Tai O!

It's exam break now, and nothing much to do, so i went with my classmate Priscilla to Tai O which is an old fishing village on Lantau Island. It's like the opposite of the rest of Hong Kong because it's so relaxed, and there's lots of old people everywhere just chilling or asleep on benches. It kind of reminds me of Bribie Island, or my parents, or both. Although there was one old man on a bench who when we first walked past looked like he was asleep or dead, but on the way back was a bit more lively, and he engaged me in conversation for a while and suggested i move to China for the rest of my life.

The biggest tourist attraction in Tai O is the pink dolphins. And i saw some! and they really are pink! I tried to take a photo because they're SO spectacular, but it was hard to get the timing right. This is a photo of the pink dolphin swimming under the water, about to jump out and reveal it's glorious pink colour.

Some fish, just hanging out.

Havn't seen this much in Hong Kong - lovely fresh veges! awesome!

Who wants shrimp paste????!!!

Or salty dried egg yolks?!!! good price for you!!!

Lion Rock Climb

Yesterday i climbed some of Lion Rock with George (Austrians = innate mountain skills) and Katherine.


This is the half naked mountain man on our way over to the ledge where you start climbing. By this stage you're mostly all the way up Lion Rock, so as you can see the view is amazing - alot of Kowloon and over to Hong Kong island aswell.

I love my rope, it's so pretty.

The view from the first pitch. It was so high! Yes, we did spend a long time trying to find our building. There are also eagles, or some kind of bird thing that flies around up high, which you can't see except if you're up a bit.

It was such a peaceful place to sit.

The Hong Kong government is your mum

The Hong Kong government is actually the same as an overprotective neurotic mother.

While the Chinese government is more like a scary authoritarian father who would force you to go wash your hands to prevent avian flu and then print a newspaper report about how it was a seamless success, or the Australian government which is like a drunk uncle, the Hong Kong government just has a passive aggressive way of leaving nagging signs everywhere to tell you how to live.

For example, 'Be careful when you seek summer employment!'

'Be careful you don't get the flu!' There's another sign i see on the train that says something like 'eat well, get adequate sleep and rest.'

'Wash your hands, constantly!'

It seems the main aim is to instil a constant sense of fear in people. Terrible things are lurking everywhere...bird flu, drugs, bad summer jobs, china etc

'Don't take drugs, they're bad for you!'

'Be considerate of others!'

I think the government should save money by condensing all its messages into one poster that says;

-don't go outside

-study hard

-don't answer the phone

-eat healthily

-don't take drugs

-wash your hands

-don't eat chickens

-be quiet

Dumplings...again!

Hong Kong is synonymous with dumplings for me, it's true. I went to my friend Priscilla's house for dinner and got some more dumpling making practice with Jennifer and Kit.


STEP 1
Filling into dumpling wrappings


STEP 2
Put water on the sides and fold

STEP 3

And fold again, so it looks pretty. This is the hardest part, takes a little coordination.

So pretty!

And delicious

Best Bubble Tea!

The best bubble tea i've found in Hong Kong comes from the Taiwanese cafe at Ngong Ping, Lantau Island. The first time i went there i had the tea hot, and this time cold. Both temperatures were a joyful experience.

This is a small tea plantation near the Po Lin monastery. This is not where the tea i drank comes from, but thought i'd put in the photo anyway, for confusion if nothing else.

Here is the cafe man making bubble tea. The difference with this bubble tea compared to others is that they shake it up, like you do with a cocktail, instead of just adding all the ingredients together like at other places. Also, the quality of the pearls is really good, you can see them in the front of the photo.

Hooray!

As you can see a bit from this photo, the shaking method gives the tea a frothy top. Delicious.

Lantau Peak

Lantau Peak is on Lantau Island, and is next to the big buddha.


Mountain men TJ and Tarek

Tarek's ghost

Windy conditions

I like this sign, it's a very descriptive stick figure

The peak!!!

And our reward... buddha

My Sunburn

Magical food sellers of Hung Hom

Tonight i want to tell you about some magical food sellers in Hung Hom, who give you special treatment if you go to their shop more than once. This is extra special that they recognise exchange students as all white people look the same.

1. DUMPLING LADY

Dumpling lady is awesome. She is the only English speaker at the homemade dumpling shop, and takes special care of foreigners.
Like many food sellers in Hung Hom, she seems to have magical powers of knowing what people want to eat as soon as they walk in. She also knows what people don't want to eat. For example i once wanted to order spicy sichuan soup and she said 'no, you won't like it.' I tried it a different time, and turns out she's right, i didn't like it.
Tonight i ordered soup and dumplings, and when i went back to pick it up she explained to me that because i go there often she put the dumplings in a special smaller container of soup, instead of in the main noodles. I felt special. Thankyou dumpling lady!


2. DESERT MAN

Desert man is equally awesome. He has dozens of different deserts, and when you go in and sit down he says 'tonight i think you would like ....' and his judgement is also good.


3. PANCAKE MAN

Pancake man is less gentle and more authoritarian in his way of knowing what you want to order. He has a stall on the corner with pancakes, waffles and this other thing i don't know what it's called. As you wander past, and stop briefly outside his dingy shop hole thing points at you and yells 'PANCAKE!' and you don't really have a choice. once i tried to order a waffle, and he didn't let me, and gave me a pancake. i don't know whether it's because 'pancake' is his only english word (except for 'eight dollars') or because no locals like his pancakes so whenever foreigners walk past he aggressively fobs off the precooked ones.


Sometime later i'll do the 'worst food sellers of Hung Hom' including 'dirty shirt noodle man' and 'scary korean rice woman who won't give you the drink you want.' Actually there's probably more dodgy food people than nice ones, but dumpling lady makes up for it. Hooray for special dumpling soup!