Feb 10-11 Food markets, Shek O (beach)
10 & 11 Feb, 2007 – Lots of markets, a trip to Shek O 
Saturday afternoon I decided to explore the streets below our apartment building. This is part of the area known as Soho, meaning South of Hollywood Rd. Hollywood Rd is several blocks down from our street & coming up the hill towards us is south. We’ve walked this area near the escalator, but I knew there was much more interesting places getting away from the escalator. Although the escalator is a great thing, you are elevated most of the way, so miss a lot of what is going on at ground level.
From our apartment building I walked about one block east & then headed down Ladder Street, which is not a street, but a pedestrian walkway that is all steps. It is probably 4 blocks down to Hollywood Rd & the Man Mo Temple, which is very well known & was packed with people this Saturday afternoon. I’m guessing with the upcoming New Years (18 Feb) many people were taking care of New Years obligations with their ancestors. I guess the New Year is a time to pay old debts & make good to everyone, which probably means the dead as well as the living.
In previous ventures down Ladder Street to Hollywood Rd. I’ve always headed east or on down the hill to the subway, so this time I went west. Hollywood Rd is know as the antique street (every street here seems to be known for something, they tend to put all of the same products on the same street, which doesn’t make much sense to me from a marketing standpoint, but it is good for the consumer to have it all in one place). As I went west on Hollywood I saw why. I’m guessing there must be about 100 antique stores in about a miles distance. Very different from what we would see in US antique stores, no shaker chairs or washtubs. These were filled with statues & heavy wooden furniture & lots of jade & china (go figure) & ivory & woodcarving. I really love the carving; it is so intricate & detailed. I guess the ivory is from mammoth tusks & not elephant tusks (which is illegal).
As I wandered other streets in the area I came across lots of new restaurants to try & LOTS of street markets. This is definitely where the locals do their shopping. There was not the touristy stuff like handbags & scarves, but stalls with produce & meat & poultry. There were also lots of small stores selling the everyday items people need – toilet paper, paint, hardware, cooking supplies, sheets. I knew the locals did actually shop at Ikea for that kind of stuff like us stupid Westerners did. Too bad I didn’t do this a long time ago!
The food markets I find the most interesting. As I think I’ve said before the variety & size of the produce is fabulous. It looks like it is on steroids. It being New Years time there were lots of flowers & special New Years plants available as well. They certainly use every bit of the animal & some parts I don’t even know what they are. I’m not brave enough yet to venture to buy any meat or poultry or fish. One of these days I will.
I ate lunch at a little local Chinese restaurant. They didn’t speak any English, but as with most places they had one menu in English. I just pointed to something & it turned out to be pretty good. Noodles with a slightly sweet sauce & prawns & shredded beef & pork & some sprouts & scallions. I only ate half of it as they served some soup with it as well. All for about $3.50. Not a bad deal. They were very nice & I think thought it was funny that I would come in there. Usually Westerners do not venture into these types of places.
I stopped a place that was advertising tofu cheesecake & had a sample. It was good, not as sweet as regular cheesecake. They had some other yummy looking items, so I took their card to return on a later date. I did get an almond cookie, which was delicious.
I know you all are freezing you butts off back home, so I hesitate to complain about how hot it was out today. I got home & had to take a shower because I was so sweaty. I’m still waiting for this winter they keep talking about.
John has been wanting to go back to our favorite Japanese restaurant over in Kowloon, so we went Saturday night. It was as good as always. The funny thing about the dinner was that when we were about half way through 4 people walked in & they were the same people who had been there last time we were there. The room only sits 12 people, so you tend to get to know the other people eating there. The reason we remembered these people so well is that one of them is Canadian and YES we talked lots of HOCKEY!! He played Jr A hockey before leaving Canada. He also is in the printing industry, so he & John also had that in common. His wife is Chinese & she works with him & the other couple works with him also, so there was plenty for us all to talk about. He has lived here for about 8 years. It was so funny that we should all be there again. We had another great conversation & traded business cards. Hopefully we’ll get back in touch with them; at least we know we have the same taste in food.
Sunday we headed out to the other side of the island. John wanted to do something away from the apartment, but NOT anything like the flower, bird & goldfish markets. He really didn’t enjoy that outing at all. So I thought he’d enjoy the small seaside town of Shek O. I went there a few months ago with Kristin & Steve & took lots of pictures of the rocks & water (I did not repeat those by the way). To get to Shek O we needed to go about as far east on HK Island as we could & then catch a bus out to the town. To get to the east side of the island we could take a bus, tram, MTR or combination. MTR is faster, but you don’t get to see anything. We decided to take the bus from in front of our place as far as it would take us (this is the one I took earlier in the week to the bank). Once we got off, we opted for the tram. This is a rattly 2 decker wooden trolley sort of vehicle that goes down the middle of the street. No matter how far you go the cost is only HK$2 (25 cents). Most of the locals take this because it is so cheap. It is also very very slow. It makes lots of stops & I’m guessing never gets over 25 MPH.
