China

Elle the celebrity

I knew China would give me good stuff to blog about... just now before walking into our apartment building we passed a storefront with Chinese characters and then under it in English it read "Human Placenta". I didn't really want to know anymore, but it looked very upmarket, almost like a day spa.

Justin, at the moment, is eating bbq dried squid and saying it's the best-worst thing he's ever eaten. At the harbor front Elle was taken from us by a band of Chinese women who for 15 minutes dragged her here and there, posing for pictures with her one at a time and then in small groups, then her alone.... on and on until I came to rescue her. I could tell Elle felt strange, but special.

We are staying in an apartment complex called "The Metroplis" and the name could not be more apt. You literally could spend your entire vacation, or life, here. It's probably larger and more populous than most US cities. (this is where you can get human placenta if you so desire) We have a 2 bedroom apartment that is about 300 square foot. There are hundreds of apartment, perhaps 1000's in this complex alone. Not hard to see why Hong Kong is one of the most population dense places on the planet.

This morning we headed to Mong Kok and Nathan Road to do some shopping. We asked our taxi driver to take us to the fashion area and he drove us to a glitzy mall. An extremely large mall with all the shops we have in the US. I don't think he understood... so we decided just to walk the streets. After an uninspiring jaunt down Nathan Road (tons of traffic, loud, dirty buses, ugly stores and neon signs) we turned down a side road and happened upon the Mong Kok food market. It was about to get interesting.

Never have we seen such sights, some I'd like to erase from memory. My worst was I believe an animal leg bone with the hoof still attached and fur around the ankle still, far worse looking than I could describe. Justin saw a man carving up some bloody meat, another man tossed him a lit cigarette, the cigarette dropped on the meat and then the man picked it up and popped it in his mouth.

The ground was covered in blood and juices and there were more dead carcasses than I have ever seen. It was awful. And the smells! Elle plugged up her nose at one point, and a Chinese lady pointed at her and laughed, saying "it smells to chinese for her." Then we happened upon the fish stalls, many of which were still alive. Justin is now convinced (finally) that we must be depleting our oceans.

The fruits and vegetables were big and beautiful, far better looking than I anticipated. The lemons were outrageous, see pic of Liam above. Probably the result of some growth chemical outlawed in the US.

We were all exhausted and needed to rest and some sustenance. I was terribly grossed out by the market and the stalls surrounding, and desperate to eat something I trusted as vegetarian. So we headed to the Peninsula Hotel to try their famed dim sum. The hotel and dim sum restaurant were quite fancy, and the kids behaved just OK. But, the food was good and dim sum is a must when in Hong Kong.

Resting now to prepare for the Night Market.