Wan Chai

For my last day in town, I wanted to see more of Wan Chai. I started at Victoria City Seafood Restaurant (30 Harbour Road, in the Sun Hung Kai Centre) for dim sum. There was no one when I went around 11:15, so the waiter was quite happy to help me select dishes. He even gave me half-orders (two pieces instead of four per basket) so I could try more things. Winter melon and scallop dumplings, some other dumplings with wood ear mushrooms, crab oil dumplings (vibrant yellow, lots of crab meat), ham sui gok (hint of curry, bits of cabbage, very crisp exterior, and not chewy at all) and a crispy peanut pancake made with sticky rice. Excellent, definitely recommended. Prices are higher than other places in Hong Kong but on par with mid-range places in Toronto.

On the walk back, a big sign saying Chinese Arts & Crafts. Inside were some of the most amazing displays of carvings I'd ever seen, museum-quality for sure, as most of the items had prices ending with three or more zeroes (priciest item I saw: 1.8 million HKD). Mammoth tusk, ivory, ebony, bone, amber, jadeite, camphorwood... The ivory and mammoth tusk carvings were extraordinary especially the tigers and foliage done in minute detail. Do drop in for a look. I don't know if anyone ever buys these things, but a salesman hovered behind me the whole time. Second floor has a huge selection of traditional Chinese clothing.

I made a detour to the Convention Centre where Fashion Week was going on. Behind the hall is the monument to the reunification of Hong Kong with China and the Golden Bauhinia. That's a fun word to say.

Other new words I've learned: shroff and nullah.

I've been trying to get to a place for sweet soups for weeks now and finally got a chance this afternoon. Both Tai Leung Pak Kee (10 Canal Rd West) and Chui Yuen Dessert House (83C Percival Rd) had all the usuals (sweet soups made from nuts, other classics like green bean) but I was actually disappointed. Neither of the ones I tried were very fragrant or nutty. The soups were extremely silky (my uncle says they strain them through cheesecloth) but lacking that fresh roasted taste.

Underneath the Canal Road flyover, I saw a bunch of old ladies sitting down beside little shrines, and a few dozen yellow objects that looked like tigers made of wood. One woman was busy hammering away but when I watched what she was doing, she was hammering a brick with a shoe. Huh?

My uncle told me later that people hire them to curse people they don't like. You tell them your victim's name and year of birth if you know it, pay them about $30HKD then they'll call out that person's name as they bash the brick.

That's much more interesting than pricking a doll with pins.

For dinner, my uncle and his wife and I went to Peking Garden in Cityplaza in Taikoo Shing. I love northern Chinese food even more now. We ate lion's head meatballs, brined chicken, lemon chicken, gao tze, mixed mushroom stirfry and green onion pancake. After the meal, we checked out the grocery in the basement. So many Japanese products! And they sell eggs imported from Australia, New Zealand and Japan! The world really is a small place or else companies are expanding their reach further and further. Many of the brands and packaging are identical to what I see in Canada.