Friday, May 2nd, 1997 - Kowloon, Hong Kong

Exploration of Hong Kong continued today with a few different activities.

We woke up fairly late due to the lateness of yesterday and the fact that Mike seems to be coming down with a cold. We began the day by Raymond taking us out for “congee” which is a rice soup (sort of like porridge). I have had this in Winnipeg in the past, and have enjoyed it there also. It is a typical breakfast enjoyed here. We also had some “doughnut” with it which is a deep fried bun or unflavoured doughnut as we know it in Canada.

Raymond took the day away from work so he could take some time to work on his assignment which is due tomorrow.

Mike and I then proceeded across a few blocks to attempt to find a cordless phone that he wanted, however, after a long time of looking he could not find it. At the same time, we looked at many places selling VCDs however, by this time it was getting a bit boring for me. After all, I do not have a player nor am I interested in owning one. The quality compared to my LaserDisc player at home is not very good.

We went into the Golden Computer Center to look at more VCDs and Mike also wanted to look for a video card, which he eventually found and bought. He was quite happy with the price. Again, I was not terribly interested in this shopping so I ended up wandering around while he bought his video card for his computer.

We returned to the apartment (Golden is only about three blocks away) and then Raymond took us out for lunch at a local mall that we had seen but never visited. It was a nice place with a food court that was also quite good. Mike and I commented that the clams and snails we had would not typically be available in Canada. It was a good meal, and very large. This was already about three o'clock in the afternoon. After the meal we visited Golden again to look for a particular VCD that Mike wanted that Raymond knew about, so we did that, but did not find it.

We returned again to the apartment and left to meet Haley and some friends for supper. She was there with Vickie and Crystal and someone we had not yet met, Stella. Haley had sent me a picture in the mail a little while ago of her and Stella in Greece when they were in high school. They took us to a Vietnamese place where we got our food raw “buffet” style and then cooked it on some grills on the tables. It was very good, with, of course, a great deal of seafood. We had a good time as Vickie cooked for myself, Haley and Stella while Mike cooked for Crystal. He was continually commenting about how good a “chef” he was, we all found this amusing.

It was a very enjoyable evening, I spent a bit of it talking to Stella who sat beside me about her trip a few weeks ago to Japan. It sounded very nice and she had a great time. She spoke English very well and it was easy to talk to her. She was commenting a bit about the Chinese takeover but did not seem overly concerned about it, much like most people in Hong Kong.

After supper, we walked down from Tsim Sha Tsui (where we ate) to the harbour, and walked along for a little while before finally breaking up and heading home. As per normal, Vickie helped us find and take the bus, she was very helpful. We promised to write Haley and Crystal and Vickie promised to write us.

It was an interesting day, we were very busy but did not really do anything.

I have been debating staying, but I do not really know what else there is for me to see. I am also very tired from Hong Kong and would like to go home. I will return, I am sure, so I can leave some things to see for when I return.

⇒ Continue to Saturday, May 3rd, 1997 - Kowloon, Hong Kong