if he were humpbacked, with those terrible khaki trousers and sleeveless jacket and idiotic expression on his face.
I left them behind and I entered the canteen next to the museum. This place had some good reviews for the tea tasting. In fact, you can enter it, and have some different samples of tea to try. So, I sat at a table next to a glass windowed furniture where were displayed some pretty porcelain cups and kettles, and I ordered a “Chinese Tea Ceremony” with two different kinds of tea. For the kinds of tea, I accepted the suggestions of the waitress as I asked her for two kinds that should be much different from each other, seen that I’m not an expert and I wanted to have a easy task on spotting the differences.
I think that when I ordered the “Chinese Tea Ceremony” I was still thinking at the Japanese one that I’ve seen in Kyoto, still aware that it had to be different, but I wondered how much different.
I spent a little of time reading at the menu, where were described the tastes and advantages of drinking different kinds of tea, while I discovered that I already forgotten what kind of tea I just ordered, and then came the girl. Until then, I thought that there was just a single way to make this ceremony, but later, after my coming back home, I discovered that there is a multitude of different ceremonies, both in base at the regions, kinds of tea, historical periods and many more peculiarities.
The girl stood in front of me across the table. She displayed a tray with over, two rather small kettles, two small bowls with dry tea that she made me smell while still dry, which the difference, for me, was subtle. Then she placed on the table something that looked like a wooden box with many holes on the superior surface, a jar of hot water and many other tools, some of them, looking like spatulas. She started with pouring water into a kettle, then she poured it out into the wooden box, which revealed to be a water container. Then again she placed carefully the dried tea into the kettle then hot water and she poured it first into the cup and from the cup into the wooden box. Probably I already missed some step. She went on for long with this ceremony that involved an intensive water swapping between the kettle and cups, and then she served me he first cup of tea. A cup so small that looked like taken from a toy tea set. I took it and she proceeded to make the second tea. She washed the kettle with hot water, and she put the tea inside. This one was simple, I guess that I could do it too, somehow. I tasted the first tea, a green one which had the colour of clear water with a slight shade of emerald green, but a very light shade, it was bitter with an aromatic back taste. Actually it was a very different world from the bagged tea that sometimes I use at home. The second one, that had a colour half way between the hay and honey, was naturally sweet. I liked this second one. It had a subtle taste of tea too, but I was fascinated by the natural sweetness. I wonder how it comes from. Probably is there some fructose inside? I wondered that. Then the girl stopped at my table to talk about tea for a little, mainly interested on the Italian way to brew the tea. I told her that I’m the worst one to ask about it. As far as I know, I use three different ways, that are the following:
Franz Tea Ceremony 1:
After this short conversation she left me with my tea. In the end, after all that water pouring, there wasn’t left much in the kettles. So, soon I finished my tea, I paid for my Tea Ceremony and I left the place.
The Hong Kong Park was sinking into the dark. Now it was mostly deserted and the lights in the buildings nearby were starting to light up. I checked my map and I traced the route for the next step. It would be the train to the Victoria Peak. It’d be quite near, just keeping straight out of the Tea Ware Museum, and I’d be there in a matter of minutes.
I entered it, and a kind Chinese young lady invited me to follow an easy path to visit it. You enter, you follow the alley, visit the rooms facing each-other, you go upstairs, you visit the alley with the facing rooms, you come down the second stairway and you exit the museum across the junk shop.
The first part of the tour was quite interesting. There were shown many different kinds of tea, mostly Asian and mainly Chinese, with detailed descriptions of the benefits of each one. I followed the path and the second part of the museum was all about the tea ware, starting from ancient tea pots, kettles and cups, to modern tea-related sculptures, some of which were very nice.
