Queueing for dumplings

Normally I go to the place across the road and get my dumplings to go, but I've grown a bit tired of them. They're pretty tasteless, or at least I've come to believe they are. So I decided to go wandering down Langao road to see what I could find. It's a public holiday here at the moment, as it is the Tomb Sweeping holiday. But shops were open..

I came across this place, and got in line. Then I saw they were handing over not money, but tickets. So I asked the last lady in the queue where she got hers and she told me inside at the counter (asked and told being generous descriptions of a series of gestures). So I headed inside and bought two tickets at 3.5 yuan each.

They sold out just as I neared the front of the line. Then they refilled the pan with fresh ones, and covered it with this lid.

Eventually, they were cooked. It took several minutes, if not five to ten of them. I lost track of time because spit while he talks dude in the line in front of me decided to speak lots of Mandarin at me. Apparently he works at some sort of processing plant and he liked my cellphone, which was an ipod touch.

The serving lady sprinkled spring onion across the dumplings.

Scooped up two tickets worth.

Prepared to put the pottle in the bag. When I first arrived, someone wanted a second pottle over their served pottle full of dumplings to keep them warm and fresh or something. The serving lady wasn't going to be having any of that sort of frippery going on.

And handed over to me. The thing about dumplings is that they are filled full of scorching hot broth. I have to spend five to ten minutes walking home and even then they're just cool enough to eat.

Good stuff.

Want want plaza

Nothing really to say about this, just posting it as an observation of the strange name choices made over here.

How many burning buildings do you need?

After standing and watching a burning apartment building in the distance, the last thing I want to know is that I live in a building of my own with a bunch of dumb-arse smokers.

Let's throw our cigarette down in the wooden lift floor!

And again!

And again!

And again!

And for variety, just outside the lift!

Saw this as the hotel I was staying in as well, on their carpet lift floor.

Hong Kong - Star Ferry's Harbour Tour

Having enjoyed the ferry trip back and forwards across the water, and having a few hours to spare on my last day before I could pick up my passport, I decided to take the harbour tour. It basically circulates around the bay, from terminal to terminal, until an hour later you return to your starting point.

This grubby, dirty area is where you ring a bell. Then you wait for twenty minutes until someone finally comes and takes your money and sells you a ticket. Then a little later you are led back out and in the entrance to where the ferry arrives.

This is a map of some kind. Interesting? No idea, I never read it.

The price and timing list. I took the 60 HKD afternoon tour.

The ferry arriving.

Waiting..

Some buildings and a lightly smoggy blue sky.

More of the same.

More of the same.

More of the same.

And finally a smoggy bay view.

Altogether, this was a soulless experience that in no way was as enjoyable as the much shorter earlier trips.

Tom Yum crisp

Went looking in a reasonable cheap Hong Kong supermarket for interesting snacks to try. Found this Thai-style Tom Yum snack.

Imagine if you gathered all the dried herbs and spices that make up a soup, didn't cook them, and crusted them to nuts of some kind.

It was like eating potpourii :-(

Hong Kong - Thank God It's Friday

Lacking satisfying quality junk food in Shanghai, I decided to go into Thank God It's Friday as I passed it by on the street. Big mistake. The first warning should have been its location on the sixth or so floor.

I got a nice window seat. Well, it was a window seat.

First up was the salad. Too much dressing, and overpriced.

Next up was the burger. Small and way overpriced.

An exercise in over-buttered bread and lack of flavour.

And last was the chocolate dessert. Oh wait, they didn't bring that and when I asked for the bill they tried to charge me for it. Then they didn't return my change, when I paid the bill - maybe I was supposed to tip? In any case, the entire menu was unappealing and several of the things I tried to order they didn't have.