Adventures in Hong Kong, part 2

Ok, so I believe I left off the Hong Kong story with our day of hiking/shopping.  As evening approached, Carol and Winnie and Beth had to go back to Macau, so we parted ways and Angie and I hopped on a bus for Uncle Tony's place.  We arrived to find a houseful of relatives and a huge hotpot spread waiting.  It was incredible.  I've only had hotpot one other time since I arrived, so it's still a big novelty for me anyway, but they pulled out all the stops for us.  Beef and chicken and shrimp and eel and fishballs and tofu and several kinds of veggies as well - daikon and corn and lettuce and watercress.  Basically, it's kind of like fondue.  You have a pot of boiling broth that you drop stuff into and then pick it out and eat it when it's cooked.  They had this incredibly good dipping sauce too - Angie and I took notes on how to make it ourselves.  They were all extremely generous and gracious to us and kept insisting that we eat more, even when I thought my stomach might explode. 

These shrimp skewers were soooo good.

And just when I thought I might have to get rolled home in a wheelbarrow, they brought out the cake.  Angie's cousin, Olivia, had just celebrated a birthday so they got an enormous cheesecake.  And they made me eat two pieces, which I gladly did because it was delicious, but oooooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwww.

 

Afterward, the adults (Uncle Tony and two aunties with Chinese names I can't remember) were busy cleaning up, but we got a nice picture of the younger generation with Grandma.  From L to R they are Vivian, Cousin Brother, Toby, Me, Olivia and Angie.  So to clear up the confusion, Toby is the woman on my right.  Angie just met these relatives for the first time this summer, and so she couldn't remember the English name of her male cousin.  Part of the reason for this is that in Chinese culture, people usually refer to each other by their relation, not their names.  So Older Sister, Little Brother, these terms are the norm.  And every older person you might encounter is Auntie or Uncle, even if they aren't related to you.  It's the respectful way to address your elders and I'm sure the idea is also to promote unity and harmony since that's a big focus here.  I really like it.  None of the older folks spoke English, so I mostly practiced my smiling and bowing and chatted with Toby and Olivia.

After dinner we all sat around digesting and watched the season finale of a Cantonese historical-fiction-drama about the Qing Dynasty, which took place in the mid-1800s.  It was the last dynasty before the revolution, so the ship was already kind of going down and there was a lot of plotting and double-crossing going on - at least in the show, it is fiction after all.  Since it was in Cantonese, I had to rely on what I know of soap operas and Angie's translations to follow along, but it was pretty interesting.  A lot of meaningful glances and gestures of betrayal and fake blood.  Finally Cousin Brother drove us home and we slept happily dreaming of hotpot.  A great night overall - many thanks to my hosts and to Angie for sharing her family.

The next day we went back into the city for some more shopping and wandering.  As we were walking down an alley we noticed a lady wrapping candy in the back of a store, and they looked tasty so we bought some.  They were like chewy nutty treats made of fruit but I'm not sure what kind, and it may have even had some chocolate.  It was hard to tell, but they were very good and they were wrapped in some kind of edible plastic wrap.  Creepy, but kind of fun.

Angie demonstrating how you can eat the whole thing - wrapper and all.

Getting in the Christmas spirit - this guy was roasting chestnuts!  They smelled really good, but I had just eaten when I noticed him so I didn't buy any.  Will have to try them next time.

 Just when I think I'm finally used to all the crazy Asian fashion, I see something like this...

(It's the back of a high-heeled shoe.)

Veronica met up with us midday and we shopped some more in another part of town.

Afterward we met up with some more of Angie's friends for dinner at the Steak Expert.

L to R - Top row: Billy, Veronica, Angie
Bottom row: Kendrick, me, Paul

Finally back home, I spread out all my purchases to survey the loot.  Not bad!  At least I won't have to wear the same four outfits every week when next semester begins.

One of the last places we went was a music and movie store and I couldn't believe all the good American films they had.  I try to buy a new holiday movie or album every year for my collection, so I couldn't pass up this classic and I was really excited to find Blade Runner.  Now if only I can find time to finish the book...

An awesome trip - thanks again Angie.