Advertisement
Published: January 16th 2014
Edit Blog Post
I met Elaine and her family for lunch today. They were eating Dim sum (Hong Kong's equivalent to Spanish tapas.) She met me at Wong Tai Sin station (it's near her house) and she took me to where her family were eating in a big hall with lots of round tables which could fit 7 people around them. Elaine was with her mum, two of her mum's friends and her dad, then her sister joined us later. They are a lovely family and although none of them apart from Elaine could speak English, her mum made me laugh a lot. Elaine interpreted between us as her mum was asking me lots of questions, like which year was ยท born and which is my Chinese animal, Apparently it is a tiger but I would really love to be a bull or a fish.
Anyway, the food was nice, a little bit weird. Most of it I didn't know what it was and the family had to ask the waiters for a fork for me instead of chopsticks because I was having too many problems. There was Chinese tea, about fourteen different tapas (dib sum) dishes to share including a mix of
sweet and savoury. I had coconut for dessert, and as for the rest I have know idea what I have eaten. Elaine and I caught up on the last two years since we met each other in Madrid. We talked about her job as a fashion designer, how she is currently sewing a bra and would like to own her own label by the time she is 30. We compared Hong Kong to Madrid and she said how difficult it was to meet anyone in Hong Kong even though she was born there, as people in cities like Hong Kong don't talk to strangers. We chatted about the people we had both known in Madrid and all the parties we went to. Talking to her answered lots of my questions about Hong Kong and made me less prejudice towards my limited experience of Hong Kong. She explained that since HK was given back to China in about 1997 more and more Chinese started coming from the mainland because they could get lots of advantages.
For example, with a Hong Kong passport you can go to lots of countries, so many Chinese people come here to have their babies just
to get the passport. There are many food problems in China (lots of businesses put in poisonous substances as it lowers costs) so Chinese people buy from Hong Kong and import food to China. Also, some very rich Chinese have bought lots of appartments and this has made the cost of rent very expensive for Hong Kong people as the residents have to compete and pay the high prices.
Afterwards Elaine took me to a local temple in her neighbourhood. It was different to Thai temples. I think Chinese Buddhism is quite different to Thai. People were worshipping with incense here and standing to pray whereas in Thailand people kneel or sit cross-legged, meditate in silence and remove their shoes. Elaine also took me to a famous garden in her neighbourhood. We went to a shopping centre afterwards for Hong Kong milk tea (the same as British milk tea but its always stronger) and chatted about our futures and our next travel plans.
I moved to another hostel this evening, very far from my last one. In fact I have know idea where I am and it took me an hour to get here by underground, by train
and then by bus, but I know I am somewhere in the New Territories of Hong Kong and somewhere very far in the countryside with bicycle tracks and a tranquil lake nearby. I think there are lots of opportunities for hiking and trekking and outdoor sports. This is what I need. And the hostel promotes a green environment and cultural exchange. Goodbye dirty, noisy city with your big Macs and starbucks!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.05s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 9; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0283s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb