Suzanne after Hong Kong: Misadventures in Mong Kok

Because she is often not able to travel much (due to chronic illness), Maz doesn't go into the central city parts of Hong Kong much. So today, when she said, "Want to go to Mong Kok?" I jumped at the chance the go with her. (I make it into the city at least once a week, but I've never had much opportunity to explore with Maz.)

She needed to purchase art supplies for the kids at a stationery shop she had heard about in Mong Kok. Mong Kok is known for being a shopping district, and is always quite crowded. In fact, Mong Kok has the highest population density in the world.

We boarded a red mini bus, the cheapest way to get there, from in front of the Crossroads site, on Castle Peak Road (red mini buses are smaller buses, holding 16 people, and they run on no fixed schedule and only keep a loose route, you pay cash, hail them like a taxi, and alert the driver - hardly ever an English speaker - when you are ready to get off). Once we saw Mong Kok out the window, we got off the bus when some others called the driver to stop, and Maz oriented herself and we set off.

Knowing the shop was on Sai Yeung Choi Street, we cut across the roads, weaving through masses of people, and found the street. We started the trek in what we thought was the right direction, keeping our eyes peeled for a stationery shop. We were momentarily distracted by two men fighting, to which an ambulance was later called (it's actually very unusual to see Chinese people fighting like this). Maz had the phone number for the shop, and rang them to see if we were heading in the right direction, but the person on the other end spoke little English, so it didn't help. Maz then stopped in another shop to ask directions, but again, the language barrier halted any conversation.

A man handing out flyers for a new French restaurant in the area tried to point us toward where he thought a stationery shop was, but we couldn't find anything. Standing now in the goldfish market, I decided to call my Chinese friend, Amy, who lives in the area to see if she could help. (She has been very helpful to me in the past with directions, and she speaks English very well.) Amy came to the rescue, directing us back to Sai Yeung Choi Street, giving landmarks and how many minutes walk it would be to the shop. Within 15 minutes we arrived at the Chung Nam Book and Stationery shop, which had 3 levels of stationery items, including lots of art supplies. Hallelujah! Thanks, Amy!

After the search and subsequent shopping were over, we were starving (it was after 8 pm) and said, "Let's eat at the first place we see." We walked out of the stationery shop, and there was the bright shining sign for KFC (they're popular here). I can't remember the last time I ate at a KFC, but my hunger didn't think that was a problem, so we walked down into the KFC (since everything is built so tightly in HK, things are often in basement levels, or built on top of each other).

Maz looked at the menu, and said, "They don't have fries. How odd." Of course, they do have fries, they were just waffle fries, which she had never before heard of. She was convinced she wouldn't like them, even though I kept trying to tell her it's the same as french fries, but when she saw her other side item choice was rice with mushroom gravy, she ventured out for the waffle fries. She examined them, then popped one in her mouth ... and liked them. Then she asked me, "So this is a normal thing, waffle fries?" And I was able to educate her a little more on American culture.

We then made our way through the crowds again to the MTR, headed two stops down to Jordan, and found our way to another mini bus for the ride home. Mini buses have a digital readout where passengers can see the speed. Once the meter hits 80 (km per hour, not miles), the meter beeps. Our mini bus driver took us up to a whopping 113, careening around corners, with each of us holding on to the handles on the seats so as not to go flying off. We made the journey quickly back to the Gold Coast, departed, and were home.

It's nights like this I feel so far removed from life at home, and its ways and culture. I can't get over how different my experiences are here, and just how adventurous life is in such a place as Hong Kong.