Hong Kong: Day 6, The gamble of shopping

This was the first day that we did not have any morning commitments. It was nice to be able to sleep in and take it easy getting ready, and we were still ready to leave the room around 9 AM. We went to a Macau style restaurant that had been recommended by my cousin for breakfast, where I had egg custard tarts—yum. (Macau is a Portuguese colony in the area which has now become the Las Vegas of Asia.)

After breakfast we took the metro to Hong Kong Central because mom wanted to show me a couple of her favorite department stores where her mom used to take her as a child. They were rather like Macys with a whole lot more staff and an odd lack of theme/flow to the departments. I think the clothes were arranged by manufacturer and not by intended use. I was also surprised how small the children’s departments were with relatively much for babies but not to much for older kids.

Then we went to a market street where the real bargains could be found. However, no prices were posted, and if you weren’t careful, you could get ripped off. I would have loved to spend more time poking around here, but it was soon time to meet Uncle L for lunch. This time lunch was at a fancy members-only Chinese restaurant where high-powered businessmen went to show off. The food was good, and there was lots of it, but I was having difficulty getting into the mood. I think I would have preferred a sandwich or salad. Mom and uncle had some business to take care of, so I was on my own for the rest of the afternoon.

I went back to the market streets and spent the afternoon haggling and bargaining. I got ripped off by my first purchase, and that really made me angry, but I learned a lot and was much more careful afterwards. This resulted in some real good deals, I think. One of the shopkeepers noticed that I understood some Cantonese, and I think that had given me an edge without even

realizing it. I admit to understanding some Mandarin, but Cantonese is quite different (maybe like spoken Swedish and Dutch). I stopped about 4 PM and headed back to the hotel because I couldn’t carry any more. So for an afternoon in the shopping equivalent of Las Vegas, I broke even, and unlike Las Vegas, I had something to show for it.

Like gambling, competitive shopping like this is also rather addictive, and I definitely feel the urge to do it again. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it), suitcase space and weight are a limiting factor.

Soon it was off to dinner again, once again with Uncle L and Aunt A at a fancy Chinese restaurant. This was in an upscale mall in a different part of town, but it was reached with one simple subway transfer. The whole time, mom was stopping people and asking directions, which rather irked me because I was confident in my map and sign reading skills.

It seemed to me that the Chinese food was just getting weirder and weirder with each meal, and I just wasn’t up to it anymore. I made mom sit next to uncle so that I was out of range for him to serve me (a dreadful Chinese tradition in my opinion where you honor people by putting more food on their plate—it’s not enough to offer them some before taking yourself, you actually pile stuff on people’s plates despite their objections, then they’re obliged to eat it.) I drank the broth and ate the veggies from my soup that featured the stomach lining from a fish. I ate the buns that accompanied the roast duck. I picked some mushrooms and asparagus off a dish of something I couldn’t identify and didn’t want to think about. I forced down some sweet and sour fish even though it tasted rather fishy. It didn’t help that the servant ate the fish head and tail. I thought they were joking, but she seemed to enjoy it. I couldn’t face the giant prawns that were bigger than crayfish. This was fine for me after the huge lunch, but Uncle didn’t think I was eating enough and ordered me a plate of potstickers (without asking, of course). This was really nice of him since I love potstickers, but I honestly wasn’t hungry. I forced myself to eat three of them, but by then I really wasn’t feeling well. I didn’t even try the dessert.

Mom had suggested some shopping on the way home, but I really wasn’t feeling up to it. (Yes, shops are still open at 9 PM on a Tuesday, or any other day, for that matter.)