Hong Kong Part 2

The Farmer's Market

The producers of the Farmer's Market heavily discouraged the use of plastic bags, so offered to take home your veggies wrapped in banana leaves instead. Pretty cool, huh?

10 May 2008: On day 3 of 4 in Hong Kong, the weather actually cooled down comfortable enough to the point that we weren’t sweating like pigs. We made it to Maxim’s at City Hall for dim sum early enough too. Although we made it 20 minutes after opening and before the “rush”, we still waited 45 minutes for a table. Not too bad but it’s still tough when you’re hungry. I felt sorry for the people after us that were told they’d wait an hour and a half! Both Kailani and I especially liked the sesame balls. But, everything we got tasted great, and even the service was great! (Again, thanks Leslie!)

We decided that the rest of the day was dedicated to Kailani, both options were outdoors. Unfortunately, it started dumping rain. I noticed the Post Office was open that day, Saturday, and closed on Sundays, and we were leaving on Monday. So, we decided to go back to the hotel to pick up some more stuff we wanted to ship back to California. We gave up on hanging onto any extra clothes “just in case”. It just seemed too hot to hang onto an extra sweatshirt, closed-toed shoes and socks. Somehow, one set of everything (minus the closed-toes shoes for Kailani, because she somehow lost her Vans in the parking lot at the goat farm in Amsterdam. Don’t ask me how!) still ended up being a rather large box of stuff again. Yes, we’ve shipped out THREE boxes of stuff from the last THREE countries! We are hoping that we ACTUALLY make some type of dent in our luggage situation this time!! Ironically, we went to the IFC mall after. It’s located in the stock exchange building, the tallest building in the city. Again, it was sparkling clean and pristine with high end shops. Fortunately, we didn’t end up with more than a couple drinks (while Kailani napped), a cheap tank top for me and facial moisturizer for Sean from a place called the Organic Pharmacy, originating from the UK. Of course, I would have loved to buy up everything in that store, but resisted. I do see how Hong Kong has some really great retail as they seem to get stores selling from each side of the continent, Europe on one side and the US on the other side, as well as Asian stores. I hear even the American stores have things not available in the US. For dinner that night, we headed back Temple Street. We gave in and also picked up the movie, Horton Hears a Who. How can you beat the US $3 price tag?!?

Overall, the timing of our rescheduled plane ride seemed to work out well in the sense that we weren’t too jet lagged. There have been a few moments we’ve had to fight to put Kailani down to sleep at night, and we’ve had to wake her up in the morning (hence waking up too late for dim sum). But it’s definitely not as bad as when we arrived in Europe. I myself have been staying up late and waking up early. Maybe there’s some thing in the air in this city that never sleeps. But, I’m sure that won’t last. I’ve heard going west to east is “supposed” to be harder than going east to west. Overall, it doesn’t seem to be as hard as I expected. I’ve already had my share of mosquito bites. Luckily, not for Kailani. I’m crossing my fingers! I used to be allergic to them as a kid and would swell up real bad. I keep thinking how it’ll be worse the further “into” Asia we go, but we’ll see!

Our last day in Hong Kong, Mother’s Day, and the rain cleared up. I wanted to go to the Star Ferry Central Pier for their organic farmer’s market, hoping to find some fresh organic fruits to munch on for breakfast. We encountered the STRANGEST thing on the way there. We walked under one of Hong Kong’s above-ground walkways and heard the sound of packaging tape ripping off the roll like you’ve never heard it spun before. Tere were about a hundred or so Philippino women with very large boxes either packing or unpacking their boxes, or both. The boxes were so large, they were standing inside them to see what’s in them. To this day, we still don’t understand exactly what they were doing on the streets of Hong Kong. I was quite impressed that Hong Kong even HAD an organic farmer’s market. It was quite small, about 8 or so tables. But unfortunately, there was no fruit or anything else to eat without cooking, mostly vegetables and maybe some lettuce and tomatoes. It was still cool to see that they were doing something of that nature to help the planet. They also had signs explaining how to reduce CO2, the consumption of plastic bags and other environmental issues. There were a couple other free activity tables too. One had used paper to make origami and another rolled the paper into “straws” and weaved it into baskets, etc. Then, there was another table selling baking soda, biodegradable soap, beeswax and essential oils. Then, there was another table next to that where you could make your own lotion, lip balm, etc. with the beeswax and essential oils.

We headed back to the IFC mall, ate brunch at a “Western” restaurant. I do have to say that, even though we were in the People’s Republic of China, my ribs tasted pretty good. Then, we jumped on the bus to Ocean Park, a theme park. It was either that or Disneyland, “the happiest place on earth on a smaller scale, good for smaller kids” (as quoted by Leslie). In the end, we decided that we can also see Mickey Mouse in CA. But, Ocean Park had the panda bears, which I wanted to see, and we wouldn’t get that chance anywhere else. I do think it’s sad that they are in captivity. But in the end, the urge to see them won. The bus driver was horrible! Every time he started, the whole double decker bus jumped. He kept hitting the gas and letting go, like he didn’t know how to keep a steady pace. Ocean Park was a lot larger than I thought. It’s set on a hill, with attractions on both sides. We had to take 3 long flights of escalators to the top, then a cable car over and down the other side of the hill. The bears were soooo cute! I didn’t want to leave and wished we could give them a big hug (although I hear they are naturally aggressive)! I had to wake Kai from napping so she could see them, but I think lack of nap was worth it. Again, it was sad though, to see them in captivity. Although translucent and with ventilation, their “home” was covered with roof. It was clearly marked “no camera flash”, including attendants that held signs up. But still it was ignored. Everyone spoke very loudly. And, this is what they have to live with all day long. Still, I was grateful to be able to see the panda bears in person.

For dinner, we headed to Yung Kee, a Chinese institution that’s been there for decades. It is well known for it’s roasted goose, so that’s what we got, on top of another slew of dishes. Their food was excellent and their service was over the top. It felt like we had one waitress, with a very pleasant voice, just dedicated to us. Like in Venice, it’s amazing how a pleasant voice can really change your dining experience. Of course, we paid for it in the end. We were shocked to find that the bill was twice as much as what we expected, a whole steamed fish taking up half the bill. But, it was our last day in Hong Kong and definitely worth the experience.

On the way to the airport the next day, we “splurged”, paying US $4 for a taxi to the Kowloon MTR station instead of lugging our stuff down the street from one MTR train to the Airport Express train. We didn’t expect to find that they already had airline check-in desks at the Airport Express station. We weren’t even at the airport yet, but we could check-in our luggage before getting on the train. Now that’s service! The Airport Express train was fast, smooth and very plush. In a nutshell, it was even more impressive than London’s. Arriving at the airport with a little extra time, we had one last opportunity for dim sum lunch at Maxim’s. Luckily, the flight took off and was on time, except for the pilot saying we left a “couple minutes” late. Cathay Pacific even fed us a hot lunch for a mere 2 hour flight. Not that we were hungry, but I was surprised. We were shocked to find that the China earthquake, although thousands of miles from Hong Kong, must have hit minutes after our plane took off, and feel like we are being looked after.