TOADS ON STICKS

Toads on sticks, outside a shop in Hong Kong

The reason for my long absence, along with laziness and sickness is...we went travelling to Asia just before Christmas, then my family arrived, we went to Connecticut (bliss), Colorado (cool) and back.

My favourite Asia place was Hong Kong...all olde worlde glamour and bubbling discontent wrapped up in something naughty. So many places in the world appear to be exotic but a little digging around reveals they are not really...examples? Barcelona, Moscow, the Bahamas and anywhere in the Caribbean. Hong Kong is the exact opposite. The deeper you go, the more exotic the place becomes. Shops stock jars of snakeskins and er, toads on sticks. People appear silently by your side and offer you absolutely anything if you can pay for it. The air is warm, humid and slightly misty.

We spent 24 hours in Hong Kong and had lunch in a local resto I'll never forget. The place was whitewashed inside, packed with folk jammed around big, round tables. We ordered off the stark menu, rice, noodles, crispy geese-feet, chicken and pork dumplings, or grabbed whatever came round on heated trolleys from the kitchens. Ancient waiters ticked off what we ate on bingo-style cards. Everything was delicious even though we ate from barely washed up chopsticks and bowls you're expected to wash yourself, in your tea. I know...bi-zarre. Admittedly I picked a bit at everything, stared at everyone but that was ok. Plus we were the only Western people in there, a very interesting experience. This does not translate to feeling lost, lonely or scared by the way, just completely different to everyone else in the room, without common language, imagery, memories, heritage, you name it. Which is sometimes how I feel about living in New York, because like Hong Kong, it is a totally exotic, foreign city. The more New York reveals, the less you know and the more mysterious it seems to become. Despite many attempts by different authorities to police, traffic and monitor the place, NYC still moves entirely to the beat of it's own deep, inner drum. NYC is a fancy dancer that no-one can tame, fathom or love but everyone who comes here tries.

By the way,  of course you can't get a decent cup of tea here..