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| April 24-28! |
| 04.28.04 (7:52 pm) [edit] |
April 24
Ok, seeing that it's been a few days, and a few busy ones at that, I'm going to drop the third person action for the time being and just catch up with the last few days.
On this day, I ate at a famous HK institution that does bbq goose like you've never had before. Other than the meal I had with all the retired academics (which I should describe, but at another time), this was a highlight of the trip; for those who live in Quebec and know something about St-Hubert chicken logos, they'll be happy to hear to that this goose restaurant (which now has several outlets around HK) has its patrons eat off of plates that feature a grinning, yellow feathered, upright, sailor capped, goose imprinted on them. A canny ressemblance to the St-Hubert chicken--mm, mm, good!
I ate like a pig; between three adults and one child (my COR) we ate a whole bbq goose (which is a rich, dark meat, greasy kind of experience) fried shrimp balls, fried tofu squares with hot peppers, rice, and chinese veg. All of which consumed with a stein of St-Miguel beer. Nice.
After which, I went to the gym, and sat around a whole lot. Read the paper with the boys and worked out, as usual. One feature of this gym is that it has these large windows that overlook the intersection below, two stories down. It provides for some good people watching; also, directly across the street is a larger gym that also has large windows. When someone yells "Mo-wah!", I generally rush to the window to inspect the sights: maybe some bridesmaids, or in this case, a really undressed girl in the opposite gym who was unfortunately none too fit. The point is that gym culture is the same everywhere.
That evening, I ate at home with my uncle, and observed American troops die on television.
April 25
This Sunday, I went to Sai Kung via taxi with Jonathan (COR) early in the morning (around 8am) so that we could go on a boat cruise with Pam and John's co-workers--a group of 19 or so, including a handful of hyper children. The boat belongs to the MTR corporation (the public transport company in HK that Pam works for) that is available to the MTR executive once a year for personal use (or otherwise). So we toured around Sai Kung harbour, had lunch at a fishing village along the coast, in eastern Sai Kung (sorry, no names) next to the reservoir. The lunch was so-so, as the fishing village restaurants only cater to the boat cruise people (i.e. expats, and those who own yachts), and as such, offers touristy, no-so-great cooking. All the same, I had a good time with the spicy garlic shrimp and fresh mussels.
After lunch, we moved onto a small ocean bay and lowered anchor, so as to drink and play on the banana boat towed behind a speed boat. The banana boat holds three; I tried it out, got whipped around a lot, and had a great time, despite having a lot of rear end pressed directly into my face for half of the time. Understand that this was not a willing experience, but one that was necessitated by need to keep the banana upright, so lowering our centre of gravity (thus, three of us, hunched over like we were dodging bullets) resulted in my face being stuffed right up some engineers butt.
That night, we ordered in pizza hutt, and watched spaceballs. The last time I ate a pizza in HK was in 1989. In my mind, the 1989 pizza was the best I ever ate--if only because they had finely chopped up pineapple layered over the whole pizza, like a lawn, and the whole pizza had received the chinese cooking treatment as best it could. The modern pizza, however, was not as memorable, as pizza hut, HK, does it the same way as they do in N. America, except that you can get a bbq duck pizza with shimeji mushrooms.
April 26
As with last week, I returned to Shatin with Pam to drop off Jonathan at school. Said goodbye, then went back to the flat--to do some packing, and then it was off to the most ridiculous amount of dim sum I've ever eaten in my life. Three people, twenty-two dishes and the portions were no joke. It was an extravaganza--at one point, we had five servers at our table, filling teapots, placing food down, shifting plates around, and one manager hovering by, making sure that all was good and fine. While good, the dim sum was not fine--but I ate it all, because I'm no snob when it comes to a free meal. Incidentally, I tried to pay for the meal, too, but was soundly rejected by my aunt and uncle.
This restaurant was massive, too--it could seat 2000 people in seperate rooms and restaurants within itself. The place was located right down by the harbour's edge in Kowloon, by Ocean Terminal, and was shapped like a giant horseshoe. 2000!
I then went to the gym, and nearly fell asleep. Why I go to the gym so much? Well, mostly because I've been gaining so much fat around my middle; also, because I bought a ten visit booklet at the beginning of my trip--this was visit number 9.
Then, back to the flat, packed it up completely, and then off to yet another club: the United Services Athletic and Recreational club. Once used only by the military's officers, it now opens its doors to the public. The chinese army has its barracks in the old HK army barracks, just next door to the place, but they do not come to eat at the club, despite permission to do. Mostly because these poor fellows earn 700HK a month--or a little over a hundred bucks CDN! Anyhow, the restaurant is imformal, no suit or tie, and children can use the place, also. I ate a chicken vindaloo that made me sweat and cry, and shared my uncle's chinese style whole steamed sole in soya sauce and spring onion. Nice, but I was a bit worried about my digestive track: what with dim sum, the vindaloo, and the fish, I was preparing myself for a potentially long, intestinally challenging, flight to Perth...
I was dropped off at the Airport express, that no one uses, at great loss to the city. It is a dedicated rail that takes you directly to the airport in 28 minutes or so. Super convenient, you just hop off the train, and you're at the airport, right in the terminal.
One note about this airport is the amount of duty free there: intense. For you smokers, 200 cigarettes cost 110HK (a little less than 20CDN!). Or for 2000 ciggies, 500HK! Ridiculous. In any case, I bought none of the Channel, Louis Vuitton, or other such merchandise. I bought some nasty fresh squeezed OJ from a Starbucks (sorry, and it really was bad OJ--the worst I'd had in HK) and then rode the light rail train that is within the airport to my gate, number 63, of a possible 80.
Right.
April 27
Perth!
I slept the whole way out to Perth, and missed out on the dinner, the in-flight movies (one of them was Die Hard! Helicopters crashing into buildings!), I still made it up for the breakfast of rolls and fruit.
There are only three gates in Perth International, and the only security that has yet questioned me about my practive of packing my kitchen knives inside my guitar case. Still, they let me in to the country.
My australian aunt, Patsy, picked me up from the airport and then took me out to her home south of Perth, in South Yunderup. Yunderup, both north and south, is a canal based shire, so their house is on a canal, facing east with the morning sun. Their catamaran, Sky, is moored alongside. A friend of Patsy and Peter's (Patsy's partner), Phil, was staying with them. Phil is a 80 year old Kiwi who is spry and highly mobile, sharp as a tack and very companionable. Shortly after arriving a the house, we went out sailing, out along the canal system, out into the Peel Inlet, and then, incredibly, into the Indian Ocean. What a first day--I took a nap on the boat, and also fell off it, although at the very end of the trip, when we were moored at the house.
April 28
A very lazy day, spent reading the damn Booker of Bookers (3/4 done!), and a damn big thai cookbook. Had dinner at home, went for a stroll in the neighborhood, and just settled in.
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