Hong Kong - Nov 3rd 06

My first full day in Hong Kong. Yet once more I’m awake at 6 am my mind whizzing about all over the place. Already the traffic outside is heaving. I can even hear the continual clicking of the pedestrian crossing from my fourteenth floor window, very faintly, there below.

So. I went out for breakfast yesterday morning to a local eatery called the Big Foot Restaurant. After standing out side the door for several minutes perusing their glossy menu, a waitress popped her head round the door and pointed me in the direction of their breakfast menu.

I could have chosen many dishes to start the day with, including traditional western style eggs and toast, which I may yet have… Instead I decided to try the Cantonese version of porridge (without the optional Abalone), which is very thin, but tasty. I was presented with the sugar by the old man sat across from me as I ate the porridge, which was fine, but to my Albanach taste buds, it just needed a touch of salt in it. I didn’t want to cause some sort of international breakfast incident by adding salt though, so I thanked him for the sugar and gobbled the rest of it up.

Another part of the breakfast for $20 deal (that’s about £1.50) was a sandwich and a coffee. The sandwich came on springy white bread with the crusts cut off, and a craft cheese slice in the centre. Tasted fine by me.

Along with this came a coffee, made with UHT milk and served in a metal flagon. It tasted just like I remember coffee tasting when I was a wee boy away with my Dad on trips at sea. (Although I can’t really recall drinking that much coffee as an eight year old, but that was the first thing it brought back to me…)

My quest for everyday items lead me to a shop on our corner which sells all sorts of shampooey – make upy things. It’s called something oddly bland like “Roger Turner’s”. Anyway, it seems that you can’t buy shower gel or shampoo in travel sized bottles in this place, only industrial sized, family of eight, type affairs. So my hair is going to be very clean. For a very long time.

Whilst in “Roger Turner’s” I noticed they also sold savoury snacks. Yum. Japanese rice crackers, oh I love them, the sort with peanuts cased in rice pellets. Lovely. Eat too many and your stomach feels like it’s going to burst. Perfect!
So I buys a packet, along with my gargantuan cleansing products, and makes my way home.

Sitting down at the desk in my room I gleefully rip open the packet of Japanese rice crackers and pour an ample helping in to my hand.
Only to discover that there’s a little desiccated fish sticking head first out of the ricy mound in my palm!

A quiet moment passes while I contemplate Sammy, sat calmly and dead in my hand.

In a flash the calm passes and I shout “Ugh!” and drop the crackers on to my desk. Sammy though decides that he’s going to bounce off my desk and head it back to the floor.

I pop the poor fellow in to the bin and try one of the rice crackers.

They taste distinctly more fishy than usual.

The packet goes in the bin.

But before I discard it I have a closer look at the picture on the front. Indeed. There are hundreds of dead little fish, nesting amongst those appetising rice crackers in the picture.

Jobbies.

The ingredients on the back even say, “contains rice, corn flour, seaweed and baby sardines”. Not for me, thank you.
I know certain epicureans who would delight in such a delicacy, but sadly, not I.

After my fishy incident I made my way through to the kitchen where my flatmate, Torvach, from Canada, was making his breakfast.
We were chatting away when he popped a dish in the sink. We both stopped and noticed something odd about the sink.
There was a bit of some unnamed matter stuck to it, or so it seemed.

On closer inspection it turned out that it was the cutest little lizard you’ve ever seen. It was just sat there calmly minding its own business.

I think we should call him Franz.
I’ll see if I can get a photo of him/ her at some point.

I met the very fine Mr Giles Burton, of Prague Fringe fame, for lunch and coffee yesterday. That was just great. We went out to a strange, hyper clean coffee shop that served coffee from seemingly scientific apparatus. When we left the staff all drilled “Thank you bye bye” as we walked past them in an automitous fashion. Very odd…

Later on in the afternoon I went out to see another flat for a few weeks hence in the visit. It was way too small for my large frame, and anyway, it was only one option, the other being to go out to an island, Chung Chao, for a few weeks. I think I’ll opt for the island. By then I’ll have had my fill of city life!

The lady who showed me around the flat / bedroom thing was Filipino and had beautifully accented English. She asked me where I was from as I was leaving, and I said Scotland. She replied:

“Scotland! Oh I love the trumpet!” and proceeded to mime a trumpet.

Since then we’ve had our first rehearsal. Very enjoyable, and dynamic. This is going to be a sweaty show.

I’ve even been to a local super market for orange juice, mangoes, yoghurt and breakfast goodies. So I now feel a little more calm and installed. Sating your capitalist gland will do that to a boy.

Today’s adventures include making our way up on to the roof of this building… And who knows what else…