These past few days here have been free for us to decide how to fill them, and fill them we have! Today was no different. Today we decided to venture back to Kowloon to see the harbor in daylight and then visit the Temple Street Market.
The Harbor was just as beautiful during the day, and the avenue of stars was much easier to read! I managed to find Jackie Chan's plaque and put my hands in the mold. Plus we visited some tiny Disney merchandise shops on the harbor for the air conditioning but were enamored with the things sold there. Some of it was real Disney pens and rain jackets and things, but they also had a ton of Garfield accessories for you and your phone. Plus, we found a new statue of a golden pig that was super cute!
After that, and some heavy rain that came and went quickly, we took the train to Jordan Station, and visited the market. However, we got there very early and many of the stalls were still setting up, or not even there yet, so we decided to head to dinner to pass a few hours until the market opened. As we walked down the street deciding on where to eat, we had stopped to look at an outside menu when the door of the restaurant opens and a woman says "We have room!" and she nearly pulled us into the building! There was no question of "do we want to eat here?" we just all walked in. It didn't hurt the restaurant that it met all of our criteria: air conditioning, seats and food(not any specific kind of food, because, really, we have no idea what we are eating most of the time anyway, so why try and even think about a type of food). So we sit down in this tiny back room with our large group, and a waitress, the only one who has any hope of understanding our English comes with a hand full of menus saying they were in English and hands them all out (thank goodness too, or this meal would have been way more interesting!). Thank goodness, both for us and the waitress, Amy was with us again to translate, even though most of the ordering was done through pointing to picture and words. What was really great (other than the savory pork neck I had for dinner) was that at the end of the meal we asked if we could split the check(something no one does here, they all just pay a portion-its actually kind of frowned upon to split a check, thank goodness the waitress didn't seem to mind), so our waitress plops herself into the vacant chair with our check and a calculator and starts collecting money, but only some of us have the exact amount, so she start giving us change from what the previous person paid (like I paid for my meal, then some of my money was given back to Amy because she paid too much). The whole thing was an ordeal, but the waitress made it really fun and we were laughing the whole time! Plus, she was a really good sport about it:)Then, as we were still killing time siting in the restaurant, the waitress came to the back room we were in to eat on her break and we sat and talked (well her and Amy talked and Amy translated for us) with the waitress for a good 20 minutes! We talked about her and her kids, why we were here and where we were from, even the fact that it was her 3rd day working after 5 years as a stay at home mom and that she had gambled with Mahjong that morning for only 10 minutes and lost HK$6000 (US$744)and it was no big deal! The whole thing was just so much fun, but what was better was the few moments that I was able to sort of follow the conversation even though it was in Cantonese!
Even though it has only been 4 days (not that I believe that, because it feels like I have been here and made memories enough for weeks!) I can identify the Cantonese character for Exit, and the hand sign they use to denote six. Plus, I have found that if you listen closely, they have picked up words from when they were under British rule that give clues on to what they are talking about. Then you couple that with the hand gestures they have, and you can almost follow the conversation!
After all that fun, the market was finally open and ready for shopping so we headed over to that. Here's what the market entrance looked like!
Going into this I knew that these are the places to bargain, but it's the first market I went to so I just wanted to look and see what starting prices were. However, the moment you start looking the shop keepers hover, and if you ask to know a price they automatically think you are going into negotiations because you plan to buy, not just look. Often, I just wanted to know a starting price to understand how things were priced, and to get a feel for how markets work price wise, but not everything has a price sticker on it. So if you ask the price and enter the bargaining stage, the only was to get them to stop so you can get away is to give a really low price you know they won't take so they want to end the conversation. It was tiring just trying to get out of the conversation, I can imagine how it will be when I actually want to buy something!
I did buy a souvenir though! Thankfully someone else helped with bargaining, so I'll learn from their example when I want to do it later. What I got are a pair of decorative shot glasses that have the harbor on them, one in gold and one in silver. They are really interesting mementos! However, one thing I will go back and buy is this canvas painting (they say hand made but when three stalls have the exact same picture, color and all, I call BS) of Victoria Harbor at sunset in full color with the famous traditional ship ( I can never remember the name but the one with fan like red sails that I can never get a good picture of). It was just so beautiful and really caught the harbor better than a picture, and the only reason I didn't get it today was because I didn't want to give out the rest of my cash, and not have any in case of emergency. But it will adorn my walls eventually!! Over all, them market was really neat, and I can't wait to check more out and see what they all have to offer.
The biggest surprise of the day was when I got back to my room to find that I finally have a room mate!Her name is Sarah, and she is an exchange student from Singapore. She speaks English as well as any American (it is their main language after all) and she is so nice, and very easy to talk to, so this will definitely make the semester easier!
I'm off to watch movies in the lounge with friends, so talk to you later after my 3 day orientation and school and all the boring stuff that starts now that my 4 day mini vacation is up:(
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