Our second day started with Ryan waking up around 5 am. He took off for the coffee shop and I continued my hibernation until later in the morning. He left a note saying where he went but it wasn't needed because I slept long enough for him to return (I told you I was tired). We found a place to eat and made our way to the famous Star Ferry where we went from one side of the harbor to the other in Hong Kong as we went in search of Hong Kong's famous Dim Sum for a late breakfast/early lunch.
We were starving when we got to the City Hall where the guide book suggested we try some of the best Dim Sum. It didn't open until 11am so we took thirty minutes or so to read the books we had brought and check out the high school graduation that was going on in City Hall- lots of people dressed in dark robes, just like in the states.
Then we walked up the stairs into a large room with red carpet, red walls, and a huge golden dragon dancing on the far wall. We sat down directly under the A/C and waited for the metal carts of Chinese food to make their stops by our table. The way they served food was interesting: these carts of very good food were pushed around the room and they brought tables their stuff and you just chose what you wanted. The food was really good, but I don't think you'd find too much of what we ate there in the States. Basically we stuffed ourselves with pork dumplings, cuddle fish tentacles, shrimp things, desert dumplings, and other mystery food items- yum.
From the Dim Sum and City Hall we made our way to some of the famous markets around Hong Kong and along the way we took the famous escalators in town. There is this large hill that runs through one of the oldest parts of town and since everyone in Hong Kong walks, the city put in a serious line of escalators to help people get up and down. It is actually the longest system of escalators in the world.
Along what seemed miles of escalators we stopped and checked out a mosque which was interesting to say the least. I'd never been in one before so it was unique for sure. There were only men in the main part of the mosque that we could see, but we found out that the curtained off section of the room in the corner to our left was where the women went.
Once we got to the markets, we realized we were in a much different place than the US. There were so many people that you regularly bumped into one another and occassionally a truck would make its way down the narrowest of roads that the market was situated on and people and marketeers had to stop what they were doing to get in a safe place. Then as soon as the truck went by, the people flooded in where the truck had vacated. Fish, eels, defeathered ducks, beef, shrimp, and many other dead animals were everywhere. Actually some were still alive in styrofoam containers filled with water, but most were hanging from meat hooks in the open air. It was a normal thing. I'd love to see the women in the US go from the polite and tidy Safeway to these markets.
After enjoying the markets for a while and getting piece of fruit or two we made our way to the world renowned Hong Kong tailors to see about a custom tailored suit. Once again the hustlers were out and about trying to make sure this tourist money found its way into their stores, but we found our own and found ourselves talking with a very nice Indian man about shirts and suits that would make us look “smart.” I debated about a $250 suit made of cashmere and custom tailored but decided I just don't wear suits that often, so Ryan and I opted for $35 dress shirts cut to our specific deminsions. I got two and he got one to wear on the trip. And the best part is, this guy has our measurements so we can email him for new shirts anytime and he'll mail them to us. Although I don't wear too many of these in the line of swimming so two should do me for years to come.
After the shirts, we made our way to meet up with Phillip's sister, Miriam, and her husband, Gary. We met at the subway with every other person in the city of Hong Kong and went for a little appetizer at her favorite fish ball and meat ball counter. Miriam ordered us our wooden skewers of four fish and four meat balls drenched in some sort of sauce that dripped all over the ground. Every time people came away from the counter the sea of people would part so as not to get dripped on. We tried these things and I decided that one or two was enough for me. Fish in the shape of balls just wasn't my thing, and the meat balls didn't look all that safe and didn't seem all that safe after my first one. Ryan thought differently and finished the remaining meat balls. Later at dinner his stomach didn't feel too good, but there were no problems to report- at least not yet. The place where we ate was amazing. It was one of the nicest Thai food restaraunts I've ever been to, and the food was very good. We started out with some sort of soup that I could have had a gallon of but I settled for the bowl and followed it up with roast duck, chicken, lettuce wraps, meat skewers, bok chuy, and a couple other dishes. It was a regular feast.
After dinner we walked around a bit and Ryan checked out some iPods with our local knowledge in Miriam and Gary, and we found out that it really wasn't a very good deal to buy Mac stuff in Hong Kong. We continued to walk around in the mass of people out in the Christmas shopping crowds until Ryan and I were about to pass out from exhaustion and we parted ways with our news friends. Hopefully some day we will be able to repay them if they come to the States.
We hopped on the subway back home and crashed. It was a very full day to say the least.
