Monday, 11 June 2018

We finally found a breakfast place!  This restaurant was not prepared for non-Cantonese speaking foreigners …. they had to scrounge around for an employee who spoke enough English to take our order, and even then we had to do a lot of pointing at the menu. (We were conspicuously the only non-Asians in the whole place.  For the record, the waiters were courteous and professional.  I can only imagine that there was a spirited round of “NOT IT!” in the back room before the loser had to come out and deal with us.)  Holden ordered ice water and somehow what the waiter heard was coca-cola, so Holden got soda for breakfast.  Otherwise it was a delightful Cantonese meal — noodles and wontons.

Holden asked for ice water specifically because everywhere we go, we’re served little plastic cups of boiling water.  According to different web sources, this is either supposed to be for washing your own utensils at the table (everything is already clean, but apparently people in Hong Kong like to have extra control over their hygiene) or for drinking.  We’ve seen people drinking it, but boiling water is not very refreshing when it’s 90 degrees outside and you’re dehydrated. Other web sources say that the Chinese think drinking cold water is bad for digestion.  In any case, they look at your like you’re crazy if you want cold water.  “Ice. In water.” they repeat with perplexed expressions, clearly sure they must be misunderstanding what you’re after.  They drink all sorts of other things cold, so the water issue must be a cultural throwback to times when water sanitation wasn’t up to modern standards. (I’m guessing.)  We’ll quit asking for it now that we know it’s a faux pas.

After breakfast we had about an hour to kill before our main event of the day:  a virtual reality game by a company called Sandbox VR.  Adam and I decided to go to the Hong Kong Museum of Art to fill the extra time.  The kids opted to stay home as art museums are not their cup of tea.  The museum turned out to be closed for major renovations, so we instead went across the street to Kowloon Park to wander around.

(Below) Root system of the Indian Rubber Tree plant, yet another species of ficus (Ficus elastica).

Kowloon Bay.

Kowloon Park has a number of areas designated for working out.  This (photo below) was a senior class of some sort of tai chi-type exercise routine.  They had a special area just for seniors, another area for children, etc.  The entire park is essentially a free gym, with equipment,  for anyone who wants to exercise.  Today was 89F with 95% humidity, so very sweaty and uncomfortable even for just sitting around.  Kudos to these senior citizens for showing up and doing the work.

Adam has Google Translate on his phone that “reads” foreign language and translates it to English.  This has proven invaluable.  For example, we can’t read anything on that bottle.

But here you can see that, with the iPhone, it translates the characters right before your very eyes … the bottle says “no sugar” as well as “scented tea” (the character on the bottom that isn’t translated yet in this shot.)

Kowloon Park has an aviary with some pretty special birds in it.  Many of them were parrot species, which I particularly love. Pictured below are Nicobar pigeons, the closest living relative of the extinct dodo bird.  I wish we had a better photo.

Elegant high-rise building.

Me standing in front of yet another Chinese banyan tree for scale.

Wild bird taking an interest in us.  I think this is a red-billed blue magpie.

On to our noon appointment at Sandbox VR!  The kids were especially excited about trying this.  We chose their newest game, Curse of Davy Jones.  They strap sensors to your wrists, ankles, chest, and head, then hand you weapons with more sensors on them.  Everything is powered by a backpack.

You enter a green room and let the adventure begin!

We were five pirates onboard our ship and had to defend ourselves against round after round of incoming skeletons, ghosts, little furry trolls and all sorts of other evil creatures.

After each round we would advance to another level with a different setting and different goals.  There was some puzzle play involved, but mostly you were just trying to survive.  Each of us was armed with weapons, but you could also punch and kick the monsters.  If you took too much damage, you would “die” and it would require other teammates to “lay hands” on you to be healed.

Here we are wandering around the room in our full gear.

