Food is still somewhat of a mysterious odyssey here, from my perspective.

Last night I went out for a bite to eat at the ‘giant foot restaurant’ (each day I spell that bloomin word wrong!) not far from here. Having previously enjoyed a breakfast success there, I reckoned it would be worth a shot for dinner. So… In I went, sat down and ordered the chicken with celery carrots and cashews. As part of the deal you got a bowl of Chinese soup, some rice and a drink of your choice.

The first thing to arrive was the soup. I’ve previously tried the soup that comes with meals here and found it not too bad, but sadly this wasn’t to my picky tastes… I’m not really sure what was in it, but I think it was either a really weird vegetable or bone with the marrow melted from it. I tried a few mouthfuls and left it just as the main course arrived, which indeed had a lot of celery, huge chunks of it, carrot, yes indeed, cashews, oh yeah and… some cuts of chicken that I’ve never seen before in my life, and ones that didn’t really taste like poultry at that, but heigh ho. What I found really strange though were the bits that looked like a meat that was mixed in to the noodles at the previous night’s restaurant. This was sea cucumber… Not really my cup of tea. I hate to be ignorant of things when I’m away from home, but of all Hong Kong’s craziness I find it is the food that’s the biggest culture shock to me.

Who knows. Perhaps by the time I get home it’ll be dried seahorse and puffer fish soup for Christmas dinner.

Last night Tobaran, my flat mate, had a wee gathering of his friends and those who have helped him over here, round at our flat.

It was an interesting mix of folks. A curt Belgian woman and her depressed husband, a lovely transgenderal chap/ess called Kim who seems to be a fine visual artist, a Dramaturg turned German teacher, and Beatrix our adorable landlady and a friend.

So at this there were plenty of bits of food to be eaten, and I subtly tucked in here and there, enjoying some Malaysian bread, vegetarian rice balls and fantastic children’s corn snacks. These corn snacks, oh god they’re so tasty…

Reading this, it seems that all I think about is food!

As I returned to the flat from work last night I experienced a slightly different Hong Kong, and one that’s more of a reality for the people here.

Rush hour in the MTR (underground system).

It’s so busy you can’t quite believe it. And hardly anyone seems to be smiling or even happy looking.

But that’s the same all over the world in railway stations and subway passages day in day out.

There’s not much you can really say about such things. It’s just a fact of modern living.

As I walked to work from the MTR to the studio I pass by a theatre. I was amazed to notice that they have banners out side the theatre with quotes from the cannon of the great theatre directors, critics and writers. Meyerhold, Brook and so on. Brilliant, a lovely idea. (As seen at the top of this entry)

If anything it seems to be getting a bit hotter here too. I had the air conditioning on for the first time last night. It sure makes a difference.

Thank god for the wonders of Skype too! It’s great to be able to talk to your loved ones back home with out paying through the nose for it in some way or another!

Oh well.