We finally got to Shau Kei Wan where we picked up bus #9 out to Shek O. The bus ride across the island is spectacular. You go over the mountains & the road hugs the side & you look straight down to the rocks & ocean below. Parts of the ride remind me of the hills of Scotland, bare of trees & dotted with rocks & long grass. As we looked out over the mountains with not a building in site, I said to John, “and everyone thinks HK is only skyscrapers & crowds of people, I wish they could see this.”
We walked on the beach & out to the little island for a great view of the ocean. It was a very overcast day, so you are spared photos of the ocean & rocks. There were lots of families out BBQing, a typical Sunday outing for the local folks. We had some soup at a local restaurant. John had his favorite Tom Yum Kung (Thai seafood soup) & I had mushroom, tofu & crab meat soup. Both were good. I had to get mango & sticky rice for dessert.
We caught the bus back. The town of Shau Kei Wan has a great market, again local foods. It is just festinating to see what they sell. The produce is wonderful as usual. This also had lots of meat, poultry & fish vendors as well. Many of the vendors were really surprised to see us (being Western) & one made a point of having me take his picture. Several looked at me in surprise & smiled & attempted some English. A few times everyone around the vendor also started speaking English (very limited). At one fish vendor the vendor said “Hi Lo” (I’m sure he meant hello). “Missy Missy you want some fishy fishy” Some older women shopping there started laughing & saying “yessy yessy fishy fishy swimmy swimmy fishy fishy”. They seemed very pleased with themselves for knowing some English. I laughed with them & said “No fishy fishy for missy. Missy no good cook.” They thought that was hysterical & all burst out laughing. Then they wanted me to take a picture of the guy with the fish.
Although I did not take lots of beach photos, I did get obsessed with the market. If you have a weak stomach you might not want to look at the photos of this trip. Here are some of the things that were for sale in the market. Shrimp still jumping around in the pan. Fish cut in half with the head off & the heart still beating (now that is fresh). All sorts of animal organs. Pig ears, feet & snout. Chicken feet. Legs of all sorts of animals. And the most bizarre in my opinion – I saw 2 sheep heads complete with hair & horns & eyes & tongue (see below). So I took photos of it all just to you’d believe me.
Guess I need to work on my cooking. Although after today, I’m feeling like I might be inclined to head towards being a vegetarian. They do have lots of types of tofu I could experiment with. I have been told there is something I should try called stinky tofu that stinks but tastes good. Something for another blog.
Saturday afternoon I decided to explore the streets below our apartment building. This is part of the area known as Soho, meaning South of Hollywood Rd. Hollywood Rd is several blocks down from our street & coming up the hill towards us is south. We’ve walked this area near the escalator, but I knew there was much more interesting places getting away from the escalator. Although the escalator is a great thing, you are elevated most of the way, so miss a lot of what is going on at ground level.
From our apartment building I walked about one block east & then headed down Ladder Street, which is not a street, but a pedestrian walkway that is all steps. It is probably 4 blocks down to Hollywood Rd & the Man Mo Temple, which is very well known & was packed with people this Saturday afternoon. I’m guessing with the upcoming New Years (18 Feb) many people were taking care of New Years obligations with their ancestors. I guess the New Year is a time to pay old debts & make good to everyone, which probably means the dead as well as the living.
In previous ventures down Ladder Street to Hollywood Rd. I’ve always headed east or on down the hill to the subway, so this time I went west. Hollywood Rd is know as the antique street (every street here seems to be known for something, they tend to put all of the same products on the same street, which doesn’t make much sense to me from a marketing standpoint, but it is good for the consumer to have it all in one place). As I went west on Hollywood I saw why. I’m guessing there must be about 100 antique stores in about a miles distance. Very different from what we would see in US antique stores, no shaker chairs or washtubs. These were filled with statues & heavy wooden furniture & lots of jade & china (go figure) & ivory & woodcarving. I really love the carving; it is so intricate & detailed. I guess the ivory is from mammoth tusks & not elephant tusks (which is illegal).
As I wandered other streets in the area I came across lots of new restaurants to try & LOTS of street markets. This is definitely where the locals do their shopping. There was not the touristy stuff like handbags & scarves, but stalls with produce & meat & poultry. There were also lots of small stores selling the everyday items people need – toilet paper, paint, hardware, cooking supplies, sheets. I knew the locals did actually shop at Ikea for that kind of stuff like us stupid Westerners did. Too bad I didn’t do this a long time ago!
The food markets I find the most interesting. As I think I’ve said before the variety & size of the produce is fabulous. It looks like it is on steroids. It being New Years time there were lots of flowers & special New Years plants available as well. They certainly use every bit of the animal & some parts I don’t even know what they are. I’m not brave enough yet to venture to buy any meat or poultry or fish. One of these days I will.I ate lunch at a little local Chinese restaurant. They didn’t speak any English, but as with most places they had one menu in English. I just pointed to something & it turned out to be pretty good. Noodles with a slightly sweet sauce & prawns & shredded beef & pork & some sprouts & scallions. I only ate half of it as they served some soup with it as well. All for about $3.50. Not a bad deal. They were very nice & I think thought it was funny that I would come in there. Usually Westerners do not venture into these types of places.