The vests had haptic sensors on them – so if you got shot or hit by a monster, you could feel the blow.  If someone jumped you from behind, you could tell in order to turn around, push the monster away and then shoot him with your gun.  Good fun!  The red figures are “dead” players.  Another player can revive them by placing a hand on their shoulder for a period of time, but this was risky because it made the healer vulnerable to monster attack. From the player’s point of view, you could tell you were “dead” when the game went from color to black and white and your weapon quit working.  If all 5 of us died, a parrot would show up and squawk “I’ve got holy water!!” and heal our entire party.

This is a bird’s eye view of what we were seeing (photo below).

We all look like idiots jumping around a green room, but the effect was quite real and amazing.  We finished sweaty, sore and full of adrenaline.  The kids were wired up the rest of the afternoon and couldn’t quit talking about it.

Here is a quick (1:53 minute) video of our experience.

Holden was our designated Team Captain.  At the end of the game, they show all the player stats.  Holden was the big winner, earning the title MVP.  Adam came in second, followed by Isabella, me, and lastly Josie.

Lunch back at Mik’s Noodles.

Our afternoon entertainment was to wander through Singapore Street. We eventually ran into the Jade Market again and this time it was crowded enough that we were able to quickly browse through.  The only thing I liked and inquired about buying turned out to have a US$8,000 price tag.  (In a covered market stall???!!)  When I balked, the lady offered to cut $1,000 off the price.  It could be mine for merely US$7,000.  Hard pass.

Right off Shanghai Street is a side street with an enormous farmer’s market.  It was really busy and appears to be a popular way for locals to buy groceries. Here is a fish guy.

Stall after stall selling fresh fruits and vegetables.

Butcher stall for raw meat.

Another stall for roasted meats and poultry.

A network of bamboo scaffolding.

Adam and Isabella went back out after dark to see A Symphony of Light — a light show put on each evening at 8:00 p.m. over Kowloon Bay, and to get some night photography shots.

Isabella got an evening treat.

Tuesday, 12 June 2018

Adam had a business meeting this morning over on HK Island, so the rest of us opted to hang out in the apartment until he got back around lunchtime.  Not much is open in HK in the mornings anyway, so we didn’t feel like we were missing out on anything.

The other day we had a fantastic meal at a restaurant called Tsui Wah on HK Island.  We discovered they have another location very near our apartment here in Kowloon so we walked over for lunch.  Sadly, this time our experience was not a good one.

So far, we’ve noticed that restaurants here serve food as soon as it comes out of the kitchen, rather than waiting for all plates in a party to be ready at the same time.  The result is that some members of your party get served before others.  Until today this hasn’t been a problem because food generally comes out quickly, and getting it piping hot and fresh from the kitchen is a nice touch.

Today, Holden and Josie received their meals right away, but Adam, Isabella and I sat and waited … and waited … and waited.  We knew the waitstaff hadn’t forgotten about us because they did come back with hot chocolates the kids ordered (which were terrible … it tasted like they’d split a Swiss Miss cocoa packet between three cups; very watery and disappointing.)  Eventually my meal came out, long after Holden and Josie had finished eating.  I, in turn, finished my meal before Adam and Isabella were finally served.  In the end, we sat in that restaurant for more than an hour and half.  As we walked out, Holden said, “I’m hungry. I could go for a snack.”  Adam said “YOU. JUST. ATE.”  Holden: “For me, that was nearly 2 hours ago.  I’m hungry again.”

The weather took another turn for the rainy, but we decided to do our afternoon activity anyway. There is a Goldfish Market I’ve been wanting to see and today is our last day in Hong Kong (for now, at least) so it may be my only chance.

Rainy streets.

The Goldfish Market did not disappoint!  A more apt name for the area would be The Pet District, though.  This entire street is filled with pet shops, selling everything from ordinary goldfish to extraordinarily exotic fish, turtles, frogs, cats, chinchillas, fancy hamsters, puppies.  Many of the animals are quite rare.  They had Bengal cats, Sphinx cats, and Scottish Fold kittens (that came with a price tag of more than US$2,000 each.)

We have very few photos because most places had prominently placed “No Photography” signs.

It was also very crowded.

Tomorrow we’re leaving Hong Kong for Macau.