More shopping in HK!

There are so many people in Hong Kong. One barely has enough room to stretch out your arm without coming into contact with another person. So as you can imagine, getting from A to B is quite a task, you literally need to push your way through the hundreds of window shopping girls, the guys talking on their mobile and meandering along the street and the thousands of people who simply change their mind in which direction to go to! Meanwhile, you have others who are pushing their way through to get from C to D.

I think it’s the being shoved that gets to me most. Whilst in the MTR (HK train) I have flashes of scenes of me pushing a tiny honkie girl out the train just because she nudged me on her way out. ‘You want to get out fast?! Let me help you!’ Fortunately (for Ben that is), I find some will within me to control myself and restrain from the temptation.

I think it’s the ‘me first’ attitude that pervades Honkie society. Another example, whilst at the airport, waiting for our express train to come, an old man had left his luggage right in front of where the train doors were to open (these areas are marked in this country). He was no where to be seen, but his luggage was to represent his space in the pecking order. Me first.

In comparison to Thailand the marketing strategy is slightly different but similarly irritating. Not so much do they try and lure you in. You enter the store on your own accord, but once they see that you’re in their store, they’ll begin following you like a puppy needing a home. If you see an item they’ll quickly rattle something to you in Cantonese about how you can buy 10 and get 1 free eco bag. I personally don’t like being followed. I feel watched and it’s kinda creepy.

Our day today was another of shopping. We were going to go to Disneyland but I wasn’t feeling too good so I wanted another ‘rest’ day. Waking up at midday we found a busy restaurant in Quarry Bay. We walked in although there was no sign of an English menu. All we saw was hanging meat, Roast pork and soya sauce chicken. Once inside we breathed a sigh of relief when the waiter said there was an English menu. We ate roast duck leg, soya sauce chicken, roast pork and BBQ pork with rice. Thank you hanging meat.

We then headed back to Tsim Sha Tsui for round 2 of shopping. We were in Ocean Terminal/Harbour City following the recommendation of Ben’s friend. Not having much luck as I married a tight arse who doesn’t spend more than AU20 on a pair of shorts. For those who don’t know the shopping centre, level 1 was lined with stores such as Zara, Prada, Versace and Burberry. We promptly looked for the nearest escalator. This floor had stores like Levi’s, Polo Sport, FCUK & United Colors of Benetton. We were starting to feel disappointed with this shopping centre until we found G2000. However, since we had inspected most of their stores in Hong Kong, Malaysia AND Singapore we weren’t too excited.

Tired from our disappointment we found a dessert place. I’m such a western when it comes to desserts so I settled for the mixed fruit and vanilla ice-cream. The ice-cream was not vanilla! What’s wrong with these people?! Ben had a strawberry Sago pudding. However all the excitement and Honkie air was starting to get to him as he felt queasy mid-dessert. His pre-mature diagnosis was that his lifelong problem of not being able to burp was causing a build up in gases in his stomach which wanted to head north. Failing an alternative, he headed to the bathroom for some relief. It didn’t help much so we bailed on the restaurant before things got worse.

He seemed to recover ok, far away from his Strawberry sago. We found a pair of shorts at Bossini, another one of Ben’s favourites. As it was getting late we headed back home via MTR. It was packed. So packed that you needn’t worry that you weren’t holding on to a hand rail. The person next to you will hold you as the train trusted forward. However, either the gases mentioned before made a come back or being packed like sardines didn’t agree with Ben as he started feeling nauseous again. So we quickly exited at Causeway Bay and headed for Victoria Park. Unfortunately we didn’t see much of the park as it was fenced off. However, it gave Ben a chance to catch his breath, let out some gas… whatever he needed to do.

With Ben feeling better, we grabbed dinner at Ajisen Ramen. We had done enough toying with Honkie food for Ben’s body. Ben had ramen with corn, egg and pork while I had ramen with katsu don (snitchzel pork basically).

All in all, another day of shopping in Hong Kong. I was quite happy with our choice of lunch today, I enjoyed the rice! However, without knowing the language I think that puts us at a great disadvantage in getting the better food that is out here. Also I must commend Hong Kong’s great transport system with trains coming every 2 minutes and really helpful signage in their stations. There are entrances to these stations practically everywhere with at least 4 different ways to enter and exit the station and everything is clearly marked!

One question though. Why do people walk up the stairs on the left but stand on the right of escalators?