Stanley Market and Dinner with Friends!

After we conversed with people who have traveled to or lived in Hong Kong, Stanley Market emerged as a Must Do" during our stint here.  Fortunately for us, Stanley Market is only a 30 minute bus ride from our hotel, so 2 days ago we decided to go for it.  James, who likes to sit on the top level of the buses (they are double deckers), found us two seats on top and we settled in for the trip.  Note:  for those who are unperturbed by heights, fast moving cars, perilous curves, mountainous roads, and steep drop offs, this bus ride IS for you (especially on the top level of a double decker bus - thanks James).  But alas, we arrived safely to the Market and in desperate need of a doughnut and coffee:

We began to walk through the market, which offered... well... everything.  We actually opted to walk the whole market first to get a feel for it, before going into many of the stores or buying anything.  The market consists of about 2 covered streets slammed with stores selling jewelry, trinkets, clothes, and all things a tourist could possibly want to purchase as souvenirs.  As we have 4 months here and are not yet in our apartment, we did not want to go crazy this first visit and opted only to buy a few smaller items, making mental notes of stores we wanted to revisit.

Stanley Market is in Stanley (makes sense, right?), which is on the waterfront and has a beautiful walkway right on the water:

The walkway also has restaurants, so we stopped in for lunch (note: beautiful view... but no A/C):

Later that day we made plans to meet with a friend we met at HKU for dinner.  Kristen is from Houston and will be studying here at HKU for a year.  She called and requested "anything other than Chinese food" for dinner, and we were happy to oblige.  So, we met up at her apartment, which is right by Soho, and walked around, perusing the vast array of restaurants before settling on Jaspas:

Kristen had a good 'ole fashion burger, James had a chicken dish, and I had a vegetarian burrito (yes!!).  And what's dinner without dessert?  And there is only one true dessert that holds James' heart:

I scream, you scream...

Last night, we met up with a GREAT couple from the States.  James reached out to a lawyer from the firm where he will be working next year, and we met up at Hong Kong's BEST Schezuan restuarant.  Like all other things Hong Kong, we walked to a building which had a grocery store on the first floor, a home improvement store on 13, business offices on the others, and the restaurant on 22.  (Hong Kong is SO packed that things are literally wherever they fit).  The couple, who has been in HK for five years, took the reigns with the menu and it did not disappoint.  Highlights: James loved the chicken that you had to dig through dried peppers to find.  Super spicy!  Also, inside the pile of dried peppers were pink peppercorns.  These are not even imported into the U.S., and they literally turn your mouth numb (think a shot of novacane at the dentist).  CRAZY!  Taking into consideration my mainly veggie eating habits, they also ordered 4-5 vegetarian dishes, including a spicy tofu that was the best either of us had ever tasted.  Even after just a week in another culture, it was SO fun to talk at length with people who had so much in common with us and to hear about their experiences in Hong Kong thus far.

Final notes and funny things:  Our urbanists friends out there will love that there is really no such thing as "your table" at casual restaurants here.  You pretty much find two chairs and sit regardless of who else is at the table.  The flip side is that for what ever reason -- people don't tend to sit by us/ex pats in general.  The university described it as shyness or being tentative to use English.  Whatever it is -- it's pretty funny to see someone squirm because they have to sit next to the Americans!  Who knew we were intimidating?  Smelly?  No idea, butI think it's James' angry resting face... I blame his German heritage.  Also, eating etiquette here is very different (think lots of big bites and slurping... that'll take a while to get used to....).  Also, lines or queuing are a thing of mystery here... sometimes being acknowledged and sometimes... well, let's just say someone cutting in line isn't necessarily uncommon.

Many things to learn!