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Published: February 17th 2007
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I am to blog the review the Hong Kong leg of our tour, but before I start, I wanted to record my feelings on leaving Germany, leaving our jobs, the flat, our fields, and on popping home for a visit which was far shorter than it should have been.
British airways really did destroy the orderly and sane dismantling of our ‘German life’ which had been planned. There was time for only the most essential of tasks; the gas, the electric, the changes of address… In the last week in Kronberg, we slept on garden furniture mattresses under old sheets which had been intended for the decorators. We had no TV, no fridge - just a container on the balcony where the January temperatures kept our basic supplies fresh. I am not pleading hardship here. Being kept fresh were a fine cheese collection and some decent Rieslings. Besides, the whole thing had a hint of adventure about it, like a dry run for the campervan we have booked in New Zealand. What I regret, though, is having no time to reflect on it all; to mentally unharness myself from that particular stage of our lives, which has been a very
Not permitted
Well, at least you can eat here! important one. When we closed the door of our little flat for the last time, it was done in nervous haste with a taxi waiting. And when I logged off from TSO at the Bank for the last time and returned my office key from my key ring to my empty desk, it was in near paralysis with fear of leaving something vital behind, and knowing I’d never blag my way back into the bank without my pass should I have forgotten anything. Worse was not having time to send the mails to the people I wanted to mail, nor having the little conversations with the folks I wanted to say bye bye to personally. I was quite convinced I’d start bleating during my “Ausstand” drinks at the bank, but not even a sniffle came, and it was because there had been no time for it all to sink in.
It took two weeks: Thomas K. from the bank mailed to say hello, and mentioned that the project was going well, and that set me off! Tears for my work mates, tears for my old life, and tears for the cats next door in Kronberg who will wonder where
Rachy eating
Here she is showing the contents of sum dim sum that we had for lunch we’ve gone and won’t understand!
Lucky then that we’ve had such a smashing time in Hong Kong!
It IS impressive. Lots of tall stuff, that’s clear, but there is an extra quality to the place. The modern commercial spaces are all spec’d so highly, and not a shop, not a restaurant has an interior which doesn’t look expensive. I know the place is polluted, but it’s as clean as it can be. If the tour blocks look grimy externally, then they can’t help it. At least the dumb-ass graffiti and vandalism which I’m used to in European cities is entirely missing from every part of the islands we visited. I won’t elaborate much on the details of the ‘Bogie Test’, but anyone who has ever examined the contents of his handkerchief after a weekend in London knows that there is a natural colour scale which seems to measure airborne grime. Well, Hong Kong beats London according to my hooter!
Each time we dined locally in Wan Chai, the experience was positive and friendly and immense value for money. And you can hardly begrudge a tenner for a Champagne when you’re 28 stories up, watching all the sky
Rachy eating again (get used to this)
Here, displaying milk rice and red bean sauce - one of her favourite dishes scrapers’ lasers zip-zap at each other for a half hour of inter-bank light sabre-ing during the nightly light show. Amongst the former type of experience, my favourite was at a little restaurant called ‘Delicieux’ on Jaffe Road. The influence was Vietnamese, I think. Anyway, the service was very polite and patient with us ‘beginners’. We tried for the first (and probably last) time a kind of lemonade made with lemons preserved in salt. Not sure how a drink can be salty, sweet and refreshing simultaneously, but this was. I loved their turnip pudding, with bean sprouts and other vegetables, and filled up on scrummy rice puddings with red bean paste. I was mad for it, I really was.
At the swanky end of the scale, I enjoyed my night at ‘Felix’ atop the Peninsula Hotel very much too. The evening was all about the ambience and the view rather than the wines and food, but that’s how it should be, otherwise a person is liable to sensory overload.
The following evening was quite a change. We took a chance and bought tickets for a comedy night which seems to happen regularly at an Indian restaurant called The Viceroy,
Ian at Life Cafe
If this is vegan food, they can keep it - possibly the blandest food I've had all holiday which just a stone’s throw from our hotel. The audience was exclusively ex-pat, and judging by their preemptory use of pashminas and jackets to reserve the best seats, they’d been here before and they knew the score! There was a quick Indian buffet on the restaurant terrace before the show began in the dining room at 9pm. Compensation for being squashed in like sardines was an hilarious show. There were 3 comics and an intros man, and they were all ever so funny. What can I say; you had to be there…
Our final night in Hong Kong was spent at ‘Lumiere’ which is a Sichuan restaurant in the IFC mall. A jazz band was playing to a very receptive crowd, and we had raised seats at the back of the dining room so we could see all the action. Luckily it was not that complicated, earnest jazz which requires hush. Our fellow diners, who seemed to be mostly non-westerners, got more and more into the groove until dancing ultimately broke out. We were on our shared dessert combination plate by the time the band abandoned any further notion of serious jazz and did a cover of ‘YMCA’. This
Rach in her new top
the seat belts are fastened and unfastened like this... prompted throngs of locals to head for the dance floor. Their interpretations of the classic dance gestures were so enthusiastic that we wondered if they were signing the kanji, but it was contagious, and Ian and I were on our feet to the next number. (Which was “At the Copa Copanna”. Oh lord..)
Other memorable experiences in Hong Kong include the trip to see the giant Buddha high on a hillside on Lantau. Being about as spiritually awakened as a Brevil sandwich maker I was never going to be moved by Buddha, but neither his being there since only 1996, nor the presence of a surrounding retail complex helped me on my way to enlightenment. However, the cable car journey up to the site WAS awe inspiring. We were treated to amazing views of the airport below, with planes landing and taking off like toys below us. Also, our quick visit to the visitors’ centre at the sewage treatment works just a short stroll from the retail complex is worth a mention. Fascinating to hear about how much effluent we all produce!!
Well, perhaps that is a strange note to end on, but that was my review of
Hong Kong. On Sunday February 12th we were aboard our flight heading to Sydney, where we were to change before heading onwards to Christchurch, New Zealand. More blogging will come..
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robin
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Au Revoir HK
I'm not sure I'd want to pee in those loos, they look cleaner than our front room! Wouldn't it have been funny if the sewage plant had Pong in its' name and not Ping. My god Ian, you look miserable at the vegan restaurant and I can fully understand that, I bet Rach persuaded you to go there, what did I tell you, You are the man and the boss!! Enjoy NZ and don't make the campervan shake too much.