Angel wings and bamboo bikes . .. Thursday in HK

Thursday morning started off with picking up Laurie at her hotel in Wan Chai again. On my regular walking route to the station I noticed the name of the street I was walking on.




This is my mom's maiden name, and a name my brother and I are both very attached to.

I keep forgetting that rush hour in HK is different than at home. 9am is the peak time for travel on the subway. It looks like this:

Luckily you're so busy moving with the crowd, there's no time to feel claustrophobic. Phew.

At Laurie's hotel I took this panorama shot of the mainland across the harbour.

We hit the subway and headed back to my neighbourhood to do some exploring. Our first stop was the Museum of medical Science. Laurie took some great pics of me hamming it up with the creepy mannequins they had on display, but I don't have copies yet to post. It's in an old building that was formerly devoted to Pathology and infectious diseases. They had a room devoted to the SARS epidemic and the Swine Flu virus. I'd forgotten about both, but their history in HK was very important.

There was an art exhibit in the Museum as well, which was very cool.

I really liked this one.

I'm finding these pharmaceutical pill graffiti scenes all over my neighbourhood. Like everything here, I have zero clue what it means.

I can't stop snapping pics of these street side worship spots. They're just there. And so lovely.

Our next stop was the Man Mo Temple, the biggest of it's kind in HK. And it's wedged right in-between the towering apartments.

I loved this place.

I knew Laurie wouldn't let me get away with having lunch back at my apartment, so I'd Googled nearby places for something that would fit all my criteria. Cheap, tasty and somewhat familiar. I found Ban Cha Vietnamese Pho. And it was delicious.

My brother introduced me to Pho awhile ago, and I've since read up on it. This Pho was delicious!!!

Then we headed downhill a bit to the PMQ.

The PMQ, formerly the Police Married Quarters in the 50's, was a two-building, 7 floor housing block for officers and their families. It is now a hub of art and design.

A bamboo bike. Why not?

View from the 4th floor out into the nearby apartments.

Our wander through my neighbourhood took us behind what looked like a private English-Language Primary school. I couldn't resist a snapshot of their lunch break.

We came upon another tiny side street temple or worship area.

Then we headed back to Laurie's hotel to practice our presentation for tomorrow. The harbour activity puts on a constant show of lights. And that isn't even the shore that has the nightly light show.

Once again I was home with my Marks & Spencer falafel meal by 8 and asleep by 10. I knew I'd have to stay out late at least one night while I was here, and as tomorrow is my last full day in HK, that's going to be a long day friends.

xoxo
C

Wednesday: highs and lows. But mostly highs.

Day 2 in Hong Kong started at 4am. And I'm cool with that. Time to knit, drink copious cups of tea and surf the net on things to do in HK. (Time to phone VISA and argue with them via Kit over Skype, and spend an hour sorting it all out while simultaneously losing all internet access for the morning. Dammit! A low.) The first high for today is that Laurie arrives from Beijing! 

Selfie on the ferry

She had traveled to Beijing a week earlier, and then was coming here to do the presentation together. So once she was awake I headed over to her hotel above the waterfront Convention Center. 

The view out her 30th flor window of the mainland shore. It stretched forever in both directions. 

Today we decided to head over to Tsim Tsa Shui and Mong Kok, so we hopped a Star Ferry ($1.50!) for the 5 minute ride. Our first stop was the massive Harbour City and Ocean City malls. I was on a mission to find a pop-up shop based on a ridiculously simple and fun video game that myself and a number of mom friends love to play, called Neko Atsume. They were rumoured to have a shop here in HK over the summer. After looking around for an hour, we asked a cashier and she said 'oh yes they had a store here until August 31st. And they had a huge 50% off sale to get rid of all their stock'. Such a bummer. 

But then I found this:

 

It's a freaking Hayao Miyazaki store!!!!! Holy toledo!!!

For those who aren't fans of Hayao Miyazaki's amazing movies, you have no idea the amazingness that you are missing. For those who already know and love his work, this next ones for you:

I'm inside the Cat Bus!!! It's like being inside my dreams!

Okay, so struck out on Neko Atsume, but surprise win on Totoro. Next stop, Mong Kok!

Mong Kok is deeper into HK, away from the ocean a bit. It's less touristy, very much local. No signs in English, no fancy shops. It's . . . well, it's an experience.

Giant corner building typical of the apartments in the area.

Need some pots or pans? 

We were in Mong Kok to check out some Markets. The Temple Market, Jade Market, Bird Market, Flower Market and Goldfish Market. That's a lot of markets yo.

Temple Market was a huge street market of stuff (junk). Knock off bags and jackets, underwear, battery-powered fans, you get the picture (cause I didn't take any!). We were outta there fast. 

But not as fast as the Jade market. If the jade market actually contains jade I'd be impressed. It was mostly way too shiny, uniformly bright green, plastic trinkets. I actually didn't care, there were some cool turquoise and amethyst fakes I would have happily bought for $10. But if I stopped moving, or even slowed down, I was confronted with the overzealous seller at that particular stall, telling me about their bracelets and good deals and 'here pretty lady try this'. It's just not my thing, please don't talk to me. So we buzzed through there quickly, and headed to the Flower Markets.

Hong Kong is a fragrant place. Not bad fragrant, necessarily, just different. Mong Kok can be a bit tougher on the olfactory senses. When we turned the corner to the Flower markets, it was like we'd stepped onto a fresh meadow. It was glorious! 

One of many orchid stores.

There was just store after store, and trucks unloading long boxes of fresh lilies and big puffy hydrangea stems. There were wedding bouquets and amazing wreaths for the upcoming Autumn festival which happens here next week.

