Hong Kong – Markets, Mist, Misdirection and….The Tea Pot

Deliveries were still being made in the crowded congested single lane streets, flowers were being taken out of cardboard shipping boxes and strewn on the side of the road.  Then men and ladies swooped in with push trolleys, bundled up the cardboard and took it away.

Rosie and The Operator were scooting down back alleys and avoiding the main drags, everything in the Mong Kok area has a layer of grime and carbon on it, from the facades of the buildings to the the stock in the small footpath side establishments.

They say that Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas in the world with seven people living in every square meter,  washing hangs out of windows and air conditioning units sit precariously on windowsills.  Having a balcony seems to be  a luxury, no outdoor seating areas here, any small balconies, and they were few and far between, were crammed packed full of bikes, boxes and plants….all extra storage space, in a space poor city.

Tooting horns, the jabber of a language surrounding you that you don’t understand, the cloying stench of something rotten and decaying on one side and the fabulous aromatic aromas of a tiny restaurant on the other side.  It is a city of contradiction, necessity and stacked humanity.

It is a city not built to be beautiful, it has developed out of necessity and practicality but in its decay and compact chaos it has an inner beauty that transcends the diesel fumes and madness.

Our circuitous route led us back to the hotel, it was early afternoon and we had settled in for a high tea style lunch in the atrium bar to recharge for the afternoon.  Was yummy and Rosie is back into her Euro drink of choice…the good old iced tea.

We then head down to the harbor to check out the view from Victoria Peak…but the weather was closing in again and The Operator called a halt to that idea, if you cant see the top of the lookout, you will not be able to see from the lookout…good call, the fog was getting lower.  So we headed for the International Commerce Centre and there 360  viewing  floor on the 100th floor, as bizarrely this was not obscured by fog.

Rosie and the Operator jumped in a waiting taxi and showed the driver the picture of where we wanted to go, Rosie verbalizes in her best Asian accented English and points to the address in the guide book….ooops, its written in English, no comprendo.  We hopped out of that taxi and into the one behind it….we have been to Hong Kong before and always found alot of English speaking locals at all the tourist sites….now hardly anyone speaks English and that is at the major sites, big pitfall as there was basically no service or friendliness…blame it on the influx of Chinese post 2000 take back.

The view from this lookout would have been fantastic, but the rain started coming down and running down the windows that Rosie was trying to take photos through….oh well, you can only work with what you have got at the time. Last time we were in Hong Kong we went to visit the worlds largest Buddha on Lantau island and couldn’t see that through the fog even though we were right next to it…you gotta laugh.

Back at the hotel we still had time for a final trip out to the Temple Street Night Market just up the road. This sold to mainly tourists and stalls were selling everything from pottery, jade, mobile phone covers, t shirts, smoking paraphernalia and you name it, it was probably there.

Then Rosie came across ‘The Teapot’ set and had to have it. Rosie bartered down the stall holder from $35 to $15, SOLD!

Said TeaPot was wrapped and in Rosies hand so fast The Operator was still catching his breath to say, where are we going to put that rather large box full of Tea Pot and Cups as our suitcases are full of pressies to take to Europe and will not be empty enough until the pressie are dished out…Oh. You should have bought the Tea Pot Rosie on the WAY BACK!

It is a lovely Tea Pot Set and Rosie knew The Operator would make it fit…which he did of course…plus my Tea Pot Set is looking forward to travelling around Europe with us for the next month.  The Operator did say Cousin Frank would love The Teapot set as a gift……

Off to the airport we went at 1030pm – flying out we were at 1245am…..oh, no we weren’t, another delay of 2 hours was ahead…..