Exploring Hong Kong

Dave and Debbi live in a small village called Tso Wo Hang. It is very quiet and right by the ocean. If you sit in just the right spot on Debbi and Dave's patio you can sip tea and watch the ocean. On weekends people from the city descend on Tso Wo Hang and neighbouring villages for barbecue on the beaches.


Tso Wo Hang is entirely residential. The nearest town with shops and restaurants is Sai Kung. It is a quick bus ride away. Sai Kung has a small town feel. People bump into people they know and stop to chat in the streets. Dave and I decided to take the first couple days easy, and we spent the time exploring Sai Kung. Sai Kung is on a pier. The whole place is permeated with the salty, fishy smell of the sea. Laundry sways in the breeze. Fish are drying in big flat baskets on the street corners. Along the waterfront there are many restaurants where you can choose your seafood still living in big tanks at the front of the restaurant. It is quite a sight. Many of the fish do not even look familiar to me.


Hong Kong is surprisingly green, particularly in smaller towns like Sai Kung and Tso Wo Hang. Every break between the concrete is packed with lush plant life. All the things that barely survive as a house plant in Calgary thrive outdoors here. People must value all these plants because in the places where there is too much pavement for the plants to encroach, there are rows of beautiful potted plants.


On the weekend we went into the city with Dave and Debbi. We went to the ladies' market in Mong Kok. Mong Kok is one of the most highly populated places in the world. We were there in the quiet early afternoon on a Saturday, so the crowds were not too bad. Debbi is very good at bartering. Her drama skills definitely come into play here. After lunch in Mong Kok we took the Star Ferry across Victoria Harbour. This is one of the things to do if you are a tourist in Hong Kong. The ferry is old and lovely, and you get a beautiful view of the city as you cross the harbour. Saturday evening we celebrated American Thanksgiving with some of Debbi & Dave's friends. We sat on a roof top patio overlooking the traffic of Sai Kung. It was a beautiful evening to share a meal outdoors.

On Sunday we went for dim sum. Dave and I had never had dim sum. It was very interesting. The food was unfamiliar both in taste and texture. Some things I really enjoyed; others seemed pretty weird. I'm sure that once you have had it a few times and it felt more familiar this could quickly become a favourite. It was a fun experience, and it was good to go with people who knew what was going on.

Yesterday Dave and I went into the city on our own for the first time (and we didn't get lost or anything). We went to Central and saw some huge bank buildings. We enjoyed the Hong Kong Park. It is a very orderly park with many amazing plants. I really liked the walk-through aviary where you could see some really neat, brightly coloured birds up close. I did worry a little bit that one of the lovely birds would poop on my head. After Hong Kong Park we went to see St John's Cathedral. It is a modestly sized and beautiful church. The stained glass was amazing.

So far I have found Hong Kong to be a very interesting mix of familiar and unfamiliar things. 7 elevens and Starbucks are right beside little shops selling dried out things that I can't figure out what they are. Most people speak English, but sometimes they pronounce things differently enough that it does not seem like that same language at all. There seem to be a lot of contrasts in Hong Kong; an interesting mix of the old and the new.