Rambling on in our Chinese fandango

fan·dan·go/fanˈdaNGgō/

Noun:

A lively Spanish dance for two people, typically accompanied by castanets or tambourine. A foolish act or thing.

• Now we may not be in Spain or have castanets in our pockets, but there is definitely a rhythm in Hong Kong that one has to grow accustomed- and into. I'm also not implying that Blaine and I dance, but rather us with the culture and spirit of Hong Kong. Gosh I regret using this word, but my backspace is giving me problems.
• As for the foolish part...Sometimes life can only be enjoyed with a few bad decisions.

Two misconceptions I had about Hong Kong that were rectified drastically early on:

1. Nature conservation here is of lowest priority and Hong Kong is all concrete no green.
2. The people of Hong Kong can't be as happy as us westeners, because we are living the life aren't we?

I was pleasantly suprised by the fact that out of the total 1,092 km² of Hong Kong land, about three-quarters is countryside. Namely forest, nature birds, lots of snakes, wild boar, fireflies, monkeys etc etc. The nature scene, as I have mentioned before, remind me of the spectacular scenery of Tsitsikamma National Park on the Garden Route, Western Cape and Eastern Cape, South Africa. Fires aren't permitted anywhere in the forests and there are fire whackers made of rubber all around.

As for my prior beliefs that the people here aren't happy with life. What a flawed view! I kick myself for ever thinking so. Back in day 1, after pointing out to Blaine that they may not be the jolliest bunch, we started observing them. Bear in mind that I wrongly assumed this because of the strict schooling program they adhere to (school starts 6 days a week at age two) and the mindless working-hours:
People were just laughing everywhere for no reason in the subways, teasing each other, smiling, being polite and just having a good time with life. (That is, when they aren't looking at their phones, I have to have a talk with Samsung and Apple soon). That will teach me to judge a whole nation before seeing them with my own eyes first.


Tuning into some South African radio, missing home
Just for fun I tuned into 5FM radio station to see what is happening to South Africa as of late. I happened to tune into Alex  Jay's program the impossible quiz, where he stated the words "...and this Hong Kong born athlete holds a 3 decade record in the olympics for the 50mile race...". This 'coincidence' stunned me completely, one of those moments... Good thing I do not believe in coincidences whatsoever.

Who is this mystery Hong Kong born marathon extraordinare? The man "who put the Comrad in the Comrades" Bruce Fordyce. Ah South Africa how you will never cease to give me gifts for the day.

Don't judge my pics of the food I eat:

I have an odd interest with all the food here and, mostly for my own memory, I have made a compilation of what I have eaten in the past few days...again. ha ha. Bear with me:

Breakfast: Left if a steamed pork bun and on the right is the infamous congi (imagine oats crossed with rice with muschies, meat and corn in between)

I foget what this is called, but it was good

Lunch: Left is boiled Chinese lettuce, which made me feel like a Chinese bunny.
On the right is by far my most favourite dish in existence ever. Tsa seu fann or something like that. It is honey glazed pork something roast with rice and some plant. It is delicious and have probably eaten my body-weight in this dish so far.

I was still hungry after the previous plate, so Maggie ordered me some Dim sum, ah it was pleasantly nutty and spicy inside.
Imagine putting nuts in a  delicious sticky jellyfish and heating it up in the microwave. This is it.

 Blaine and I had our washing done!
We were so proud, even though we did not wash it ourselves. Any form of successful communication in English with a Chinese service giver is worth a celebration dance.

Our newly washed clothes, gift-wrapped with love. "Please oh please let the clothes be pressed and folded"

Good enough. We smell yummy now.

7/11, we appreciate you, we would like you to know this.

The beloved sign

 Give me this chance to share with you the amazing presence in Hong Kong that goes by 7/11. This store literally sits on every street corner, each ones contents is unique and the one you go to has exactly what you need. In our case, mostly cheap beer and for me, chocolates (you would be suprised at the sparsity of milk products this side. I feel I can relate to pregnancy cravings now)

I am probably holding a chocolate in my hand as I was taking this photo.

Short story: Alex finds a genius

My iPod has been giving me troubles. Major stressor in life. Alex goes to biggest Apple store he has ever seen. Alex asks for a genius. Gets one. Looks at iPod, types things on his mac. Fix! So happy now :D

This store probably has 200 money -throwers in it at any given time.

 Some late Sunday market adventures by Alex

Sham Shui Po: The' technology market. Potential bargains on everything. Earphones. Chargers. Batteres (2US$ for 24 duracel AA's). Adaptors. Phones. Phones. Tablets. 2nd hand phones. Solar panels. Speakers. LED lighting. Power drills (new and used) and many more.

The view upon exiting Mong Kong subway station. Mong Kok: Impossible amounts of billboards and people.

A quick snap whilst crossing the street in Mong Kok.

Various deliciousnesses on stalls all around. If the line is very long, you know it's good. The smells are utterly enchanting. Have no idea what I'm looking at but I had a few in my mouth 10HK$ later.

Some barbecuing, will be in my mouth next time. 

This lady has the prestigious carreer of dishing out balls of heaven out to people. Imagine waffles, but as balls with other smells. They smell lovely.
Please ignore the two fish on sticks just next to the waffleballs.

Street perforemers everywhere. There were loads more, including a  jolly paraplegic dwarf man with the most beautiful voice ever. Such a lovely vibe.

Blaine and I were moved to the student residence this afternoon. We love the room because our beds, linen and duvets are not pink anymore. The mattresses are also super thin: MAN POINTS.