Day 5 - Trains.....trams and automobiles...

Dim Sum for Brekkie
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No sleepin in for me this morning as i was meeting Amanda in Kowloon at 10am. We went to a local restaurant which was a very similar set up to the previous night (very big very busy - like a canteen - and very bright tacky decor!) for Dim Sum. Dim Sum and Yum Cha (translated means 'drink tea') are very popular past times at the weekend. The restaurant was full of lots of families and also old folk readin their papers (apparently they sit there for hours). Again the menu was in chinese so i was in Amanda's hands with regards to what we ordered. I asked her what would happen if i went there on my own and she explained that it wasn't really a place where tourists went...only locals. When we arrived the first thing we got was chinese tea but before you drink it you they place a large bowl in the middle of the table and you use the tea to wash your serving bowl chop sticks and tea cup then empty the tea in the big bowl in the middle....apparently you do this because they're not posh restaurants and most people feel the dishes might not be a clean as they could Amanda explained that you wouldn't do this at an expensive restaurant. So as well as the tea breakfast menu was:

• Meatballs in a vinegar sauce (they were fine)
• Again some sort of meat in a soft pastry
• Cha Seo Buns (pork in a sweet doughy bun) sounds horrible but were actually really good
• Some fish thing which i passsed on

Dim Sum
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So with breakfast over i finally realised why every toilet i go to in restaurants have no bog paper.  The role is outside the cubicles and you have to take your paper before you plonk yourself on the lav.

you appartently pick the one you want and they'll kill pluck and clean it in front of your eyes!!!!!

We then caught the bus out to whats called the New Territories (which is where Amanda lives) a lot of 'new towns' were built out there to house the growing population of Hong Kong.  They again are full of high rises but much quieter than HK Island and Kowloon.

The market....wasn't allowed to take photos inside
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First stop was the village of Tin Shui Wai (we transfered fro the bus to the train to get there - another mode of transport!).  This is aparently one of the closest villages to the border with mainland china and is quite a poor area as many chinese immigrants stay there when they cross the border.  There is a heritage trail there which took about 2 hours to walk round.  It was really interesting and gave you an insight into village life over the years.  The only down side was...as usual...the humidity....it was absolutley awful...needless to say i was sporting a lovely afro by the end of the walk (and got crackin pics to prov it )

Amanda having desert
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After a few hours of culture we took yet another mode of transport (got them all in today!) the light railway...which is a modern day version of the old trams on HK Island...to Yuen Long (one of the biggest towns in the New Territories)  Here we had a wander round the shops....all window shoppin since anything bought has to go on ma backpac .  Then it was lunchtime (bloody hell those chinese can't half eat!!!!) we had a 2 course meal in another restaurant that was a bit more westernised (well it had forks and knives at least!)  Again tho i made the mistake of letting Amanda order and it turned out to be some sort of tongue!

A local Shop
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The best bit of the day was after lunch....Tai Kiu Market....altho i'm rather glad we didn't pay this a visit before lunch.  They sell evrything here's a few examples:

• Cows tongue
• Pigs Lung (hanging from the ceiling!)
• All manner of fish still swimming in the trays
• One particular fish was cut in half but you could still see its inners moving
• Live frogs
• Live crabs
• Chicken feet
• Chickens still with the head on and

........wait for it........

LIVE CHICKENS IN CAGES....you appartently pick the one you want and they'll kill pluck and clean it in front of your eyes!!!!!

Amazing place tho and one i wouldn't have seen if i hadn't got the opportunity to meet up with Amanda.

So after more meandering round the streets of Yuen Long we took.....yes you guessed it....another mode of transport (the public light bus...i.e. a minibus...which by the way was a pretty hairy ride) to Amanda's home town of Tuen Mon.  She took me to their apartment which was very small (but then everything is here) and we just chilled for a while.  They have cable so i got my fix of the BBC world channel and watched the news.

Finally it was time for more food  again a very similar restaurant but this time in Tuen Mon and Amanda's parents joined us.  I'm getting a dab hand at the chop sticks now tho   You know how in the chinese restaurants at home they put the food on hot plates to keep it warm well over here they have a different system.  They warm the centre of the table with a gas cylynder under the table!!! Very innovative

So thats about it in a nut shell for day  ...it really was trains trams and automobiles but glad i got to see real life in HK