You can tell a lot about a city by its public transport system. The MTR in Hong Kong would have to be up there in conversations about the world’s best.
First up, the signage at street level makes it easy to locate. Just look for the headless man with a long penis doing star jumps.
It probably is supposed to be, a simple representation of a link between to land masses, but if you mentioned that to a first time visitor to Hong Kong they would be left scratching their head.
The tains arrive on-time behind glass and some of the 5 million daily patrons pile out. The graphics on the train make it easy ro work out where you are and when to change for other lines.
The escalators are quick. I swear, any longer on them and I would have needed a decompression chamber.
The primary purpose of my journey was to visit Mong Kok, a bustling food/retail area. One of it’s most popular food haunts is Tom Ho Wan, a dim sum specialist which earned a Michelin star. (I have always found it amusing that the same company that makes tyres now hand out awards for things that don’t taste like rubber). It was packed but after a small wait I scored a seat. Dim Sum in Australia has the ladies pushing the carts around and you eat with your eyes. Here you get a ballot paper and you mark off what you want. Fortunately it was it had English translations (but there was still some confusion). First up, glutinous rice dumpling. This was steamed in a leaf and had mushroom and pieces of meat throughout. This was one of the best things I have ever tasted.
The confusion started when I thought I was going to see congee (a rice porridge) but instead I got poached lettuce. Rookie mistake. Regardless of a Michelin star or not all poached lettuce tastes the same.
Next up, rice rolls with BBQ pork.
No match for the dumpling but better than the lettuce.
As I was walking to catch the train I was amazed how full the TAB (well the Hong Kong equivalent anyway) was at 11am. My golden rule of gambling: never bet on animals, but I have discovered that in Hong Kong I am breaking that rule by eating dead animals. Sometimes it’s a gamble but once again I only have myself to blame. For some reason I thought steamed spare ribs with black bean sauce was going to somehow be BBQ. Disappointment slapped me across the face when it arrived and here I am trying to pick the meat off the bones with my middle of the road chopstick skills.
People next to me were inhaling them like it was their death row meal and the bits of meat I could extricate left me wanting more. But the finger of blame can rightully be pointed at me. But I need to revisit before I go. For those wondering, the bill was $13 AUD.
