It took me a while to notice this, but I finally figured out why it is that everywhere I look I see couples. It seems as if guys and girls don’t hang out alone platonically with one another. I have yet to see a single male and female hang out together who aren’t touching, or maybe I just have mad tunnel vision.
Today was dimsum day for me and Chin, where we found a restaurant in Jordan that wasn’t vegetarian this time around. It’s so cool that the waiters give you a teapot with hot water so that you can rinse your dishes. Here’s Chin excitedly rinsing mine.
I finally got to order my Chinese broccoli. Heck yeah, VEGGIES.
After lunch we tried heading to Temple Street to check out the bazaar, but the vendors were only setting up so there wasn’t much to look at. We swung by a bookstore where we bought some postcards (these are delayed on mailing!) and walked around Jordan.
Guess what this is? It’s Chin’s little bag of coins, because Hong Kong currency is ridiculous. $1, $2, $5 are in coin form, and there’s even a $10 coin (AND a $10 bill- WHY?) The black bag is actually his umbrella cover, but it’s quite handy as his coin holder.
We walked around some more, and Chin led me to Kowloon Park, where you can be fined $5,000 for damaging this gate. It’s taped up, which shows that somebody already did!
Kowloon Park is beautiful during the day, and I’d imagine even better when these lamps are on at night. This is also another potential photoshoot spot for us.
The main reason Chin wanted to take me here is that he had been here once before, and saw only women and children swimming in the pool with old creepy guys standing around watching, so he wanted to show me a pool that is “exclusively” for women/children.
But wait! There seem to be men here! Look at how beautiful this place is, it’s as nice as a pool you’d see in a fancy hotel. There was a sign that said “Don’t take pictures around the pool area” (probably to ward off creepers), but I took one anyways.
We finished touring the park and exited the other side, where we found the Tsim Sha Tsui police station. This is what Chin would look like if he ever got arrested.
A bit more random stuff we saw around the area:
There are vending machines for these vita drink boxes all over the place, and some of the boxes even come with little messages. Most of them are cute, but I can’t seem to understand why shivering on an imaginary toilet has any relation to “thinking of you.”
Also, Inception is currently so big in Hong Kong that I think there’s an Asian version? Puh-lease, you cannot beat Joseph Gordon Levitt’s role as Arthur. I miss you, smexy man.
Chin and I met up with Leanne and Donna in Mong Kok to try Honeymoon Dessert, which is a fancier version of Hui Lau Shan. The place serves a lot of durian related things, so you can smell it from other peoples’ tables. But lucky me, Chin decided to order one and the smell was at our table. I tried some, and its taste stays true to the smell: GROSS.
The plan after dessert was to meet up with Will, Alan, and Chin’s siblings for the light show at Victoria Harbour. It was a beautiful view of all the buildings and lights at night, and I really regret not bringing my DSLR for better shots. The show didn’t really meet my expectations (WHURR ARE THE FIREWORKS) and was very minimal, so I was slightly disappointed, but it did remind me of Tron.
We parted from Chin’s siblings and headed out to dinner in Jordan at a Peking Restaurant for some Peking Duck, where we had a pretty awful experience.
The first thing that should’ve turned us away was the fact that it was right next to the night club (Jordan’s night clubs are dirty clubs ;D) , but when we got in and saw that the restaurant had many patrons, we figured the place must be good. We sat down and looked at the menu, and debated on whether or not we should leave because the prices were heftier than we expected. The waiter was impatient and showed us a combo meal menu, but didn’t give us enough time to look it over and told us, “I’ll give you the appetizers and the tea for free, just order this.” We didn’t have much of a chance to say anything because of communication problems (Leanne was the only one who could speak Cantonese, and the waiter had broken Mandarin), so we decided to stay and eat the food anyways.
The food was slightly pathetic. $600+ combo for some boiled egg, bland vegetables, and duck bone soup?
The duck wasn’t bad, and we got to wrap them in soft tortillas. I hadn’t eaten Peking Duck in a long time, so I thought it was pretty good (but totally not worth the money we paid for it.)
When the bill came, it exceeded the stated ~$600 by a bit over $100, and when I asked the waiter what the extra charges were from, he said it was for the appetizers and the tea. Um, EXCUSE ME? You charged us for some STINKING PEANUTS that went UNTOUCHED and tea that you claimed was free?
“Didn’t you tell us that you would give us the tea and appetizers for free?” I asked in Mandarin.
“What are you talking about? Nothing is free,” he waved me off.
Chin didn’t want to cause a fuss, so he just gave the waiter the $700+, and I didn’t snap out of my stupor fast enough to grab the check and look at it a bit longer.
We sat around waiting for Chin’s $2 change to come, but it didn’t. I asked the waiter for the $2, and he said, “It’s just $2. You don’t need it.”
My anger finally rose, and I scolded him in off-tone Mandarin, “You told us that that you would give us the tea and appetizers for free! I want my $2 back!” I know, I’m patting my back right now. I’m proud of getting Chin’s $2 (around US$0.26, hahaha) back too.
All of us left the place pretty angrily, surprised that we just got gypped big time. Leanne, Chin and I wished that we hadn’t been so passive and accommodating to what had just happened, but we learned our lessons: don’t sit down until you look at the menu first, and don’t go to a shady restaurant next to a nightclub. I guess it’s a good thing that we didn’t get into a big argument, because trouble as a foreigner in Asia doesn’t seem safe.
We cooled down by walking down the Temple Street bazaar, which was finally set up by night time. It’s very similar to Lady’s Market, but a bit shadier. Towards the end of Temple Street there was a section for adult toys, where there were some pretty interesting items. I’m not just referring to the fleshlights and vibrators, but this pretty light projector! Chin told me that when he toured this street the first time he came to HK with Johnson’s brother in law, he said that some of the people selling these items are those who owe the Triads money and have to pay off their debts. Interesting, but probably not the only reason.
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