Noise, pork bellies, pages

You can't escape beeps and rings if you take public transit. At the East Tsim Sha Tsui KCR station, there is a soft old-fashioned telephone ringing sound that I keep mistaking for my cellphone. I have no idea what it is. As the doors are about to close on the subways, a rapid electronic tone signals that your arm is about to be crushed. All of the surface crosswalks sound a beep slowly when you shouldn't cross, and then switch to a rapid pulse when it's safe to do so. No pleasant chirping or ding-dongs.

As if that weren't enough, every stop on the MTR or KCR is announced, in three languages and the voice helpfully tells you which side the doors will open on. Further warnings caution you not to fall in the substantial gap between platform and car. Televisions in the trains broadcast the news during rush hour; there is even a quiet car that spares you this intrusion. Then there's the constant cellphone ringtones...

Tonight, we went to a Hakka restaurant in Causeway Bay. It was decent, but not spectacular and we were quite rushed. Among the plates:

• pig ears
  
• chicken feet (cold, crunchy skin, not so tasty)
  
• steamed chicken
  
• deep fried large intestine (it smelled like ammonia to put it mildly)
  
• stewed small intestines
  
• sweet potato shoots with garlic (apparently, the greens from when the sweet potatoes sit around too long and sprout)
  
• winter melon soup (served in the melon itself)
  
• deep fried tofu
  
• deep fried duck with taro (one of my favourites)
  
• braised pork belly with sweet preserved mustard vegetable (mui choy) (delicious)
  

I've had the last two dishes before several times; I didn't know they were Hakka specialties.

Since we were disappointed with the dessert offering, my uncle and his wife took me to the nearby Yee Shun Milk Company for a steamed milk pudding with ginger. The pudding is a very silky custard, but not set with gelatin or egg whites. Absolutely wonderful.

Typhoon Signal No. 1 was hoisted today according to signs outside several malls. I don't really know what that means, but I do know that if No. 8 is raised, everyone is supposed to get back to their hotel as fast as they can and hope for the best.

I dropped by Times Square tonight, a towering structure with 9 floors of retail and offices above. In a bookstore called Page One, I was extremely impressed by the depth of their selection. Mirvish Books on Art in Toronto has books on design, but I've never seen coffee table books about product packaging and DVD case design there! I picked up a great cookbook on dim sum which may finally allow me to make my own egg custard tarts.