Mum arrived Friday morning, so after dumping her gear back at home we returned to Hong Kong to wait in Petes bar until he finished work. We dropped him off at the Airport Express, and off he trundled with just his usual day-rucksack as carry on luggage only. (The one you gave us each for our wedding Gee). As that means he can't take any liquids (etc) and knowing his willingness NOT to buy/ use shampoo, deodorants, etc, I fell very sorry for Jason & Virian who will be living on the catamaran with him until they emigrate to the USA next week. And even sorrier for the Taiwanese sailor (coming along to learn) and one of Petes sailing students, Christian (did the round the island race with him) on the week they sail it to the Phillippines. So Mum & I will be carting out stuff for him just in case, as well as so that Tim & Heather don't have to lug loads over from the UK.
We had a quiet day on Sunday, down at the lovely Tung O beach again. Talking of which I see Chow Yun Fat the famous actor from there is not only the star of another huge Crouching Tiger style film, he's in the 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean! Anyway we sat in a sheltered spot and sunbathed (well, fully clothed for me!) on his beach.
We want to try all the free stuff the Tourist Board organises - interestingly some is exactly the same as what I was going to have to PAY for if I did it with the YMCA Women's courses!
To start with we went to Hong Kong Park on Monday and had a good look around whilst waiting for our talk to start.
It's actually very nicely done, set around a big, empty pond/ lake (empty as the massive coy carp and little turtles have eaten everything in it).
Lots of trees, plants, wild but fairly tame birds (including white cockateel things), and a big conservatory with a few mini-biomes (desert, wet humidity etc) set out, and a lovely orchid exhibition.
I adored the Chinese New Year decorations they had started to set up, especially the drilled coconut lanterns if that is what they were...
The famous avaiaries are shut indefinitely due to bird flu.
Oddest was all the brides - every corner there was another happy couple surrounded by photographers (but often without any other guests or even bridesmaids) snapping away like slightly better dressed & equipped paparazzi. All the new Mrs's were dressed in hideous white creations, meringues to drown in evidently still in fashion here! One did have the most amazing (diamond?) collar necklace, we were too far away to see her face, but the flashing necklace caught everyones eye, her neck was lit up as if she had on one of those fibre-optic tube christmas light displays. She didn't - I had to go and look to check as it wouldn't have surprised me here!
We sat down to watch herons eyeing up the fish from their perch on lake scupltures, and realised the park has its own registry office - must be a marriage every 10 minutes, we were there less than an hour and saw 8 different (but hideous OTT dresses on all) wedding groups go by. They must have been queuing at the most photogenic spots. Which are all carefully labelled 'photogenic spot' for you by the way. Gods, even art is regimented here!!
Anyway we eventually went into the museum there, which had a tea shop underneath, where we had booked in for a free tea course (there are lots of 'interesting' courses available free from the Tourism Office if you are a tourist - I got mum to book it and stood with a camera around my neck looking touristy but pretending I had forgotten my passport). We sat around a beautiful wood table, on the same square wood stools that Gran Fin has as a table, surrounded by gorgeous carvings and tiny teapots. The chinese lady then told us about the 7 different colours or grades of tea, which depends on how they were made. Green & greenish teas were basically 'fresh', not allowed to oxidise at all; yellow, red, black & white teas are all allowed to oxidise to varying degrees (i.e. kept warm & moist). The we had a very long and boring lecture, often repeting itself, on the art of tea making. It wasn't like the ceremonies you see with kneeling geishas whisking bowls; we learnt KUNG FU!!!! Not as exciting as it sounds; if we understood her, Kung Fu can be applied to cooking, decorating, tea making..... and martial arts. Basically I think its having a way of doing things, maybe not a tradition, but your way, and having reasons to back up the way you do them, thinking about sights, smells and all senses including your guests'.
She used a tiny tea pot, a couple of inches accross and about half that high, like a dolls tea set, and stuffed it with loose tea. Boiling water was poured on and all the bubbles that frothed to the top (too active to drink apparently) were swiped off with her special tea-scoop chop-stick thing, to drain through the pierced & carved tea tray to the bowl hidden underneath it. She chose 3 of us (as the pot was too small to serve all at once), and taking our 3 tiny tea bowls (slightly larger than thimbles), she upended the teapot above the 3 cups, circling it so each cup evenly got top, middle and bottom strength of tea mixed into it. (makes sense unless you have some who like the weker/ stronger brew!). Of course due to the constant circling of the spout lots of tea again went all over the tray to drain away.
