Dang xin, wo bi ni da*

Last night, after cocktail hour, Filiz and I went on a shopping mission to the Mong Kok district. It seemed to be the real Hong Kong. The 'ladies market' is here, so called because the stalls sell masses of fake designer handbags and watches. Everything is insanely cheap, although you really do have to haggle. The sellers, usually women, are very sweet, and say "Hello missy, lookie lookie" and then when you try to haggle, they say, "oh no, you very bad, you very rich" (er, not anymore dear, I've just offloaded all my cash to you and your compatriots). Designer handbags aren't my thang, but I did get lots of nice gifts (although some of them I am sure I will end up keeping for myself, as is my wont). Anyway, this market went on forever and was packed, even at 23:00.

We soon realised, Filiz and I, that our map reading skills are not the best but, as I was perusing my map, I noticed something called 'goldfish market'. Well of course I had to have a look. TRAUMATISED! There were hundreds of beautiful, colourful fish hanging there in bags so small, most of them couldn't even move. It was awful. Then we saw stingrays being fed with guppies - poor guppies, gulped down in one go. There were also pet shops there too - puppies and kittens in tiny glass cages with hug signs saying "no photo, no video". Anyway, we got out of that district as soon as possible and carried on with our shopping mission.

Interesting train facts:
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- The Airport express train has little screens in the back of each seat so you can watch tv while you travel (unless you get into a 'quiet car'where there are no screens!)

- The MRT trains are really long, and have no carriages or partitions, so when you are inside you can see all the way from one end to the other.

- They smell funny, and someone told me that it was the disinfectant they use to cleanse them (every half hour apparently).

- The hand grips hanging from the ceiling are low enough even for me to hold without stretching.

- The locals can sleep in the most awkward of positions!


* "Just watch out cos I'm bigger than you" - it's something I can say to almost everyone here :), thanks Sara!