September 02, 2003
Finally quitting Thailand
(And finished "Confessions of an English Opium Eater" :)
The last week in Bangkok was really nice. Did lots of walking around different areas of town, retail therapy (is there a different phrase if you're just looking?), watched a few movies, started reading "Wild Swans: Three Daugters of China", listened to a lot of music...
Yesterday evening I finally made it to China (Hong Kong is China right? :) Had a really easy flight on China Airlines, an hour bus ride into Kowloon (just north of Central Hong Kong) and found a TINY single for $18/night! Ouch! It's very expensive here compared to India/Thailand/Laos... not that I'm complaining. So far it has been a very cullinary experience!
Last night I found a vegie place (you know the kind with all the fake meats).. Had greens with beans :) there was some kind of fake meat that I've never had before, that tasted/textured (is that a word? :) a bit like pumpernikle (sp?)... sounds strange, but was really nice! When I got back to the Guesthouse and checked the news (Did you know news is an acronym for North, East, West South? The order that mail couches arrived in London every morning in the 1800's)... But I digress... on the news they said that there is a grade 1 tornado [update: oops, it was a typhoon, not a tornado] warning... wasn't clear if it was a grade 1 tornado or grade 1 warning... turns out that it's now a grade 8 warning and that there were 140 mph winds in southern Taiwan yesterday from this thing... Apparently grade 8 is pretty dire and most of the shops have closed down... I'm so glad I'm staying on the 14th floor! So far I'm not that worried, it's raining hard out there, but not much wind, will see how things progress. (I'll keep you all posted if it get's freaky!)
Anyway, back to food! This morning, the breakfast joint I was looking for had vanished (I want real time updates to my Lonely Planet!) and there was a Starbucks near-by so... damn... had a blueberry muffin.. mmm... note to self, Starbucks in the US has bad tea, same is true for Starbucks in Hong Kong ;) Then while comparing guest houses, I fell upon a really nice tea shop!
I spent most of the morning trying different teas at Sun Sing Tea here in Kowloon. Nothing spectacular, although a couple of rather nice teas. Too bad the prices are the same as they are in the states... I hope the farmers don't charge this much! ;)
Had Dim-Sum for lunch, was a bit hard communicating that I don't eat pork or beef (horror of all horrors!!!) but it was lovely and now I've found a super fast internet cafe just outside my guest-house! And they have web cams and everything!
I'm planning on spending about 6 days here. I need to get a visa for Taiwan so will do that here, and hope to research and experience tea... Already found one place I've never heard of that has an Oolong tea that tastes like Lychees... quite nice!
Hope you are all very well!!!
-- Bindu