As soon as I entered the modern art part a voice was broadcasted in the room. It was closing time, and the visitors were invited to leave the place. So, I made my way along the alley, I went down the stairs and I entered the junk shop. All the things sold there were overpriced tea-oriented things. From some overpriced ceremonial tea-set replica, to some miniature tea-set, to tea ware tools, book and tea bags. I left the overpriced shop and I went outside again. A couple of Asian people decided to take the garden in front of the Tea Ware Museum as a background for their “fashion pictures”. The lady looked like a model, posing like a professional and, especially, without “V” shaped fingers. The man was just an Average Joe like a stone paced in the middle of a garden and with the creativity of a chunk of wood. She moved like gliding, moving like dancing in her white dress tight in the waist and with large sleeves, while he was just standing, with his point-and-shoot camera in hand, with spread legs, half-bent knees, bent back like if he were humpbacked, with those terrible khaki trousers and sleeveless jacket and idiotic expression on his face.
I left them behind and I entered the canteen next to the museum. This place had some good reviews for the tea tasting. In fact, you can enter it, and have some different samples of tea to try. So, I sat at a table next to a glass windowed furniture where were displayed some pretty porcelain cups and kettles, and I ordered a “Chinese Tea Ceremony” with two different kinds of tea. For the kinds of tea, I accepted the suggestions of the waitress as I asked her for two kinds that should be much different from each other, seen that I’m not an expert and I wanted to have a easy task on spotting the differences.
I think that when I ordered the “Chinese Tea Ceremony” I was still thinking at the Japanese one that I’ve seen in Kyoto, still aware that it had to be different, but I wondered how much different.
I spent a little of time reading at the menu, where were described the tastes and advantages of drinking different kinds of tea, while I discovered that I already forgotten what kind of tea I just ordered, and then came the girl. Until then, I thought that there was just a single way to make this ceremony, but later, after my coming back home, I discovered that there is a multitude of different ceremonies, both in base at the regions, kinds of tea, historical periods and many more peculiarities.
The girl stood in front of me across the table. She displayed a tray with over, two rather small kettles, two small bowls with dry tea that she made me smell while still dry, which the difference, for me, was subtle. Then she placed on the table something that looked like a wooden box with many holes on the superior surface, a jar of hot water and many other tools, some of them, looking like spatulas. She started with pouring water into a kettle, then she poured it out into the wooden box, which revealed to be a water container. Then again she placed carefully the dried tea into the kettle then hot water and she poured it first into the cup and from the cup into the wooden box. Probably I already missed some step. She went on for long with this ceremony that involved an intensive water swapping between the kettle and cups, and then she served me he first cup of tea. A cup so small that looked like taken from a toy tea set. I took it and she proceeded to make the second tea. She washed the kettle with hot water, and she put the tea inside. This one was simple, I guess that I could do it too, somehow. I tasted the first tea, a green one which had the colour of clear water with a slight shade of emerald green, but a very light shade, it was bitter with an aromatic back taste. Actually it was a very different world from the bagged tea that sometimes I use at home. The second one, that had a colour half way between the hay and honey, was naturally sweet. I liked this second one. It had a subtle taste of tea too, but I was fascinated by the natural sweetness. I wonder how it comes from. Probably is there some fructose inside? I wondered that. Then the girl stopped at my table to talk about tea for a little, mainly interested on the Italian way to brew the tea. I told her that I’m the worst one to ask about it. As far as I know, I use three different ways, that are the following:
Franz Tea Ceremony 1:
- Pour hot water into a tall cup with filter.
- Put a teaspoon full of tea into the filter.
- Leave it, forget it while doing something else.
- When you remember that you left it in infusion for those 10-15 minutes, you can take the filter out.
- Drink that bitter and healthy thing.
- Pour hot water into a tall cup.
- Put a tea bag.
- Leave it, forget it while doing something else.
- When you remember that you left it in infusion for those 10-15 minutes, you can take the filter out.
- Add some milk or sugar or both.
- Drink that winter drink.
- Take a ceramic cup and fill it with water.
- Place it in the microwave, top power for 1.30 minutes.
- Take it out trying to not get burnt.
- Put the filter with tea (or tea bag).
- Leave it, forget it while doing something else.
