Bye Bye Hong Kong!

Even though I am primarily traveling by myself and meeting up with friends and others along the way, I have had no shortage of friends. I met up with a lady from CS for coffee, a Dutchwoman walking up to the Tian Tan Buddha and two Canadians that just arrived in Hong Kong. It's somewhat strange meeting people who are not adjusted to Hong Kong or Taiwan's cultural norms. I remember being so shocked and annoyed at first, it's not that I get all of it, but it just doesn't 'shock' me as much anymore. My broken Mandarin has even helped me a little here in Hong Kong, most people speak English as well, but if it's a pretty brief request, it is  almost more likely to communicate with success using a bit of Chinese. 

Hong Kong is a very nice place to live and visit, albeit a bit more expensive than Taipei. Hong Kong definitely is a mixture of old colonial influence from the British and Chinese traditions. To me the culture is a cross being Taipei and Singapore, perhaps including the best aspects of each. I do, however, miss my night market food from Taiwan. 

I have eaten so much food here though. Things I maybe would not have order in Taipei. I was a little weirded out at first when I had to rip the heads off the prawns and peel them (shrimp don't look quite that scary). I am not used to putting alive shrimp in boiling hot pot water, and seeing them squirm on their wooden stakes helped calm my hunger. (I got over it though and ate one of the really fresh bright pink shrimps). But the one that tops the cake is durian ice cream. I saw this at the store and was incredibly curious. But alas, I did not want to try this by myself, so I coaxed the two Canadians I met into trying it with me. Durian is a bit like rotten garlic and onions, sweet, feet, and smells like something I should keep away from my mouth. Some people claim that it smells worse than garbage, and I would substantiate that claim. I had a moment where I thought I bought durian gum afterwards. For the first second that the gum was in my mouth, I started to taste durian. I hope I never ever eat durian again, it's worse than stinky tofu for sure. 

There is plenty of food in Hong Kong that is just plain delicious as well. Such as dim sum, dumplings, wonton soup, clay pot rice on Temple Street, seafood, and there is such a variety of restaurants that you could eat cuisine from anywhere in the world. There is a large Indian population (a by-product of British rule) and some have been here for nearly 5 or 6 generations. Most are of Tamil origin from the southern half of Indian. There are plenty of yummy Indian restaurants here (I love Indian food, but I have learned to ease into the spice).