Today was designated "sister day." I slept hard that night, and struggled to get up, but I wanted to take He Meng to school. He wore two uniforms, one was an active one, the other was a sailor's uniform with a pink kerchief. The school was around the corner from the apartment. It was adorable to see a bunch of three-year-olds wearing uniforms. Let me explain housing in Hong Kong. There is often a cluster of high-rise buildings up to 40 floors tall around a square that might have a park or Chinese chess or tables for old men to play mah jong. There areas are connected via walkway. This is also the level where you would find schools and playgrounds. Often times there would be a supermarket, local chain restaurant, and convenience store. I got a kick out of the local supermarket "wellcome." Underneath all of this would be a level for the market. Each estate has about four buildings. To put that in perspective: 4 people per apartments (what Yin Yin thinks is average) times 10 apartments per floor is 40 people per floor. Times this by 40 floors and you have 1600 people in your building. Times this time four towers in the estate and you have 6400 people in a square block. This is the exact opposite of where I live in Alaska. At school each kid entered by getting their forehead scanned for their temperature and taking a pump of hand sanitizer. Then we were off on an adventure to Cheong Chan Island. It took us a couple of hours to get there. First we had to catch a 10 minute bus to the MTR, then take the MTR to Hong Kong station, then take an hour long ferry to this charming, charming little island. The day previous I learned the word "heeeyy" which meant that feeling you get when you just kick back and relax. Cheong Chan is all about heeyyy. The other attraction are the buns. Big fist-sized buns with a red print on them that translates into "Safety," were everywhere. Forget about safety dance, these are the safety buns. We did not partake in the safety bun, but instead got some street food. Much to my dismay this included more fishballs, this time with satay, and some sort of soybean on a stick. After looking at a couple local shops Yin Yin and I took a nap on a white sand beach, feeling miles and miles away from the craziness of Hong Kong. There was a lot to do on this little island. I would gladly go back to do some hiking and explore where pirates used to hide out. But today was about relaxing. And we did. Until some giant helicopter came along and woke us up. We wandered more. Ended up in a neighborhood where Yin Yin suggested we turn around as to not bother the locals. Food was the next priority. I had recently watched Anthony Bourdain's show "The Layover" where we ate heaps of seafood in Hong Kong and was feeling like doing the same. We walked by an open-air cafe. Yin Yin read the menu which offered a fixed price for $200 HKD ($26USD). This included chili garlic crab, sweet and sour fish (caught fresh, we saw it wiggle), coconut shrimp, sticky rice, bok choy, and tea. This was one of the great meals in my life. As Yin Yin poured the tea over our chopsticks and bowl I asked her what the significance of that was. "Oh we don't trust the establishment to wash their dishes because everything is so quick." We ate and ate and ate. This is typical Hong Kong. A wild cat wound between patron's chairs. We watched as people streamed by on bikes. Workers carrying cargo had this system going where they would gather speed, then hop on the pallets and steer. There were no big cars, only very small official ones. Yin Yin and I fell asleep on the ferry ride back to the mainland. We caught the MTR to near some shopping mall and walked around hoping to catch a sunset. Unfortunately, the clouds were not cooperating. Instead we headed to the mall to get a spot at a popular sushi train. Here, you sat at a table, with a hot water dispenser, an ipad, macha powder, chopsticks, and tissues (napkins). You ordered what you wanted on the ipad, and then whizzing by soon, would be a train filled with your order. You remove the item and send the train back. We spent the next few hours here with Yin Yin's husband and son.
