Advertisement
Published: December 12th 2005
Edit Blog Post
Kam Sing / Golden Star Restaurant
Located on Queen's Road just north of Hollywood Road Good Evening! It’s April 21st…
The fried vermicelli was excellent! Xiamen vermicelli - slices of pork and small shelled shrimp in an exotic tasting sauce with sweet pickled julienne veges & sprouts, very fresh & tropical - a huge dish that could have served both of us, but, of course, we ordered a second dish too. Piggish Americans. The other was slices of beef & flat rice noodles with onions, green & red pepper chunks in a black bean paste sauce. And unlimited free hot tea. OK, so I’m not a food writer - Tony would do much better at this than I. All this for only $80HK ($10 US). The restaurant, Kam Sing or Golden Star, is just a block or so away from our apt. on Queens Road just north of Hollywood Road. This was our second time there and our waiter, Eric, enthusiastically introduced himself and asked if we would be back tomorrow night. Eric is Chinese; I understand there is an old tradition of giving an English name to your child along with a Chinese name, or just taking one on for the sake of westerners, many Chinese that we have met so far have Western names. Not sure if this is still a practice.
Before I get too far behind, let me back up to the first week.
March 19 9am-ish
I left on the morning of Mar 19th, from Carole’s apt (thanks for putting me up, or putting up with me!). The van arrived almost an hour early & I had already scheduled it early. Used www.supershuttle.com online to book the reservation - easy, doesn’t cost extra, and you can include the tip in the charge online! Good thing I was ready…heard shouting coming from the parking lot and went out to find my driver in a heated argument with a tenant. Hotheaded Hispanic with a hotheaded Russian! Soon as they saw me they cooled it. Sort of. The driver raced like a maniac on the 405 to the airport (guess he was excited that there was no traffic), scaring the other riders, a couple from Amsterdam, into buckling up. Anyway, I got to the airport so early that the China Airlines check-in window wasn’t even open. Lots of waiting with an enormous amount of baggage, alone. You don’t think about how hard it is to hang around with 3 large suitcases, a gargantuan, 3-ton Anvil keyboard case (ok, not Anvil, Road Ready, but would you have known what I meant?) and carry-on crapola. But, I put on my best helpless look and got lots of assistance from porters and guards. (“Are you alone?” macho female guard. “yes…” humble, weak, teary-eyed me.)
Check-in was smooth, although paying the overage on the keyboard was painful. China Airlines is a terrific organization - everyone was super nice and helpful. Got a discount on the extra bags, but not the poundage - insurance for the baggage handlers you know. The flight attendants were perfect - in demeanor and beauty! The 747 was spanking new and had all the entertainment gadgets imaginable. I watched 5 movies! Don't ask me to name them. Now I feel all caught up on modern pop culture. 5 movies, 2 symphonies, some jazz, 2 meals, 1 fitful nap, and 1 lavatory visit later I was in Taipei. The connection was tight so I speed walked to the gate with about 5 minutes to spare. Smaller, less packed jet this time. Funny how you get more legroom in the less fancy jets. It was a relief after the 14 or so hours crammed into a window seat of a 747. Sat next to Gus, a businessman from LA who had an architectural lighting factory in China. He explained to me his business woes in the states and how he tried hard to keep his factory in operation there. Gus and his family live in a very modest, "older" home in Ventura, so he's not Mr. Large Corporation Trying To Wring Every Penny Out Of A Dime. He implied that the options were to close down his business, or move it to China. Where next, I wonder, after the living wage gets too high in China? Thank you, Gus, for passing the time with good conversation and also with helping me luggage-wise!
Did you know: Drug trafficking in Taiwan is punishable by death.
Just a sign I saw in the Taipei airport.
March 20 about 11:30pm
Customs was easy to get through. Two guys thought it was OK to videotape the customs area. Not a good idea, and especially not good to question the customs guard as to why it’s not a good idea. Just shut up and put the camera away.
Tony picked me up via the MTR. We had a quick hug and kiss but had to rush off to catch the last train to back Central HK. They have a separate airport line here just for commuting to and fro. Fast, efficient, inexpensive. And I thought a taxi would be better (meaning I argued ignorantly with Tony about it a week earlier). Nope - just take the airport MTR to your general destination, then taxi it. There are over 15,000 taxis on the island and most are busy all the time. A never-ending line of them waited, queued up at the airport MTR station in Central. Getting us AND the bags in this smaller-than-we-are-used-to vehicle was a trick, but the driver persevered and I sort of perched on the remaining 2 inches of seat which the keyboard consumed most of. Like the giant slalom we swerved and swayed thru the winding streets while Tony used his best Mandarin to direct the driver.
When we got to the apt entrance, had to roust Andrew & John (2 other band members) to help with the bags. Apt is on the 4th floor. Really the 5th, or 5th and a half if you count the ground floor having 1 1/2 floors, and to clue you in, the first landing is not numbered. Lots of steps, lots and lots after being up for 24 hours. Newer buildings having 6 or more floors are required to have elevators. Technically, ours does, but the numbers on the floors say different.
Flowers and wine (what a sweetheart Tony is) and deep blissful sleep.
**********************************
Visit our website:
Tony & Martha Dancy Visit my Ruby Lane shop for Fine Art and Funky Finds:
Martha’s Art Mart Visit
Martha's Squidoo Lenses
Advertisement
Tot: 0.091s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 5; qc: 61; dbt: 0.0487s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb