the sights and smells
i was looking over past emails, and decided to post this one- for reasons other than originally intended. i can't help but notice how much my writing has changed (even if the difference- or development- is perceptible only to me). the following is anectodal in the extreme and if not for the memory of the experiences it outlines, i would almost feel as though it was written by someone other than me... but i'll post it anyway.
-------
hong kong. i wandered around a lot and tried to get lost but found that that's nearly impossible to do in hong kong- there's an MTR station around every corner. i saw street festivals and lots of facial moles and lots and lots of gutted fish. and malls.
hong kong wasn't quite what i was expecting- i knew it would be frenzied and super-efficient, which it was. but i also expected it to be more... ethnic. living in cairo, i've gotten used to having what is different about cairo very apparent and often in my face. life here runs on a different track and because of this i went to hong kong looking for what was different rather than looking for what was the same.
yet in hong kong i found myself facing the very familiar instead of the intriguing and ethnic. i had to keep my eyes open to discover the hong kong i was there to see. it was just fascinating sometimes to see how the everyday common nothings of life in hong kong compared to my daily life. for example, i had a headache and a friend ran into a 7-eleven for me. i expected her to come out with some tylenol and instead she gave me a tiny bottle of green oil to rub into my temples. apparently the strong smell clears one's head.
two things that truly enchanted me were the flower market and the bird market. the flower market was full of puffy flowers and stringy flowers and all kinds of exotic looking plants- all of this fragrance was mixed in with the smell of frying fish that came from stalls alongside the flower vendors. surprisingly it worked. they had a lot of orchids there, which i love. the whole thing was very secret garden-ish to walk through.
and the bird market, which was in this large area beyond the flower market, was awesome- these cages are so intricately made, with tiny ceramic hand painted pots holding the bird's food. there was one bird in each small cage, and the birds themselves were beautiful- my favorite was this completely black one with a white underbelly. he posed for the camera ;) another was totally black with a fluorescent green face. the market was full of old men with stereotypically long white beards (truth) holding up the cages to their ears to listen to the bird's song. they buy a bird based on the beauty of its song rather than its appeareance. the whole scene was very picturesque. messy but picturesque- i left with seeds in my hair ;)
we went up to victoria peak, supposedly the best view in hong kong- too bad we picked one of the most polluted and foggy days of the year ;) it was actually pretty funny- after looking at the fog for a few minutes, we went back inside the building and amused ourselves by posing with the strange statues outside the Ripley's Believe it or Not exhibit. the bus ride to the peak tram was wonderful- the bus was a double decker and the second story was roofless, so we hung over the back, catcalling the pedestrians
and looking up at the buildings as they whizzed by over our heads.
we attended a traditional folk concert, which was cool. what was cooler, though, were the street performers stationed outside the MTR. they played very different-looking instruments which, along with their sweet trilling music, didn't quite fit into the throbbing urban scene rushing about them. the pace of the city was so fast and yet around these street performers i felt like time almost slowed down to the slower wail of the music.
and the food. ohhhh. i wasn't expecting this plethora of yummy exotic dishes. there were so many different KINDS of chinese food- it was wonderful for me, since i'm used to cheap takeout from 'the great wall' where my roommate once found hair in her food. the korean barbecue was my favorite- there's a hotpot in the center of your table, and they serve you raw marinated meat which you cook yourself. oh. we forgot all table manners in a furious feeding frenzy- we were concentrating so hard that there was no conversation at all for thirty minutes ;) at all of the places we visited, i liked just perusing the menus- it's fun to see sea blubber in
sesame sauce on the menu!
i also really loved the street markets- endless rows of stalls selling everything i could want and a lot of things i really really didn't want.
the scenery was nice, too. the mountains were wonderful- that is one thing i don't have in chicago and certainly can't find in egypt.
while i was there i listened to the radio as i walked around- chinese pop sounds suspiciously like eighties music, so i found myself humming along to every song. on one these stations they played some strange version of rem's strange currencies- i recognized the song and thought the title was fitting ;)
it was a great visit. i've just gotten pictures back and am appalled by the fact that i took four pictures of one bird. poor guy, his song was pretty squawky but he was my favorite ;) and F, m'goi sai for everything and i'll see you soon ;)
i was looking over past emails, and decided to post this one- for reasons other than originally intended. i can't help but notice how much my writing has changed (even if the difference- or development- is perceptible only to me). the following is anectodal in the extreme and if not for the memory of the experiences it outlines, i would almost feel as though it was written by someone other than me... but i'll post it anyway.
-------
hong kong. i wandered around a lot and tried to get lost but found that that's nearly impossible to do in hong kong- there's an MTR station around every corner. i saw street festivals and lots of facial moles and lots and lots of gutted fish. and malls.
hong kong wasn't quite what i was expecting- i knew it would be frenzied and super-efficient, which it was. but i also expected it to be more... ethnic. living in cairo, i've gotten used to having what is different about cairo very apparent and often in my face. life here runs on a different track and because of this i went to hong kong looking for what was different rather than looking for what was the same.
yet in hong kong i found myself facing the very familiar instead of the intriguing and ethnic. i had to keep my eyes open to discover the hong kong i was there to see. it was just fascinating sometimes to see how the everyday common nothings of life in hong kong compared to my daily life. for example, i had a headache and a friend ran into a 7-eleven for me. i expected her to come out with some tylenol and instead she gave me a tiny bottle of green oil to rub into my temples. apparently the strong smell clears one's head.
two things that truly enchanted me were the flower market and the bird market. the flower market was full of puffy flowers and stringy flowers and all kinds of exotic looking plants- all of this fragrance was mixed in with the smell of frying fish that came from stalls alongside the flower vendors. surprisingly it worked. they had a lot of orchids there, which i love. the whole thing was very secret garden-ish to walk through.
and the bird market, which was in this large area beyond the flower market, was awesome- these cages are so intricately made, with tiny ceramic hand painted pots holding the bird's food. there was one bird in each small cage, and the birds themselves were beautiful- my favorite was this completely black one with a white underbelly. he posed for the camera ;) another was totally black with a fluorescent green face. the market was full of old men with stereotypically long white beards (truth) holding up the cages to their ears to listen to the bird's song. they buy a bird based on the beauty of its song rather than its appeareance. the whole scene was very picturesque. messy but picturesque- i left with seeds in my hair ;)
we went up to victoria peak, supposedly the best view in hong kong- too bad we picked one of the most polluted and foggy days of the year ;) it was actually pretty funny- after looking at the fog for a few minutes, we went back inside the building and amused ourselves by posing with the strange statues outside the Ripley's Believe it or Not exhibit. the bus ride to the peak tram was wonderful- the bus was a double decker and the second story was roofless, so we hung over the back, catcalling the pedestrians
and looking up at the buildings as they whizzed by over our heads.
we attended a traditional folk concert, which was cool. what was cooler, though, were the street performers stationed outside the MTR. they played very different-looking instruments which, along with their sweet trilling music, didn't quite fit into the throbbing urban scene rushing about them. the pace of the city was so fast and yet around these street performers i felt like time almost slowed down to the slower wail of the music.
and the food. ohhhh. i wasn't expecting this plethora of yummy exotic dishes. there were so many different KINDS of chinese food- it was wonderful for me, since i'm used to cheap takeout from 'the great wall' where my roommate once found hair in her food. the korean barbecue was my favorite- there's a hotpot in the center of your table, and they serve you raw marinated meat which you cook yourself. oh. we forgot all table manners in a furious feeding frenzy- we were concentrating so hard that there was no conversation at all for thirty minutes ;) at all of the places we visited, i liked just perusing the menus- it's fun to see sea blubber in
sesame sauce on the menu!
i also really loved the street markets- endless rows of stalls selling everything i could want and a lot of things i really really didn't want.
the scenery was nice, too. the mountains were wonderful- that is one thing i don't have in chicago and certainly can't find in egypt.
while i was there i listened to the radio as i walked around- chinese pop sounds suspiciously like eighties music, so i found myself humming along to every song. on one these stations they played some strange version of rem's strange currencies- i recognized the song and thought the title was fitting ;)
it was a great visit. i've just gotten pictures back and am appalled by the fact that i took four pictures of one bird. poor guy, his song was pretty squawky but he was my favorite ;) and F, m'goi sai for everything and i'll see you soon ;)
...Natural is the static
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