Old school, hardship, peak interest, gyoza

I made a return trip to Tai Cheong this morning and had a cappuccino in a nearby cafe. Sometimes, I have to remind myself that I'm in Hong Kong: the Pacific Coffee Company could have passed for any other North American java joint, right down to the background music, magazines, menu choices, etc.

My uncle gave me fair warning -- "Do you mind if it's dirty?" -- as we walked over to Lin Heung Teahouse, a really old dim sum restaurant. It was lit with naked flourescent tubes, cooled with ceiling fans, populated by locals and looked like it hadn't been renovated in 50 years. We had to find our own table: the waiters ignored us while we searched for a (shared) table with two empty places. Not everyone gets chairs: there are stools stacked everywhere. Everyone had their own little tea bowl to steep their leaves and roving waiters poured boiling water into them periodically. I ended up spilling most of my tea onto the increasingly dirty tabletop, can't get the hang of using the lid. I can't say I enjoyed the dim sum but got to check off a few more pork parts (liver, stomach) that I've eaten while in Hong Kong.

We checked out a few more streets with vendors selling bird's nest, dried seafood and teas, before stopping at Western Market which mostly had fabric vendors. Taking the tram back, we saw a huge crowd of people under the HSBC tower.

A large number of Filipino women work in Hong Kong as cooks, housekeepers and nannies, living with their employers on working days (Mon - Sat). On their day off, they congregate in huge numbers to chat, take naps, paint each others' toenails, play cards. I saw them outside churches, on sidewalks, in malls... and on the ground level underneath the HSBC towers. The government and public opinion feel that this is acceptable as the women don't have anywhere else to go. Why would the bank allow them to hang out on their property? The building department grants them permits to build taller skyscrapers if they make the area at the base a public space. My uncle said that the Filipinos are quite considerate in leaving the area clean so it works out for everyone. There's something wrong with this picture. Those in the service industry have a difficult life as it is, so to be turned out onto the street seems a terrible insult.

One of the things everyone tells you to do is to take the funicular (what a great word) up to the top of Victoria Peak. It's quite a ride as the steepness of the climb is quite thrilling. What's more amazing is that there are actually stops along the way. My uncle and I took an hour-long hike around the peak which has a couple of lookout points and it was worth it, save the mosquitoes. The view of Hong Kong is astounding. The seats face the top on the way down, which I thought was funny until I realized you would fall out of your seat otherwise.

I went back to Sogo in the evening to look for a bilingual Tokyo atlas and stopped by the basement again. Had a so-so dinner of curry and rice, miso soup, gyoza and guava juice