A typical Thursday eve

This evening a nippy breeze blew in from the west, and delicate drizzle made people’s hair gleam. I was down at Sandy Bay for three and a half hours of rugby training for the upcoming match on the 11th. A good session, lots of girls showed up and our coach was on form. I love listening to him shouting away in cantonese, with english too (sometimes followed by laaaaa) and even the odd bit of mandarin. The only canto I understand is along the lines of green/blue cone, faster/slower, HAVE YOU GOT IT? But when I learned German it was the same too, as I pretty much started on the football pitch. Aus! Ecke! Tor! Were the first words I felt comfortable shouting. 

By the end I was shattered, and my knees rubbed pink from the plastic grass. Some of the sweet local girls are much smaller and lighter than me, yet can throw me to the ground with the effectiveness of lioness vs buffalo. And so it was time for dinner in one of my favorite parts of Hong Kong – Kennedy Town.

Kennedy Town is the West section of Sai Wan, and lies about halfway between my residence and the central area, on the coast. Its grey, angular streets are hidden with noisy wet market full of fish and carnivalistic veg, restaurants with big portions and flag-sized menus, and of course the 3am dimsum hole, haven for students and old people needing some ha gao (prawn dumplings?) in the early hours. I’ve been there so many times I know everything they serve off by heart, and fetch the crockery for our table myself.

This evening though, my friend took us to a (in my mind as yet) nameless restaurant with a low ceiling and gleaming surfaces. Raw beef Wudong for me, followed by a delicious desert of mango chunks in coconut juice with sago (white balls of rice-stuff which for some reason I think of as jellyfish eyes). Hong Kong is God’s gift to desert. Such a variety of fruits and milks and shakes and sweet sweet sweetness and best of all, Doufu Hua. I would swap my desktop light for a bowl of that right now. And so cheap! (if you’re not in one of the famous chains that is). I could have eaten two or three. 

And then we walked home through the soft night. It’s not a pretty walk – straight alone Pokfulam Road for most of the way – but it’s a comforting one, with the lights of Sai Wan and the sea blinking below, and the country park rising dark and hidden above. When it’s late the busy road which I travel along several times a day usually is eerily quiet, taxis and the occasional minibus zip past, but otherwise there are moments when you could be somewhere far away from anywhere. Its a longish walk, but a good way to warm down from a typical Thursday eve, which tonight alas has now also involved a bit too much facebook and Uncle Lim songs. Setting the alarm clock for 7.30 now. Goodnight.