Tiny tea pot on tea tray - the 'proper' way to make Kung Fu tea. Bowl under tray catches wiped off bubbles/ poured over cups.
Originally uploaded by wildcatfin.
Then she threw out the tea from the teacups and did it all again. THIS time we were allowed to drink it....... She then showed us 'cakes' of tea, wrapped in paper and stored like you wold store old books, to age like red wine. One batch of tea picked & stored in the 1930s they sold one cake of in 1988 for $700 dollars, and from the same batch, after being tested by a tea-master in 2006 sold another cake for $17,000!!! But if you keep it in your kitchen it can pick up bad smells, or anywhere damp it will start oxidising again, etc, so conditions must be perfect to let your investment grow. We do it all wrong it seems - big pot, big cups, serving everyone at once, filling up each cup in turn so someones is too weak or strong - and only green tea should be stored in a tin! And they gave us a dimsun which turned out to be one of those chokey chewy testicle things I'd tried in the bakery, this time with a crunchy peanut centre which was nice when you managed to get there!
Tea 'cakes' maturing like red wine - price can £1000's increase over the years
Originally uploaded by wildcatfin.
After passing a total photo frenzy with TV crews outside one mall in Central (2 people in giant kids cartoon character costumes launching a credit card with pics of same animals on them. Queues hours long to be photo'd with them but ALL ONLY ADULTS clutching tickets in the queus, no kids!!!), we headed for the minibus home. We finally tried the drippy balls on sticks that have their own distinctive required eating style. Most of the stalls that I get my beloved vanilla waffle-ball sheets from make them; they are scooped out of a seething vat of brown liquid and jammed onto a wooden skewer. You get hold of the skewer end, lean forward from the waist at right angles and take a ball off the skewer with your mouth whilst trying not to drip the liquid onto yourself, your clothes or your shoes. Mum bravely bought some - we had no idea what they were, and she had 1st ball.
After scalding my tongue (mum still bravely chewing at hers but unable to break the skin of it), I ripped off a bit of my ball to actually get INTO it in my mouth, and realised the whole thing is a super elastic lump of omlette. I have occasionally seen expert eggball eaters attempt to move, talk or even walk whilst doing this but they are rare and it isn't advised. OK, not particularly tasty, but fine, strike another local delicacy off the list.
Eating egg balls in Hong Kong - sort of extra chewy lump of unflavoured omlette, dipped in drippy sauce so you eat off the stick bent over at right angles to avoid dripping on yourself.
Originally uploaded by wildcatfin.
Next we will be trying the toasted, squashed, spread out mini squid which look like stiff angular crisps. I just realised that here I eat anything from anywhere and don't think about bugs/ upsets, whereas everywhere else I have travelled I would not, or at least would think twice about street stall offerings! It struck me after seeing tourists gasp in horror at me & locals stuffing our face at one of the stalls. I wonder if subconsciously I think I'm immune if I have my magical Hong Kong ID card????
Got another cool thing - I was voted 3rd place in the International Statue Body Painting competition! Very cool but I feel the other painters in it were hard done by - I entered the pic of my gold tennis man Wilson meditating like a Buddha in his lunch break, and it beat loads of other amazing colourful & creative ones. And a bunch of the marble-effect people which take longer to do and are notoriously difficult as white is the flakiest paint on skin so harder to work with. Still, even if mine was simple & straightforward beginners statue- YAY!!!! It's only other painters that can vote! Have hopes for my Halloween cat face paint though, the voting on the International Halloween Comp ends soon and the standard for that is amazingly high - if I make the top 30 I will be happy! (made the top 15, just heard, yay).
Trying to buy shorts again was maddening. Found some nice ones for Pete - know hes about 2 inches 'fatter' (as if!) than me, so wanted to try them on but the stall owner said no as they were men's shorts. Um, yes I KNOW that, won't stop me buying them if I can try them. Had to bully her into giving me a receipt so I can take them back if they don't fit him...bet she denies it all if they are wrong! Then picked out 4 pairs I wanted to try for me. Followed by a weird sales pitch.
