Hong Kong, Day 1

All cities have an individual beat.  Hong Kong almost feels as if the buildings are coming down upon you.  There are new buildings coming up next to hovels.  The sidewalks are narrow and they meander throughout the town.  It is an assault on the senses.

Drugs were the key to going to sleep the first night as if getting up in the morning was business as usual and there wasn’t any 12 hour time difference that my body is experiencing.

We stuck to the Central area of HK today.  Our first stop was Lin Heung Tea House.  Grabbing a seat here is even a combat sport.  After a lot of hedging our bets, we finally grabbed four seats.   Tea was served.  There were a few others are our table and told us the key was to wash our cups with the hot water bowl first.  We followed suit before pouring some tea.

Now it was about getting the dishes.  Lounging and hoping that a good cart will come by is not going to get you anywhere in this place.  We would spot a new person coming out of the kitchen with a cart and would hone in with everyone else and with a little push and shove get the dish we wanted.  You have to have a card for them to make note of what you got or you get nothing.   The highlight was really the sticky rice with chicken.

We walked down to Peddler Street where most of the top galleries are located.  Gagosian had a show with a handful of artists called Arcadia.  This is Jeff Koons.

Chun Kwang Young was at Pearl Lam Galleries.  These pieces were amazing.  Each of them was made with mulberry paper.  The photos absolutely do not do them justice.  The intricacy of each piece was amazing.  Young is one of the premier contemporary Korean artists.

Hyon Gyon at Ben Brown Fine Arts, gold skateboards.

Calligraphy of Wang Dongling was really interesting at Hanart TZ gallery.  Each piece had a poem that it was connected to.

Mr. at Lehman Maupin.  Loved these.

Over to Kau Kee for lunch.  A ridiculous line…and worth waiting for.

The brisket beef noodle soup with egg noodles was absolutely delicious.  I could eat this any day.

At one time on Hollywood Road there was housing for married families who worked for the police.  Now it is called PMQ and it houses start-ups, design studios, stores, a few food stores and a cooking school.  Very Etsy like.

Dessert was calling for our afternoon pick me up and we wandered over to Tai Cheong Bakery.  Again a line but it moves quick.  We picked up an egg custard each.

Before we got there we stopped in a gallery with prints by Yayoi Kusama.  She had done the illustrations for Alice in Wonderland book and these prints came from that.  Loved the self-portrait.

We continued to stroll through Central.  There is an area called the Wet market where there are butchers.

Vegetable stands.

This was an all women’s owned fish shop.  All these shops are down alleyways where no cars go.

Eggs from everywhere

Where to next?  Ten Feet Tall Massages.   Foot massages for all of us.  Much needed!

Took a quick stop in the hotel before heading out for dinner.  We stopped into Bibo for a drink.  A Very cool bar filled with art.

Then over to Lung King Heen for dinner.  The only 3 star Chinese Michelin restaurant.  Crispy delicious suckling pig.

Their take on roasted chicken.  I could have had one myself.  They serve it with fresh lemon juice on the side.

Nothing else rocked our boat although we did try a wine from China which was actually not bad.

Might be on the time zone already.