- When you remember that you left it in infusion for those 10-15 minutes, you can take the filter out.
- Drink that bitter and healthy thing.
- Take a ceramic cup and fill it with water.
- Put the filter with tea (or tea bag).
- Place it in the microwave, top power for 1.30 minutes.
- Take it out trying to not get burnt.
- Drink that bitter and healthy thing (it’s optional to take out the filter with tea or the tea bag).
After this short conversation she left me with my tea. In the end, after all that water pouring, there wasn’t left much in the kettles. So, soon I finished my tea, I paid for my Tea Ceremony and I left the place.
The Hong Kong Park was sinking into the dark. Now it was mostly deserted and the lights in the buildings nearby were starting to light up. I checked my map and I traced the route for the next step. It would be the train to the Victoria Peak. It’d be quite near, just keeping straight out of the Tea Ware Museum, and I’d be there in a matter of minutes.
Hong Kong – The Victoria Peak
I followed the quiet way in the park, and then the street. While I was there I noticed something that I noticed in Tokyo too. There were just few cars around. It looks like the metro system is perfectly efficient to deal with the large number of daily commuters.
Soon I arrived at the entrance of the Victoria Peak Train, where there was a very long queue of tourists awaiting. I stood there for a little, wandering how long it’d take, but it looked that the first part, the one for the ticket box, was going fast. Along the way, people was stopped by two Chinese guys, armed with their huge cameras asking to people to stop, take a “V” finger shaped picture and make room for the next people. When I arrived I refused, but one of them dragged me on the picture spot and shown me that, with the computer they were replacing the blue background with the panorama of the Victoria Peak. They smiled proudly and said “You see?”, “Yes, I see”, “You buy?”, “No, I don’t” and I moved forward making room for the other people.
Now the crowd was growing fast. The people were squeezing like sardines into a can waiting for the train, and it looked like the line wasn’t moving at all. Any time that a train arrived, in spite it was loading a lot of people, it was like we weren’t moving, and the waiting was turning into very boring. So, while there, I decided to take my MP3 and listen some music and maybe to find a song to match at that day. I took my backpack off, and pulled my hand into it. It was full of things and it was hard to find something. I searched for it, searched again and one more time too, but I couldn’t find it. I wondered where it finished, maybe in the end of the backpack stuck in some place that I couldn’t reach. So, I left the task and I tried to find another way to spend my time. First I’ve read a small pamphlet about the Victoria Peak Train, and then I checked one more time at my pictures. I was so proud for many of them.
Much later I was allowed to enter the train, I took my place, standing at half way, and we left. The train goes up the hill, to reach the Victoria Peak, first passing by some tall building and then, up the hill. Unluckily going up, many times there are trees or housings on the down-side and they prevent to see the very beautiful scenic view that appears every now and then.
Once uphill, you enter the station and you find yourself, hard to believe, into a mall. Yes, it’s a multi-stories commercial complex. I started to follow the board that were showing the way to reach the panoramic terrace. Along the way, on each floor there were many shops, from the “Victoria Peak” branded merchandising, to shops of luxurious brands and every now and then, some restaurant. After a multitude of lifts, I arrived up the terrace. Against the nice heat of the city, up the hill was blowing a very chilly wind. I wondered if a storm was approaching. The place was very crowded, but luckily, most of the Asian tourists were looking like just barely interested and were leaving after a quick glance and maybe one of two pictures with “V” shaped fingers.
I entered the terrace, I crossed it, I arrived at the parapet and I was amazed. The night had already fallen on Hong Kong, and the skyscrapers were already sparkling in lights. It was charming. Just below the terrace there were woods and the pool equipped mansion of some very rich guy. Just a little further downhill, started like a burst of shimmering towering mushrooms, the buildings of Hong Kong, and among them, was hard to be missed the one of the Bank of China, black, glowing with lines of neon that made it look like wearing a future fishnet neon nightgown. I was told that the building was made in base at the Feng Shui. I don’t know if it’s real, but at night, it’s amazing. Further was the channel and behind I could see the part of Hong Kong inland, the New Territories, Kowloon and with the zoom of my camera I was convinced to have seen even my hotel.
