On Ordering Chicken Feet and Other Adventures

The harbor at night, viewed from the highest point
in Hong Kong, Victoria's Peak. It was windy!

Greetings from Hong Kong! Xīn nián kuài lè! I've been here nearly a week, I know, but Hong Kong is a bustling, busy city and it definitely took a few days for me to get my bearings, shake off the lingering jet lag, and experience enough to give me something to write about.

Now, I could do a minute by minute recap of the last few days, but clearly what everyone really wants to hear about are the misadventures that come from being in a city where I know none of the language and can read and recognize nothing. Let me preface this by saying that I've not yet gotten sick and not yet tasted anything that I truly didn't like or had to spit out. Which I think means I'm not trying hard enough! I will try harder.

So, the food. Believe it or not, I've not had much rice in my diet as of yet: most of my meals have consisted of noodles, which are similar to (but much better than) ramen noodles in the states. I've tried an assortment of additions to these noodles - that's how I discovered that I apparently like shrimp roe! Also, the thing so far that has made my stomach turn the most was the gray beef meat balls I sampled on my noodles for dinner tonight. Yes, the menu picture I pointed to was labeled "beef," but what kind of beef and what part of the cow were definitely in question. The fish ball additions to my noodles I tried on the first day were much more to my liking.