Me - Can I try these on please?(as several were in sizes I couldn't indentify, and anyway they are all screwy here if I can fit a size 10 skirt but not a size 18 trousers..).
Yes missy you can try on those 2 pairs but not those last 2 pairs.
Me - Why?
Because those last 2 are in the sale missy and you can't try them on.
Me - well, do you know what size they are in inches? or in UK sizes?
No missy.
Me - Well, let me try them on as I won't buy them if they don't fit.
No.
Me - But I'll be in there trying on these 2 anyway.
No missy you can't take them I'll hold them here while you fit the others on.
Me - but can I bring them back to swap the size if they are wrong then?
No.
Me - So I can only try on things that aren't in the sale. Even though I still want to buy them, now, if they fit, with the same money, just like the things not in the sale, if THEY fit?
Yes missy.
Me- Why?
Because they are in the sale missy and you can't try them on.
Etcetera. Ok...australian tourist nearby told us which sizes were what in UK so I did get some in the end, to find out when I got home that of course they don't fit, maybe the wrong labels are in them or something. In which case letting people try them on would have made no difference as there were other sizes so they could have chosen what fitted them. Very confusing.
Sat we 'sailed' on the Duck Ling, a restored fishing sampan with (faded) red sails that you can book a free crossing on via the Tourist Board.
We weren't very impressed with their directions though - said, meet at Pier 9. Now I knew that since they had started demolishing the old Star Ferry Pier, Star Ferry had moved to its new home beside all the other new ferry piers, the latest finished, beautiful Piers 7 & 8; but thats all that has been built so far. So we got there and yes, they are still building Pier 9, its off limits. The not brilliant lady on the Tourist helpline was far keener on telling us all about Hong Kongs new no-smoking laws even though I kept saying yes we knew and no I didn't smoke! After trekking back round to the site of the demolished old Pier 9, we finally found it....motoring in, not a great day, bit cold, windy and very murky so you could hardly see Kowloon form the island! Big boat, all wood, big engine, traditional woven (wicker?) fenders etc rather than tires for a change. Seemed half empty despite only being allowed 40 people on it.
Also they kept the sails (just like you see on old chimese paintings, angular with horizontal ribs of bamboo) down, mostly. Still, it dropped us off at Kowloon, and we went off to look at the largest shopping centre in Hong Kong. Over 700 shops it said - I had always thought it was just the bit where cruise liners docked, beside the Star Ferry Terminal, but no, its another Mall. Felt very sorry for the two poor souls in the small dinghy we spotted beside one liner - one was guiding the boat, the other had a normal sized paint roller on a mega pole and was PAINTING THE LINER!!! Every tme he needed to dip the roller in the paint which was in their boat, he had to collapse the pole.must be a punishment, surely!
Poor sods - they could at least have given them a bigger paintbrush!!!! Cruise ship, Kowloon
Originally uploaded by wildcatfin.
It would be so NICE to find shops I'm actually interested in, but yet again it was all the name brands from Alia and Gucci to Prada and Chanel. ZZZZZZZZZZ. We did, however (knackered from walking the entire length without going into 1 shop) try a Japanese cake shop. Mum had mashed, hot sweet potato, with ice-cream and pumpkin sauce which was lovely, I'll have that again - filling and warming and slightly sweet! I had Green tea ice cream & sauce - the tea ice-cream was almost like a sorbet. I really can't describe the taste - sort of fresh and almost minty but with more tannin really. Not so keen......
Hot mashed sweet potato (YUM)and ice cream with pumpkin sauce, Kowloon
Originally uploaded by wildcatfin.
We spent the wait for our minibus home (after we got the tube back to auseway bay) cooing at the tiny puppies in the dog shop. I do hope they let the bigger ones on the lower shelf cages out lots, they can hardly turn round. And ALL the tiny ones are in dog jumper - not sure if they are that cold or she's just advertising her doggy fashions!