The chilly tropical breeze and the sight of the place were a growing addiction, and fast I lost the feeling of being surrounded by that multitude of people and I even didn’t notice anymore the endless sparkle of flashes of the cameras. That was one of the few time that I’ve experienced that the time stopped flowing. I couldn’t stop staring at the city. My relation with Hong Kong wasn’t going at the best, but, in that moment, in face of her beauty, I forgot all what went wrong in those two days. I don’t know how was the look on my face, but I guess that it was the same expression that was on the face of all the Westerners that I’ve met up there. People that were looking at the city, studying her, knowing that in spite of any professional camera that they could ever use, they couldn’t picture such a beauty like it was in that moment. And a vanishing moment, added some more sense of intensity at the scene.
Hong Kong, these are the two words we were whispering slowly.
Later, when I was starting to feel really cold, I decided to come back down. As soon as I entered indoor I felt like the air turned burning. I guess that I’ve been getting used at such a chilly wind. I made my way back, first down the several floors, and then downhill. Once in Hong Kong again, I went back to Kowloon. Now it was time for a more mundane sight.
Soon I arrived at the entrance of the Victoria Peak Train, where there was a very long queue of tourists awaiting. I stood there for a little, wandering how long it’d take, but it looked that the first part, the one for the ticket box, was going fast. Along the way, people was stopped by two Chinese guys, armed with their huge cameras asking to people to stop, take a “V” finger shaped picture and make room for the next people. When I arrived I refused, but one of them dragged me on the picture spot and shown me that, with the computer they were replacing the blue background with the panorama of the Victoria Peak. They smiled proudly and said “You see?”, “Yes, I see”, “You buy?”, “No, I don’t” and I moved forward making room for the other people.
Now the crowd was growing fast. The people were squeezing like sardines into a can waiting for the train, and it looked like the line wasn’t moving at all. Any time that a train arrived, in spite it was loading a lot of people, it was like we weren’t moving, and the waiting was turning into very boring. So, while there, I decided to take my MP3 and listen some music and maybe to find a song to match at that day. I took my backpack off, and pulled my hand into it. It was full of things and it was hard to find something. I searched for it, searched again and one more time too, but I couldn’t find it. I wondered where it finished, maybe in the end of the backpack stuck in some place that I couldn’t reach. So, I left the task and I tried to find another way to spend my time. First I’ve read a small pamphlet about the Victoria Peak Train, and then I checked one more time at my pictures. I was so proud for many of them.
Much later I was allowed to enter the train, I took my place, standing at half way, and we left. The train goes up the hill, to reach the Victoria Peak, first passing by some tall building and then, up the hill. Unluckily going up, many times there are trees or housings on the down-side and they prevent to see the very beautiful scenic view that appears every now and then.
Once uphill, you enter the station and you find yourself, hard to believe, into a mall. Yes, it’s a multi-stories commercial complex. I started to follow the board that were showing the way to reach the panoramic terrace. Along the way, on each floor there were many shops, from the “Victoria Peak” branded merchandising, to shops of luxurious brands and every now and then, some restaurant. After a multitude of lifts, I arrived up the terrace. Against the nice heat of the city, up the hill was blowing a very chilly wind. I wondered if a storm was approaching. The place was very crowded, but luckily, most of the Asian tourists were looking like just barely interested and were leaving after a quick glance and maybe one of two pictures with “V” shaped fingers.
I entered the terrace, I crossed it, I arrived at the parapet and I was amazed. The night had already fallen on Hong Kong, and the skyscrapers were already sparkling in lights. It was charming. Just below the terrace there were woods and the pool equipped mansion of some very rich guy. Just a little further downhill, started like a burst of shimmering towering mushrooms, the buildings of Hong Kong, and among them, was hard to be missed the one of the Bank of China, black, glowing with lines of neon that made it look like wearing a future fishnet neon nightgown. I was told that the building was made in base at the Feng Shui. I don’t know if it’s real, but at night, it’s amazing. Further was the channel and behind I could see the part of Hong Kong inland, the New Territories, Kowloon and with the zoom of my camera I was convinced to have seen even my hotel.
