(written by Shai ...)
The wife & I are presently visiting family in China - Hong Kong specifically. After being here a while and traveling around the country I realized that "Chinese food" so called in the states, at least where I've eaten it hardly resembles Chinese Food in China. It's much better here! Let me explain ...
1. Almost nothing is fried. That oily wet spot you find in the bottom of your take-out bag never visits you at meal time here. Most foods are boiled, steamed or baked and seafood is fresh - like 2 hours ago it was swimming freely among a school of its kind, Fresh. Also ...
2. Everybody - everybody has a cell phone here. Competition to make to the thinnest most technologically advanced cell phone is what enhances sales of the "Dian Hwa" here.
3. If someone lives in a single family house here then they're probably a millionaire, maybe even a billionaire. Everybody lives in high-rise apartments here. You see them everywhere, it's like the projects without the mess, drug dealers & graffiti. Hong Kong's population is something like 6 million people on this little island, so that's why. Oh and Mercedes Benz vehicles over here are like Honda Accords back in the states ... they're everywhere!
4. For the most part things are uber cheap out here (compared to US prices). Roughly 8 Chinese dollars equals 1 US Dollar (12/05) and bargaining for goods outside of department stores isn't just expected -- it's required. So that whole made in China thing matters seeing you can find anything we have in the states at at least half what we would pay for it.
5. Mass transit "is" the way to travel here. There are a lot of people who simply don't know how to drive and don't ever intend to learn. The extensive subway, railway, boat - ferry and gondola system in place here means you can go anywhere in this country for a few dollars at anytime.
That's all for now - bless ya'
