Month: May 2006

Walls and Walls of Malls

We attempted an ambitious itinerary on Saturday.

Star Ferry
Weather: grey drizzle. Walked to the Star Ferry pier, took the lower level. It was HK$1.7 (that’s about US 25 cents) for a 7 minute ride similar to the Staten Island Ferry.

Dim Sum at Maxim’s Palace City Hall
City Hall is directly across from the Star Ferry pier on the HK side. We walked in, and proceeded to miss the sign for Maxim’s next to the stair. There’s another Maxim’s on the second floor that’s really for dinner; nobody was in there. The dim sum level was on the third floor with a huge room. Very good dim sum – especially with seafood. Waited for about 30 minutes, and then another 15 because we turned down a smoking table. Our ticket number was 0068, and they were in the forties. I have a goofball picture where I have the ticket turned around saying 8900 – very long wait! Ha chern and Ha gou was perfect; the dan tat (custard tarts) were fantastic. Recommended.

HSBC
Walked across the street through Statue Square to HSBC world headquarters. In New York, they are known just for their retail banking; in Hong Kong, they are one of the banks that actually print the money. On the ground floor, there was a photo display of pictures taken by HSBC staff members throughout the world – the first one was of Prospect Park in the fall. Two lion statues guard the bank from the harbour.

Pacific Place and Queensway
Bought: city atlas and coffee table book about Stanley. There was a hole in the plastic bag that we took away and the atlas fell out in the store. Thankfully, they were honest enough to give back the book. We got vials of this lemon C drink at grEAT supermarket in the basement of SOGO that counteracted the effects of hot/cold that we have been experiencing. Diet Coke is twice as expensive as regular ones, since they are imported from the UK. We picked up a couple of dog shirts from Cen.

Back to the hotel, where we took a breather, and P got to check out the ring in daylight. Way cool bling.

Chungking
We made a quick circle through the ground floor of Chungking Mansions so that P could say that we did it, kind of against my better judgment. It still looks very much like how it did in the movie, having that untamed rough West in the East feel. P’s curiousity was satisfied, and we hightailed it out of there.

Carnavaron Road
We walked up Carnavaron Road to find 3, the SIM card dealer. Instead we found a gelato stand were we got mango and berry gelato. Trying to trace our way back, we found a Hui Lau Shan and got more layered mango and berry drinks. The Hui Lau Shan was actually better then the gelato, and half the price. The SIM card dealer happened to be across the street — we couldn’t see it from the angle we were travelling.

We found a branch of the Todai sushi buffet place we went to in Hawaii, and made a reservation for Monday night (the place was booked solid today and Sunday).

Sham Shui Po
Golden Computer Center in Sham Shui Po. If it plugs into something, it’s here. It’s a lot more cleaned up than before – very little in the way of illicit software packages; much more hardware. Bought a laptop security chain and a couple of chinese linux books for the people at work.

We went back to the hotel, where I proceeded to pass out from jetlag, and P succeeded in making Skype calls.

More rain and more action tomorrow, or whatever day it is right now.

Come Full Circle

1 PM Thursday: general mayhem getting things packed; we leave.
T-2.5 hours: After 3 trains, get the right A train to JFK
T-1.5 hours: Get in time for CX check-in, wondering where is everybody. Apparently, everyone had already checked in 2 hours ago and were at the gate. But I had done on-line check-in, so it wasn’t a problem
T-1 hour: P wants ice cream, so we make a stop – she gets a vanilla-chocolate swirl which was more like chocolate with a swish of white and syrup. I get an Immunity smoothy. She also picks up a few magazines.
T-30 minutes: a family of 5 boards business class. Two of the kids are in this double stroller which looks a heck of a lot like a rickshaw.
T-0: We take off on time. Channel 54 on the CX non-stop is wing-cam – a video camera feed from directly behind the front landing gear. Every plane should have one – I can watch it all day.
T+1: Snack. Roasted peanuts, selection of drinks. My general policy is no alcohol in flight, because it gives me headaches and screws up my appreciation of the meal, but they had a selection of complementary scotches and sherry or wines.
T+1.5: The in-flight entertainment system, StudioCX, had some bizarre news video from some British show about the origin of the words idiot, imbilcile, and moron (apparently “moron” was invented in New Jersey, and “idiot” originally meant a selfish person).
T+3: “Lunch”, actually dinner. We opted with the beef with bok choy on white rice, smoked trout on apple celery salad, a square of “souffle” cheesecake, and Pepperidge Farms cookies. Very credible for airline food.
T+4.5: Brokeback Mountain was playing (saw it in the theater with Pei so didn’t bother). Also, Disney’s Pocahantas was on. Pocahantas was the first movie I saw in a Hong Kong theatre – I thought it was very interesting at the time, because the Native American/English encounters depicted in the movie provided an indirect analogy to the British/Chinese situation. Of course, Lea Solonga is always a good reason to listen to a movie.
T-6: Started a 6 hour game of Civilization IV. Finally had a decent score – in the 7100’s, aka Henry VIII.
T-12: “Breakfast” was served – Abalone and clam Congee, fruit salad, blueberry muffin. The congee was fantastic, and actually had three slices of abalone. The best – even P was impressed.
T-15: Landing at HKG. We were so sore that we were using the neck pillows that we brought as ring cushions to bring relief to our brokeback butts. Other than the seat comfort, Cathay Pacific shows what good in-flight service is all about.
T-16: Crossed customs, got onto the Airport Express to Kowloon Station.
T-17 (8:30 PM local time): Got on to a shuttle-bus to where we were staying.
9:30 PM: checked in. I’m trying to convince P to go somewhere, anywhere. Instead, she just wants to shower and go to sleep
10:00 PM: showered, trying to get the Internet working. Needs an account from downstairs.
10:30 PM: The hotel staff shows up with the password. We get it working, only to learn that Skype is screened out. Drat, will have to get a SIM card for my phone.
11:00 PM: Giving up on the romantic outdoor event and running out of the appointed 2 hour window, I settle for the harbor view from our room. I take out the ring and propose to P. And she says yes! Then she proceeds to put the ring on, and it’s too loose. But wait, she put it on her right hand. Switching to the left hand, the circle of platinium fits perfectly. Sigh of relief!
11:30 PM-1 AM Saturday (1 PM EDT): We get stuff at 7-Eleven, walk up Nathan Road, made a left at Jordan Road, swing by the place my dad’s old apartment was, walked the length of the Temple Street Market, then caught the last MTR train back to Tsim Sha Tsui.

Then, like Jack Bauer, we live happily ever after, until the next 24 hours.

Men Kui Tei

We went for ramen with P’s friends last night at Men Kui Tei, across from Cooper Union. The ramen was Ok – P got the Men Kui Ramen, which is a kombu broth, and I got the tonkatsu (pork) broth. Her’s was too salty, and mine was not rich enough — 4 or 5 spoonfuls of her broth fixed mine. However, the quantity of food was nothing to complain about – it was huge. Another friend got the Sara Udon, which is really chop suey, and it could serve 4. The sides were pretty good – marinated skirt steak on rice, and curry on rice.

T-6 hours before the flight…. bringing my laptop on the plane.