The chilly tropical breeze and the sight of the place were a growing addiction, and fast I lost the feeling of being surrounded by that multitude of people and I even didn’t notice anymore the endless sparkle of flashes of the cameras. That was one of the few time that I’ve experienced that the time stopped flowing. I couldn’t stop staring at the city. My relation with Hong Kong wasn’t going at the best, but, in that moment, in face of her beauty, I forgot all what went wrong in those two days. I don’t know how was the look on my face, but I guess that it was the same expression that was on the face of all the Westerners that I’ve met up there. People that were looking at the city, studying her, knowing that in spite of any professional camera that they could ever use, they couldn’t picture such a beauty like it was in that moment. And a vanishing moment, added some more sense of intensity at the scene.
Hong Kong, these are the two words we were whispering slowly.
Later, when I was starting to feel really cold, I decided to come back down. As soon as I entered indoor I felt like the air turned burning. I guess that I’ve been getting used at such a chilly wind. I made my way back, first down the several floors, and then downhill. Once in Hong Kong again, I went back to Kowloon. Now it was time for a more mundane sight.
Hong Kong – Temple Street Market
Once back at the crossing of Nathan Street and Jordan Road, exactly where is the “Embassy Hotel”, and walking down Jordan Road toward Kowloon Station, after a few minutes it starts the Temple Street, which houses the famous Temple Street Market. This market is just a night market which sells tourist-oriented stuff, mainly clothing, souvenirs and food. I went there for two reasons, the first because it was suggested in my guide, and second, the main one, I love the markets.
I wandered around, but I found nothing interesting to be bought. Then, when I reached some sort of a square, I seen that there was a seafood open air restaurant. Actually, were two rooms used as kitchens and some plastic tables between the kitchens and the market stalls. I went there and I was invited to seat. It was so long that I was strolling around that I even didn’t notice that it was already late evening.
I sat down on a white plastic chair at a wood-like plastic table lit by the lights of the souvenirs stall nearby and some bulbs hanging from a wire spread across the restaurant. The gentle waiter came to me and took me a menu, but I already decided what to eat looking at the board with the seafood in display. I ordered Fried Rice with Ham and Shrimps, Grilled Clams with Black Beans Sauce, Grilled Mantis Shrimps with Black Bean Sauce and to drink a Chinese Tsingtao Beer.
The waiter vanished into the crowd of people and waiters swarming around with their smoking dishes and I was left at my table. After about a minute or even less, he appeared again with a plastic dish, green plastic chopsticks and my beer, then he disappeared again. I was left at my table, relaxing, sitting while sipping my beer and watching the Hong Kong nightlife to flow before me. In the table before me, which was on the edge of the market, there were four old Westerners that looked like tourists. Behind of me there were two Asians, on my right side, just next the souvenir stall there was a couple of blonde young Westerners wearing khakis and on my left side there was a room, which I didn’t notice before, with other tables, which, in the first line there was a couple with the man that was Westerner and the girl that was Asian, but she didn’t look like Chinese. I don’t know why, but the man kept on staring at me. Maybe I stolen his hart, but I was so hungry that I could grill it too with some Black Beans sauce.
Soon my food arrived in a cloud of amazingly smelling smoke. The first was the rice, which had a perfect taste. Exactly like any fried rice should be. At half way, I started to eat some Clams and Mantis Shrimps. The Mantis Shrimps were very good as they had the taste of very fresh fish, but the masterpiece were the Clams. They were simply amazing. They were grilled, but not burnt. They were soft at the bite, with over the right amount of Black Bean sauce that accompanied the delicate taste of the clam without covering him. Like they said in a Tango show “The man leads, the woman seduce”, the sauce was leading the dish, but the clams were seductive. I found that there was something erotic in that dish, but I don’t know what was precisely. The clams were accompanied with shredded leeks and sliced sweet chilli, a combination that, again, enhanced the dish. It was long that I didn’t eat such a food with such a perfectly balanced taste.
