I haven’t made that many local friends yet, so my friend group here in Hong Kong consists of mostly international students. I’ve been congregating mostly with UC people, many of them from the San Gabriel Valley. 

Luckily, I found out that one of my old coworkers Kam from the library is studying to get her masters in Urban Planning at HKU, so she asked to meet up with me for dinner today. I was really excited because she’s originally from Macau, and is the closest thing to a local friend I have here. I got to learn a couple of things from her, especially where the post office is, where to get on the 970 bus stop from school, and what Hong Kong apartments look like.

She took me to her place in Jordan so that she could drop off her stuff, and it was a homey apartment with the smallest bedrooms I’ve ever seen. It barely fits a small bed and a tiny desk, and is about half the size of my bedroom back home. It is Hong Kong, after all, with a dense population and so little space.

We walked around for a bit to look for some places to eat, and ended up back around Temple Street, where there were many outdoor hole-in-the-wall restaurants that look slightly shady and dirty. She’d never eaten out in those restaurants either, so we just picked a random one called “Temple Street Restaurant” to try the crabs. 

I loved that I was finally out with somebody who knew how to interact with Hong Kong people on the streets, so it was refreshing to not feel like a fool getting lost in miscommunication or confusion. She ordered the crabs, a vegetable dish and a fried chicken dish, which were all pretty damn good.

During dinner, I was educated a bit in Hong Kong etiquette and geography. I really wish that I had a China visa so that I could travel to Shen Zhen to buy really cheap stuff or to visit GuangZhou, but I don’t want to pay that money. I will definitely hit those places when I have the money and want to go to Mainland China. 

We were both really full afterwards and decided to walk through the Temple Street bazaar for a bit. Kam told me that where we were, Jordan, is probably a red light district. She tried to describe to me what possible prostitutes look like, and called it “Asian sexy” versus the “American sexy” I’m used to. Apparently, they’re dressed provocatively, but more conservatively. They look a bit like they’re going clubbing.

As we headed back to the big streets, we saw some women standing by themselves outside some random stores in clubbing wear. Kam pointed at them and said “Maybe she is one.” I have yet to see one, but I’d really like to, just like I’d like to see a Triad member. 

My bowel movements the next day were not very pleasant (possibly because of the street food we ate), but I would still want to go back for the crabs sometime. Peter and Chin don’t want to go back unless they bring some sake/alcohol to kill the germs, so we’ll see you again sometime, Temple Street!

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