First part of x parts

What can I say about Hong Kong? It's Thursday now - I arrived back in Melbourne late last Tuesday evening to a sea of Melbourne Storm players, and the Border Security TV crew filming. The flight back was a little painful - I sat next to a fairly large man, who, to his credit, tried to keep to his seat most of the time. But because he was big, with big bones, and a big structure, whenever he moved, he would knock me, and wouldn't realise he was knocking into me until a while later, and then apologise profusely. I feel for guys on planes, or anyone big on planes, especially on long flights.. You just can't move. And he was considerate enough to try and NOT move throughout the whole trip.

And what about the rest of the Hong Kong trip, you ask? Yes, it was good. It felt like a city away from home. I could very well see myself living and working there. Admittedly, I stayed in the business district, where everyone spoke English. If I had stayed in Kowloon, or other areas, I may have had a different opinion altogether.

On the night I arrived, we went to a dinner party with Vincent's friends, and had some very authentic Chinese food. Maybe it was because I was used to westernised food, but it was not my cup of tea. There were a few dishes I liked, but many I just couldn't eat, like Pig's Trotters, for example. Luckily for me, I was able to eat mostly the vegetables, and seafood dishes that looked easy, and familiar. Not so for Winnii.

At the very start of the dinner, as they brought out small nibbles, KK asked if we would like some, pointing to a pickled cucumber dish. Philip, one of Vincent's friends, kindly said it was a traditional Chinese dish. It looked easy to eat to me, so I accepted. Very similar to Kim Chi, if you like Korean food. Luckily I accepted the food, because Winnii got into a bit of strife when she declined, stating that she liked meat, and deterred from eating vegetables.

Philip and the rest of the table laughed, wanting to see Winnii eat something. The very next dish to arrive at our table was the Pig Trotter's, brought out on a small plate. Philip enthusiastically said, 'Oh Yes! This is a meat dish! You must try this! It's very traditional!' The rest of the table nodded their heads in agreement, and the spotlight was completely on Winnii, and whether she would oblige them. I actually couldn't look at Winnii because I felt for her, but she braved the faces, and braved the dish, and ate some to satisfy her onlookers. Goodness, was I relieved that I had already satisfied them by eating the vegetables.

Afterwards, we headed to the popular foreigner nightlife area, Lan Kwai Fong. This area, sitting on a slope, was completely surrounded by tourists and foreigners. The atmosphere was electric though - it felt like a New Year's party, and with the streets so crowded, it looked like a New Year's party too. Because I had been up for almost 24 hours by that time, and feeling feint and dizzy, my memory of the night is quite hazy. But not wanting to spoil the party (or rather, upon Winnii and KK's insistence), I downed a Red Bull, and joined Winnii, KK, Vincent, Alice and David at Volar, which reminded me very much of a typical Melbourne club. Everyone speaking English, similar music, similar lights, similar ambience, it felt just like any other good club you would find in Melbourne, or Sydney.

One thing that differed from your typical Melbourne/Sydney club was that we were raided by Police officers around 11:30pm. About 50 armed Police officers entered the club, on the search for suspicious looking people, and requesting I.D. David (or Uncle as we would later call him) said it was total hypocrisy, and a scare tactic, because these officers didn't have the power to arrest you unless you either possessed drugs on you, or didn't have any I.D. And very rarely would they arrest you for possession of drugs, because you could just throw it on the table or the floor, and deny it was yours, and they would have no power to restrain you.

The night ended around 4am, by which time I had been up for about 28 hours straight, and running on adrenalin. The following day (aka a few hours later on Sunday), was a complete blur. All I remember was shopping at IFC (International Finance something..), and then *blank*. Sunday evening we went around to Vincent and KK's residence where Vincent entertained us with his exceptional cooking skills. My oh my, were we spoiled. Completely, utterly, thoroughly. Vincent made a delicious seafood buffet, crammed with prawns, clams, scallops, a whole steamed fish, half a lobster each, and a specialty Chinese dish, Drunken Crab.

The story behind the crab dish was actually quite interesting. Whilst Winnii and I stood just outside the kitchen - you could not fit more than 1 person easily inside the kitchen - we watched Vincent unpack all the groceries, and place the crab gingerly inside a huge pot. Winnii casually asked what Vincent was treating us to for the evening, to which Vincent responded a traditional Chinese dish, Drunken Crab.

And then he opened a bottle of wine, decanting it's contents completely into the pot.

Winnii jokingly said, "Are you trying to make the crab drunk?"
Vincent's response: "Umm… Ofcourse! It's Drunken Crab!"

Winnii and I laughed quite hard, thinking he was completely joking, but kid you not, that was exactly what he did. The theory behind this dish, as we discovered over dinner, was that by making the crab drunk, it would relax it's muscles, so when cooked, it would be quite tender. We mused that only the Chinese would see culinary skills from this kind of philosophy, and care into their meals. It took the crab a few hours to drink the whole bottle, by which stage we were already well and truly satiated on prawns, clams, fish, lobster and scallops.

It was a fantastic night though. Vincent, David and KK entertained us with stories, and we were stuffed with food, and Winnii, on wine. Definitely a highlight of the trip, and more of the holiday to come at a later date.