Japanese Food

I ate my lunch at a sushi bar -- always a risk in a region of the world known for casual culinary hygiene. I figure this is the last chance I will have of eating proper raw fish before I enter China proper. Not only are the standards of cleanliness more likely to be higher here in Hong Kong, but it is also hard to find a Japanese food restaurant on the mainland -- good or otherwise. After months of searching, I could not find even one in Yangshuo. This is odd because the town is, perhaps more than any other city in China, oriented to catering to the tastes and preferences of foreigners. West Street is lined with restaurants offering dishes from around the world. The town has one of the highest levels of foreigners per capital in the country. Yet there is no sushi. Likely this disparity is a result of the fact that Hong Kong was a part of the free world during the Cold War while the mainland was not.

Night Lights

If you make a trip to Hong Kong, make sure you pack a camera that can take decent pictures under low light conditions. One of the sights to see in Hong Kong is the menagerie of lit buildings that surround the harbor by night The island of Hong Kong to the south of the harbor has some of the most impressive specimens, so it is a good idea to be on the northern, Kowloon side of the harbor by nightfall. The lights come on at about 8:00 pm as the light from the sky begins to dim.

Buying Tailored Clothes in Hong Kong

Perhaps being tagged on the street as you walk by is not the best way to select a tailor, but that was the way I found myself being sized for a suit that fits. I guess I must fit the profile of a man in dire need of a good set of clothes. As I walked down Nathan Street to the harbor, I was stopped about a half a dozen times by men, always with a twist of India on their tongue, availing me to their talents as tailors. I wanted to have my blazer adjusted, but I was persuaded that it was better to have it replaced. Although the fabric on my jacket travels well, and it has an abundance of pockets for keeping tickets, maps, my passport, an MP3 player, spare batteries, and spare change, the shoulders on the jacket are too wide. Adjusting the shoulders would require adjusting the lapels. And bringing in the sides would wildly skew the vent in the back to one side. It would be easier to make a new jacket from whole cloth -- and less expensive.

Shirts must be the bread-and-butter of a tailor, as they were all keen on selling me some. The more the merrier. Shipping is about $20-$25 American, and most tailors have websites. If I wait for a sale, I may be able to offset the cost of shipping if I buy several at once with my measurements.

I now have a tailor in Hong Kong.

Dorsett Seaview Hotel

My review in one word: Small

The room has a bed, a desk with a TV, a bathroom with a (small) tub and a shower, and a mini bar without any supplies (overpriced or otherwise). That’s it. No closet. No chair (although the desk has a stool). And there is no place other than the bed to open up and lay out your luggage. The bed is short. I am 6 feet tall, and my toes stick out over the end. If I sit on edge of the bed, I can change the channel on the TV on one end of the room with one hand while opening the drapes over the window with my other hand on the other end.

I’m not surprised by any of this. Most of the reviews on Expedia where I booked the room mentioned the modest size. What did surprise me was the fact that the hotel is under renovation. As the name of the hotel implies, the view from the window includes a view of the harbor. I can see the ITF building across the waters. The new ITF building on the Kowloon side of the harbor (also under construction) climbs up into the sky nearby and disappears into the clouds on a rainy day. But the bamboo scaffolding that encases the building obscures the view somewhat. In the afternoon, the lively sound of jackhammers cheerfully serenade any after lunch siesta.

My review in two words: Small, cheap.

The price of the room is among the lowest in Hong Kong, which is surprising considering the fact that the hotel is smack dab in the middle of densely populated Kowloon -- at one time the most densely populated place on the planet. This prime real estate is located across the street from a public park which surrounds historic Tin Hau Temple. If you don’t want to hang out in your cramped room, you can easily hang out under the trees in the park. I booked the room during the non-peak days of Monday through Thrusday, so the price was only $50 US per night -- the same price as a room at the Motel 6 near Fudruckers on I-5 back home near Portland. This is only a dollar less than the Ramada I stayed at earlier in the year. In contrast, the Ramada had a full-sized, modern-décor room with two twin sized beds and a TV that works. I could have booked a room at the Ramada again, but it is located on the southern side of the harbor, and I wanted to say on the northern side this time. I’m glad I did.

My review in one sentence: Small describes both the price and the dimensions of the room, but not the location.

Correction: The room does, in fact, have a closet -- about 8 inches deep. I must have mistook it for a wall panel.

Trouble Over the Pacific

We had some trouble over the Pacific. Not engine trouble -- thank God for that. Travel by plane is among the safest methods available per mile traveled. Someone came down with flu-like symptoms in a region of the globe where swine flu is a real and present danger. I managed to get an aisle seat over the wing on the right hand side of the plane: seat 32H. After we touched down, a team of about a half-a-dozen medical personnel boarded the plane wearing medical blue shower caps, surgical smocks, facial masks, and surgical gloves. The hovered helpfully around a seat located behind the wing and to the left. The flight attendants handed out sheets of paper requesting the names, seat locations, contact information, and itineraries of the other passengers. We passed back the sheets to the medical attendants before we were allowed to leave the plane.

Before I left to China, I had to get a visa. While I was getting the visa through a visa service, I was emailed an extension question from the Chinese Embassy: where have you been in the previous month? The paperwork upon entering Canada had the same question. I wasn’t asked these questions last year. The paperwork passed around by flight attendants contained the same question. It is apparently designed to help backtrack the spread of infectious disease. It is likely that this event will make travel across borders more difficult for the next several months.

Note to self: buy some pocket Purell while I’m in Hong Kong. Use generously.

Hopefully Unrelated

I have noticed that I can relieve the symptoms of a headache by tapping rapidly on my sinuses. Turbulance kicked up, and my head started to ache. Since the seatbelt light was on, I couldn’t stand up and liberate any anelgesitcs from my flight bag. (Note to self: keep a supply of pain relievers in your pocket while flying). Luckily the cabin was pitch black for most of the flight, so I even if I did look like a fool poking his nose for over 90 minutes straight during the latter half of the flight, nobody knew about it. Once the seatbelt light went off, I stood up and got myself an Advil. It worked.