Thu Oct 21: How do they make these so good?

Unbelievable won tons in this soup. Crikey, this is delicious. Two colleagues and I are in a little neighbourhood restaurant, and there is not a word of English in sight. Just picture writing everywhere. Lots of symbols that I can’t decipher. (There are a few that I know by now, and there are already fascinating details like how the characters for “going out + mouth” together — looks like two words? — means “exit”. Actually mouth and door are the same word…) And no white people but me. Love it! God this is good soup! How do they make these won tons so good?!?! I must try and find the best imitation of these when I get home.

I was noticing something about the taxi drivers on the way to the office this morning. In utter defiance of California stereotypes about Asian drivers, these guys range from excellent to outstanding. Brilliant hot-rod maneuvering, and I don’t see any crashed ones so far. Maybe I’m lucky with the drivers I get, or the accidents I don’t see, but either way — these guys are good. My theory is that they have great crowd skills from walking around in HK, and when they learn to drive a taxi, it translates well. (Here’s some wild sound of a Hong Kong taxi interior, for those homesick or excessively curious…)

Back home, I often lament those bozos who can’t walk in a crowd properly — they stop right in front of you when you’re walking, turn at random to cut you off, and generally have no sensitivity to other pedestrians. Well, they are pretty much absent from Hong Kong. Intersecting streams of pedestrian traffic pass through each other easily; people move closely past each other with an innate sense of each others’ trajectories, but at the same time with no outward acknowledgement of one another. It’s like birds flocking, but in many different directions at once. I find if fun to participate in this.

Back in the office, we’ve worked out a plan for the new file thingies, got the details transferred onto my system so I can build it out from there, and finalize things tomorrow. Boring work stuff to you, chers lecteurs, but working out great for me. It’s a successful trip.

Super typhoon Megi is swinging east, and maybe will avoid Hong Kong after all. So far, no rain and so I head out to Tsim Sha Tsui (can I pronounce it? — Chim Sha Choy?) for dinner. Another nice area for walking around the streets and shops. Tourists mixing with Hong Kong teens, shopping and strolling, neon and grunge… I get some fish balls with a satay-like sauce from a street vendor: $6 per stick… (That’s about 75 cents US). I get a bowl of two sticks. Yum.

Finally after a dinner of so-so Szechuan duck (what should I expect, ordering Szechuan food in a Shanghaiese restaurant in Hong Kong? …eventually I figure out that the flavorless little steamed breads ringing the plate are for handling the duck) and delicious Chinese greens, I head back to the hotel. En route I stop and snap a shot of the scaffolding that I’ve seen using the bamboo poles… and a detail of the joining technique used. I don’t think you want to be standing under this when the typhoon winds come! (Currently, signal number 3 is in force…)

Every evening when I go out, I dress up in a jacket, and every time I wonder why. It’s over 60% humidity (this is the dry season!) and doesn’t cool down. Icky-sticky. Finally it’s back into the air conditioning, snuggle up in the feather pillows and doonah, and drift off to a long deep sleep.

Tomorrow I plan to get an early start and after work — typhoon permitting — I plan to go to a synagogue over in the mid levels for Shabbat.