Air plant anyone?

These were my favorites. When they bloomed they look like a cross between a peony and a rose. Anyone know what they are?

Right around the corner was the Yuen Po Street Bird Garden. After the beauty of the flower market we were ready for some beautiful birds.

It was not a bird garden. It was a bird market. Like a fish market. But they're alive.

Stall after stall of birds in tiny cages. There were some parrots too, but it was mostly these tiny yellow cages with two birds in each.

The birds were beautiful. Their tiny captivity, not so much. A low for the day. After the bird garden experience we lost our appetite for the Goldfish market trip, figuring it'd be rows of fish in tiny bowls for sale. Not a highlight, so we skipped it and headed back to the subway. On our way we came upon  an odd treat:  

He had a sign beside him. Why can't I read this stuff dammit!? People walking by stopped to pet his bum, like he was a good luck buddha or something. So we did it too.

 We passed a construction site where they were dismantling the bamboo scaffolding and taking it to another site. I just can't stop being amazed by this stuff.

By now it's 4pm and I'm exhausted! We'd walked for miles and I needed to get home for food and rest. 

The incredible view out Laurie's window at night

I stopped at M&S to grab some dinner. Gluten free falafel balls and tsatziki? Yummy!!

My evening ritual was enhanced with some Body Shop salt scrub stuff. My feet and legs are killing me. Not in a bad-footwear kind of way, but just so much walking and so many stairs and hills.

It's like having a bath at home, sort of. When I get home in a few days, a real bath is first on my agenda. 

I decided I really didn't like what my pattern looked like, so I pulled it all out and am starting over. 

Tomorrow, Temples, the PMQ and a cocktail lounge perhaps. And more rain for sure.

xoxo

C

Tuesday part 3: Quarry Bay and Causeway Bay

After my re-fuel and foot soak, I headed back out and aimed to go East, to Quarry Bay. Somehow I keep ending up on the subway during rush hour, which is 9am and 4pm here.

A crosswalk during rush hour. It's manageable madness.

I had a lovely moment on that subway ride, when it appeared that I'd suddenly stepped into a Hayao Miyazaki movie. Fans of his stuff *ahem Sam and Sheila* will know what this means in the following pics.

This woman on the subway had a dress made of constellation fabric. It was so freaking awesome, I had to take a covert pic.

My stop was Tai Koo. Everything just looks cooler in Chinese characters.

I wandered around Quarry bay, checking out shops and parks. It was raining hard so staying indoors just kind of happened. So much of this city is connected either underground or via 2nd floor walkways.

I realised part of my sleep issue is I did not have a book to read. This has been my modus operandi for falling asleep since I was a kid. And I found myself outside a wicked great bookstore, that carried books in a variety of languages. 

If the Kotex ad hadn't made me wish I understood an Asian language, these books sure as shit did. I had to really talk myself out of buying them, using the logic that I'd never understand them no matter how much I wished I could.

I bought myself this great read. I've read a number of books and heard podcasts on life in North Korea, and I was happy to discover a title I hadn't read already.

One of my goals on this outing was to find a particular cafe in Causeway Bay. When I'd seen all I could in Quarry Bay I hopped back on the Subway and headed East. I wandered a single city block for 30 minutes, trying to find this one spot. I was in what's called Times Square HK (for good reason) and so was inundated with blaring neon signs and videos for Forever 21 etc. Google just kept teling me I was right on top of where I wanted to go, but I couldn't see anything that confirmed this in reality. But I refused to give up. Finally, after finding these instructions in a Trip Advisor review "find the Po Ming building and tell the doorman you're looking for the Club on the 3rd floor" I made it to my destination. And I was rewarded with this guy:

His name is Pineapple Baby. He has abnormally short legs which makes him look really clumsy, and unfuckingbelieveably adorable! His write up in their 'cat menu' of the felines who live in the Cat Cafe.

Eventually this guy "Ball Ball" ventured over.  (Their names are just more of this quirky culture).

People stop by this place just to play with the cats. As I sat there in my demure, Canadian fashion, young 20 somethings came in and just got down on the floor to try to engage these furry guys. There were 8 cats there altogether. It was surreal. And then my food came.

You had to order something, anything to justify getting time to visit with these cats. I went for the seemingly safe lime soda and fried potato basket. Pop and small fries. Easy and cheap. I did not account for the cultural angle. My gluten-free self was appalled, but my kids would freaking love it.

It's not French fries, it's deep fried Mac & Cheese triangles. SO odd! I didn't finish them.

Mom I know you think I should get my sore feet pampered, but I'm just not adventurous enough to take that plunge here. But I knew you were sending me these messages.

Again with the cultural thing (and macaroni is big here, oddly enough) here's Noodle & Dog: mix & match comfort food. Noodles, hotdogs and chicken wings. Okay then.

By 8pm I was beat and needed to get to bed. Walking home in the dark, but feeling more at ease in this city, I noticed things in my hood that I hadn't seen the night before.

Little Bao, a well-known spot among foodies. So my cheap, gluten-free self will be staying home thanks.

Not sure what this place is, a bar maybe? Whatever, they get points for bringing that Hogwarts feeling to HK  without going overboard.

And that was my first full day (really full!) in HK. It's now 7am Wednesday morning, I've been up since 4am and I've accepted these as my new hours during my stay. Leaves time for blogging and watching Orphan Black on Netflix. Today's forecast is for rain and thunder so I won't be hitting the Peak mountain view or rising the gondola to the Buddha. Maybe take a ferry to the mainland and check out the Goldfish Market and the Bird Market. Good thing I can't bring any pets home with me. 

xoxo

C