Monday, March 24, 2008

Bob and Jamie's Adventures in Hong Kong, Day 1

First we went to an ATM in Causeway Bay, which actually had money, as opposed to the one we tried before, which was in Wan Chai.

Then we went to the world famous Times Square, which is actually a big shopping mall, despite what Dick Clark wants you to believe.

We tried to find the Pizza Hut on Sharp Street East (we saw a billboard), but when we actually got to Sharp Street East, there was no Pizza Hut to be found. With heavy hearts, we wandered around aimlessly until we encountered a KFC and had dark meat chicken in our spicy chicken sandwiches (they're big on dark meat here). We also had seasoned waffle fries, which were really good. But no free refills on the Pepsi. :-( And no Mountain Dew. :-(

Still thirsty, we stopped by an incredibly tiny Circle-K the size of a newsstand and got replacement beverages, and walked to HMV: The Music & Movie Master.

They really are the music master, at least, because I found there (after years of no search results in America) the soundtrack to Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. Hurray! Now I can listen to The Reaper Rap whenever I want. Legally.

I also picked up a copy of the HK version of Infernal Affairs, which, unlike its American counterpart, doesn't have Random Scantily-Clad Asian Chick on the cover. Instead, the cover has a scene that's actually in the movie and relevant to the plot.

After the record store, we went to Victoria Park, which is like Boston Public Garden but with more concrete. We happened upon a trilingual talking vending machine, which tried to get me to buy a can of Coke in a nice but staticy British accent. Instead I got a bottle of water from the mute machine to the right.

Then we made our way to the reflexology path, which is a sidewalk with lots of pointy rocks that you're supposed to walk on without shoes. It really did make my back feel better for a few minutes, but that might just have been because my feet were complaining more.

Following a brief unfruitful search for the statue of Queen Victoria, we decided to take advantage of the good weather and took the MTR to Central and then the Peak Tram to The Peak. After enjoying the scenery for a good while (I'll show some pictures later), we visited the second of Hong Kong's four Burger Kings (the second for us to visit; I don't know in which order they were established). Once again, there was too much mayo on my burger.

When it was time to leave, we saw the really long line for the tram and chose to go back down the mountain via minibus instead. The minibus only takes 16 people, and Bob was actually #17, but thankfully the driver didn't make him get off. We careened down the mountain at a good 50kph (the minibus had a big LCD speedometer above the driver's head) and got off back in Central.

We rode the escalator up to SoHo and found (but didn't patronize) a Cuban restaurant called Havana. We went back to the MTR station and traveled to Kowloon Tong and visited the Festival Walk mall. Unfortunately, the HK Records was closed already (each store closes whenever it wants), so instead we went to the Page One bookstore. The we rode the MTR back to Hong Kong Island. We stopped at 7-Eleven and purchased Kit Kats and Cokes for our taste test experiments, and came back to the hotel.

Back at the hotel, we compared American Hershey's Kit Kat (which we had brought with us) to Hong Kong Nestle's Kit Kat. The HK one had "cocoa butter replacer" instead of cocoa butter, and the American one had more milk. The American one had a strong taste of Hershey's milk chocolate with the crunchiness of the wafers. The Hong Kong version, meanwhile, had a more chocolaty but less intense flavor, such that I was able to distinguish the taste of the wafer along with the chocolate. It would be interesting to taste a Kit Kat which had real cocoa butter like the American version but otherwise followed the Hong Kong ingredients. Perhaps that's what I'd find in the UK.

Tomorrow we'll compare American and Hong Kong varieties of Coca Cola.

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