Macau bound!

Did you know that dragonflies fly in flocks? Maybe they only do it here in Hong Kong. It's so cool at dusk because you look up at the trees, and there's a cloud of dragonflies above them. And we're talkin' big suckers too - as long as your index finger.

Last night I ran into Kristin at the train station on my way to a department store. I ended up nixing my own plans to follow her to a Hong Kong Karate dojo. She wanted to find a karate club and it was somewhere near Kowloon. Anyways, we got off at some random subway station and ended up having to walk for 30-45 minutes to get to the dojo. (We're talking speed walking too.)

The dojo was disappointingly small and similar to the ones in North America. The only interesting difference was that they were much more precise than the martial artists in NA. The orange belts were very hardcore and precise in their movements compared to what I remember them being like in NA.

After the dojo, we got directions from several people to a closer train station... Instead of a 45 minute walk, we only walked about 15 minutes. I gave Kristin clear instructions to mapquest her destinations from now on. Grr!

Today Pei-chin and I went to Tai Po Market. It's at the statio next to the university, and it had a local farmer's market. My mom (she works in a public health unit) would have had convulsions walking around this place.

The first floor was fresh fish/meat. When I say fresh fish, I mean that it's still alive. You see the crabs making a run for it and the fish flopping around. As for the fresh meat, you saw blood on the floor and chunks of meat too from being chopped up in front of your eyes. And they use all the meat... Not just parts of it. I identified tongue, hoof, heart, brain, and most amusingly... Pig head skin. Someone had removed the skin off the head of the pig, so you saw the floppy ears, eye holes and snout... It was neat in a gruesome kind of way. (Oh, and mom? The meat was all hanging out in the open and I saw flies having an orgy on various pieces.)

Upstairs was fresh produce and dry goods. It was interesting seeing more veggies that I couldn't identify. The only aggravating thing was that vendors would speak to me in cantonese consistently even though I was answering in English and making animated gestures that I didn't understand. Get a hint people!

The highlight of my day though was making my plans for the weekend. I'm headed to Macau people! (For the uninitiated, Macau was formerly a Portugese colony that was handed back to China in 1999. It's mainly known for its casinos and gambling scene.)

I'm headed there with 4 other girls, 3 from California and my roommate. I'm leaving on Friday evening and getting back Sunday night. The package we bought was for 3 days and 2 nights, included ferry ride to the island and breakfast at the hotel... And I paid $685HKD - That's $105CAD. Swank! I'm very excited about it now... Because I'll be back in Hong Kong for the official Mid-Autumn Moon festival.

Oh, and another amusing story... I bought some candies on my way home today and was unwrapping them. I was wondering why the hell the store had mummified the damned things in wax paper (I had pulled off two layers of wax paper and was trying to pick off a third). My roommate noticed me and started laughing. It wasn't wax paper - it was rice paper and you're supposed to eat it. Oops. :)