Three Days in Hong Kong

We started our Asia tour with three days in Hong Kong to visit my parents. They live on a boat "way out" in the 'burbs (only about twenty minutes outside the city, but in Hong Kong terms it might as well be Mars), so we spent a lot of time shuttling back and forth to the city. With only three days to see everything, I scheduled every minute with activities, which mostly included eating and drinking.

We celebrated New Year's Eve with bottle service (!) at a karaoke bar, with a lot of people I hadn't seen since high school. The whiskey bottles came with the karaoke room, and the only available mixer was green tea, so I discovered a new favorite drink:

1 part whiskey

2 parts iced green tea

4-5 ice cubes

Drink copious amounts while loudly singing Backstreet Boys songs, and enjoy.

 

Ribbon Spectrum

While we were walking around wholesale fabric stores, we walked into a ribbon store that had every shade of ribbon possible. It was drool-worthy.

A Chinese Printing Press

While walking down the street to a dim sum lunch, we passed by this printing shop. It was just a hole in the side of the building where this man operates his business. I watched him printing receipts for a parking lot, and couldn't believe that letterpress printing is still used for such everyday objects. It's not the letterpress we think of here, making expensive wedding invitations or stationery, and I couldn't imagine how he competes with digital printing to print the receipts.

He didn't speak English so I couldn't ask any questions about his business, but I told him I was a printmaker too and we exchanged business cards.

I loved his studio, all his materials were packed into the tiny space that was just a few feet wide next to the sidewalk, and the way anyone walking by can stop and watch him work. I hope the demand for hand printed receipts doesn't go away!

New Fabrics

I'm ending our time in Hong Kong with lots of new ideas, and plenty of new fabric to work with. Here's a selection of the fabrics I have found while walking around the markets, and there will be plenty of new designs coming out soon.

Homemade Dumplings

We didn't follow a recipe, but the ingredients in dumplings are incredibly simple. Carrots, bok choy, spring onions, ginger, pork, soy sauce, spices and an egg to hold it all together, wrapped in a skin of flour, water and eggs. Delicious.

Feeding Koi

Last week, we drove about an hour and a half north to a little village just a few minutes from the Chinese border to visit some friends. Since farming is no longer a viable option for people in Hong Kong, a lot of the residents have turned their land into "koi hotels," where wealthy fish owners can guarantee the best care for their prize koi while they are traveling or moving. One man even purchased land in the village and built a $5million house from which he could admire his fish collection.

The koi went crazy for the fish food we threw in, and turned into a roiling, seething mass. There was something about watching them jumping over each other to get to the food that was both disgusting and mesmerizing. Apparently they don't realize they are full, so if you keep feeding them they will just eat themselves to death.

Obviously prize koi are very tricky to take care of, but if you ever need somewhere to store your luxury fish, I know just the place.

Around Hong Kong

Somehow in the last two years, Hong Kong has turned back into a foreign country. A lot of my favorite shops and restaurants have closed down and and everything seems to be in a slightly different place than it was before. On the plus side of that, feeling like a tourist allows me to walk around gawking at the sights and taking pictures, not worrying that I look like a tourist even though I feel like a local.

We've spent the last few days wandering around the markets, making dumplings, fabric shopping, and pushing our way through the crowded streets. Markets in Hong Kong are divided by item, and so far we've been to zipper street, knife street, chopping block street, fabric street, bathroom fixture street and a wet market for fish and seafood. With all these categories, there is a seemingly endless supply of markets to visit.

We still have three full days left in Hong Kong, so there is plenty more to see before we head home. And plenty more dumplings to eat.