Sunday we headed back to Kowloon, after a MacDonalds 'hotcakes' (american style pancakes with an actually TASTY sausagey flat thing, and syrup) breakfast, the only thing worth going in there for. Shame its only offered till 11 am! Anyway, after sitting a while in a Deli France as we were early, fending off waitresses wanting to give us warm plain croissants filled with ice cream (what? ick), we squeezed into a tiny Wing Wah cake shop, for our next, free Tourist Board thing. These shops are a chain all over HK, and this is the only one that runs lessons, 2 times most Sundays for 10 people. After filing to the cooking tables to wash our hands and be numbered, we met the translator and then the Master Chef (HAI! Sensai!- Jake), a lovely lady. Called Cactus. I kid you not. She demonstrated how to make the 2 different pastries needed for 'Wife Cakes' (whch seem to be coming out more for New Year), which looked similar to short crust.
But she mixed both, including the eggy one, just on the table by swirling her palm on it, looked really odd! We were all shown, step by step, how to then combine the 2 doughs (strict method no kneading allowed, only certain foldings and rollings in the correct order!). Then we stuffed a mix of sticky rice powder & sugar water in the middle, and they went to get baked. Over tea and 'egg rolls' (sweet crunchy tubes sort of like crispy pancake versions of the dough balls I like) we watched a demo on how they make the neat ciggy sized tubes, the egg rolls.
Yes the head chef in the Kowloon bakery really WAS named - Cactus
Originally uploaded by wildcatfin.
They have an electric heated press a bit like a tortilla press - blob on the liquid batter, squash/ heat; use pallette knife to fold in 2 'vertical' sides of it; take metal rod and roll resulting oblong onto it. I'm pleased to say I was the only one complimented on my technique; but I did get tutted at for getting flour on my side, butt AND chest before I left. We got to make a couple each, and by then our cakes were ready to.
All the time they were snapping pics of us, and we had to have a 'class graduation' pic with the chefs at the end which they will email to us as well.
Then as we left, clutching our hot and very tasty baking efforts, we were given a gorgeous little paper gift bag with the recipies and a plate-sized special cookie! VERY impressed, all free, interesting...does the UK Tourism bunch do stuff like that?
Cutie wife cakes, (plain?/ ugly??) wife cakes and husband cakes, Kowloon bakery
Originally uploaded by wildcatfin.
Mum bought a few bits from the shop, but not their 'Husband Cakes'. Wife cakes, yes, sweet, with a variety of fillings (bean or lotus paste etc); husband cakes are salty!
We then wandered over to Kowloon Park to watch people practicing/ demonstrating some sorts of Martial arts - a sort of Tai' Chi, led by a very flexible granny; then routines with long pointed sort of 'knights' swords with attched fringed thing on handle; then my fav, with curved scimitar sword that had silk hankies falling from the handle. They made a great sort of woing-ing ringing sound as they were flicked about.
One day we took the train up north of Kowloon to Sham Shui Po, that place where all the fabric, ribbons, beads, feather boas and haberdashery in general are sold or advertised by their manufacturers.
It was even more impressive than last time as with Mum replacing Pete I was allowed to go in and LOOK and buy some - got stunning ribbon full of amazing peacock or silky cockerel feathers (looking for ideas to make costume for the FAce Painters conference ball this autumn already!); gorgeous braids and hand beaded sequinned trim, etc.
And all under £3 a yard! Also all the material sellers coat their shops & stalls with sample cards, little snips of their materials a few inches wide, about 4 to a card with 1000s of varieties and colours of each variety.
We bought a bit of a 3d plastic holographic fish-reef stuff as it was just so WOW - no idea what for! So we helped ourselves to loads of sample cards for mum to use in her crafts - that art teacher who ran the craft table at one recent party I did said thats where she gets all her bits for free from! Also shops of fossils and semi-precious stones but I avoided them - dangerous for me to go in there with cash/ card! Hungry, we found the regions multi-floor 'market' (they all have one) and wandered through heaving stalls of weird veg and fruit with little old ladies screeching and waving hands/ money/ obscure root products at us. Then we gave up finding the cafe in it and got a bit lost getting out - ended up in the poultry section. Cages stuffed full of chickens stacked on each other (and I could name half the breeds, heh) including the white fluffy feathered black skinned sikies! Again people wandering around with live birds hanging from their waists/ hands......its not Sainsburys!
