Last day in Hong Kong

I took the bus to Stanley which is on Hong Island but its on the opposite side of where the city is. It is a wealthy area that isn’t as developed and populated as the city. There are beaches there and it sort of reminded me a little bit like Sausalito. I road on the top of a double-decker bus to get there. It was actually a pretty cool ride. The road was very narrow and winding and its definitely different being that high up in a vehicle. There is a market in Stanley- the Stanley market which sells clothes, knick-knacks etc. I don’t find most of the stuff for sale here very compelling (with the exception of all the veggies, raw meat, etc found in the food markets). So I explored Stanley and the walked around. The view of the ocean and surrounding small islands is stunning.

I headed back to Hong Kong and then took the tram up to the Peak. They build a funicular tram a long time ago up the side of a mountain to the top of a mountain overlooking Hong Kong. It was since been updated a couple of times and is quite fast and provides for fantastic views on the way up. I walked around the top which has hiking trails, shopping plazas, restaurants, etc. Side note- there are pretty much shopping plazas and malls everywhere here. Clearly there is a ton of money here and people come from all over the world to shop here. The sheer volume of high end stores is dizzying- and they say that Americans are consumerists. I would have to say that Hong Kong is much more consumeristic (I don’t think that’s a word) than the US.

Anyway the hiking and views from the top of the Peak are wonderful.

I then headed to the tailors to pick up my finished clothes. The whole process of having these clothes made was really interesting. They take a bunch of measurements of you and take pictures of you (to get a sense of your posture I believe) and you pick out what you want- ie shirts, pants, suits, etc and you pick the fabric. You can pick the style of collar and cuff. Then you go back the next day and they have you try on a rough version of the pants and jacket to check the fit. In my case they had to completely redo the shirt because of the height of the collar was incorrect. Then you go back and try everything on again and they make more adjustments as needed and then they make everything you want based on those measurements. I have actually never had a suit or jacket properly fit me in my whole life- basically because of the size of my shoulders. Usually I end up getting stuff tailored off the rack and it still never fits right. Anyway the suit these guys made for me fits absolutely perfect. The beauty is they keep your measurements so you can order more stuff later (they will mail you fabric samples). A custom made shirt cost about $60 bucks- in the US it would be $150 and up. So I am now ready to start my new job with my properly fitting stylish clothes.

There are Indian tailors all over Hong Kong (since it used to be British) and let me tell you these guys are aggressive. You are lucky if you make it one block without one coming up to you and trying to pull you into his shop. It pretty much forces you to completely ignore them as they are talking to you which initially feels really rude but quickly becomes normal behavior to avoid them. There are also people who come up to you to try to sell you fake Rolexes and such. Needless to say I completely ignored them as well.

I dropped of my new clothes and headed back to watch the laser show again (it was cloudy last night and it was really clear tonite- I am glad I did check it out again because I could see the lasers much better. I then headed back to Hong Kong to go to a specific restaurant I noticed while walking around a couple of days ago-

While amidst the vegetables, raw meat and fish while exploring the Graham street market a few days ago I noticed a little hole in the wall Cantonese BBQ place with a newspaper article about food network’s Anthony Bourdaine which included this little place. For those of you who don’t know he travels around the world and eats ethnic food and has a TV show and book about it. He raved about the roast suckling pig so I opted for this. The “cook” or guy who cuts up the meat with a cleaver didn’t speak a lick of English so this lady (cashier?) helped out- I asked for the roast suckling pig which she didn’t understand and I said baby pig- which she did and then she told the chef and he picked it up and then she proceeded to touch it with her fingernail to indicate that’s what it was- I prayed that my piece wouldn’t include the part she touched (she was outside smoking before hand). I sit down on my plastic stool at a plastic table facing a whole bunch of dead carcasses of pigs, baby pigs, ducks, etc. It is a very strange feeling to eat something while staring at the carcass of the same thing…it’s a little creepy but I got over it- especially when I bit in to the crispy, fatty, meaty piece of pork. We Americans need to start utilizing the skin of the pig in our food- it’s quite good- crispy fatty goodness.