With regret at the end of the three dishes I felt full and it was time to leave. I paid the sum of 60 Hong Kong Dollars, about 6 Euros and I left. I made my way back to the hotel. I came back to my room and it was time for a nice and long shower.
Before going to sleep I undid my backpack and I searched for my MP3. It was missing. In the beginning I thought it was stolen, but then I reminded that when I left the Embassy Hotel I’ve lost my guide too as I had my backpack side pocket open. So, I guess that I lost it in the same way. Now Hong Kong took again its toll. It looks like our relation wasn’t made to last much longer.
Good night Hong Kong, tomorrow I’ll be in another country, I’ll be in Macau.
I wandered around, but I found nothing interesting to be bought. Then, when I reached some sort of a square, I seen that there was a seafood open air restaurant. Actually, were two rooms used as kitchens and some plastic tables between the kitchens and the market stalls. I went there and I was invited to seat. It was so long that I was strolling around that I even didn’t notice that it was already late evening.
I sat down on a white plastic chair at a wood-like plastic table lit by the lights of the souvenirs stall nearby and some bulbs hanging from a wire spread across the restaurant. The gentle waiter came to me and took me a menu, but I already decided what to eat looking at the board with the seafood in display. I ordered Fried Rice with Ham and Shrimps, Grilled Clams with Black Beans Sauce, Grilled Mantis Shrimps with Black Bean Sauce and to drink a Chinese Tsingtao Beer.
The waiter vanished into the crowd of people and waiters swarming around with their smoking dishes and I was left at my table. After about a minute or even less, he appeared again with a plastic dish, green plastic chopsticks and my beer, then he disappeared again. I was left at my table, relaxing, sitting while sipping my beer and watching the Hong Kong nightlife to flow before me. In the table before me, which was on the edge of the market, there were four old Westerners that looked like tourists. Behind of me there were two Asians, on my right side, just next the souvenir stall there was a couple of blonde young Westerners wearing khakis and on my left side there was a room, which I didn’t notice before, with other tables, which, in the first line there was a couple with the man that was Westerner and the girl that was Asian, but she didn’t look like Chinese. I don’t know why, but the man kept on staring at me. Maybe I stolen his hart, but I was so hungry that I could grill it too with some Black Beans sauce.
Soon my food arrived in a cloud of amazingly smelling smoke. The first was the rice, which had a perfect taste. Exactly like any fried rice should be. At half way, I started to eat some Clams and Mantis Shrimps. The Mantis Shrimps were very good as they had the taste of very fresh fish, but the masterpiece were the Clams. They were simply amazing. They were grilled, but not burnt. They were soft at the bite, with over the right amount of Black Bean sauce that accompanied the delicate taste of the clam without covering him. Like they said in a Tango show “The man leads, the woman seduce”, the sauce was leading the dish, but the clams were seductive. I found that there was something erotic in that dish, but I don’t know what was precisely. The clams were accompanied with shredded leeks and sliced sweet chilli, a combination that, again, enhanced the dish. It was long that I didn’t eat such a food with such a perfectly balanced taste.
With regret at the end of the three dishes I felt full and it was time to leave. I paid the sum of 60 Hong Kong Dollars, about 6 Euros and I left. I made my way back to the hotel. I came back to my room and it was time for a nice and long shower.
Before going to sleep I undid my backpack and I searched for my MP3. It was missing. In the beginning I thought it was stolen, but then I reminded that when I left the Embassy Hotel I’ve lost my guide too as I had my backpack side pocket open. So, I guess that I lost it in the same way. Now Hong Kong took again its toll. It looks like our relation wasn’t made to last much longer.
Good night Hong Kong, tomorrow I’ll be in another country, I’ll be in Macau.