Coming down from the market I had to take a pic of the hgh-rise flats above every single shop/ cafe/ stall here...HOW many people must be living here? Its scary. We had a brilliant snack in a tiny local cafe where they spent 10 minutes searching for a hand-written menu in english for us (aww!) and we ordered hot Horlicks (YUM its huge out here, in all the cafes!) and 'france toast'. Which was the thickest slice of bread I have ever seen, deep fried in egg - WOW - with runny honey. New favourite food!!!!
Yummy deep fried french toast, (& iced Horlicks), Sham Shui Po, Kowloon. Just LOOKING rockets my sugars and Mums cholesterol!
Originally uploaded by wildcatfin.
We only managed a small slice of the district before it got dark/ shut down/ we were knackered - have to get there earlier I think and find where the glitter and wire is.
Hong Kong Metro - tube - my fav sign - note the alien chest buster and fat bloke etc
Originally uploaded by wildcatfin.
Hong Kong Metro - tube - seats small and slippery and NEVR empty like this!
Originally uploaded by wildcatfin.
We actually got seats on the train home - woo - and I had a chance to take pics of my favourite train signs - I love the 'please give your seat up to these people' icons. I mean it looks like theres a man who's nailed a walking stick though his leg, someone having an alien erupt out of their chests, an obese pot-bellied person, etc..hehe.
I made the mistake of telling another face painter about all the haberdashery stuff and now they all want samples and are sending orders for ribbons, beads, wigs etc!
Could be a new line of business if I work out how much I can charge whilst still making it cheaper than in the Uk - tho the range here isn't available in the Uk anyway. Most wanted animal fabric for the jungle-themed face conference ball, so on Wednesday Mum & I went to visit the Western market in Admiralty. Its the one small old building with about 20 (bit pricey) fabric stalls upstairs. Its mainly for rich people to order clothes from - one guy was choosing material for 6 suits and 20 shirts he had just ordered and, as last time, there were Indian ladies looking for sari material. Still, the silks are cheap even there! I do like the 'new' fur fabrics - not the awful fluffy fake fur but a lovely drapey cloth with a very real fur/ hair like short nap to it, almost like velvet.......We headed into Central and tried for French Toast again in another locals cafe. This time it was a deep fried peanut butter sandwhich with syrup - yum but ALL sweet stuff here seems to have nuts in it, not good for when Lochie visits in a few months, with his nut allergy! Anyway I ended up buying 2 amazing wigs (allegedly for working in, honest - but I love the greeny-blue one - Sammy, you want one??) from the fancy dress stall street. Again, cheap - under £10 when I know even the really cheap tacky short UK wigs START at £10. The rainbow wig needs a bit of sorting tho, bit too fluffy, but will go with new rainbow fairy outfit I'm working on!
Greeny blue wig for other face painting fairy outfit - just pulled on not properly!
Originally uploaded by wildcatfin.
Uncle Neil answered when I rang Granny FIn - horrified to hear shes really ill, unconscious and not eating at all, horrible. Think I will fly back to the UK as soon as we return from seeing Pete - shame I'd already booked all the tickets etc for the Phillippines.
I have spent a hectic few nights putting together & pricing my wish kit for each of the painters supposed to be working at the Rugby 7's with me, as I need to give the Youth Arts Foundation a quote to give their sponsors. Problem is I have no idea of the baseline prices they expect to pay for kit, and until I know exactly what/ how much/ how many to order I can't ask my UK supplliers for a quote as postage will be a big factor. So, Thursday we revisited the slightly less astronomically priced of the 2 makeup/ face-paint suppliers in HK, again up in Kowloon. I managed to spill neon pink glitter everywhere, oops. But I did buy one of their own glitter tattoo kits to see how it compares to what I import, as it is far cheaper here. On the way from there to the airport I finally got a brief text from Peter to say they were in sight of the Phillipines and expected to reach the Cebu Marina on Friday, which was a big relief!
Opening/ new management flowers outside a TINY shop - MAD - 100s of bouquets from their bank, suppliers, etc.....cabbages to roses! kowloon
Originally uploaded by wildcatfin.
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