Hong Kong After Dark

What a sensory buffet we had last night! We walked to Temple St. via Nathan Rd. with a brief foray through Kowloon Park. Since it was Saturday, the streets were packed, and since it's Chinese New Year, the trees twinkled with thousands of low-hanging icicle lights. The park was pretty fascinating--first we saw a huge drumming circle of men, women and children who we stopped to watch, prompting one of them to run up and give us a bookmark with information about their religion (if that's the right word.) I am all for religions that involve drumming and dancing in the street--there should be way more of that in general. ;) The park also featured what looked like giant paper lanterns in the shape of animals and flowers, creating a sort of "Through the Lookinglass" tableau all around us. As we drew closer to the market, the streets got even busier, narrower and crowded with signs and stands selling all kinds of foods like "Deep-Fried Mantis Shrimp Heads." I have been having a bit of trouble with the smells on our strolls--there is always a melange of sewage and deep-fried foods wafting around corners and up from drains and it's a bit unsettling to my innards.

Suddenly, we were in the thick of it--closely packed stalls on both sides of a narrow promenade overhung with colorful flags and hundreds of people pushing to get through or to get a little closer to the jewelry or scarves or toys or baby clothes strewn in piles across long tables and hanging from drapes. Growing ever nearer, we could hear and glimpse the drums of the dragon dancers, and Mary pointed out that the street was strewn with pieces and sometimes whole heads of lettuce that people throw because apparently that's what dragons eat and they are good luck. I bought a black cashmere shawl for about 12 dollars that seemed really soft and hey, Inner Mongolia is not that far from here! Mary was loathe to tell me that cashmere is way too expensive to be sold for that kind of money, even in China, so I started called it my "Fashmina" instead. ;) At any rate, we had a lot of fun and only much later did I start feeling like I might pass out if I had to inhale any more cigarette smoke or jump out of the way of another careening taxi.

We were hungry and not feeling brave about the street food, but we happened on an Italian restaurant called Valentino on our way back towards the hotel. Bursting through the door, we discovered that it was our own personal restaurant--not a single other soul entered the whole time we were there. We couldn't stop laughing because everything we ordered was really expensive but really tiny--each salad was about four artfully arranged lettuce leaves, an order of garlic bread that we had to pay four times for (once for each of us) arrived as slim wafers of baguette in a basket, and the two pizzas we shared were as big as butter plates. When a man in a toupee appeared out of nowhere brandishing a guitar and asked if we'd like some songs, Paul whispered "That sounds really expensive." We all agreed that the main benefit to the meal was that we didn't get too full.

In general, we've noticed some interesting things about restaurant culture in Hong Kong. For one thing, it is very difficult to get the bill. You may have finished eating a half an hour ago, your plates are cleared, your drink is dregs, and you are craning your neck longingly in the direction of the server, perhaps even making the "We're waiting for our check" face, but it will all be for nought. When you beckon, they approach with a slightly cranky expression, as if to convey "What can they possibly want now? They've already eaten!" Once the check has been extracted, the server will hover menacingly close to the bill-handler's elbow, breathing meaningfully on his or her neck as they sweat out tip calculations. Also, nearly every menu we've encountered has a section for "mocktails;" I've discovered these can either be quite refreshing or can plunge you into an insulin coma.

It is now the morning of our last day here and we've just returned from breakfast. Many of the CCAI families have already left for the airport and will meet their babies tonight. Group 906 is the last to leave today; we check out at 2:00. We'll be ferried to the airport by our trusty guides where we'll board a two-hour flight to Chongqing. Tonight we'll check in, get our ducks in order, and attempt to sleep on our last night without our daughter. It promises to be an interesting day.

Soon we're taking a walk to the Hong Kong Museum of History, nearby in Tsim Sha Tsui East. Another family told us how much fun they had there, and it should be distracting for a couple of hours. I'll check in this afternoon or tonight if I can. If not, I think you all know what I'll be writing about tomorrow!

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