I stopped a place that was advertising tofu cheesecake & had a sample. It was good, not as sweet as regular cheesecake. They had some other yummy looking items, so I took their card to return on a later date. I did get an almond cookie, which was delicious.
I know you all are freezing you butts off back home, so I hesitate to complain about how hot it was out today. I got home & had to take a shower because I was so sweaty. I’m still waiting for this winter they keep talking about.
John has been wanting to go back to our favorite Japanese restaurant over in Kowloon, so we went Saturday night. It was as good as always. The funny thing about the dinner was that when we were about half way through 4 people walked in & they were the same people who had been there last time we were there. The room only sits 12 people, so you tend to get to know the other people eating there. The reason we remembered these people so well is that one of them is Canadian and YES we talked lots of HOCKEY!! He played Jr A hockey before leaving Canada. He also is in the printing industry, so he & John also had that in common. His wife is Chinese & she works with him & the other couple works with him also, so there was plenty for us all to talk about. He has lived here for about 8 years. It was so funny that we should all be there again. We had another great conversation & traded business cards. Hopefully we’ll get back in touch with them; at least we know we have the same taste in food.
Sunday we headed out to the other side of the island. John wanted to do something away from the apartment, but NOT anything like the flower, bird & goldfish markets. He really didn’t enjoy that outing at all. So I thought he’d enjoy the small seaside town of Shek O. I went there a few months ago with Kristin & Steve & took lots of pictures of the rocks & water (I did not repeat those by the way). To get to Shek O we needed to go about as far east on HK Island as we could & then catch a bus out to the town. To get to the east side of the island we could take a bus, tram, MTR or combination. MTR is faster, but you don’t get to see anything. We decided to take the bus from in front of our place as far as it would take us (this is the one I took earlier in the week to the bank). Once we got off, we opted for the tram. This is a rattly 2 decker wooden trolley sort of vehicle that goes down the middle of the street. No matter how far you go the cost is only HK$2 (25 cents). Most of the locals take this because it is so cheap. It is also very very slow. It makes lots of stops & I’m guessing never gets over 25 MPH.
We finally got to Shau Kei Wan where we picked up bus #9 out to Shek O. The bus ride across the island is spectacular. You go over the mountains & the road hugs the side & you look straight down to the rocks & ocean below. Parts of the ride remind me of the hills of Scotland, bare of trees & dotted with rocks & long grass. As we looked out over the mountains with not a building in site, I said to John, “and everyone thinks HK is only skyscrapers & crowds of people, I wish they could see this.”
We walked on the beach & out to the little island for a great view of the ocean. It was a very overcast day, so you are spared photos of the ocean & rocks. There were lots of families out BBQing, a typical Sunday outing for the local folks. We had some soup at a local restaurant. John had his favorite Tom Yum Kung (Thai seafood soup) & I had mushroom, tofu & crab meat soup. Both were good. I had to get mango & sticky rice for dessert.
We caught the bus back. The town of Shau Kei Wan has a great market, again local foods. It is just festinating to see what they sell. The produce is wonderful as usual. This also had lots of meat, poultry & fish vendors as well. Many of the vendors were really surprised to see us (being Western) & one made a point of having me take his picture. Several looked at me in surprise & smiled & attempted some English. A few times everyone around the vendor also started speaking English (very limited). At one fish vendor the vendor said “Hi Lo” (I’m sure he meant hello). “Missy Missy you want some fishy fishy” Some older women shopping there started laughing & saying “yessy yessy fishy fishy swimmy swimmy fishy fishy”. They seemed very pleased with themselves for knowing some English. I laughed with them & said “No fishy fishy for missy. Missy no good cook.” They thought that was hysterical & all burst out laughing. Then they wanted me to take a picture of the guy with the fish.
Although I did not take lots of beach photos, I did get obsessed with the market. If you have a weak stomach you might not want to look at the photos of this trip. Here are some of the things that were for sale in the market. Shrimp still jumping around in the pan. Fish cut in half with the head off & the heart still beating (now that is fresh). All sorts of animal organs. Pig ears, feet & snout. Chicken feet. Legs of all sorts of animals. And the most bizarre in my opinion – I saw 2 sheep heads complete with hair & horns & eyes & tongue (see below). So I took photos of it all just to you’d believe me.
Guess I need to work on my cooking. Although after today, I’m feeling like I might be inclined to head towards being a vegetarian. They do have lots of types of tofu I could experiment with. I have been told there is something I should try called stinky tofu that stinks but tastes good. Something for another blog.
posted by Becky Hubbell @ 9:34 PM
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