There are five smells that I can evoke in my mind. The first, being my socks after a day of use, is not one I am fond to recall. Wine is the second and no surprise to anyone that knows me. Newly laid tarmac – divinely good, and my third. Fourth, the smell at the platform of a London Underground station – well, I’m a Londoner birth and its very evocative for me. After I moved away to the Midlands as a kiddie the day trips to London always started in my heart when I got to the first platform of the Tube. And last, Hong Kong...all of it.
The ‘Hong’ in Hong Kong is actually a corruption of Cantonese heung which means fragrant. While HK airport has a smell, the heung only really kicks in when I reach open air at the exit doors. For years I content to simply associate this heung in a nebulous but positive way with Hong Kong and all the treats it offers. I like being in Hong Kong. However, in 2001 my in-laws did their one and only visit to my home, which at the time happened to be in south London. They did their laundry one day, and I arrived home from work to a smell I concluded was Hong Kong. Since then, it has, and still is, disconcerting to mentally associate an entire city with laundry.
28C at 7am in the morning and the first thing to hit is the humidity. I was expecting this. 28C in a humid place feels hotter and more uncomfortable than in a less humid place such as Melbourne. Patrick, my brother-in-law greeted us at the airport and got us taxied to my mother-in-laws in Wah Kwai estate on Hong Kong Island.
There are three facts to know about Hong Kong. First, it is the busiest port in the world – a homage to the container (in 1960 London was the world’s busiest port but the Thames could not handle the depth of ever enlarging container ships). Second, it is the world’s most densely populated city: 6 million people in a shoebox. And third, Hong Kong people have only one solution to a problem: concrete. It is everywhere. If it can’t be solved with concrete than it can’t really be a problem.
A rite of passage travelling from the airport is to determine what has changed since last being there over four years ago. A new town now exists on Lantau Island that wasn’t there last time I visited. The apartment blocks are ever higher. In the late 1990’s the standard height of HK’s new apartment blocks was 35 storeys. Now it is 55, according to Patrick, who is a civil engineering project manager – so should know.By Hong Kong standards Wah Kwai Estate is older, having been built in the 1980’s. Apparently it is ‘middle class’ which I take on trust. Applying western standards of ‘showing’ oneself to be middle class is not possible. How often have you said ‘that concrete is so middle class'.
At the apartment I caught first sight of my only niece, Wing Hei. She’s getting on for 2 years old. It occurred to me how Chinese she was in attitude already. Quiet rather than rowdy. Observing-and-evaluating rather than doing-and-ruining. Nice kid. The apartment had been reorganised, now only having one TV in the lounge instead of two. A sofa had been removed to make way for kiddie toys. Wen and Patrick had obviously made a big thing about teaching Wing Hei English as there were English language labels on objects: table, door, window.
I knew in advance that Wing Hei would be phased by a big gwai-lo guy smelling of butter (to Chinese people Westerners have a strong body odour of butter due to the fact that Chinese traditionally don’t eat dairy produce. Our propensity to dairy comes out through our pores). Her shock was expected, she simply hasn't met a gwai-lo. For all Hong Kong people make a point of pride of it being East Meets West, it is very easy to avoid the West in HK, and for me much more enjoyable when we do. Wah Kwai is very much a locals area. No westerners here. I get stared at all the time. Quite enjoy it.
Got brekkie at a dai pai dong café in Wah Fu estate. Warmed pineapple bun with a slab of butter melting instead, iced coffee made with condensed milk, and a bowl of macaroni in soup with satay beef strips. Cost? Two aussie dollars.
Getting provisions
When I first went to Hong Kong I heard anti-supermarket stories. Better to go to the market they said. Better the culture of small traders they said. But over time this has changed. People getting sick of being ripped off by a small trader, or poor product. Better the consistency of the supermarket. In 10 years time they'll be mourning the demise of the small trader. So into Wellcome supermarket in Wah Fu we went. First thing to find was coffee, and a pang of patriotism as I saw Robert Timms expresso coffee there. Actually it was the only choice, and I would have preferred Lavazza anyhow. I noted that Euro goods were proudly marked out with a flag of the country of origin. I saw our Tim Tams. Hoorah! But no flag. The Union Jack displayed proudly by the Hob Nobs - not seen by my eyes in over four years. Had to buy them, along with the infamous Great Wall cabernet sauvignon. Pat's Achilles Heel is crackers and savoury biscuits. The aisles of Chinese crackers sent her into a spin. We left poorer, but happier.
At 7pm we made off the eat by catching the number 4 bus from Wah Fu to Sheung Wan via the ritually tortuous winding streets. The service buses are fitted with TVs to increase advertising opportunities. Sheung Wan is still full of shops selling dried fish and meat and other dried foodstuffs.
At my request our destination was Lin Heung (http://www.linheung.com). My father-in-law took us there several years ago and I greatly enjoyed what I now know to be really old fashioned Cantonese cuisine. I had asked to return.
We were in a new branch of it, where we met Man-gor, Yi-dje and Dzi-Man. Lin Heung seemed suspiciously clean, but there were reassuring omens in the hand scrawled menus on the wall, the sheer volume levels of the clientele, and the French toilet. My mother-in-law had pre-ordered eight treasures duck. The meal started well and never lowered its standard. A small slab of liver on top of an equally sized slab of pure fat, atop a slab of Chinese ham. Gorgeous. The baked eggs with fish belly was interesting but not mind-blowing. The show was stolen by a delightful winter melon soup cooked with a frogs legs stock. Balanced, mild and delectable.
Wine Tasting: Great Wall 2007, Cabernet Sauvignon (HKD39), China
Well I had too, it's a rite of passage. Almost no nose, but a slight hint of sourness. A taste - yuk - acidic and somewhat unpleasant. Bring out the Hawkes Bay merlot we held in reserve. Still, Great Wall was light years better than the Bass Phillip Village I drank in Bendigo earlier in the year.
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