Lowmein Lowdown: I Think I'm Turning Chi-a-nese

With one month down, I think we have some ample material to share with everyone about life in China, although after a trip to Beijing, Hong Kong is clearly not authentic China, but more of a western version (although it's heading in the other direction). While I have yet to achieve international superstar status, we have done a lot so far....

So, I guess you could say there are a lot of people in China...

Our street, Lan Kwai Fong is the place to be for major holidays (and on any given night really). This is Christmas Eve, which was surprisingly huge here, although most people are not Christian. Any and all Christmas decor was viewed locally as a photo op likened to that of one with a celebrity, starring Santa, the Nativity scene, and really anything with tinsel or lights. People love a good solo photo of themselves--protocol seems to be a bad attempt at a supermodel expression, pretending to lick a fake candy cane, things of that sort.

Maaaaaaaaaay Kiss-maaaaaaaaas!!!

Lan Kwai Fong Hotel, Christmas Eve Dinner at Azure, overlooking the city.

Noted: do not attempt to ingest large quantities of English Mustard--stuff's hot!

The balcony view--one of top 10 rooftops in the world

According to who, I'm not so sure, but so they say

We had been warned that Disneyland was disappointing, and while there was only one roller coaster, Spacemountain (the real entertainment was Ted's genuine fear that we were going to fly off the tracks--we're talking 3 short minutes of vocalized fear and concern, I couldn't breathe, tears). It was well worth it though to be somewhere at Christmas that felt American...as much as possible...don't try the friend chicken, white meat here is apparently disposed of in favor of the parts we usually throw away.

Just keeping it real in futureland

While we have been pleasantly surprised to find some key Western comforts while we are here--Ben & Jerry's, 7-Eleven (no bakery, Kata), and groceries (sadly for me no crystal light), we have really tried to do most of our eating at local places, eating local fare. Pictures above are chickens feet, and yes, Ted tried them...lots of bones people.

This one is jellyfish, as adventurous as I could get.

You would think McDonalds might be a haven for an American treat, yet nothing but the Big Mac is the same as in the states. The featured item everywhere is the shrimp burger, which as you can see from the picture, looks like some sort of fried alien membrane. Whoever is in charge of marketing this sucker might want to think again, just a thought.

The view of the island from the mainland

After hiking over the peak to Aberdeen on the sout side of the island, we took a boat ride after being bombarded by chinese women who make a living toting tourists around. One followed us for about 20 minutes tugging on Ted's sleeve, yelling in Chinese, and after saying no for the 200th time, we went to the silent treatment, but that didn't work either. After one last long chinese rant she surprised us with a little english--"come AAAAAAAAAAAAAn!" This is the famous floating restaurant, their claim to fame is that Tom Cruise came here on his last visit.

Just your everyday hike...

Up the peak and you are completely out of the noise of the city--and trust me, you need it sometimes. Personal space here is a little thing nobody cares much about. Walking down a busy street (most of them) you really have to be on your toes. Pushing, elbowing, cutting you off, or walking directly into you isn't taboo in the slightest. Same goes for driving, and pedestrians definitely do NOT have the right away--sometimes it looks like the cabbies want to hit you just to teach you a lesson.

Ted meeting Thomas Friedman at the bookstore in IFC mall. Everything here is basically a mall. Train station=mall, office buildings=mall, everywhere you go in Central at least a couple floors are dedicated to mall-like retail, only all their retail is Chanel, Gucci, Prada...you won't find a Spencers or Lane Bryant in these parts...which brings me to my next observation: there are literally no fat people here, anywhere, bad news for the shrimp burger.

First trip to Victoria Peak

We're not at Keeneland anymore...

Shatin racetrack for Cathay Pacific International Cup; we were the only ones dressed up and pretty much the only American patrons (in the grandstand). The trucker hats came courtesy of the track when you entered--9 out of 10 chinamen were sporting theirs, yet few seemed to have cared to size the hate or do any bill shaping, pretty classic.

Attempt at Mexican food failed. Ted didn't care too much for his cinnamon beef tacos (the cinnamon was a surprise ingredient) so he decided to politely dispose of the food out the front window rather than offend the waitress. This is right by the escalator that goes up through the center of HK to the midlevels, and very busy--we got some strange looks, I'm not gona lie.