Home Now

I got home with no travel glitches. I had a really good visit to Shanghai, and of course it was wonderful to be with Jim. But I am so grateful for the fact that I can look out my window and see green as far as the eye can see, and it's mine, and when the green stops I see blue sky. I see stars at night and I can watch the moon move across the sky. I can use tap water to brush my teeth. The language barrier here is navigable. Driving around Tupelo is stress-free. There are lots of birds in our backyard. Of course, I missed the dogs most of all.
On Mar. 29 I leave for New York, where I'll be going back to culinary school, among other things. I'll do a couple of posts then.

Chinese Marketing

The last 3 days of my time in Shanghai were spent helping Jim get his new apartment ready, decor-wise. Jim's assistant, English name Emily, has helped him hire a new maid, called an iyee. She'll come in twice a week. Emily has also helped Jim figure out the washer and dryer and the heating system. The apartment is in a brand new development, called Butterfly Bay. The apartment is huge, and Jim has a little courtyard where he can put a little patio furniture, grill and some plants.
One of the things I acquired for Jim to put on his massive walls was a street broom. Street cleaners are all over the place, and they use brooms that are made out of sticks. I think they're really cool-looking, so Jim instructed Jack to assist me in buying one. This is not an item peddled to tourists.
Chinese marketing is interesting. Every day I saw 3 people selling strawberries by the side of the road, only a few yards away from each other. Every time I saw them I felt an urge to stop and explain that one of them needs to cross to the other side of the road and eliminate the same-way competition. They would probably sell out by lunchtime!
Another interesting thing is the way storefronts are organized on any street block. There will be a group of hovels selling the same thing, like fruit or auto parts or motorcycle repairs, one right after another. Again, someone needs to go around the block. Jack and I stopped at a row of hovels selling cleaning tools. The proprietor thought the situation was funny. I have no idea how Jack explained it, but I got a large street broom for Jim and a smaller one for me.

Anniversary Dinner

Jim and I had dinner in downtown Shanghai last Tues., at the Jin Mao Tower. We celebrated our 23rd anniversary a week ahead of time on the 56th floor, level with the pearl in the Pearl Tower. We had great views of the city. After dinner we went up 30 more floors to have a nightcap. There was a man walking around peddling paper cuttings, like shirrenschnitte(sp). One of the options was a couples silhouette. I normally wouldn't "bite", but since it was an auspicious occasion I hired the guy. He actually did a very good job (thanks for including the double chin, dude). When asked how much it cost, his reply was "whatever you want to give me". I asked Jim if 100 RMB was enough, which is about $15. Jim said that yes, that was plenty, and pointed out that the average worker iin his tire factory earns about 80 RMB in a day.
Jim now has a silhouette of the two of us for his home office. I'm sure he'll put that front and center on his desk...

Still Trying Hong Kong Street Markets

These are the rest of the street market photos. Lots of fruits and vegetables are sold as well, but the meat is more interesting. As far as I could tell, ALL parts of the animal are sold. The fish was so fresh we saw some still- beating hearts. Sanitation looked iffy, though. And I decided I would probably skip the markets in August. One can only imagine the smells....

On Saturday we took a cable car up to Victoria Peak, which I'm assuming is the highest point in Hong Kong. Unfortunately no pics because it was so foggy we couldn't see anything. We did, however, appreciate how high we were.

For lunch we had dim sum, which is very traditional Hong Kong. Jim said he'd never had dim sum before. I was shocked, but dim sum is usually served late morning to early afternoon, and since Jim doesn't eat lunch out often, that explained that. So, we went to an old school restaurant. It had a huge dining room and women pushed trollies of food in between the tables, yelling out what they had on their carts over the din of conversatuion. It was a somewhat raucous atmosphere. Jim and I were not too successful at picking out dishes we liked, mostly because there was no English on the menu or spoken by the trolley ladies. We ate enough to sustain us till dinner and put that experience in the "fascinating, but wouldn't go back for the food until our Chinese is better" column.

Later that afternoon we ferried over to the island of Kowloon. Travelling to the different islands that make up Hong Kong is like travelling to the different boroughs of New York City. We liked Kowloon, I think because it didn't seem as sensory-overwhelming. Leave it to Fitz to find an Irish pub. After a couple of pints of Guiness we did a little shopping, then went to the waterfront to watch the "Symphony of Lights". That's a laser light show that involves about 20 skyscapers on Hong Kong Island, across Victoria Harbor. Very cool. Afterwards we had dinner ina hotel with a lovely view of Victoria Harbor.

Sunday we took a ferry to the island of Lantau to see the giant Buddha at a Buddhist monastery. We got a cab and thought that pointing to a photo of said statue was clear enough to indicate where we wanted to go. The guy drove us to a beach. No, we said. Again, pointed to a photo of the statue . Ohhhhhh. The driver seemed to "get it" this time, but I'm convinced he took us the long way. Oh well, we said to each other, what are we going to do? Lantau reminded us of a Caribbean island. One that is sparsely populated, mountainous, no-frills cement houses, cows in the road and limited transportation options. So we got the scenic route to the monastery. It was worth the trouble. A gigantic bronze Buddha sits on top of a mountain. I think there are 268 steps leading up to it. Despite my Achilles tendonitis, I did it. I'll try and post those photos later. We took a cable car back down the mountain. I'm so afraid of heights I distracted myself by getting to know the Welsh couple who shared the car with us. It took about 20 minutes to get down. From there we took the subway back to Hong Kong Island, had a superb Szechuan lunch, then flew back to Shanghai. We were exhausted, but we got a lot out of our weekend.

More Hong Kong Street Markets

Hong Kong Street Markets

We got to Hong Kong around lunch time last Friday. We had lunch in the restaurant district, narrow, steep streets with little restaurants one after another. We ate in a French brasserie.

Then we hit the street markets, which were a wonder to behold. Clothes, "antiques", watches, junk, knick-knacks and fresh food, all crammed into every little available space. My suspicion is that the "markets" are zoned within a very specific amount of real estate, and as many vendors as possible are jammed in. I'll try and post the food photos later. Currently the computer isn't cooperating.

One of the things that struck us immediately was how much more orderly traffic is in Hong Kong. It's also very well-signed, not only street signs but tourist attractions. It's not a physically very large city, so we found it fairly easy to get around.

Friday night, back in the restaurant district, we had Mexican. Very good. None of our night pictures turned out well, but downtown Hong Kong has more neon in a small space than I've ever seen, and mobs of people. Times Square in NYC is toned down by comparison.

Whoda Thunk?

Who would ever think that the sound of a flushing toilet would generate a mental "thumbs up" for me? But, when you use the ladies' here, a lot of times the stalls have the "squat" model as pictured on the left. I've learned to head towards the end where , if there is one, I'll probably find a "Western" model. Ain't no how, no way, never, am I going to squat.

In the same restroom was posted the threat on the right: $1500 if you're caught hawking one up and leaving it on the floor. I promise, on the chi-chi side of a Shanghai street I saw a group of 4 women, dressed, coifed and manicured, and one of them spit, loudly, on the sidewalk.

Jim's computer is slow tonight and posting photos is somewhat tedious, so I'll wait until tomorrow to post about Hong Kong. I'm also tired because I spent the whole day shopping for Jim's new apartment.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

in the form of taxis, plus a ferry,subway, a tram (streetcar), and a cable car. Those were all transportation modes we used in Hong Kong. We had a great time, and I'll post tomorrow, but tonight I'm exhausted. I just wanted to put the notice on that I'm back on my e-mails.