After a few more hours of sleep, our travel party reunited to leave the hotel and Kowloon behind. We had an 11 am date with Bennett, the cousin of a good friend, who lives in Hong Kong and had offered to take us out for (real) dim sum. So off we trekked. Our excitement may have gotten the better of us, as we determinedly walked our luggage to the subway station, took the subway to Hong Kong Island, and hiked up to the restaurant. Or perhaps I should say that I was over ambitious: the boys on the trip seem to have packed the same clothes for Glee tour and our own travels, while I has set my SE Asia clothes aside. As a result, I had more luggage and the stairs were tricky. But we arrived at Lin Heun Tea House only a few minutes late and none the worse for wear. Bennett looked very put together in contrast to the sweaty, baggage-toting crew that landed on the restaurant's doorstep, but luckily dim sum places are always noisy and bustling and we fit right in. We even managed to squeeze all of our luggage around our table.
While I have had dim sum before, there were certain aspects of the meal that Bennett still had to explain to me. When a bowl of hot water was poured at our table, I learned that it was for disinfecting the dishes, although as Bennett pointed out you shouldn't be eating the food anywhere that you don't trust the hygiene. It's an old habit that hasn't faded, despite the redundancy here. Then we ordered our food. This place was bustling enough that it didn't have very many carts roaming around. The most popular dishes went so quickly that you had to chase down the cart the minute it crossed the threshold of the dining room. Again, Bennett proved his mettle and got us an array of foods, from buns to dumplings to glutinous rice. One of my favorite dishes was the lotus bun, which taste like it was filled with dense sweet potato chunks and a mash of brown sugar. Again, the company was wonderful. I learn so much about each of my companions every time we talk over a meal.
Full and happy, we taxied the rest of the way up the mountain to the apartment of David's Yale friend. Her family is currently on vacation, and is returning the night that we leave (perfect, no?). One of her brothers was staying in the apartment, and he became an invaluable resource during our stay. The apartment was in a gorgeous building with its own spa, gym, and infinity pool. We took a quick swim and settled in. It's not hard to relax when you're being hosted by kind people in paradise.
When we set out again, it was for a second attempt at the Museum of History. It came highly recommended by pretty much everyone, including several trusty museumphobes. We arrived with an hour until closing, which meant that we got in free but also meant we has to pick our exhibits carefully. I chose to skip over prehistoric Hong Kong and instead went to the exhibits on folk culture, the Japanese occupation, and modern Hong Kong. I learned that Hong Kong has four ethnic groups (including one with the very official name "Boat Dwellers"), that the direct translation of paper offerings is "paper horses" because they replaced the offerings of actual horses, and that there is a famous Chinese (Cantonese) opera called "Advancing Up in the Ranks in Multiple Promotions". Did you know that Chinese "opera houses" were relatively simple temporary constructions? Nothing like the elaborate, lavish, notably permanent structures we use in the US and Europe. I learned that the "seven essences" of a Chinese household/kitchen are firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, and tea. I learned that western medicine truly established itself in Chinese hospitals following the 1884 Medical Registration Ordinance. And that when the Japanese occupation ended, 80% of the people in Hong Kong were malnourished.
After dinner we met up with Clarke, our host (who used to write for a Chinese TV show rip-off of Spongebob Squarepants about kitchen utensils), and decided to head up Victoria's peak by tram to see the city at night and grab a quick dinner. Since we were already most of the way up the mountain, we were able to catch the tram partway through its journey. Getting on the tram was the difficult part, since the entire car was slanted about 30 degrees and you had to cling to the posts so you wouldn't fall. It must have been weird for the people in the car to watch us get on, too, since we looked like we were leaning so far back as we got on. The peak was beautiful at night, and we made a point of picking out all the places we now know, mere days after we stood in the same place and knew nothing.
After the peak, we went to the Happy Valley horse racing track. It was my first time at a horse race, and it was fun. And free! We happened to arrive after 9 pm, so we got in without paying. Being small, I snuck right up to the fence and could watch the glistening horse haunches prance on by. They really are beautiful, powerful creatures.
We ended up all going out together after the races, the two girls in our group (myself included) celebrating the fact that Wednesday night is ladies' night in Hong Kong. We started at Carnegie's, which had champagne and a bar covered in dancing girls and where we found a few Yale acquaintances. Then there was Anchor, where we ran into even more Yalies. We then dabbled in a few other bars, then headed home. But in the process we made new friends, ran into random kids we recognized from classes, danced on bars, ran into Clark's ex-girlfriend, and generally raised hell.
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