Day 8 (Max)

Day 8 was a return back to Central in Hong Kong Island to catch up on missed attractions. First I walked to a nearby noodle shop for a quick bite to eat. A vegetable and rice noodle soup was my dish of choice (the lighter meal was a nice change of pace from the richer protein/fat meals I have eaten since I've gotten here).

After eating, I strolled over to the Man Mo temple. It is a place of worship for both the Man and Mo chinese gods. The temple is known for its decorations, statues and constantly burning incense candles. Although tourists regularly go through the building, I found the smells overwhelmingly irritating and left soon after arriving.

My next destination was the Museum of Medical Sciences. I learned about the Chinese perspective on medicine - including an analysis of SARS, the logic and structure of eastern medicine (with western equivalents), the outbreak of plague in China, and how/why China performs quarantines. My studies and background in biology/chemistry certainly helped my appreciation of the museum, along with my fascination of medicine and science.

Returning home, myself, Sam, Sam's roommate Paul and Sam's friend Kathleen/Kathy (the english assistant from earlier in the week) all went out for Hot Pot. Hot Pot is a popular Hong Kong meal where everyone places a type of uncooked food into a boiling communal soup. Think Melting Pot with chinese food/vegetables, far more popularity and affordability. Thankfully for our group, Kathleen was fluent in Cantonese, a veteran of Hot Pot and understood Hong Kong culture, so we let her order the majority of the food. I didn't recognize everything she ordered, though some of the highlights of the meal included beef, squid, and a type organ meat (Kathleen didn't know the english translation but my suspicion was a type of intestine). One of my favorite meals of the trip so far!

Kathleen left our group and we completed the night's cabal with Sam's other roommate Paul, Sam's friend Taylor (with girlfriend) and Sam's girlfriend. The group traveled to SoHo in Hong Kong Island (think Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia but more intense/Chinese) and visited a couple of bars. The first bar was just a standard open-air sports bar with an impressive beer collection (Chimay Blue was my favorite) and mounds of discarded peanut shells on the floor. The second bar fostered a sense of mystery and confusion, as large curtains covered and obscured the door. Once in, victorian-era furniture defined the interior decoration, with strawberry and chocolate margaritas as the drink of choice.

We left the second bar close to 3AM, heading home for some sleep and declaring the night a profound success!

Cheers!

Max